LA Marathon Thoughts

Getting game face on at the crowded start.

I ran the LA Marathon yesterday and 4 hours and 43 minutes later I remembered why the word “marathon” demands respect.

As I was pushing through the last three miles of the marathon, ignoring the excruciating feeling of my toe nail being pounded and slowly wrenched from my toe, it occurred to me that someday a scientist could do some kind of brain test on repeat marathoners to discover if we are missing something – a brain component that registers pain and reminds us to avoid it.

Remember. Avoid. Remember. Avoid.

Listen, it sounds like the cadence of feet running a marathon … remember, avoid, remember.

A couple of months ago, when I signed up for this marathon, I had recently enjoyed the Malibu Marathon. I had read Born to Run and just about every recent issue of Runner’s World cover to cover. I was feeling like a runner. I even flirted with the idea of ultra marathoning.

Everyone was talking about LA’s fabulous new “Stadium to the Sea,” mostly-downhill route, and I just didn’t’ want to miss out on the fun. I had finished the last LA marathon in what I considered almost great time, and I wanted to shave it down to 4 and half hours.

So a couple months ago I started training -- a few moderate weekday runs and regular weekend runs. I enjoyed my training runs with Kip, my daughter and friends from Students Run LA, but I didn’t really push myself much.

Which I realize is fine, but now that I have had 24 hours to process the marathon experience, I realize it is also why this race took me 13 minutes longer than I had hoped. And why it hurt so much.

I think running for fun is much better for the body than running competitively – even if the only person you are competing with is yourself. But I think my problem was that I trained for fun and then tried to run the marathon competitively. And that made it less fun.

So … I learned something.

It was also hot and I hadn’t slept well the night before. And I was getting over a slight cold. So maybe it was a combination of things. All I know is that it was more difficult than I had expected.

But maybe that was the problem. Maybe I just set my expectations too high. Two years ago I had never run four miles together and in the last 10 months I have run three marathons -- without much recovery time in between.

So today I talked to a friend about training for a triathalon. I thought about learning how to swim better so I could use that as my main exercise, maybe try pilates again or yoga.

Funny thing is, this evening I also caught myself saying, “next year when I run the LA marathon …”

So maybe I’m missing something.

My brother was there to cheer me on during the route. He surprised me near the end and rode his bike to the finish so he could be part of the marathon end chaos. Thanks Tim!

Running with my Daughter

I ran 8 miles with my daughter this morning.

Last night I went to a fabulous little work day/dinner party, and consequently slept in, only to be awoken by my I-hate-mornings daughter standing beside my bed jubilantly singing along to my CD alarm clock.

“Take me above your lights…. Carry me through the night!”

I glanced at the clock. Owl City had been playing for 20 minutes and my daughter was fully dressed, running shorts and sneakers.

Are we still going to run?

I really didn't feel like running. But the Students Run LA team I have been training with were meeting in less than a half hour at their high school, and it was the last weekend training run before the marathon next week. So I got up and got out the door.

The sun was bright this morning, taking full advantage of a cloudless sky, and by mid run it felt more like a July afternoon.

Every few minutes I looked over at my daughter, game-faced, charging up the hills through Griffith Park, and asked, "How are you doing? Are you ok?"

And it was always the same.

"Great!"

We passed the trains at the south entrance and I told her how we rode those when we first visited LA seven years ago. When her brother was barely sitting up on his own. She didn't remember.

I pointed out the snow-capped mountains in the distance. The horses on the trails. The picnic area where we had her brother's 4th birthday party, complete with a jumpy and a pinata.

She showed me where her girl scout troop rode horses. I was not part of that trip and I had forgotten that she had done that.

I thought about how our memories converge and part and overlap. I remember some things and she remembers others. It's special to run together. It is only a few years that we parents and kids run on the same road.

By mile six she stopped saying "Great!"

We had been going uphill in the sun for the last few miles. Her cheeks were flushed. I gave her the last of our water.

It was my turn to tell her she was doing great, that I was proud of her.

Only two weeks ago, I had felt the same agony, charging up the same edge of the park, only then I had been near the end of a 20 miler. I could tell her with honesty, "We're not that far. Not that close either. But not that far. You can make it."

The road dipped into a gentle downhill and we ran under the shade of overhanging trees. She sensed the change and perked up for the last bit, but not without admitting, "this is alot harder than I thought it was going to be."

I understand that.

She was pretty wiped out at the end. Although a banana, more water, trail mix and promise of a barbecue with the students seemed to help.

I felt bad though. I was afraid I had ruined running for her. Letting her join me on a long run, a run much longer than I had ever attempted until about a year ago.

When we got home I asked her what was hard about the end of the run, what hurt.

I don't know. I can't remember. It was just hard. But I'm glad I did it!

Yeah. I understand that too. That's why I keep running marathons.

Running Along

I’m marathon training again.

With less than a month out from the LA Marathon I have stepped up the running, squeezing in two to three hour-long runs during the week and a long weekend run.

This time around I have found a few more running buddies. A few weeks ago I started running with a Students Run LA group. Several of my friends from Kairos mentor teens through this marathon training group. For years they have invited me to join them on their long weekend runs, and this time around I decided to give it a try. I loved it.

Because I just show up for the weekend runs, I don’t feel like I really know the kids yet. But I have been driving them up to Griffith Park where we run and I’m beginning to get to know them. It’s funny, but I feel like its kind of an honor to be a small part of their world.

They are great kids. They all live in the lower-income, urban neighbors near downtown LA. Some of them struggle academically. Some are experiencing serious family heartaches. Some run fast. Others really slow. But they are working hard and they keep showing up to run 12, 16, 18 miles because they believe they can make it to the finish line next month.

