It was a last minute decision for me to register for this race. Traditionally I've run my worst at this particular marathon. It was at this marathon where I became infamously known for sitting down at a bus bench because my legs hurt and I just didn't want to keep moving forward anymore. Anyways so once I decided to run the race, I drove up to the Long Beach Convention Center after work. I parked for free at the parking structure just east of Pine on E. 3rd Street and walked on over to the expo. There was a short line just as you entered the expo for late registration. It turned out to be cheaper to register in person versus online since there was no convenience fee doing it in person. Unfortunately the majority of the kiosks were not functioning properly. It took our credit card information but was not printing out our registration information for them to issue us a race bib. They finally gave up on trying to get their computer system to work and just used pieces of scratch paper to write down our information.
Expo
Late Registration
The rest of the expo was pretty much ho hum. Nothing to buy, no interesting race to register for and not much else to see. Maybe it was because my mind was a little preoccupied with other stuff. Despite my lack of interest, the packet procedure and expo was well organized.
Sunday
I pre-purchased parking for the same lot that I normally park to attend the expo. It was just a short walk to the starting area. I hung out at the Hyatt Regency for a little bit before actually heading to the corrals. Why use portapotties when you can use flushing toilets and wash your hands with soap and water?
I ran this marathon last year wearing pink in support of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month. This year, I did the same thing only this time it was a bit more personal since one of my good friends is currently going through her fight with breast cancer. I didn't announce that I would be running this race, but some of my closer friends knew that I would since it's hard for me to stay away from a marathon especially a local race. One of them was pacing the 4:15 pace group. I said hi to him before heading up to the 4:00 pace group. I wanted to run some "faster" miles before finishing somewhere in the 4:30 range.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
That's quite a time range for wave 1!
4:00 pace group
The mile markers were all over the place, so I did not have any reliable mile splits. Also I do not trust the splits from the official results. I'm absolutely sure that I did not run a 1:50 for the first half. As usual, I ran the first 10k at a faster pace only because I know that I would slow down during the beach path. I just wanted to get through the first half in about 2 hrs. That's usually the point where I feel discomfort in my left ankle and my right foot.
Rocco leading the 4:15 pace group
One thing that I like about this course is that it takes you through the campus of Cal State Long Beach before you head back to where the race started. But beware of the hills on campus! They aren't too bad, but they're big enough that you'll definitely feel them. My friend pacing the 4:15 pace group would pass me shortly after we left Cal State Long Beach as my legs had started to feel very heavy. My legs were also beginning to cramp up so I had to slow it down. The legs felt better on the run down Ocean Blvd but I knew that I was sort of running on fumes. The legs held up enough for me to finish with my fastest time at Long Beach. I will try to lower that time again if I run it next year in 2014, but I doubt that I will be back since I'll be trying to complete a marathon in a couple more new states in 2014.
5k: 26:08
10k: 52:23
Half: 1:49:58
20mi: 3:16:42
Finish: 4:37:48
Bib and medal
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