Race Report (made using Reddit's Race Report Generator by /u/herumph)
|
Goals
|
Description
|
Completed?
|
|
A
|
Sub-2:45
|
No
|
|
B
|
Sub-2:50
|
No
|
|
C
|
Sub-3:00
|
Yes
|
Why I signed up?
The first time I ever ran a marathon was 15 years ago at the LA Marathon in 2008. My high school English teacher inspired me to run it, so this race holds a special place in my heart as the start of my journey. The first time I also broke 3 was also the LA Marathon in 2020 right before Covid shut down everything and it was still the Stadium to the Sea. I hadn't ran LA for 3 years after that year.
How was the training?
My average miles per week for this training block was about ~60 miles. Most of my runs are easy or recovery pace. 2 runs per week were harder. And more hill training. I live in LA, so I ran my long runs on the course on weekends to get a better feel of the course.
The LA Marathon is no longer the Stadium to the Sea. They changed the route to make a u-turn at Mile 22 back to Century City. The game changed. Imagine heartbreak hill being at the end of the race. The last 10K is uphill and rolling hills. 😅
How was the race?
The race was amazing. I felt like there were more people cheering us on this year than I remember from years prior. Running crews from all around the city showed up and were awesome! The organization and water stations were great. The weather was good and the music along the course was on point (two taiko drumming groups!).
I just didn't have the ability to push. The course won. I tried to save my energy for the end, but it wasn't enough. I was just trying to hold on after we got to Mile 19-20.
Even still, I am grateful to everyone who makes this possible and very fortunate that my family got to see me finish and friends cheering us on. It was amazing to reflect on the journey from the first marathon to now during the race. It takes everyone to do this.
TL;DR: If you are going to run the 2024 LA Marathon, prepare for hills!
