There are a lots of positives to this race - The date on the LA running calendar is perfect and it doesn't conflict with anything else - unless you want to go to Arizona for a marathon send-off by a gun wielding John McCain (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you can leave a comment). The course is relatively flat (slight inclines but no big deal), the bands are great, and there's a great energy bolstered by the variety of LA area running clubs and teams in attendance. I even saw a Marathon Maniac.
Other positives include the Craft high-tech tee (in a nice lime green) and a heavy medal with a twirling 13.1 logo.
The negatives? I guess walking about 1.5 miles from my car to the start line was a bit long - but we all can use a good pre-race warmup. I actually got to the start line within minutes of the start, happy to find my running friends there.
I ran nice and easy with LA Legger newbie Julio for the first half. Our enjoyable run was only slowed down by a 3 minute wait for the porta potties, which I promptly made up later (sorry Julio for speeding up). Not to worry, Julio made good time too. Although the course isn't a beauty - out and back on Venice Boulevard - it's fun to see the passerbys on the otherside and share some of the running enthusiasm with them.
My second half was way faster than my first. I kept at about a 10:15 for much of it - to my surprise - It felt good so I kept on going. I finished in 2:29:02. Hmmm...if I hadn't lost the time at the porta potty, this would have been a PR - but I'm still happy with my time.
Congrats to Legger Saeed who did PR!
After the race, I hung out and high fived my Legger friends, passed on the chance to stand in a long line for a free bag from Petco, and met someone from Sporteve, the women's running store in Culver City. Then, Glenn and I walked back to our cars - which for some reason seemed way further than the first time.
Good race, lots of fun -
Happy running!
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