Adios Sucker! Pasadena Marathon Recap

Hello, my name is Emil and I am a marathoncoholic... marathon maniac... I should've skipped this race. But hey, the race was paid for and I needed to show up to collect my medal. I just had to cover 26.2 miles to get it. This year's shirt was nice, but there was some trouble getting it. They were not available until late on the first day of the expo. They were nice enough to allow us to make arrangements to pick it up on race day or even have it mailed. Speaking of mailing stuff, I just realized that I've never received the finisher's towel from the Malibu Marathon. Oh well, that teaches me to take my sweet time out there! Anyways here are some of the reasons why I should've skipped the race:

• I felt a little under the weather a couple of days leading up to the race.
• My training has been nonexistent since the beginning of 2009.
• I've been dealing with lower back pain.
  
• My right ankle is still not 100%.

My goal was to get through the first half in about 2 hours. Then just survive the second half. That has been the typical race I have been running since I first injured my right hip back in January 2009 during the Carlsbad Marathon. The body has since become more and more rundown. I wanted to finish in about 4:30, but I knew that was a long shot. I knew it was going to take me around 5hrs. I knew it was going to be a struggle, but still I wanted to run as hard as I could for as long as could.

I bumped into maniac Mitch and PasadenaRunner (Tom) in the parking structure. I was pretty sure parking was free, but the security guard told Tom that we had to pay. So Tom and I both decided $2 was good insurance... just in case. I headed to the starting line to pick up my shirt, watch the bike tour start, and use the portapotties. I did 2 out of the 3 because it started to rain and I decided to go back to my car to take a quick nap.

1st Half
Mile 1 was pretty congested. I was fine with that because I felt really lethargic. I was spotted by a fellow maniac Marcia. She was running the half. I wished her a good race and took off to test the ankle. I then saw maniac Mitch and ran with him for several miles. I took my regular walk break every 30 minutes. By mile 8, I started to feel discomfort in my gimpy right ankle so I knew I had no chance to finish around 4:30. I knew the second half was going to be another walkathon. Tom caught me near the mile 10 turnaround. Between 12 and 13, I was feeling really tired going up the hill exiting the Rose Bowl. A pretty girl blows by me and the back of her shirt says "Adios Sucker!" My legs were feeling pretty heavy, but I chased her down to ask her where she got her shirt. It was a Nike shirt. Man, seeing that shirt really felt like a kick in the nuts! It would have been suicide to follow her any further, so I fell back.
1: 8:39
2: 8:24
3: 8:35
4: 9:36
5: 8:44
6: 8:31
7: 9:27
8: 9:06
9: 9:49
10: 9:25
11: 10:09
12: 10:23
13: 9:49 Adios sucker!

2nd Half
My friend Helen passed me around mile 15 when I was reduced to walking up a hill. She asked how I was feeling. I felt like I shouldn't be there! I felt like I was wearing ankle weights and breathing through a straw. I was crying uncle at mile 18. It was a long downhill section and I could not get the legs to work. This was very similar to 1st Ave at NYC. I should have been picking up the pace, but instead I was crawling with the half marathon walkers. Maniac Howard caught me and I had him drag me for a little while. Then a little bit later maniac James caught me. He kind of got me going a little bit. The 2 hills going up to miles 21 and 22 were not fun. Near mile 24 I started coming up to Asian Mullet Guy, whom I kept seeing on the switchbacks during the last 2 hills. For you "How I Met Your Mother" fans out there... around mile 25, I saw a picture of Barney Stinson on a popsicle stick in an orange traffic cone. Asian Mullet Guy sped up and I could not follow. Coming up to mile 26, I felt like fainting. I had to muster up whatever I had left to put on a show for the cameras. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I felt very light headed, legs were cramping, and was on the verge of blacking out. I tried to find some bananas, but I didn't find any. All I could find were apple and orange slices.
14: 12:51
15: 13:28
16: 11:51
17: 14:29
18: 19:17 lol wth!
19: 13:30
20: 11:19
21: 13:49
22: 16:15
23: 13:15
24: 12:47
25: 14:03
26: 13:28
26.2: 2:02
Finish: 5:03:14

Post Race Thoughts
If I would've toughened up a little bit during mile 18, I could've finished under or closer to 5 hours. But it's close enough.

My current fitness is only adequate for a 10k. A half marathon is a stretch. A marathon should be out of the question. My lungs definitely could not keep up. My body is too inefficient. I'm going to have to start carrying more food if I want to keep doing these slogathons. After 15 consecutive months of running at least 1 marathon with 1 gimpy body part or more, I think I'm ready for a long break. My 1st break will come in May where I'll only run a half marathon.

Next stop: New Orleans! It will be my first time there and I see that Scott Jurek will be there!