I Can Do 26.2

Me at mile 20!!! I forgot to take a finish line photo again :(

This year’s La Marathon was full of surprises. 

While I'm proud to say I finished... It wasn’t easy going.

Fortunately though, It didn’t rain at all during the race—just some bad wind the last mile or so (I actually almost lost my bib it was so windy!). My running partner and I were prepared for bad weather and had used Hot Pink Duct Tape on our shoes in case of rain—but the rain didn’t come and instead we got smiles all along the race for our amazing shoes. 

Since I was being interviewed by KTLA, we got front of the line passes to join the elite runners in Corral A who finish marathons in 3 hours or less. We sure stood out with our pink duct taped shoes at the start line. Our goal was to start and not get trampled by the stampede behind us!

Around mile 5 some guy gave me a “flat tire” as he cut in front of me from behind and my shoe came completely off. Thankfully it was early in the race and I was able to catch my balance, not trip, and just slide my foot in and keep going. 

We were pacing really good the first 8 miles (under 15 minutes consistently which is awesome for us) but the hills started to really get on my partner. We started slowing down and it got to the point where we were doing 20+ miles and walking downhill…

After 13 she was in a really bad place but wouldn’t stop. I had promised to stay with her the whole time so I let her set our pace and did the best I could to support her. Finally after crying for 2 miles she sat on a curb and called our friends to pick her up around mile 15…. I waited with her till they got there, and then she told me to finish so I began the last 11 miles on my own…

At this point I was so far behind in time that I had to haul it to make it passed a few checkpoints so they wouldn’t re-open the roads. (You have no idea how funny it is to see people walking 2 by 2 on a side walk while little old me is bouncing through planters with a sandwich in my hand trying to jog around all the walkers…

Eventually I was able to get  back to the roads that were still fully open, I just don't know how I did it.

When I left my partner, I wasn’t expecting to set a new personal record—there just wasn’t time to catch up since it was so late in the race that long jogging spurts just were not going to happen. My goal was just to finish under 8 hours to make sure all the water stations would still be running since I wasn't sure my friends would be able to meet me since they needed to attend to my partner. 

I ended up averaging around 15 ½ minutes per mile going solo and crossed the finish line after 7 hours and 20 minutes… I set a new Personal Record by 3 Minutes. 

I finished the race and I raise $2,711.00 for Child Share!!! We found a Child a Home guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It just doesn't get better than that!

Thank you to all those who donated and wished me well. You are all amazing and I thank you!!!