I have started making them marathon cookies, my own half-breed cookie/protein bar creation. It’s still a work in progress (I’m adapting a couple recipes), but it seems to be boosting my popularity among the students – which other than nutrition was my goal all along.

Running with the girls from Kairos has also been a lot of fun. There are four of us near enough to each other’s pace to run together for several miles. It has been nice for me to have an excuse to spend several hours catching up with these old friends.

I have also ran a couple times with my friend, and fellow homeschooling mom, Kathleen. She is particularly inspiring because running is fairly new to her and she is training for her first marathon. We ran today, but fell into more talking and walking than running. But that is ok. There is a time for everything.

During the week I have been splitting my running time between running with Kip and running with our daughter. I usually run 3 or 4 miles with Kip and then another 2 and a half with our daughter. And she usually outruns me.

She seems to really enjoy our morning runs. It is one of the few things that motivates her to get out of bed with a smile. She has been talking about running the marathon next year. She ran 5 miles with Kip a couple weeks ago, so she may be ready to take on longer runs. We will see.

Christmas Vacation in Review

I understand that Christmas past a month ago. But I just got some of my favorite pictures off my camera and I couldn’t resist sharing.

We spent Christmas Eve here, in LA with my brother Tim and his fiancé Heather.

Christmas Eve in LA with Tim, Heather and my daughter

We all got hats

Then on Christmas Day we flew out to the Midwest where my parents live. We saved almost 50 percent by flying on Christmas Day, and more importantly we missed the hundred year blizzard that ransacked Oklahoma Christmas Eve and shut the city down.

First day in Oklahoma we bought snow boots, found a "hill." Kip and co. built a snow ramp and made the best of it.

How is that shovel sled working for you, Kip?

Both my sisters arrived in Oklahoma with their own little families and we celebrated second Christms, complete with presents and the traditional reinacted Christmas story (which is always a delightfully bizare interpretation.) This year might have included angels with light sabers.

Three sisters celebrating Christmas in red -- not very coordinating reds, but reds.

Mom and her son-in-law to be. Welcome to the family, Marc.

And then we had enough of celebrating second Christmas inside. Mild winter weather and a foot of snow begged everyone outside. We built a distinguished snow man. The littlest ones made snow angels and then the snow war began. It was an all-out family snow feud with Kip fortifying his position behind the wooden fence and everyone else blasting him with snow bombs.

Look close. He is the guy in the green hat behind the fence.
There is his arm.
Taunting us.

"Mom, I'm a little nervous, standing here, posing for a picture."

"I should move. I know I should move."

Thanks, Dad.

Even the dog can't resist.

Massive snowball.

Newest brother in law with an evil grin.


My sister Kiesi's beautiful look-alike snow baby.

Kiesi and Serenity

Serenity

Lots of fun

Then we journey north to Missouri to visit Kip's side of the family. We spent New Year's Eve with them.

Our son and his cousin playing on a frozen creek that is literally in Kip's parents' back yard.

Throwing rocks on a frozen river. Why do boys love to throw rocks in creeks? Is it universal?

Light sabers apparently work in freezing conditions.

Another sweet cousin

After a few days we drove back to Oklahoma and enjoyed a quiet weekend with my parents. It was one of the best family reunions we have had in years, and it left me wondering more than once why we all live so far away from each other.

First Sail of the Year

On Saturday we took the sailboat out for the first time this year.

As our son announced, several times actually, "This is the best sailing trip of the year and the worst sailing trip of the year."

The waves and wind were gentle, so our son was able to relax and even enjoy a new set of binoculars. Kip was happy because there was enough wind to sail and not have to use the little outboard motor.

Several months ago we realized that these little sailing trips were more fun if we brought along a friend for our daughter. We asked two different families this time and got two girls, so the girls had their own little party on the bow.

Girl time

It was a nice smooth sailing start to the New Year.

Kip and our little guy.
Kip, our son and our friend Jon

Jon's sweet daughter

Kip and me

Beautiful sunsets never get old.

Easing into the New Year

It's a new year, half way through the first month, but still a new year.

We are easing into it here. We got back from the Christmas/New Year holiday trip to the Midwest, and then we all battled colds for a few days. And now we are getting back into life -- cleaning up the apartment, taking down the Christmas tree, reading all the Christmas letters from friends back East.

It has been a season of simplifying, cleaning up and organizing -- both stuff and priorities. Kip started organizing the kitchen last weekend, which was difficult at first to see him going through the part of our life that I usually manage. But once I realized the favor he was doing me, I embraced it. Now we are taking on everything, little bit by little bit.

With all this organizing and time managing, I thought I might take a blogging break. But I missed putting in little updates. So expect to see more here soon.

"Because my dreams are bursting at the seams ....."

While my blog updates have slowed to a pre-Christmas halt, our life has been charging on.

There have been rain and soccer trophy parties, field trips and concerts, Disney Land trips and bike rides, laundry and drama, lots of Christmas baking and running.

Kip’s parents spent a week with us in early December. We took time off from our regular routine and ran around LA like we were on vacation. Then we jumped right back into school and work and getting ready for Christmas break.

This past week I’ve had some really nice moments with the kids, and I’m looking forward to spending some time in Oklahoma with my parents over the holidays. But for now, in lieu of a decent update, I wanted to share a little video Kip made last night. Where I express myself in written language, he loves music and images.

A couple notes on the video: a few weeks ago our daughter heard the song “Fireflies” by Owl City and instantly fell in love. I like it too, and paired with images of our kids and their grandparents enjoying life, it kind of chokes me up. I hope you enjoy it.


Riding Bikes