You can read about the fabulous start to my third full marathon in Long Beach Marathon Recap — Part I.
As you might recall I’d run the first half of the race in 1:51:57. My goal for the race was to beat my personal record of 3:57:29 from Mountains2Beach. In order to do that I’d need to run the second half in 2:05:31 or less.
Miles 14, 15, 16 (8:31, 8:34, 8:30)
The first half of the Long Beach course is so nice that it’s no insult to say that the second half is not as spectacular. On this section you’re running through a nondescript part of the city. I simply focused on keeping pace and running steady.
Miles 17, 18, 19 (8:35, 8:59, 8:28)
Around mile 17 you enter the Cal State Long Beach university campus. It’s nice to see some college kids out early on a Sunday morning to cheer on the runners. Unfortunately that hill during mile 18 is tough. On the plus side I used the subsequent downhill to pick the pace back up and break through the wall that I started to hit around mile 18 in my last full marathon.
Miles 20, 21, 22 (9:06, 9:31, 9:41)
Here you’re passing back through that same part of town.
Thumbs-up at Mile 20
It got harder and harder for me to keep running strong around mile 20. I wouldn’t say I hit the wall though, because when that happened in my last full marathon my times dipped into the 10s and 11s, whereas here I managed to stay in the 9s.
There is a steep, quarter-mile hill as you approach mile 21. I am actually pleased to see that split of 9:06 for that mile.
I struggled to take in liquids around this point, both because my body was tired of drinking that much and because I was working so hard by this time that I was having trouble catching my breath after running and drinking at the same time. Somewhere around mile 21 I made the executive decision to walk for about 5 seconds every mile so I could drink a few much-needed sips of sports drink and then resume running. I have no shame about not running the whole way and in retrospect I consider it a very good decision to adopt the strategy to walk for my fuel breaks.
I also grabbed a couple of cups of water on the run and dumped them over my head. The sun was out in full force by this time and I was feeling the heat.
Miles 23, 24, 25 (9:50, 9:57, 10:04)
Right before mile 24 the full marathon course joins back up with the half marathon course at its 10.5-mile point. I’m sorry to say this about what is overall a very nice course, but this joining back up with the half marathon course just plain stunk. By that point in the half marathon race I’d say the vast majority of half marathoners were walking. Maybe it just seemed like that to me in my frustration with the giant sea of people in front of me. It was such a tough time in the race anyway and it was not fun to deal with having to dodge people who were walking in the middle of the course and did not have the courtesy to walk to the right-hand side.
Mile 26 and the Finish (9:41, and for the last .44 by my Garmin: 8:48)
In spite of the crowds I managed to pick the pace back up a bit for mile 26. I basically told myself to embrace the pain and let my legs go.
It was a huge relief when the course split off into two different chutes just before the mile 26 mark and very few runners split off with me to the full marathon chute. At that point the course turns off Ocean Boulevard and heads down a very welcome hill right into the finish chute. I turned on the speed and with a huge kick at the end I brought my pace down into the 8s. I felt like I was flying at the finish and it was wonderful to hear the announcer say my name!
Of course as soon as I crossed the timing mats I came to a stumbling stop and could barely walk. Funny how you can run at what feels like a blistering pace for 26.2 (or 26.44 miles by my Garmin) miles and yet struggle to walk as soon as you stop running.
I was so thrilled to be done that I forgot to stop my Garmin until after I got my medal. I knew I’d beaten my former personal record of 3:57:29 but I wasn’t quite sure by how much. My watch said 3:54 something by the time I stopped it. I later got an email from the timing people saying my time was 3:53:27, but it turns out that was my gun time and my official net finish time was 3:52:42! That’s a PR by 4 minutes 47 seconds. That might not sound like much but it’s huge for me. My goal pace for the race was 8:35 and I ended up averaging 8:52. I achieved my “A” goal of running a personal best time, and also achieved my “B” goal of not bonking. While I ran the second half of the race significantly slower than the first (about 9 minutes slower, in 2:00:55 compared to 1:51:57), I wouldn’t say that I hit the wall, certainly not anything like I did in my second marathon.
Recovery
Best of all, I met up with my family and I felt well enough to walk back to the hotel with them without visiting the medical tent this time. I now believe that the uncontrollable shaking I experienced in Ventura after Mountains2Beach was due to underfueling. This time I stuck to my pre-race and race nutrition plans and that paid off. I ran just as hard this time, but with more training and better fueling, I stayed quite strong through the end and my tank wasn’t empty when I finished.
I feel a need to give an unsolicited shoutout to the C2O Coconut Water sponsors. That cold can of cononut water tasted so good at the finish line that I drank the whole thing right down within seconds. I don’t think I could have tolerated another sip of traditional electrolyte sports drink and I was grateful to have that instead. There were other great treats given out at the finish line too but frankly I could not tolerate eating any solid food. I had exerted myself so hard, left it all out on the course, and — let’s just be real here — I was trying not to throw up. So it was: coconut water = liquid gold; my favorite post-workout protein bar = dirt.
All in all I’d call it a hugely successful race. Ask me if I’d recommend Long Beach to a friend and I’d say yes! (More review to come in another post. I know what you’re thinking but yes it is possible for me to have more to say!)
, I had calculated exactly the number of grams of carbohydrates I should consume two hours before the race based upon my body weight. It turns out that eating that much is a lot easier said than done though. Before a race, my body is busy emptying out, if you know what I mean, and really is not all that interested in taking anything in. Only the banana tasted good and the rest tasted like cardboard (even though I’ve had no problem eating those foods before long runs, when I’m not suffering from race jitters!) I washed what I could down with a cup of coffee and called it good.
Fit Fun Mom 