(copied from my blog review, which you can find here: https://fiveleveninety.blogspot.com/2020/03/race-review-running-from-stadium-to-sea.html)

Brett and I ventured out west a few weeks ago for marathon #14 - the Los Angeles Marathon! We left on an over night flight on the 6th which was brutal. We left Boston at 9:30pm EST and landed in LA at 1AM PST. WOOF. So thankful that Brett's cousin Stevie and his wife Yvonne was willing to take us in and cart us around for the weekend. (Shout out them for carting us around all weekend and showing us a great time!) We got back to the house around 2:30am and was greeted by signs that their daughters had made for us. They are so adorable! 😭

We woke up around 7:30AM the next morning which was a bit surprising, but maybe being on east coast time messed with our ability to sleep for longer. 😂 Our plan for the day was to head into LA (we were staying a bit outside the city) to hit the expo then grab a bite to eat. But first, shakeout run! I ran 2 miles around the neighborhood which was so needed after being on a cross-country flight for 6 hours. I must have felt great because my second mile was the fastest mile recorded on my Garmin to date. Woops! 😂

I showered up and we hit the road for LA. We made a stop for breakfast (Chick-fil-A, our fave #chickenbiscuits), popped by to see Brett's aunt, and picked up Yvonne before heading over to the LA Convention Center for the expo! We, of course, also needed to make a stop at Starbucks because I was essentially falling asleep standing up. I needed energy before wandering the vendor booths!

This expo was HUGE and pretty well organized as well. All of the bib and shirt pick up was up front so if you only wanted to grab your race packet you could quickly grab it and leave, but they had dozens of vendors and photo ops so we wanted to take full advantage. We could have definitely stayed at the expo for a while to check everything out! I think we were there for about 30-45 minutes or so just seeing what was around.

After the expo we stopped at a restaurant across from the Staples Center called Tom's Watch Bar which has the MOST TVs I've ever seen in a restaurant. We were watching literally every sports event that was happening in the United States at the same time. 😂 I grabbed a bite to eat and drank my water while everyone else got to enjoy cocktails. (Probs the worst part of marathon weekend - not being able to indulge with everyone else until after the race. 😜🍹) We had a good time just chatting and planning what race day would look like. It's always so amazing to know there's folks in my life willing to sacrifice their weekends to support my crazy marathon endeavors!

We headed back home in the mid-afternoon to get ready for the next morning. We were about to lose an hour of sleep to daylight saving's so bedtime had to be early. 😩 I laid out everything I needed, packed my Camelbak, used the therapy gun on my legs, set my alarm for 3AM, and finally got into bed around 9pm.

Fake 3AM (really 2AM) slapped us all in the face on race morning. I popped out of bed to get ready since we were hoping to be on the road by 4. Yvonne very kindly made me a breakfast smoothie (which was DELISH) and I am so thankful that she did that for me because I totally would have forgotten breakfast if she didn't. 😳 I don't know what it is about race morning but sometimes I get so focused on how the run is going to go that I forget everyhting else. Again, SO THANKFUL that I have amazing people around me to help me take on these 26.2 beasts!

I knew traffic on race morning was going to be nuts and we had tried our best to prepare for it. We got to the Dodger Stadium area by about 5:15am - about an hour and 45 minutes before the race started - but we still were stuck in so much traffic trying to actually drive up and park at the stadium. We waited in line for a while until we saw other runners hopping out of cars and walking their way to the stadium. Brett and I eventually decided to do that same with the hope that Stevie and Yvonne could meet up with us at the start before the race, but as we walked up the road we quickly realized that there was no way they would be able to make it to the stadium and park before I started running. Such a bummer! Definitely plan ahead when it comes to the starting line because with 27,000 runners + their loved ones all driving to the same place it will take you a long time before you can actually get there and park.

Luckily the walk wasn't so bad (maybe 10-15 minutes?) and it was actually good to get my body moving before the race! Brett and I found a spot in the parking lot and he put me through a dynamic warm up before heading over to the corrals (trainer boyfriend perks!). I was in the open corral which meant that we were the last to start, but I believe the majority of the field was in the open corral so you could just hop in wherever. After the elites and seeded corrals were off, it was our turn! I really appreciate that they didn't do a waved start for the open corral. Despite the fact that the corral was so big, we moved quickly and I was on the road about 15 minutes after start time - not bad!

