All -
Well, we've come to the final report.
Thank you for the last minute donations that came in overnight for the marathon! We nearly reached $10,000 pending any donations coming in this week. (We always have a few. Rebecca and I will then send in our match donations as promised.)
So how was the LA Marathon today?
Mother nature ensured we runners kept from being too warm or dry. After about 3 miles (25 minutes), the rain started. And didn't stop. In fact, 11 hours later, we are still being pelted here in Southern California. Rebecca and I just went back to Dodger Stadium to pick up my car, and neither of us had driven in anything that heavy. Fortunately, this super heavy rain didn't hit me in the marathon as I was able to complete it in a speedy 3:35:21 (off a goal of 3:40). We had some intense rain, but nothing like the golf balls deciding in the past hour. Scroll down to the previous post to see me soggy but happily home with my medal.
Overall, despite the weather, I really enjoyed the race. The last 6 miles, I ran with a guy who didn't seem to be from LA. Sadly, despite a congratulatory hug at the finish line, I didn't get his name! He wasn't very talkative, but he seemed to enjoy my counting down the miles. By looking at the results, I think his name was Eduardo and that he is from Argentina which is just funny since I was just there. In any case, I think we both pushed each other during that last 10K. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me, Shall be my brother." That connection helped me beat my 2010 LA Marathon time by over 3 minutes; Eduardo's did tell me as we run this was his second marathon. So, I'm very happy with the time - more so when taken in combination with Antarctica 20 days ago.
I actually ran into Sumalee from the Antarctica trip at Dodger Stadium this morning. She ran sub 4-hours and wanted to know if I'm running Pasadena in a few months. (I'm running the Mt. Si Washington 50K ultramarathon April 10 and then a half in Ft. Collins on May 1 but no Pasadena for me.) Still, it was great to run into one of the few other voyage Southern Californians at the race. And how random to bump into someone at Dodger Stadium given the cavernous size?
Then after the race, I bumped into one of my oldest friends, Steve, who just took a new job at a sports fitness company in Santa Monica. So, that was an awesome surprise at the conclusion of the event. Best of luck to Steve in his new position.
Thank you again for everyone's nice notes and support and donations.
Thank you again for everyone's nice notes and support and donations. While I supported three charities as always, most of my energy went into The Alliance for Children's Rights. A wonderful benefit was that we all gathered today in a Dodger suite to hang out prior to the race. I then hung out with some of the staff afterwards near the finish line and in their booth. I'll post pictures when I get copies at www.runlairdrun.com which I will be updating on an ongoing basis.
All the best,
Laird
