shewasavisitor

One of my favo(u)rite things to do while planning a vacation is to scout out the race calendar of my destination and sign up to run an event while visiting (E and I ran the British Heart Foundation’s 9K Croydon Hearts Jog while in London). Gearing up to move to LA, I plunked myself down at the computer and researched as much as I could about the SoCal running scene. The entire moving operation was pretty hasty so it was no surprise to discover the LA Marathon was exactly one month into my move and thus too soon to train for. I went for the next best thing and signed up to volunteer at the 25 mile water station (fun, as it is the last water station of the 26.2 mile event: everyone is desperate for water so you get a lot of service, plus, observing the human condition from this point in the race is interesting as most everyone has either gone mad or has completely given up on their posture).

Moving to LA meant leaving my Toronto running friends behind. A few months ago, I confessed that my passion for running was waning: I’d recovered from a pulled muscle in the fall but lost the drive to get back to where I was before my injury. My speed and endurance were off and I feared nothing could motivate me – especially moving away from my training group. I worried that I would lose interest in running altogether because I wouldn’t have a network or any initial goals. But, my first few long runs in LA have really proven me wrong: it’s easy to run here, and a great way to familiarize myself with my new surroundings.

In keeping with my Toronto schedule, every Sunday morning I’m off on anything between a 2h to 2:30h run. After a few weeks of rejuvenatingly hot, sunny LA running, the marathon would often swirl through my thoughts. I would think, “could I actually just do this thing?”. Last Thursday I looked on Craigslist for a spare bib… and found one! “42 Kilometres is crazy! I’m in NO shape to survive this thing!” I said as I responded to the ad. All I had in the tank was my renewed positivity and excitement for the journey ahead. That Saturday I met the guy at the expo, and on May 25th, was Matthew Ryan from Venice Beach.

Matt, suffering from a sore knee, is a member of the LA Roadrunners so with my bib came lots of perks: I got to start in the front corral, had a separate, free bag-check location, and bagels and juice on the morning of the race along with a roaring pep talk by a few of the veteran members. I was so nervous: I’d run a very unsuccessful first marathon in Niagara Falls and thinking back to all the walking I did at the end of that race sent shudders down my spine! Plus I had actually trained! E said I would finish LA faster than Niagara and I thought no way! As we were standing in that corral, the motivational speaker was saying something about how the marathon is a reward after all the hard training and hills and speedwork and I felt like such an impostor!

The gun went off and the thing began. My goals were to keep an even pace and to smile the whole way (Vingnation says it’s because it takes less muscle to smile than it does to frown – keep that energy for the legs!). The miles seemed to melt away. I was really appreciating the scenery and actually had a running narration of my blog going through my head as I saw so many interesting things: we ran through an absolute ghetto for about 3 miles, and as we’d pass a highschool, the cheerleading squad was out there on the side of the road doing some crazy flipping/yelling routine. Ah, America! I didn’t see as many God Lovers as I thought I would (shirts saying something like, “I am not running – God is running for me”, etc.). Oh – my smile was infectious! I got SO MANY high fives and “you go girl”s and “there she is!”s and comments like “she looks good for a marathon!” that it was honestly fueling me to keep going. There was a big party happening at the 21 mile intersection and I did a little dance with my arms as I ran by. Everyone cheered! I made the peace sign or waved at every camera lens and even cheered at people who were holding signs saying “Go Fernando!”. At  mile 23 I felt like I just wanted to walk, but when I ran past a speaker playing Venga Boys, I even found motivation in that: “the Vengaboys ARE coming!” I thought (I was crazy!!).

The entire race was perfect. I walked only for a few stumbles as I tried to drink a cup of Gatorade and my pace was consistently faster than my 4-hour paceband I wore on my wrist (where a time is given for every mile in order to finish at an exact time). The course was hard: very hilly, possibly even a net-uphill. At mile 26, with 0.2 miles to go, I almost started crying. I was smiling and running as fast as I could and everyone was cheering and I finished the marathon in 3:58. I am SO PROUD of myself for this accomplishment! I technically should be much faster than 4 hours, but a sub-4 hour marathon on absolutely no training with as many hills as there were  makes me SO happy! I love that, at the drop of a hat, I can run a sub-4 marathon. Oh, and I beat my Niagara Falls marathon time by 12 minutes! E was right!