Race Report: LA Marathon March 20, 2011

"That was so stupid!" - me, my first words after finishing my first marathon on a windy stormy Santa Monica Sunday.

The beginning of my misery was waking up at 3:30am to prepare for the race. I had stuffed every pocket of my ultra-techy running gear with Gu's. (my squirtable food to help me run faster). Then covered all of that with my gigantic and hideous thrift store sweats and a garbage bag in hopes of staying warm and dry. (This later becomes a crock)

Mere and I catch a 4:30am shuttle to Dodger Stadium. This bus is full of equally sleepy racers, but just enough cocky loudmouths to drive me insane. These jerks found this to be the best time to brag about their past achievements.

4:50am - 7:15am We sit in Dodger Stadium in the cold and bored. At least it's dry.

OK so the race finally begins ... I shed my thrift store exterior and take off. Just in time for the storm to begin. Each mile was growing more and more uncomfortable in terms of weather. By mile 10, I was drenched and lost all feeling and function of my hands. At least, I learned how to use my mouth a lot more to tear open Gu packages and what have you. And what's that sound? Oh it's my squishy shoes because I had just run through 1/2 a mile of ankle deep water! Miles and miles of complete sogginess and wind chill. Everyone talks about mile 20 being the scorcher. No -- it's mile 26. As you turn onto what is called the home stretch, you get struck by a huge gust of wind coming from the ocean. Thanks, God, you got me there!

Finish time: 4 hours and 42 minutes. 12 minutes passed my time goal. Oh well. I was more concerned about pooping my shorts, which did not happen.

So as a completely depleted runner, you're happy you cross the finish line. But wait, you have to walk almost 2 huge blocks through picture taking and medal distribution and swag. This is useless to me because I still can't use my hands. Thank god they gave me this strange paper blanket to keep me "warm".

Overall, I'm in disbelief that I paid $150 to put myself through almost 5 hours of torture. Mentally and physically. Physically was the pain in my legs. The feeling that my legs weight 500 tons and my joints are aching. In terms of cardio, I was fine. Just leg pain. Plenty of "Shut up, Legs" leg pain! Mental torture-  I honestly knew that I would not be happy with myself if I walked at all. But when you're cold and tired and wet and in pain, it seems so easy to do. So I had to fight that urge.

 I was hoping for that end feeling of accomplishment, but when that blind guy and 470 others passed me in the last 4.5 miles, that went down the toilet, and thankfully not down my shorts (RIMSHOT!)

To summarize:

So, what was my favorite mile? 26th

Least favorite? 26th

Overall thoughts - Horrible. Thank god I didn't poop my shorts.

Favorite running gear - Lululemon all the way!

Do I recommend this to others? Yes. It's a great way to test what your limits are.

Will I do it again? Maybe. Probably not.

Currently: Cannot walk. Can hobble.

PS.

My marathon playlist was crucial through all of this. I highly recommend putting all of those songs that instantly make you want to hit something.

Here's an part of my playlist (as it's difficult to find suggested marathon music sometimes)

The Time - Jungle Love
Rolling Stones - Start Me Up
Supergrass - Moving
.38 Special - Caught Up In You
TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
Cee Lo - F*ck You
Amy Winehouse/Mark Ronson - Valerie
Eurythmics - Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
MoneyGrabber - Fitz and the Tantrums
Motownphilly - Boyz II Men
Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield
Heartbeats - The Knife
California Gurls - Katy Perry
Justin Timberlake - Damn Girl
NERD - She wants to Move
Power Station - Some Like It Hot (still worked)
Miss You Much - Janet Jackson
Hip to Be Square - Huey Lewis and the News
The Negatives - Hood
Empire State of Mind - Jay Z
The Humpty Dance - Digital Underground
One More Time - Daft Punk
9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
Single Ladies - Beyonce

etc...

It's easy. Accessible. Mind numbing and perfect for HORRIFIC situations.

My Super Bowl Party for the Non-football fans

I've come to realize that I truly enjoy hosting parties especially now that I have a little house to live in. Mike and I like to find any sort of event or excuse to throw one for our friends. Some people asked how it went and here's was the timeline.

So the Super Bowl...

2 weeks beforehand
Mike and I decide to have a small party for those people who don't have plans. (ha)

These were my challenges:
• How do I make football fun for my artsier, less footbally friends?
• On top of that, I'm having a majority of vegan and/or health conscious cyclists that would prefer "healthier" snacks
• Prepare for 15 by myself while Mike is bike racing in San Diego
• Honestly, don't care to spend too much

A week beforehand
Mike and I work on a menu. We decide on a healthier turkey chili. He chose a recipe from Rachel Ray. We agree on cornbread, vegetables, and something with guacamole. Head to Costco and Whole Foods for all the ingredients. We expect to make food for 20 and figure if we don't have enough guests, we'll have some leftovers.

