Last week I left my family for five days, took a plane across the country and ran two races, the Big LA 5K and the LA Marathon. And, I had VIP tickets to watch the US Marathon Olympic Trials.
Holy SHIT, it was like a dream!
While I was basking in the glow of 75 and sunny with no humidity, my wife and son were holed up in our apartment in Manhattan staving off frostbite from what was literally the coldest weekend on record for NYC.
Okay, they weren’t really in danger of frostbite, but it was the coldest weekend on record, and I felt kinda bad about it.
Why? Because this was the view from my hotel room.
So yeah, I felt a little guilty.
But then I hooked up with my friends Chris and Victoria and started what really was a two day running party.
Big LA 5K
Starting at virtually the same spot as the marathon, the Big 5K kicks off in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. Which, if you haven’t been, is up on a hill. And well, it’s surrounded by hills.
What did I get myself into?
We had a rational discussion before the race started, we were going to keep it at a nice easy pace, I mean, we had a marathon the next day.
But then the gun went off and the race started. And Chris and Vic shot out ahead of me. Not one who’s interested in being left behind, I quickly ran to catch up with them.
We circled out of the parking lot and just before the half mile mark we hit a hill.
We hit a hill with a switchback.
A SWITCHBACK!
And it varied in grade all the way up to 12%.
12 PERCENT PEOPLE!!!
“Are you kidding me” was the only thing that was going through my head.
I had lost Vic but still had Chris in my sites. Yes, he was ahead of me, but I could still see him.
So yeah, there was a nice little downhill, but then, just past the two mile mark was another heartbreaker. This one was also a half mile in all and hurt. It slowed a lot of runners down (including me) peaking at 7.5%. And that’s when I lost sight of Chris.
At 2.6 miles there was a pretty steep downhill that actually had me leaning back a little. Of course, this was followed by it’s exact polar opposite, 0.2 miles up at an 8% grade.
Seriously, WTF?
My final saving grace was the last 0.2 of the race, a really fast downhill to the finish line.
I was kind of shocked to see my average pace at just under 8 minutes per mile.
Needless to say Chris came in just about a minute ahead of me and Vic just about a minute behind.
Would I do it again? I’m not sure racing a 5K the day before a marathon is the best idea, but it was super fun, the race was well organized and the course while hilly was scenic and fun.
But really, look at my heart rate zones (this was anything but a shakeout):
After the race we hopped in Chris’ truck and made our way to the LA Convention Center to grab our bibs for the marathon, but more importantly, to watch the best marathoners in the US duke it out for a spot on the US Olympic Team.
Check out my post on the Olympic Trials here.
Here’s my race file from Strava.
