The Skechers Performance LA Marathon was this weekend and I’m just coming down from all the fun (and all the miles). This is my race recap and results – if you ran a race this weekend share how it went in the comments and/or link to your post about it!
First things first – Skechers designed super awesome LA themed gear for the race. It features the Los Angeles city skyline and palm trees – it’s just so iconic and being from southern California it just gets my heart all fuzzy. I do love LA.
The night before I bowed out of dinner to grab something from the Whole Foods hot bar. I try to eat (tons of) brown rice and salt or soy sauce before a marathon. My stomach was feeling a little high maintenance all day so I wanted to stick to my routine before the race.
Apparently my routine involves cookies.
I set everything out the night before… #FlatRunner
I also put out my random pre-race Must Haves: Spark Drink – for pre-run and another post-run and the new to me Clif Bloks in Salted Watermelon.
I woke up 3 times before my 5am alarm because I was afraid I was going to oversleep. Finally I just got out of bed, made coffee and started to get ready.
Rise and shine! Let’s go!
The LA Marathon is a ‘point to point course’ which means it starts at one place and ends at another. So, everyone has to get a shuttle to the starting line at Dodger Stadium or be dropped off – you end up 26.2 miles away so you can’t park there.
We fueled up beforehand
Oh, and Meb was there… so I asked for a picture 
Before I knew it we had to head to the starting line… my new friends are Mandy, Keira and Adam.
Oh, I should tell them they’re my friends since we didn’t exchange friendship bracelets. Can someone remind me? Thanks!
The LA Marathon Course: Starts at Dodger Stadium and goes through LA to Santa Monica.
It’s a great course because there are so many awesome landmarks and iconic Los Angeles sights. You even run by PUMP (Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant in case you’re not a reality TV junkie).
The hardest part of the course comes around mile 4 – there’s a big pretty steep hill.
The easiest part of the course is anytime you’re distracted by… the Hollywood sign, Booming Chinese drums, Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, Clif Bar aid station, drag queen cheerleaders, 24 firemen standing outside their fire station, Sunset Strip, Santa Monica Blvd…
The sun rose right around the starting time. The weather was fairly cool (for the LA marathon at least) in the low 60s for most of the race.
I wore the Skechers GoRun 5. They are super lightweight, have a great heel to toe ratio and are one of the most affordable solid running shoe options on the market. I wear a surprisingly lightweight shoe for the distance I run and my size, but this works for me. Always get the right running shoe for you, your foot, strike, distance, goals, size, etc. Check out their other options at Skechers Performance here.
I’ve been training in the GoRun5 for a while now. I started with just using them for tempo runs, was pleasantly surprised and wore them for long runs, short runs and even running to the liquor store. It all works.
^ I found this fun Shamrock skirt in the little girl’s section at Walmart for $5.00. It had liner underneath I cut off. And ProCompression socks are always my go to for compression sock options in 101 colors and designs. ^
It’s hard to see in this picture but the Hollywood sign starts peeking from behind the buildings right after this part of the race…
My race: I didn’t feel super speedy so it wasn’t hard to keep myself from going out too fast. My legs did not want to run fast – which I thought was a really bad sign and scared me a little. I spotted a few friends running too – Pam and Carlee both about 7 and 11 miles into the race. Pam ditched me, Carlee told me to ditch her. That’s the good thing about running friends who have been doing it for a long time – we realize you gotta work with what you got that day.
I wanted to do the second half of the race faster than the first half, but I was not feeling strong. I basically just counted down until the Sole Runners aid station. They are always around mile 18 to 19ish. I didn’t need aid so much as I needed a distraction to keep me going. When I saw it I spotted Leann and ran straight for her. She gave me a REAL HUG (even though I was sopping with sweat and she was not) and that made me feel better and I basically ran away.
Then, I contemplated how I used to say I don’t like hugs when in reality I don’t like bad hugs. That’s because Ben is the world’s best hugger and it spoiled me. If you are going to hug me you must be my size or bigger and really give a good squeeze or just let me skip it. Thanks.
And that ^^^ is the kind of delirium that seems 100% normal after 3 hours of running. I a.) covered my friend I haven’t seen in months in sweat, barely said 1 word to her and then ran away to contemplate my stance on hugging people.
I hit a wall around mile 20 and wanted to walk because I was around a lot of runners who were majorly hitting their own walls. Boo! It was hard to push on when I felt like we were all fading.
I finished my Clif shot (mocha for life) and just kept running. Finally, by some Christmas marathon miracle I got a second (or maybe third or fourth?) wind and felt great. The last three miles of the race I pushed it. I stopped looking at my watch hours before (probably around mile 8) because I wasn’t feeling great. So, I wasn’t sure what pace I was running but I figured it had to be faster than before!
After the Surf City Marathon I sent my splits to SR and she said I’m the worst and went out too fast. So I was on a mission to do at least one of the last miles faster than the one before so I could text her and tell her I’m NOT the worst, maybe just the second worst.
I really felt good the last 3 miles – it was weird. I was questioning if I saved too much in the tank. I don’t know where that 3rd wave of energy came from but I’m so happy with how I felt at the end.
Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon 2017 done in 3:47:07
Post race I celebrated. Hard.
Run hard. Party harder. Repeat.
Question: Did you RUN this weekend? Did you run the LA Marathon or another race?? Tell me!
Feel free to share your random run or race – and link to your blog or social media. Sometimes links in the comments don’t show up right away, but I’ll push it through spam if it gets stuck.
Disclaimer: This post is part of a collaboration with Skechers. All opinions and views belong solely to the blog owner.
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