I am training for the L.A. Marathon in March (my first marathon!). Last Saturday I ran 12 miles, the furthest I have ever run…ever! Mind you, my pace is on the slowish side. Give me inspiration or make me laugh with your marathon stories.
You probably don’t want to hear about my last one, which was in Long Beach in October. That wasn’t much fun for me. 
I’ve run 5 marathons. Each time I cross the finish line I’m in awe of myself. That I could be doing something so athletic. That I had the mental strength to go the full distance (especially that last one - marathons that suck require EXTRA mental fortitude). I look back to when I was in high school and couldn’t even run one lap around the track without collapsing in a huff. I’ve cried at the finish line because of it.
On the bright side: especially in large races (I’ve never done LA, but want to eventually) you’ll have lots of people to look at. There will likely be people with funny signs attached to them. There will likely be people in costume. Those kind of things take your mind off the fact that you’re out for several hours sweating it up. I would guess the LA crowd support should be pretty decent, at least in some parts, since it’s such a big event. That’s always inspiring, and in the later miles, it’s critical for keeping your wits about you.
With any luck you’ll have good weather, and you won’t need to make multiple bathroom stops (which serve only to waste precious time!). Maybe you’ll even see some funny things. But regardless, if you cross that finish line, you’ll be filled with a great sense of accomplishment.
Stories about marathons? Man, and I was going to write this re-e-e-ally long post…
Be careful, careful, careful when training. One of my dad’s lifelong dreams was to run in the Boston Marathon. He qualified for it, and then during his training leading up to it, developed tendonitits from overtraining. Know how that happened? A typo in his training schedule. :smack: He never did get back to it…
I have a Marathon story.
I took it out of the package. Mmm it smelled good. I started chewing on the carmel and chocolate…
what?
Oh sorry.
I’ve never run one (I have run a half tho’) but I’ve rowed one. Two years ago. My hands were shredded but I got a really cool medal. Because I’m obviously a glutton for punishment, I’m rowing it again this weekend. Took me 4 hours, 20 minutes last time; I’m aiming for three and a half hours this time around…
Oh, about the running. I discovered that I had a steady state sorta pace that I could hold forever. When I ranthe half, my longest run had only been seven miles but I just kept to my steady state pace and had no problem. Good luck!
This is only tangentially related, but I’ll tell it anyway because I think it’s great –
A friend of mine and her boyfriend run together a lot, and have participated in several marathons. They ran in one last weekend, and he finished ahead of her. When she crossed the finish line, his mom and her mom were holding a banner that read, “Will you marry me?”, with her boyfriend kneeling in front of it. His dad was on hand to videotape the whole thing. Obviously she said yes, and the wedding is planned for sometime next August.
Isn’t that sweet?
That is my marathin story, unfinished yet.
What? You say you want stories ABOUT marathin races? Sorry, never seen one.
Beadalin, that is a good story. I’ve heard of situations where a couple has gotten married at the start line and then run the race together.
That is truly a love of running.
My first marathon had the option of choosing someone to be at the finish line to give you your medal if you were completing your first marathon. I picked my mom. So when I got to the finish line, shredded and exhausted, mom was there with the medal. She said “I’m so proud of you”, hugged me, and we both were sobbing like crazy.
I’ve been in 3 marathons.
All of them have been Disney marathons. Now, here is the discouraging part: for Disney Marathons, at least, you have to get up well before 3 am in order to be at the start line in time! I’m sure my times would have been a lot better (on the order of 1/2 hr) if I had been able to get a good night’s sleep, then again, so would everyone else’s.
The last one, I started off well, but then fell back to a slow jog around halfway. I knew I was falling back when I saw signs that said “hurry up! Puff Daddy’s beating you!” (this was just after his NYC marathon.) I mock scowled at him and shook my head. However, that was the longest I could even keep up a jogging pace. I finished, well behind puffy, at 4:50.
Then again, even though I didn’t even jog through the whole race, I beat 5 hours. It feels good to know that, on a good day I would probably be able to do it in under 4…but I never can get enough friggin rest for Game Day.
Funny story about the first marathon: we were in the back stretch, with at the most 1 1/2 miles to go, when we rounded a bend up a hill and some spectators shouted “go! go! it’s the last hill!” Then, we rounded a bend and saw another hill, and I shouted out loud “they said that was the last hill!” I actually elicited a chuckle from my fellow participants, even through the exhaustion.
Not my story nut an interesting one in the news headlineed Marathon for Masochists
LA Marathon, you say?
I attempted that one this year. It was March 7, 2004. I had done all my training here in Denver all through the winter. The warmest it ever got for one of my long runs was about 40F. I got to LA and the first couple of days were in the 60s. No problem, I thought. The day of the marathon? was 91 degrees F. I hope you are somewhere where you can train in a few different weather conditions, because I was unable to finish the marathon. I got to halfway and collapsed; my body couldn’t handle the heat. My boyfriend finished, but he had to walk for about 6 of the miles, and he finished in 7 hours 15 minutes. There’s no way to know how hot or cold it will be in LA for the marathon, so I suggest trying to train in as different conditions as possible, so your body won’t be shocked when it has to deal with something it’s not used to.
Also, there’s virtually no shade along the marathon course. Prepare accordingly.
I wish you the best of luck, and happy training. Marathoning wasn’t for me (I got really discouraged after this race) and I’ve pretty much quit running for now. My body likes shorter distances (I’m a natural sprinter), and I think you’re doing great if you’re already running 12 miles and your marathon isn’t until March. I don’t think I did a 12 mile run until January of this year. Just make sure not to overtrain, and prepare for just about anything.