Race Report: Long Beach Marathon 2016

As you may have noticed if you were on Facebook last week, this past Sunday was the annual Long Beach Marathon.  Starting what perhaps may become a tradition, this was my second running of the race, and things went much better than last year (PS - If you'd like to read my race report from last year, click here).

Last year, I signed up for Long Beach after I didn't make the lottery selection for the Marine Corps Marathon in DC; it was at a good time, and it allowed Chris and I to visit Dad and Risa since they live in the same general area as the race (as in, greater LA - they're actually in Orange, about 30 minutes away).  Now that we actually live in Long Beach, I figured it was time to sign up again, since this was now our official "new hometown" race.

Like last year, we went down to the Convention Center the day before the race to grab my race packet; we got there right as it was opening at 9am, and we spent some time in the area at the movie theater seeing The Magnificent Seven (fun, and exactly the movie you expect it to be) and having lunch at Islands Burgers and Grill.  We headed home and chilled out the rest of Saturday, capping off the evening by watching Florida State barely squeak by Miami in their annual hate-fest (seriously, that game is always the nastiest of the season - even worse than FSU/UF).

Sunday - race morning - started out early.  Although it wasn't as hot as last year, the temp topped out at 86 or so on Sunday, so while the 6am start was nice and cool, that meant getting up at our house at 3am.  After braving the parking quagmire last year with Dad and Risa, we decided to take the light rail, the Metro's blue line, which would put us a very short walk from the start/finish line.

Waiting for the train,

with Chris' sweet ride in the background.

As you can see in the picture above, Chris brought his city bike with us for this adventure, so he could ride out on the course and see me at a few different mile markers.  While the course covered a good part of greater Long Beach, there was one particular park where we'd pass at miles 11.7, 13.6, and 21, so he could see me start, get there, see me three more times, and then head back in time to see me finish.  Score!

After hopping off the light rail in downtown Long Beach, we shackled the bike to a convenient rack and headed to the start line area right along Shoreline Drive.  The light rail didn't take nearly as long as the schedule indicated, so we had some time to kill. 

We took pics at the start line:

See how there's no one else around?

We were a bit early.

And killed more time with some selfies:

It is so early!
Look at all my teeth!

Eventually, more folks started to arrive, and after a short warm-up jog, I was ready to run.  The wheelchair athletes and bike tour folks (headed in the opposite direction, thankfully) started out first, and then the field headed out en masse, led by the race's legacy runners (folks that have run the race every year since it started).  

My main goal was to beat 4 hours for the marathon; when I signed up for the race and started training back in June-July, my goal was to attempt a Boston Qualifier time of 3:40.  However, when Bella passed away, I found myself too sad to really want to do much running, and with the move happening shortly thereafter, I knew a BQ wasn't in the cards.  Since my last marathon (the Phoenix Marathon in February) ended with nausea and an accompanying DNF, I really needed a personal win at this race.  Thus, I adjusted my expectations and figured I had a solid chance to break 4:00, which would give me the mental boost I needed to continue loving this sport.

Given this, my pre-race plan was to start with the 4:00 pace group and stay steady with them until mile 20 or so (9:08 miles), at which point I'd start pushing a bit harder (maybe 9:00 miles), really turning things loose with 5K to go, to see what I could do.  I'd been running 8:50s-8:55s during my tempo runs, so I felt secure that I could effectively pursue this strategy (well, as secure as you can feel during any of these things - 26.2 miles leaves a lot of time for things to go all squirrely).  

Chris grabbed some shots of the start as we trucked by him:

Wheelchair racers getting ready to start

The first wave of runners

The 4:00 pace group.

Can you find me?

Does this help?

It's pretty normal for folks to be overexcited at the beginning of a race and start out way too fast, only to crash later on; most of us are guilty of this at some point in time, and I'm certainly no exception.  However, I have to admit to being rather disappointed in the 4:00 pacers when we finished our first mile in 8:53 (by my watch).  This was much, much faster than a 4:00 pace, and although they slowed down later and ended up back on pace, I hope some folks didn't end up destroyed by the faster, early miles and dropped as the temps grew higher as the day went on.  It's the one job of the pacer to keep you, well, on pace, so the fast start wasn't great.

As I mentioned in last year's blog post, the marathon and half marathon are really scenic races.  You start out near Shoreline Village, and you head over the Queens Way bridge within the first few miles, past the Queen Mary, crossing back over and running past the lighthouse before skirting through Shoreline Village itself and then heading out on the beach path.  Since mile 6ish crosses directly parallel to the start line, Chris was able to see me at both spots, but from his vantage spot in the Village, he could see me across the harbor, running the spiral around the lighthouse:

I'm not in this short,
but seriously, look how pretty.

