13.4 miles, 2:10:11 elapsed time, 9:44 pace, 4 strava trophies

I met friends in Eagle Rock at 5:15am. Lynda rented a van for us. Alvin, Sebastian, Danny and his wife, Amy, BillB, Eddy, Gregg, Kirk, Lynda, and me. It was early, but it’s awesome. I ate my overnight oatmeal and a banana. Gregg was the designated driver. He had his work cut out for him since the Hwy 2 onramp was closed and then the I-5 connectors were also closed. We wiggled over to our prime parking spot across the street from LA Live downtown. It was still dark when we arrived. The van lights wouldn’t go off, so we worried that we might have a dead van later, but it was fine later. We roamed around LA Live and Staples Center and looked for bag check. The bag check was moved over along side the corral line up. There were tons of port-a-potties. All with fresh TP. It was great. I took a couple big potty breaks. I lost track of everybody during my potty breaks. Everybody lined up in the 15+ corrals. Lynda was up in corral 3 so she didn’t have dodge too many people. I didn’t find her in time. So I lined up in Corral 5 with Kirk. You’re suppose to line up by your estimated finish time, but if you really do that then you get stuck in the back behind 100’s of slowbies. This is a big race. There’s tons and tons of people. I hung with Kirk for the first couple miles. We dodges a lot of slow people. Mile 1-6 heads south on Figueroa to Exposition Park and USC (boo). You go around the outside of the Coliseum where the trojans play (boo boo). Then you head back to Staples. At mile 6 Steve passed me. He was a 2:00 pace runner for the event. I hung on for a little bit, then I peeled off for a quick potty break. Relief. From there, you head up Flower, left onto 3rd street and through the tunnel. This is a steady climb for about mile (mile 7). My Garmin freaked out between the skyscrapers and around the tunnel. Mile 7-10 the route is kinda ghetto to the 6th street bridge. They shoot every car commercial in LA on that bridge. The bridge is a noticeable climb too. Then mile 10-13.1 is back to Staples. I took a few shots along with way. I bought a FlipBelt to stash my iPhone. It was awesome. I think my new iPhone 6 plus will even fit in the stretchy, non-fanny pack Flipbelt. I was listening to Spotify tunes to keep my pace up. I felt okay during the run. No GI issues. I had a goo at mile 4, mile 8, mile 10. I took Endurolytes and anti-fatigue pills at mile 4, mile 8, mile 10 too. The weather was perfect. Not hot, not cold. Sunny which is good for pictures. I signed up on text app and entered Lynda and my bib #s. So every time she crossed a ground bib sensor line, I got a text. So, I heard the ding and knew she was still in front of me. (cuz she started a few minutes ahead). There’s a turnaround at the bridge and I was hoping to see her there, but I didn’t. It was fairly crowded. I did see a lot of the guys during the race. Sebastian was in the lead super fast (congrats, bro!). Tarzan Bill. I saw Danny, Kirk, Gregg. I was getting tired at the bridge turnaround and figured I couldn’t catch Lynda. I was actually happy with my finish time of 2:10. I haven’t run more than 6 miles in a long time, so not bad. Lynda finished in 2:08. Well Done! We all met up at the bag check and took finisher pictures. Also saw GT and Todd. Gregg drove us home and I made it to BK’s soccer game. Some of the guys went for breakfast in Eagle Rock.

The day before, I did packet pickup and expo shopping at LA Convention Center. I tried on the new Garmin 920XT. It looked great on my arm. Drooling for one for Christmas. I bought new sunglasses. They have relatively cheap polarized and photochromic. I bot a green FlipBelt. BK said it was a fanny pack. I said No way. It’s a flipbelt. I mentioned above how it was awesome in holding my phone for pictures and tunes. I bought a pair of earbuds. Unfortunately the left ear bud was dead. Bummer. I ran with one ear. I also tried on a bunch of HOKA ONE ONE’s. Blue racer shoe. It’s so so light; it’s unbelievable. Road/Trail Green. Also nice. And I tried the base runner Grey. Also nice. I got the 15% coupon cuz I couldn’t decide and had to go.