I began to start to ask people what they were up to for Superbowl Sunday and let them know I'm going to throw a party unofficially. A reality of this is that most people our age forget about parties and so I will most likely text message or email a few days beforehand.

3 days beforehand

Mike packs up and heads to San Diego for the Boulevard Road Race with his teammate, Dedrick. They are sent on a mission to get beer from Stone Brewery in San Diego, since it's responsible for most of our favorite beers. They'll be back on Sunday just in time for the kick-off.

Sent out a reminder text message for rsvps. Everyone responds! 15 people it is! Suggest that vegan buddies may want to bring something to eat.

I begin to clean up the house and defrosting meat. Pulling out our partyware. I chose nothing remotely football themed. It was just our minimalistic square black and white trays and bowls with plastic flatware. Lots of snazzy napkins from Ikea. Easy to clean, my least favorite part of parties.

Day of the Party

Send out a morning text to let everyone know that if they want to come early, they can watch Babe the Gallant Pig with me. (It's a great movie!) Also decide on what I will wear. Something casual but still accesorized, of course! (As was necessary, because my friends are always adorable 24/7.)

I also put together a playlist of some mellow and fun oldies music (Beach Boys, Jay Z, Lady Gaga) to lighten the mood for when guests get here. Also, I decided to play Babe silently just because. And remember, my guests aren't the biggest on sports commentary.

Baking and cooking commences. (I purposely chose recipes I could do quickly since I tend to be such a scattered chatterbox when guests start to arrive) Guests start to trickle in with even more snacks! A pleasant surprise. Meghan and Gary brought a great walnut salad and a date and banana pie (entirely vegan and raw).

The Game
Mike and Dedrick arrive with their cases from Stone. Excitement everywhere! The chili and cornbread worked well with the Arrogant Bastard and or the Pale Ale. Mixed reviews.

We started watching by first choosing sides. (So what if I chose according to the colors of the uniform.) Who we were rooting for added a lot of drama and excitement as we watched. Most importantly we viewed the commercials searching for our favorites. Since majority of this crowd worked in the commercial industry, there was plenty of funny, yet harsh, criticism. After all, commercials are the best part.

By the time The Who (halftime show/sing-a-long) began, we were all ready for Jocelyn's caramel brownies and the Stone Porter made for a perfect pairing.

All in all it was a great game, great party and we all had a good time. Mike finished off the chili by eating near 6 servings.  So no leftovers there, but we did have tons of Stone Beer. Good lord. We'll have to see what happens on the next one.

Oh that crazy Pacquiao!

Pumpkins!



Sometimes when we touch ...

Red Rock Day 1 - Meanwhile, at camp ...

By the time we had return to camp, we were left with ourselves, fresh air, and time. The following photos document what we did with these resources.

Lorenzo's acrobatics
Cooling off
Beats me ...

light writing

chubby bunny contest - Tim is the winner with 10 marshmallows

lion mask, a camping necessity

Red Rock - Day 1

Ugly weather forecasts of 45 mi/hr winds and thunderstorms didn't halt my fearless friends and myself from having the best camping trip ever. Meespace and I woke up Saturday morning to see a peeking thunderhead slowly back away from us and into the hills. From then on, it was perfect weather!



Today we were set to do some hiking/bouldering/climbing in the Red Rock canyon. The rock had a lot of traction which allowed for us to literally run up the rock at times.





With some time we realized, we had to "climb" climb.





At the top, we just really enjoyed the view/views...





After some time, we just made it back with all bones intact and smiles on our faces.

My new bike shoes

From Mike's disapproving nod and embarrassment, I learned that talking into my new bike shoe as if it was a telephone is not what you're supposed to do.

Friday night with the Midnight Ridazz

After work I rushed over to downtown. I was so disappointed that I had to miss LA's Korean "taco" the town (that's right I went there!), the Kogi BBQ truck but was just in time to meet up with the gang for the "No Name" ride. We were handed spoke cards and a piece of paper with a list of turns. Then off we went pedaling through the streets of East LA. Dogs barking through chainlink fences, but nothing more really. The streets were calm with exception of our group of 60 or so riders shouting and laughing.

We came across some hills and anxiously watched as the brakeless bikes skidded down hills just precisely enough to near miss a run-in with oncoming cars. Our happy group (Eva, Lorenzo, Meespace and Jason) had such a fun time that we had unknowingly gone all the way to Commerce Casino, which is about 10 miles south of Los Angeles.

