LA Marathon 2017

SAT MARCH 18th - Fly in Spirit Airline style- nice and cheap

I swore off anymore out of state races after my NYC marathon bust up. Not spending $$ on bad performances. But lo and behold, after a good Houston marathon, Skechers hooked me up with an entry to LA. Then I found a Spirit plane ticket to LA for $112. And within minutes I was California marathon dreaming. I had planned on an LA AirBnb hostel for $30 a night. Might be sketchy but I've had good luck with hostels. I'm a hobo at heart. I firmly believe that 99.9% of people help each other out and lookout for others. And i'm betting that the other .1% I can out run :) Too much press for the bad things got everyone living scared.

My buddy and old training partner Brad (aka Ken doll, aka yuppie- that's what some rednecks in a truck shouted at him when out for a run) ahh don't let looks fool ya he's a hell of a runner and fierce competitor. He has a toesey, miler, track style. Beautiful hi kick. Mr. 3rd lap is 'the money lap' - as he leaves you in the dust. Anyway Brad hears I'm coming and insists that I stay with him and his family. And that he pick me up at the airport. Too nice. He lives an hour away in Camarillo. Plus the dang LA traffic. The 101, the 405. Oh man. 6 lanes of winding cars for miles and miles.

So he picks me up @ LAX with his 4th grade daughter Elle in a jeep. Cali style. BTW Brads family is like all models. The whole Ken set no kidding. We hit a nice beach side restaurant and bar in some swanky neighborhood where it's hard to park. Brad says tuna burger is good. I order one like him. Comes out raw on a bun. I've never had raw fish. Heck when in Rome. (BTW A marathon buddy from OKC, Jason and his training group swear by sushi night before marathon- 'get some extra pop in the legs', he says. Go figure?) Then we head to Expo @ LA Convention center. We see Skechers booth and my man, rep John Schrup. They are slinging shoes. Skechers does it right with good deals at the expo. Good shoes too. Then we head over and get samples of Clif bars and gels and get hyped back up for this LA ride home. Outside at Staples center they are getting ready for the Cavs and Clippers to play in a few hrs. There is a festival, i score my son a free Blake Griffin mask. On the phone my son says, 'why not Chris Paul CP3?' Tough being the old man I tell ya.

We make the long drive thru traffic to Camarillo. I'm looking at all the mountains, i never knew they had them near LA. Usually think a beach area is flat. The mountains are green cuz they've actually had some rain this Spring. Everyone is talking about it. It's crazy nice in California, scenery, weather, no mosquitoes or humidity. Cool in the night. No A/C required. Beaches and mountain trails around every corner. Wow. I don't think Brad is coming back to Texas.

We get back to his house and Jennifer, Brad's wife, has made some spaghetti and meatballs. We eat and talk about the old days when our kids were in preschool together 4 yrs ago. We eat outside and are amused by their daughters, Elle and Grey, playing around in the hammock. Their french bulldog pup, Dixie, is rooting around causing trouble chewing on a wiffle ball bat- she's a tazmanian devil that's fun to mess with. But she gets the best of me- no don't chew the Garmin watch or the shoes... gonna need those tomorrow.

We watch a little NCAA Bball on TV. Then hit the bed early. We're looking at a 3am wakeup call. Not so bad for me cuz that's really 5am Texas time. Poor Brad is SOL.

SUN MARCH 19th - Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon

Slept good. Hard to wake up. We're out the door at 3:30am. Drive is nice, no cars out, only time u can say that in LA. In about 45min we find the Santa Monica Fairmont Hotel and there is the Skechers bus. Brad is gonna go park, nap, and get in his own 14 mile beach run then catch the finish. I get on the bus find an open seat near the back. I chill and start putting on my race number, band aids, and oil. I take it that the others on the bus are more social runners, they seem to be contest winners, reps, and other brand ambassadors. Some talking about this is their first marathon. They are selfie-ing it up and talking about parties last night and parties tonight and wondering how they are gonna make it through 26.2 miles. Meanwhile in the next seat, I'm strapping up for war, getting ready to battle. In the end it's all the same, we'll all be in some serious pain chasing our goals.

