Running the LA Marathon

I feel like I'm starting to become one of those annoying people who won't shut up about the one kinda impressive athletic thing they did, but what's the point of doing these things if not to brag about it?

Also I think I'm allowed to write a blog post about it, especially since I've kept relatively quiet on here. Anyways!

Background

So, fun fact, I actually hated running for most of my childhood. I remember enjoying it when I was very small (like 4-5 years old) because I felt very fast. But somewhere around 1st grade I was racing against other kids and realized I really... wasn't fast lol. I remember the sensation really clearly even to this day... this feeling of running but somehow not feeling like I was going as fast as I was used to, and really struggling to move. Like moving through molasses, which I had never felt before. Things went from bad to worse when my dad would make me run against my younger sister who was faster than me, which, to put it bluntly, was a humiliating experience. That really cemented my hatred of running. It was uncomfortable, embarrassing, difficult, I wasn't good at it, I was being yelled at for not being good at it, and I wanted nothing to do with it. I avoided it as much as I could.

Skip forward to college. When I turned 20 I realized I couldn't just not exercise forever. Even if I didn't need to for weight reasons (thank you, genetics) I still needed to for overall well-being. I started running on the treadmill and around the campus here and there.

Then came 2015.

I'm not sure what it was, but somehow I got it into my head that I wanted to run a 5K. I had just moved to LA and life was stressful, and running happened to be a good way to relieve that stress (who'd've thought, right?) The running only increased after my first break up, and I started following the Couch to 5K app. I was seeing progress, in both time and distance, which was encouraging, and I ran my first 5K in 2016, in under 30 minutes! Later that year I decided to make the goal of running a marathon by 2023, and I ran longer races in the years to follow. I ran a half marathon in 2019, and with 4 years left in my goal (and the half being a lot harder than I thought) I decided to take it slow. In 2020 I didn't run any races at all (for obvious reasons). My initial thought was to re-run a half for a better time, and then do a marathon. But then my sister messaged me in April of 2021 that she was going to run a marathon that year... so obviously I had to follow suit.

Now, you may be wondering, "Corinne, you live in New York. Why are you running the LA Marathon instead of the NYC one?" And the answer has a few layers. Firstly, when I made my goal in 2023, I had my sights set on the LA Marathon specifically. My dad had run it in 1989, and I thought it would be fun as a bit of a legacy throwback to follow suit. Secondly, after I started looking into races, I was stuck between going for a full or trying a half again. I knew the LA Marathon was usually held in March, so I thought it would make sense to do a half in late 2021, and then continue training into 2022 for the full. Sort of like a half-way marker. But, due to Covid, the 2021 LA Marathon had been moved to November, which still gave me 6 months to train. With it being only a week after my sister's intended run, and being homesick for LA anyways, I saw it as the perfect excuse to visit my friends again and knock off a bucket list item in one, so the decision was made.

Training

Starting in late April, I figured 6 months would be the enough to get back into the running groove. I downloaded the Marathon Trainer app from the same people who made the Couch to 5K app I had used way back when (I had used their longer variants as well and liked the walk/run approach). This was a 20 week, subscription app ($4.99/month) which allowed for some time off in case I needed it (spoilers). Usually, my training involves running at least once a week, adding a mile to each week. Sometimes I would run 2-3 times a week, depending on how I felt. This time, because I knew how brutal the half had been, I wanted to follow my regimen more strictly. Even if I needed to take an extra rest day, I still wanted to complete every run and cross-training day specified on the app. And for several weeks, I did!

Cue the running photos real quick:

Running shoes. Low-key a mistake as you will learn

First running selfie! I started taking these daily as I was fundraising

Yet another selfie

Astoria Park Track

Puppy I saw on one of my runs!

I was making pretty good progress. My times were decent. I was gaining mileage. I ran over 50 miles in my first month. I was somehow succeeding in getting donations (I was running for charity with The McCourt Foundation). But disaster hit in mid-June. My hip/side/lower back started hurting quite a bit. I didn't feel it as much while running, but it was concerning. And then I had to quit a run in the middle because my knee had swollen.

Up to this point I was already wearing a knee brace occasionally. I knew my knees were something to look out for because it was what I felt the most during my half. When my right knee swelled, I stopped running and lifting to see if it would improve. It took nearly a month for the swelling to go down, which was frustrating to say the least.

I ended up seeing an Orthopedic doctor (a frustrating process in its own right) to see what was up. I didn't want to risk a severe injury before I could even race. After some x-rays, she confirmed that while there was nothing really wrong with the bones of my leg or hip, that my hip muscles themselves were really weak and all the pain I was feeling was due to my leg overcompensating for that weakness.

