Where in the world is Jon?: Marathon Madness

Hurray I finished. It took almost 5 hours to complete the 26.2 miles, and believe me you feel that .2, but finish it I did.

Preface
I was training this year and had actually built up a nice base and then BAM!! I got the flu, like a month ago and I can still feel it lingering in my chest, and then BAM!!, I sprain my toe in Jui jitsu, a minor sprain but I sprained my toe before I got sick and its still swollen. I know they're kind of excuses, but I was seriously considering not racing, for fear of causing permanent damage in my foot or going into relapse, yuck. Plus having only ran four times in the last month, I really had no idea how this race was going to go.

The Marathon to the Marathon
The last time I ran the LA Marathon, in 2005 it was a loop course, you show up and park, the race starts and ends in the same place. This year and apparently last year as well, they've made it point to point. It started at Universal Studios and ended downtown. So I ended up parking downtown and taking the Red Line(it was free for runners). Of course with all the street closings finding parking and then the Metro entrance was a pain especially at 6 in the morning. And by the way, yesterday it was overcast and perfect running weather all day. Today on my way in the sun was already blinding on my way in. Anyway, getting to the race location and the bathroom with one bottleneck after another was ridiculous, to the point where I didn't even realize the race had started I ended up so far back. Luckily with the new technology, you have a computer chip or something like that, that starts your time when you actually cross the starting line. It took me around 8 minutes just to get to the start.

The Race-Very briefly
A marathon is a trip. Of course you have to be in some kind of shape to finish it, but it really is a psychological trip as well. The first mile is all about avoiding crashing in to walkers, kids, groups. It is so frustrating and since it was down hill, dangerous. My first mile took I think 13 minutes. Mile 2 a little better, but not much. After that I was pretty much averaging 10's until mile 16 or 17.

That's me at Mile 9, still feeling pretty good. Picture by Awesome Friend Kip, who with family in tow came out to cheer me on. Big shout out to Kip, Theresa, Micah, and River. It gave me a needed boost.

Miles 15 to 19 really sucked cause you realize you're just barely half through it and you hurt like hell and you're in this industrial kind of area, with not a lot of crowd support.

Miles 20 to 23 I was feeling like this might be my best time yet, in spite of the set backs.

Miles 23 to end. I hit the wall. It was mostly uphill. My right hip started acting up. Every step felt like a knife jab, again that question of "Am I really hurting myself?" And then the left toe, the already sprained one started killing. So it was an incredibly awkward and silly looking run/shuffle/limp/walk.