We get to Dodger Stadium where the race starts. The bus is blocked for a while and we sit but still plenty of time before the start. I slip on my race shoes. Looks like a warmup in training shoes is not gonna happen. So I oil my feet, put on my socks and slide on the racing flats: Skechers GoMebSpeed4 size 9. These are some bad boys, I've been chasing PRs from 5k to half since I've been wearing them for the last 2 months. I got a little banged up on the hard concrete at the Woodlands Half Marathon 2 weeks ago, so I slid in an insole into the shoes for today- usually they don't have one. I got it from my old GoRun4 shoes which are size 9.5. THey now feel snug and comfy. Na I've never tried this before, never ran a mile like this. But hey I'm an artiste, I create out there :)

We get off the bus and head into Dodger Stadium. One of my favorite stadiums, one of the few remaining old stadiums that hasn't been demolished and rebuilt. Most everything is old school, LA Dodger style. We all hit the restrooms. Come back out and our group is gone. There are other groups there but not ours. We start walking around the stadium, go outside, up a level, and back in, ask a few volunteers and somehow we luckily find the Skechers suite. Already getting crazy out there in the parking lot. In the suite, they have a breakfast bar, but not really feeling like eating. I had two mini bagels- earlier at Brads I had a bowl of oatmeal and a banana. At the big suite there is a bunch of Dodgers memorillabilla to check out and a Skechers video and LA marathon video playing. Pretty cool. I see some really in-shape Skechers runners and I recognize them form the web- most are from other countries, Greece, France, Belgium. I stretch out some and hit the bathrooms again- a line waiting now. At about 6:15 i hand over my check in bag(warmups, clothes for after finish, phone) and i'm out into the crowd, to find my spot on the start line. Love being free of all the crap and hassles. Just running free- that's the way i like it. Whoa tons of people outside in parking lot. Starting to get a bit of sunlight up. A cover band rips through their last song- GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle" - an LA song. I start jogging and running in place among the sea of runners that are darting all around. I finally find my Corral near the front, I slide in. The music is loud, the runners are hyped, the announcer sees off the wheel chair racers, hand crank racers, and the ladies elite runners. 10 Minutes later, horn sounds, they let all the runners go. It's time to run Los Angeles.

Starting Line up dwn

Mile 1 - Dodger Stadium 5:48/mi 29 85

Mile 2 - Cesar Chavez Blvd 5:37/mi -- 132

Mile 3 - Downtown LA 5:36 13 18

Around the stadium some, then a quick steep uphill out of Chavez Ravine, down Vin Scully Way and left on Sunset Blvd. We're already clear of the field, and runners are pretty sparse already - it's like a local race now :) You gotta be pretty serious/crazy to start out a marathon at this pace. Of course the 13 Kenyan's and Invited Elites are up front, but not too far yet. I can see them and flashing lights of the police car- they are starting pretty reasonable, respecting the hilly course. I could see them to around the 3rd mile I think.

I'm purposely starting out quick on these first 3 or 4 downhill miles. Trying to stay comfortable though. Don't want to punish the quad muscles early on downhills- lots of races have been ruined by that, got me in NYC, and many other marathoners too. You know your cooked when late in the race, on the downhill, you can't hit your goal pace anymore- and then it's like 'waiter, check please' I'm done.

On the side of some apartment building, I see a big mural of Dodgers pitcher Fernando Venezula. Loved watching him back in the 80's. The Dodgers were iconic, so many characters, even to a Houston Astros boy like me. Astros must have played them 20 times a year back then. I get the feeling this day is gonna shape up good. The Right time / Right place feeling. Like Andre Agassi's dad used to say to him- 'kid, you got a horse shoe up your ass or something'.... cuz he made his way through the ranks easy after his brother and sister before him had stalled out near the top level of tennis.

Mile 4 - Disney Concert Hall 5:37 -- 41

hmm. From look at course elevation I thought mile 4 would start to get tough. Watch later says 41 ft downhill. Looking at data now that'll be the last 5:30s mile :). I see the same runners ahead of me and on horizon. 'American shorts' way up ahead 45-60 sec. 'Black singlet' like 30-40 seconds up. And 'White Singlet' 20 sec ahead. Been this way since about mile 2 when we all went past people. Now it's like a formation.They look back at me from time to time. I'm motivation for them too.

PS> I'll see these guys the whole race. I really want to catch them. But patience dude. Work the race. The are my markers.

Mile 5 - Downtown LA 6:12 126 61

Damn up and down. Working. Welcome to LA kid. They don't have this back in h-town. I fight for 6min pace on the watch. But from elevation chart I knew it would be tough here. So i fight. But no worries. Bounce back the next one. Take what the mile gives you is what people say.

Mile 6 - Echo Park 5:57 133 68

More of the same kind of terrain, up and down but spread out more. I bounce back to 5:57. A guy in a black singlet goes by me here. Ah man I already got 1 black singlet in my race ahead of me, your screwing up my story:) This guy has long hair and beard blowing in the wind. He seems to say welcome to the hills flat lander as he goes by and runs up near white singlet - a place I can never seem to get. But i got them near me, motivating me. That's good too. (master running side note: no one ever seems to wanna run with the old guy. Makes them feel like they are having a bad day or something. So younger male runners passing you seem to usually want to surge ahead, instead of working with you. Only time will tell if that is a good move. No?)