As a result, I started physical therapy. They confirmed what the doctor said, and started training with me. It was late July by this point, and I was going in several times a week. Despite being recommended 8-12 weeks, I ended up only going for about a little over a month. I was told I wasn't making much progress, despite the exercises getting easier. My swelling had gone away, but there was still pain after the run. My shoes also didn't help, as the soles under the balls of my feet were thinner than I'd realized and after 6 miles my feet were in a lot of pain. My follow up with the ortho ended up with a recommendation for knee injections for the pain and lubrication, as well as potentially something in my hip. It was marketed to me as an inevitability since I wasn't getting any younger.

It didn't help that, while I was running again intermittently, this was peak New York summer, and the humidity and temperature was killer and exhausted me much faster.

I was beyond discouraged by the time I visited my friend in California at the end of August.

And then I ran 6 miles. And felt great about it. Turns out many things are possible when you don't have to worry about humidity.

Coming back to New York, I stopped going to physical therapy, didn't go through with the knee injections since the phone call to schedule them never came, and decided to go back to my original way of training. I ran once every 2 or 3 weeks. I managed an 8 mile run, and then a 10 mile run. While the 8 mile run was encouraging, the 10 mile run wasn't. I was hoping to run 12, or even 15 miles, but had to stop at 10. I was running at night, in the fall, so the heat wasn't as much a problem. It was my body. I tried insoles, braces. It was still uncomfortable and discouraging.

I considered running a half marathon instead. It was a mileage I knew I could hit as I'd done it before, the risk of injury would be lower, I'd be able to finish, and I'd have a chance to better prepare for a marathon. I did have 2 years after all. I just didn't think I'd be able to finish in the allotted 5.5 hours.

And then I found out the LA marathon actually gives you 6.5-8 hours before they start opening up the streets. And even then, you have all day to finish.

It was like a weight was off my shoulders. 8 hours? I could walk that.

I decided to stick to the marathon distance.

The Marathon

Here it is! Finally, the event!

Leading up to it I was not confident, at all. The mileage was getting to me. I hadn't run more than 10 miles in training. I was certain I was going to take up the entire 8 hours, maybe more than.

The day of the marathon the worries did not dissipate. If anything, they increased. My friend drove me to Dodger Stadium for the pre-race warming up an hour prior to start. I had eaten pasta the night before to carbo-load, and was planning to eat breakfast at the pre-race since there would be bagels provided. I ate a small bowl of oatmeal before we left in the interim, which turned out to be a lifesaver because when we arrived, the food line was Disney-levels long. It was ridiculous. I could see now why people chose to arrive several hours in advance. With time ticking, I chose to use the bathroom instead. But deep down I knew I wasn't going to be able to run this on oatmeal. I hadn't even brought snacks with me.

Because I was running with TMF, I was able to start in the first corral, which was really cool because you could see the announcers and start line right there. I stuck to the side at the advice of the event coordinators, as people who weren't running for charity in Corral A were doing so competitively, and I didn't want to get run over.

And at last, we were off!

Around the 2-3 mile mark, I ended up running into a Starbucks to grab a bagel. I didn't have my wallet with me, but I downloaded the app and ordered online, which added about 10 minutes to my time. Still, I knew I needed something in me! I immediately felt better after eating. And since I had started in such an early corral, I was able to pop back in without feeling like I was getting left behind. Running through DTLA was definitely very cool. There was a taika drum performance right around the 4 mile mark that was drumming a pretty motivating beat for keeping pace. We also ran right under the Chinatown arch.

The weather was also very ideal, especially in the early morning. It was clear skies, but it did start to get warm as the sun came out. I ended up running in my sports bra for most of the race.

Echo Park and Hollywood were relatively smooth sailing. It was really motivating and inspiring to see people throughout the city coming out to cheer the runners on. Some people held up signs for everyone, or banged drums, or even handed out candy. And of course there were those cheering on their individual runners. One of my favorites was a lady at Hollywood holding a sign and shouting "Welcome to Hollywood!" while shaking pom-poms.

But alas, disaster struck again for me around the 8 mile mark: my phone was at 40% battery, and I had 18 miles left to run and no portable charger in sight.

Call me stressed. I knew I wasn't going to finish that marathon without my music.

I realized I hadn't put my Spotify on offline mode, so quickly changed that. I also asked my friends to bring my portable charger, but they had plans to go longboarding and could only bring it to me at the finish. I ended up turning my data off reluctantly, which meant my tracking app -- which my friends and family were using to see my progress -- was no longer updating. And then around the 14 mile mark, I realized to my horror that the battery had drained to 10%.