There's me!
I'm the runner just to the left (your left)
of the bench.

That's my buddy Glennan with me in the blue shirt in the pic above.  We both started out with the 4:00 group and both decided by this point we didn't want to hang with them for the rest of the race.  Not only was their pace unsteady, but since breaking 4:00 is a common goal for marathoners, it was pretty crowded.  This meant a lot of clumping around the two pacers, which translated into higher temps due to lots of body heat and constantly dodging elbows (runners have some pointy elbows, ya'll).  When there's even a small gap of a few feet from you to the person in front of you, you get a much better breeze; since keeping cool was going to be extra necessary as the day went on, we were looking for any advantage we could get.  I have to say here that Glennan and I didn't know each other before the race, and we likely won't ever run into each other again, but that's a great thing about running - it doesn't really matter who you are or where you're from - we all have a "we're in this together" mentality, and you can become friends with anyone you happen to be running next to at that moment in time.

After rounding the lighthouse, I saw Chris inside Shoreline Village, and he grabbed a few more shots before heading to grab his bike and ride out to see me at mile 11ish:

Me and Glennan - buddies forever.
Or at least from miles 4-8 or so.

After running through the Village and past the Shoreline Yacht Club (where I saw Dad's car - he was racing on the boat at the time - actually, at this point, he was probably drinking coffee in the harbor on Catalina Island), we hit the beach path.  The weather was still gorgeous and cool, the sun was just coming up over the water, and I was cruising along at 8:58s, which felt good at this point in the day.  The running club most local to us here in Bixby Knolls, the GRVL Runners, had someone taking shots out on the course throughout the day, and although they weren't looking for me specifically, I ended up in a few of their snaps anyway:

I'm waaay over to the left here.
Hydration is obviously so important.

Glennan and I are far to the left here, too.
Check out ALL the people.

If you blow this up, you can see the 4:00 pacers
behind us by just a few minutes.
We're starting to gain on them here.

Just after this point, around mile 8-9, Glennan started pushing the pace down to around 8:56.  Afraid of bonking hard later, I wished him a good race and slowed back down to my cruising speed of 8:58 once again.

Okay, sidebar - cruising speed made me think of this.  The title sponsor of the event is Jet Blue, as I guess Long Beach is one of their west coast hubs.  The firm hired a giant double decker bus and mounted video screens on the side of it and then cruised it around the race course at different points in time.  Apparently, going from one coast to the other on Jet Blue takes 6:20, and the incentive was to "beat the bus" - the video screens displayed a real-time picture of a jet cruising over the US, with different landmarks popping up along the way.  If you didn't beat the bus, you could ride it back to the finish line if your day was over - BUT, if you still finished the full marathon under your own power and took longer than 6:20 (I think they officially closed the course after 7:00 or so), you got a certificate for a free, round-trip ticket anywhere Jet Blue flies!  Although I was pretty darn committed to my 4:00 plan, if my day had gone south, I would have seriously considered it.  

Anywhoo, back to running.  Eventually, we made it off the beach and onto the streets once more, bidding adieu to the half marathoners and starting our long slog up to Cal State Long Beach's campus.  Chris made it to the mile 11ish spot before I did, so he was able to grab some shots as I came coasting down a hill:

 Here I come!

I'm the lone runner on the right.
I always know how to find my best camera angles.

Getting ready to turn the corner!

We runners headed out onto the Los Alamitos residential peninsula, where we were greeted at the turnaround point by the dulcet tones of a live band playing Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" - "aaahhhh aaahhhh!"  It was quite delightful and exactly the boost I needed to head around the water station and toward the half marathon point.  At the halfway point in my race, I was a few minutes under 2:00, and about a minute and a half in front of the 4:00 pacers, still cruising along at 8:58 overall.  Things were still going well.

I saw Chris on the other side of the small park just after this, and then it was past a few different high schools, the lawn bowling club, Dirtbag Stadium (the Cal State Long Beach baseball team is called the Dirtbags.  Isn't that wonderful?  I love this weirdo city), and eventually, onto CSLB.  Once again, the bands, cheerleaders, and random student spectators were wonderful in this section of the course, although I once again missed Prospector Pete (the mascot, the myth, the legend).  After heading past the pyramid and down the hill on the back side of the parking garage, it was back out onto the street and time for the last 10K of the race.