Mile 7 - Silverlake 5:48 25 51

Ahh yeah flatter and downhilll nice. I step back on the gas. Good positive sign for my mental dashboard gauges.

Mile 8 - Los Feliz 5:54 33 64

Little more uphill, but more downhill not bad.

Mile 9 - Thai Town 6:04 71 --

Uphill here. Working. Trying to make the mile near 6min pace. Ah here comes LongHair Black Singlet back to me. He's hot and struggling. As I go by I try to encourage him, I say, 'You're doing good man' he looks over at me tired, breathing hard, and says with an accent 'You're amazing' Ok. didn't expect that. Bucks a guy up a bit. I know it was an old related compliment. But i am older. I don't let it go to my head too much, we'll see in about 10 or 12 miles how 'amazing' it's going.

I never see him again.

Back to chasing White Singlet ahead. I thought White Singlet was a sage runner- running the tangents of the course, cause he's always moving from one side of the street to the other.... but now I think he just likes running in the gutters. Strange. The street has the softer asphalt- my feet never hurt all day! Sweet! But I just can't seem to catch up to White Singlet and run with him. hrrrumph. I think he always senses me coming...

Mile 10 - Hollywood Walk of Fame 5:54 -- 27

Back under 6min pace, flatter, downhill. Never saw the Walk of Fame. i did see the Hollywood sign, I always wanted to see that.

Mile 11 - Grauman’s Chinese Theater 5:59 9 17

More course. Keep it at

Mile 12 - Hollywood 5:55 -- 29

Some downhill.

Mile 13 - Sunset Strip 6:00 29 --

I went through the half marathon mark in like 1:17:50

A guy in a black singlet catches me around here. He gets a few steps past me but I hold on.

Mile 14 - West Hollywood 5:58 61 20

I'm holding on to the new Black Singlet guy with me. He's helping me avoid the mid-race inattention.

Mile 15 - Doheny Drive, Viper Room, Whisky A Go Go 5:48 -- 193

Whoa big downhill here. Me and BlackSinglet guy kicking it. Getting closer to White Singlet

Mile 16 - Beverly Hills - Rodeo Drive 5:58 -- 26

buckle up buttercup, miles 16 thru 24 is climbing all the way

BlackSinglet is working next to me. He takes off his shirt he's sweating working hard. I hope he stays on to help me but things not looking good for that.

Mile 17 - Beverly Hills - Century City 6:08 59 --

Damn starting to slip. It's too nice of an area, richy rich street, to be suffering like this.

I lose my buddy, BlackSinglet, he falls back a few steps.... then he's gone.

Course is getting rough. Better put on your hard hat and break out lunch pail- time to work.

Mile 18 - Santa Monica Blvd 6:06 30 20

ok holding steady. battle dude battle

Mile 19 - Westwood 6:14 13 33

little slippage

Mile 20 - VA/Purple Heart Hill 6:19 17 20

fighting

Mile 21 - Brentwood 6:27 67 --

oh man bad trend here

Mile 22 - San Vicente & Bundy 6:12 42 23

Little bounce back

Mile 23 - San Vicente & 26th Brentwood Country Club 6:20 13 16

sucker punch on these hills and up downs

oh man i'm battling here

A young guy comes by my in a white hat/singlet/blue shorts. He cruises up to white singlet guy(yeah i'm still chasing him) and they say a few words. I immediately think, two locals who know the course. THis guy who passes us has saved it for the right time, he's not slowing down on these hills. He settles in ahead of white singlet. A little later what looks to be his girlfriend jumps in and runs the next 2 miles with him. She is fresh and bubbly. The rest of us are hanging on for dear life.

I gotta speed up if i want to get sub 2:40 time and meet my goal. I gotta stop the slide. I didn't come here to fade out.

Mile 24 - San Vicente & 14th 6:15 21 21

okay gotter done. that should be the worst of it. time to step on it.... if i can.

Mile 25 - Ocean Ave/Palisades Park 5:54 -- 112

allright. i'm a grimacing. lots of pain in my abs/hips but back below 6min pace on the downhill. Come on! Finish it up.

Mile 26 - @ 25.5 Turn on to Ocean DR in Santa Monica 5:54 -- 79

I keep at it. I'm locked up tight. It's all I got left. Thankfully it's downhill, even though downhill doesn't feel so good anymore.