Well then.

I was hoping there would be a Rite Aid or CVS nearby that I could run into and hopefully convince a cashier to let me pay via credit card number, but we were running through the bougier parts of LA. Dolce and Gabana and Ferragamo Salvatore was not going to be much help. I kept my data off for good and only texted my friend as I hit each mile marker. To add to the stress, my friends were planning to meet me at 2. But I was holding a much better pace than expected, even while walk/running. I realized it was more likely that I would finish closer to 1:30, or even 1. I was hoping that my friend would be able to do the math of each text update and adjust accordingly.

By now, all I could do was keep going.

the last photo before the battery crisis came to a head

The rest of the run went about as smoothly as I could expect for a while. Someone serenaded us with bag pipes. I was taking every water break, and subsequently every bathroom break.

And then mile 20 came and I started to hit that brick wall.

I think the 21st or 22nd mile was really where it started to suck a Lot. By this point my feet hurt quite a bit. I wasn't running with insoles, but I did have a knee brace. I was loosening laces when I could and readjusting my shoes for any pebbles I felt. My hip was also acting up in a way it hadn't done before. There was a lot more walking than running going on. Fortunately, my knees held up pretty decently. The track for the marathon was different this year than most, in that we didn't end at Santa Monica, but rather turned around at Brentwood and looped back to Century City. I think I would have preferred a straight-forward shot, since you could hear the cheering of the finishers even though you were nowhere near done yet. It also didn't help that at this point, it seemed possible that I could finish within 6.5 hours, so I was pushing myself for that time and didn't want to lose pace.

The elevation was also more noticeable. I remember a bridge over the highway on the return that was quite difficult. One man must've seen me pounding my hip and knew what was up because he offered me numbing spray, which turned out to be an enormous life saver. I kept telling myself that there was only a 5K left, which was easy (it was not.) The last 2 miles were the longest miles I'd ever run. Everything hurt. I shouted a lot. I nearly cried several times. There was a lot of emotions, and each new encouraging sign I saw from a passerby threatened the full waterworks.

And then, at last, I saw the finish line in sight, heard my name over the loudspeaker, and "sprinted" across. I collected my medal, hobbled over to where my friends were waiting, sat down and ate a banana,

Later, I went into the TMF area, ate some actual food, and got my medal engraved with my final time (6:31:47!) My feet hurt so much that one of my friends gave me a piggy-back ride to the car. When I came home I found out I had a horrible blister in between my toes. But who cares! I did it! I ran the damn thing!!!

Future

Would I do this again? I'm not sure. Considering all the things that went wrong, there is a part of me that wants to be better prepared so I can properly capture the experience and be less stressed out. I definitely think if I had better shoes, I would have felt more comfortable. The experience overall was pretty fantastic and motivating, and had a nice sense of community. Other runners would cheer each other on as well. There was an elderly Korean man running who seemed pleasantly surprised when I encouraged him in Korean. And towards the end, an older woman cheered me on to keep going. It was very emotionally fulfilling, even with all the physical pain. So there is definitely an allure. But I also wouldn't say I've already signed up for another one.

My next physical ambition is a triathlon, and I'd like to run the sprint distance in 2022 before the Olympic distance. I have a race in mind, and will likely start training next year. I feel pretty confident about the running and biking, but I definitely need to work on swimming.

For now, though, I'm taking it easy.

Some "official" pics of me and my time! (For some reason I don't show up on the official roster, even though I clearly have a time and was there on race day, so that's been very disappointing. But, oh well. I still have proof I did it.)

still have time for the peace sign

x to doubt

probably the happiest i look during this thing

final push. im literally almost crying

rare screenshot of my time while it was still on the site (yes i'm still salty)

my splits! honestly my 5K would've been way better if it weren't for my starbucks run

Acknowledgments

I do want to take some space to say thank you to everyone who donated to TMF in support of me running this marathon. Over $500 of the $650 raised came from y'all and I couldn't be more grateful. I also want to say thank you to my sister for jumpstarting my decision, and to my friends and family for supporting me emotionally, mentally, and even physically at times on this endeavor, especially when I wasn't sure I could do it. While there's no shame in scaling back, especially to avoid injury, I am definitely very glad that I decided to run the full marathon, and that wouldn't have been possible without the immense support and encouragement I received from my inner circle. And lastly, as cheesy as it is, I would like to thank everyone involved with the LA Marathon, from the organizers to the racers to the volunteers, but especially to the people of Los Angeles who came out to cheer for us. Seeing the city come out in support was my favorite part of the entire race, and the energy would not be the same without it. Thank you <3