Upon our return to Los Angeles, Jason and Lorenzo and I craved some lower items in the food chain- Del Taco. At 3:30am, we went to USC where sat at ate surrounded by numerous drunken frat kids on their way home from Mardi Gras night. We had never felt so proud to be from UC Santa Cruz.

Manny Pacquiao vs Oscar De La Hoya: The Pride Tenderizer

I'm no boxing fan. In fact, if it weren't for some of my friends' excitement, I wouldn't have even known about this fight.

De La Hoya vs Pacquiao. A dream fight, as some described. But why? Oh I see now-- it gets pretty exciting watching people get punched and sweat and bleed.

That little guy sure knows how to punch.

My favorite line came from announcer Jim Lampley (I think) "Pacquiao has now re-arranged De La Hoya's once beautiful face"

Hollywood Wilderness: Runyan Canyon

Mike was surprised that I wasn't leaving my apartment until the sun went down. My "art/write" hat just doesn't really tell me to go outside. Feeling slightly offended, I decided to prove him wrong and take advantage of Los Angeles' most valuable asset: sunshine.

I forced myself to get up earlier than my biological clock enjoys, nearly making me a stunt writer. I took a small walk/hike to Runyan Canyon. It is about half a mile from my apartment and there were plenty of beautiful locals with white headphones walking along with me.

Once you enter the gates, you've stepped outside of Hollywood and into a national park. The silence and shade bring a little serenity into my traffic stricken tourist trap neighborhood. There's a grassy knoll where some people meditate, plenty of happy dogs, and miles of trail to take on. In just 30 minutes, I'd reached one of the peaks. (where the picture above was taken)There I sat and admired the smoggy view. Reminded me why all the movie stars and affluent Angelenos tuck away into the Hollywood Hills: they're wonderful!

I walked home happily and somewhat victorious.

Corporate sub-culture

Wanted: Arch Rival

Photo of ice rivals, Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan

Imagine putting so much of yourself into something: your life's work. You struggle in the shadows for most of your career, but in an instant, your work suddenly becomes public. It may seem that the attention and acclaim was all the reward you needed. How do you know you've reached the top? A respectable rival. That's when you know you have something worth fighting for. After all, nothing says "I love you" more than "I hate you."

A rival is a great milestone. Consider the lives you affect on your path to greatness. Thanks to you, many lives were touched and hopefully improved, but your rival's life was affected more than anyone else's. Your work is now fueling their work and theirs with yours. Much of their inspiration now stems from your demise, and your hatred for them only drives your creativity to higher limits. Hatred? I call it flattery. Think about all that time and energy taken to sabotage your potential prize winning peanut-butter fudge bars of heaven at the Pillsbury Bakeoff. Or when they sleep overnight beneath your unguarded science fair project to nudge things out of place before the science fair? To finally have that person in your life is achieving an ultimate level of productivity, unless they've already broken your knee.

Bike Stuff: Solvang Prelude

Solvang, CA is wonderful: vineyards, windmills, sweets. But twice a year they host a very popular bike rides: The Solvang Century and the Solvang Prelude. Imagine riding your bicycle 50 miles through serene wide open vineyards on a crisp sunny California day. Then later, once finishing the ride we can eat as much aebleskiver and go taste local California wines. After all we just burned off 1000's of calories during a 4 hour ride in spandex. We deserve it.

Consider signing up. I'll be booking rooms.

Here's the website to register for the ride: The 2008 Solvang Prelude


Ps. Yes, after a ride to Nichols Canyon, it was discovered that I neglect my bike. It will be in the shop for a week. Training will start up again afterwards. Daa.

Are spectator sports the only HONEST form of DRAMA we have?

Drama is most often thought of as fiction or a re-telling, or an adaptation, of real life emotion. As people, we enjoy sharing stories and repeating feelings for the purpose of feeling alive. But what about the emotion evoked when we watch something " real" happening?

The kind of drama that needs no storyteller because they don't know the outcome either. Sure we all experience situations in our lives that require considerable thought and the expected blood, sweat and tears, but those span a longer length of time and usually doesn't permit a public view. After all the Greeks had their theater, but also enjoyed gladiator matches. Which brings me to the notion that spectator sports, no matter what the sport, may just be the most unbiased form of dramatic entertainment. No perspective or agenda. Limited predictability. Plenty of emotion. 

2008 Beijing Games: Race Walking

During the late night non-HD NBC coverage of the Olympics, Mike and I stumbled upon RACEWALKING

Our only reaction: WHY???