Last .2 - Santa Monica 2:02 5:28 pace -- 37

I pick it up for the last part trying to catch White Singlet once and for all. People are yelling go get him, they love a duel. (I been busting my ass for 2.5 hrs, and they want more just so they can have 15 sec of entertainment- but hey it's expected in a race, that's what we do, we're animals). I'm nodding at the crowd thinking it's gonna happen. I close the gap down. I'm totally totally locked up and tight.... not... gonna... get... there. I close to about 6 sec of him. He sped up too to fight me off. well done white singlet, you held off the old man, fear the reaper

The PA annoucer says, "He is our first Master runner unofficially" (master for marathon is > 40yrs old). That held up too in the final results. The 2nd place master from Cali was 50 sec back. Whew, glad i pushed at the end! Really my only goal was to go sub 2:40 and do the best i could and to have a good performance for my gracious LA hosts- the Joneses.

I finished 13 overall in the open, but 12 pro men (2:12 - 2:26 times) and 4 pro women(2:34 - 2:37:55) got me on time. Would have been nice to run with the pro women. Packs are better than running alone. I'm never a fan of separate starts.

27th place overall.

1st over 40 yrs old

1st 45-49 age group

Total Finishers:

Men 10951

Women 7965 Total Finishers 18916

place Name Bib Age Place Gender Place 5K Split 10K Split 15K Split 20K Split 25K Split 30K Split 35K Split 40K Split Clock Time Net Time Hometown

1 PETER LAWRENCE 20974 45 13 13 17:53 36:41 55:08 1:13:36 1:32:05 1:51:20 2:11:07 2:30:10 2:38:13 2:38:05 HOUSTON, TX

1 OSWALDO HURTADO 1256 43 14 14 18:24 37:34 56:07 1:14:44 1:33:41 1:52:54 2:12:08 2:31:10 2:39:02 2:38:54 DOWNEY, CA

stats:

26.37 mi Distance

6:00 min/mi Avg Pace

3,113 Calories

2:38:08 Time

791 ft Elev Gain

1 5:48.2 5:48.2 5:44 1.00 29 85 5:48 5:44 4:59 116

2 5:37.4 11:26 5:31 1.00 -- 132 5:37 5:31 4:47 119

3 5:36.9 17:02 5:32 1.00 13 18 5:37 5:32 4:31 118

4 5:37.5 22:40 5:35 1.00 -- 41 5:38 5:35 4:07 117

5 6:12.9 28:53 6:12 1.00 126 61 6:13 6:12 4:48 119

6 5:57.7 34:51 5:57.7 1.00 133 68 5:58 5:58 4:44 119

7 5:48.1 40:39 5:44 1.00 25 51 5:48 5:44 4:40 121

8 5:54.3 46:33 5:51 1.00 33 64 5:54 5:51 5:11 118

9 6:04.6 52:38 6:04 1.00 71 -- 6:05 6:04 5:11 116

10 5:54.7 58:32 5:54 1.00 -- 27 5:55 5:54 5:09 119

11 5:59.5 1:04:32 5:56 1.00 9 17 6:00 5:56 5:26 117

12 5:55.1 1:10:27 5:54 1.00 -- 29 5:55 5:54 5:01 118

13 6:00.5 1:16:27 5:54 1.00 29 -- 6:01 5:54 4:47 118

14 5:58.2 1:22:25 5:58 1.00 61 20 5:58 5:58 5:11 117

15 5:48.9 1:28:14 5:45 1.00 -- 193 5:49 5:45 4:58 119

16 5:58.4 1:34:13 5:54 1.00 -- 26 5:59 5:54 4:37 118

17 6:08.9 1:40:22 6:04 1.00 59 -- 6:09 6:04 4:34 119

18 6:06.0 1:46:28 6:05 1.00 30 20 6:06 6:05 5:07 119

19 6:14.0 1:52:42 6:11 1.00 13 33 6:14 6:11 5:28 116

20 6:19.4 1:59:01 6:18 1.00 17 20 6:19 6:18 5:31 118

21 6:27.7 2:05:29 6:26 1.00 67 -- 6:28 6:26 5:10 119

22 6:12.9 2:11:42 6:08 1.00 42 23 6:13 6:08 4:19 118

23 6:20.2 2:18:02 6:18 1.00 13 16 6:20 6:18 5:16 119

24 6:15.2 2:24:17 6:12 1.00 21 21 6:15 6:12 5:29 116

25 5:54.3 2:30:11 5:49 1.00 -- 112 5:54 5:49 5:15 117

26 5:54.2 2:36:06 5:50 1.00 -- 79 5:54 5:50 4:53 118

27 2:02.1 2:38:08 1:57 0.37 -- 37 5:28 5:14 4:41 45

Summary 2:38:08 2:38:08 2:38:07 26.37 791 1,195 6:00 6:00 4:07 3,113

speed4black (Skechers GOmeb Speed 4)