At Least I Wasn't Wearing Brogans and a Wool Uniform - an LA Marathon Debriefing

Greetings Cosmic Americans!

For those of you who follow the running posts on Twitter and Facebook and such, I thought you might like to hear a little about this year's LA Marathon. First off, the weather was a hell of a lot better that the torrential downpours that plagued last year's field. Now on the race.

I started off feeling fantastic - clocking 8-minute miles. And I keep it up too, for a while anyway. My knee started messing with me around mile 11-12, but I kept my pace anyway. You know, because I do that sort of thing and I wanted to finish in about 3:30 or so. My plan...I was going to slow a bit at the halfway point and rest for a final push in the last few miles.

Ah...but the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray....

Things began to fall apart by mile 13-14. I experienced some major muscle fatigue and by mile 16 was starting to cramp. By mile 20 I had to give those cramps, which by this time had become increasingly painful, some much-needed attention. So thanks to the Army medic - I didn't get his name - who helped me work out a particularly nasty calf cramp.

The last few miles saw a pretty poor performance, but I finished faster than last year's race - gaining an entire 11.5 minutes. So all in all, I will call it a win. Finish time: 4:17:59.

I'll be running San Francisco in July - and the training....well, let's just say I will not be training harder - just smarter. Some cross training and leg work is definitely in order. So expect a better showing in a few months :)

And congratulations to all the participants of the 2012 LA Marathon. It was a pleasure (well...most of it, anyway) spending my Sunday morning with you all!

Peace,
Keith