The first few miles flew right by. This course is so much fun. There's people everywhere (spectators and runners alike), there's LA landmarks at almost every mile, and there's just so much to look at! This marathon also encourages folks to go for Guinness World Records during the race so lots of people dress up. I saw a guy running in a bear mascot suit (see the vlog below for a clip!), folks running while dribbling basketballs, I even saw a runner at the finish line dressed in a full suit (INCLUDING dress shoes - OUCH). No matter where you look on the course there is entertainment

Despite the rolling hills of this course (which honestly I was not very prepared for), I was moving along at a pretty good clip and hitting my paces. I was staying on top of my fueling plan and it seemed like everything was clicking! The only thing I was worried about was that I needed to find a restroom but every single porta-potty stop had a huge line. I figured by maybe mile 7 the lines would have maybe died down but that was not the case at all. There were lines at every bathroom stop for the entire race which I have not seen at a marathon before. This year's field of runners was the biggest LA has seen and they did not prepare to have enough resources for all 27,000 of us.

The stretch between the 10k point and the half marathon point wad my absolute favorite part of the course. There was a beautiful stretch where we ran downhill and could see the Hollywood sign in perfect view in the distance, we ran down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and I even got to see Brett, Stevie, and Yvonne right before mile 12! I was definitely still feeling fairly energetic through this stretch despite the hills putting my legs to the test. I also found a 5:00 pace group around this time that was doing run/walk intervals so I ran with them for a couple of miles before needing to fall back a bit.

After mile 15 the hard work really set in. I finally made a bathroom stop at mile 15 and had to wait in line for a few minutes. This *might* have been where my sub-5 went to die, but I also know that if I waited any longer it would have messed with my run. You never know with the marathon what factors are going to impact your race! I decided to make a stop so I didn't have to think about my bladder for another 11 miles. After the break, I ran through Beverley Hills blasting Weezer (because you have to), enjoyed the Cheer mile at 19, and really had to focus on staying hydrated from mile 20 on as the temperatures started to rise. At this point I was chanting "sub-5, sub-5, sub-5" to myself to drive out all the negative thoughts that were trying to creep into my mind and ruin my race.

The last miles were TOUGH. It took a lot of mental fighting to keep myself moving forward. I didn't make a single stop after hitting the bathroom at 15 which I was proud of myself for, but I did need to take walking breaks here and there. (It's my goal to build my mental toughness and physical fitness so I will keep running all the way through 26.2!) Mile 24 was SO CHALLENGING because it was ALL UP HILL. 💀 At that point I knew that a sub-5 was pretty unlikely (runner math is never fun haha) but I knew another new PR was in reach. After I crested the hill it was all downhill to the finish line. I put my head down and gave it everything I had for the rest of the race. I was able to see Brett and Yvonne right at the finish line and I puuuuuuuuuuuuuussssheed through to the end...

AND I SET ANOTHER NEW PR AT 5:03:01!!!!

I am so stinkin' proud of being able to set two marathon PRs within a month of each other. I worked so hard to become faster during the last training cycle and the hard work paid off. I am still working my way to sub-5 but I know that it will come with more time and training. I can't wait to see that 4 at the beginning of my finish time some day soon!

To be honest the finish area is kind of a mess. Santa Monica being a beach town, there really isn't a ton of room for people to get around (ya know, because of the ocean being right there and all). After you cross the finish line, you have to walk about a quarter of a mile to get out of the finish area. I understand why races have to do this but I'm never a fan of it. All I want to do is sit down! Once I finally got out of the finish area I found a patch of grass to sit on for a while as I waited for Brett to navigate the crowds to come fin me. Because so much of the finish is roped off to spectators and there is just a billion people everywhere it took him a while to actually find where I was. It's just SO MANY PEOPLE and SO MANY BARRICADES at the finish that you really should pre-determine a meeting point at the finish with your loved ones. It's not easy at all to link up close to the finish, so make sure you make a plan. Either way, I was so happy when Brett finally found me and we were able to celebrate another new PR!

After the race, we stopped for lunch at the Water Grill right near the finish line. One of the biggest highlights was getting to meet up with our pals Carly and Kirby! We hadn't seen them in a few years and I was so good to see them. I had a delicious plate of fish & chips (highly recommend!) while we caught up and I recovered from the race. Before we left we had to snag some photos with them before making a plan to not wait to long before seeing each other again!

I wanted to finish up this post recognizing how fortunate I was to actually run this race. LA was one of the last marathons to stay on schedule (the week following LA it seems like everything got cancelled), and now amidst so many race cancellations and postponements I feel very lucky that I was able to run all of my scheduled races this winter. It just makes my experience at the 35th Annual LA Marathon that much more special.