By this point, I'd been working on some side cramps, but they hadn't been too bad.  I held them at bay for a bit by walking through a few aid stations in miles 13-20, which also allowed me to get some much needed cups of water and rest my legs for a few moments.  I had my hydration pack with me, and I'd filled it with ice before leaving the house early, so my water was nice and cold; however, even a full 70 ounce bladder (the hydration pack, not mine.  My brother Jim can tell you my bladder probably holds a thimble of fluid, roughly) runs out over the course of a race, so I wanted to conserve just a bit for the last few miles, when I knew I wouldn't want to be stopping at aid stations (on this course, the last 2-3 miles is also where the half marathon course ends up merging back with the full, so there are TONS of people in this stretch).

Due to the walking and the heat, my pace dropped from 8:58 overall to 8:59, then to 9:00 flat.  Not too bad, I told myself - since 4:00 pace is 9:08 a mile, I still had a few minutes over the pace group (which by this point, was on their actual pace it seemed).  I rounded the corner at 21 to see Chris one final time at the small park, and he grabbed some shots of me at this stage:

Okay, actual photographic proof there was a hill here.
I thought I remembered this.

"Oh, hi honey!"

Back to work.
Also, my head itches.

Look at this shot!

I'm totally balancing on one toe.

Actually, I know exactly what happened in the picture above.  I knew this was the last time I'd see Chris until the end of the race, so I paused my iPod at this point to ask him a very important question.  While I ran by, I shouted out, "where will I see you next?"  He looked puzzled for a moment and then shouted back, "THE FINISH LINE!"  Damn straight, best husband ever (if you haven't heard the story behind this, I ran the Newport, Oregon marathon several years ago, during which it rained almost the entire time. Chris figured I would need extra motivation during this run to keep going, so he met me at almost every mile, being super awesome.  What he didn't realize is that I was so cold and wet and unhappy that every time I saw him, I had to fight increasingly harder not to bag the whole thing and just get in the car.  Ever tried to run while you're crying?  It doesn't work well.  I tried letting him know this once or twice in what I felt was an appropriate way, but apparently, I wasn't clear enough.  Eventually, around mile 18, as I passed by, I screamed with gusto:  "I WILL SEE YOU AT THE FINISH LINE!"  To his credit, the next time I saw him, somebody was putting a medal around my neck, and he didn't divorce my maniac self.  I'm such a joy, really)!

I headed back up the hill you saw earlier, turned right onto Ocean at the 5K to go mark (my comment to another runner at this point: "are you ready for the slowest 5K you've ever run?"  She snorted her assent), and got out onto the sun drenched final few miles.  By now, the temps were in the mid-70s and it was starting to get toasty.  I kept on hustling, feeling much better than last year at this point.  While my pace had dropped again to 9:01s and then 9:02s, I was able to keep it there and still knew I could finish under my goal.  For the final few miles, I just kept looking at the overall time on my watch, going, "okay, only 25 minutes to go and only 2 miles.  Even if you do these miles in 12:00 each, you'll be fine."  That mental math helped me focus on just making it through, which is all you can generally do during the final run-in to the finish of any long race.

I swept around the last corner and spotted the finish line!

Here I am!

Done!

Getting my medal from the volunteer on the left.

Thumbs up for the race photog.

"Whew, my hands are heavy."

Chris found me as I exited the secure finish area, and we headed together to pick up my gear check bag and then to the "changing area" (the handicapped port o loo's.  What?  They're bigger).

"I'm finished!"

After a quick brunch at the Brass Lamp (a book lounge that happens to serve food, was open at the right time, and didn't have a wait), we hopped back on the light rail and headed back to the car.  We made it home by about 1pm, and then it was time to clean up, relax on the couch, and have a few victory drinks!

Feeling much better.

I think this was the Figureroa Mountain's
5th Anniversary brew.
That sh*t was delicious.

Overall, I'm super pleased with my official finish time of 3:56:59.  My previous PR was 4:09 and change, set at last year's Long Beach marathon, so I not only decreased my time by around 13 minutes, I did so on the exact same course, which is a full on apples to apples comparison (I don't run the same races all that often, so this is kind of rare for me).  I normally debate over carrying my full hydration pack as it's extra weight, but I was happy I did, given the warmer temps in the final hour of the run.  I also went back to using my standard Huma apple cinnamon energy gels every four miles, and I didn't face any stomach/GI distress during the race (I seriously pondered having a potty break around mile 20, but the loo's were full, so I pressed on, and things were fine).  I'm already signed up for my next full marathon, the OC Marathon in early May 2017, and while I'm not sure what the weather will be like then, it might be a chance to earn the BQ I've been talking about for the next few years.  Fingers crossed!

Later!

Amy