My 4 Hours and 54 Minutes

Hopefully this will be the last post regarding the marathon for a while, now that it's finally done and over with. 26.2 miles of running in the city of Long Beach in 4:54 time. I felt great at first when we begin at 7:15am and averaged about a 10 minute mile up to mile 18. It went down hill from there as we had to stop, walk, and jog every half mile, due to pain in my knees and thigh, and the exhausted legs of Gary. I was depressed at first when I knew the 4:30 pace runners ran past us, and even more devastated when the older 60 year olds were running past us at mile 23. I thought it was over. All that training, all that time, and we would finish at a horrible time. Luckily, things weren't as bad as I thought, and we ended up jogging the last mile or so to the finish line, and realized the time finished was not as bad as I had originally thought.

A few memorable things during the grueling run:
1) Passed by nice scenery, with the Queen Mary in view
2) A female spectator yelling "You're almost there!" at the 5 mile mark...and another lady running saying "What is she talking about?"
3) Male spectator yelling "Only 20 miles left!" at the 6 mile mark. That is just wrong!
4) Male running singing "Eye of the Tiger" out of tune to the top of his lungs, and another running basically telling him to shut up in an amusing way.
5) Volunteers passing out watermelon, gummy bears, donut holes, beer, and motrin. None of which I took.
6) Smelly porta-potties
5) PAIN, PAIN, and did I mention PAIN in the knees and thigh
6) Gas...no explanation necessary...
7) Seeing the lead runners coming around at 21 miles when we were only at 13. Those guys/gals are amazing!
8) And my favorite part....THE FINISH LINE!!!

I'm so happy that I finally did it and that this 18 month training is over. Until next time...

A New Guy in Town

Welcome to the world...Christian Chen!

Proud God Mother (although I haven't d one my duty yet)....this is an excerpt from mother Lina:

"The contraction got stronger and stronger, but they told me to wait until 1 min contraction and 4 min break in between. I did. That was 2 AM. Got to the hospital at 2:30 AM. Got a hospital room at 2:45 AM. Baby came out at 3:14 AM. He came out so fast that they couldn't give me epidural which I delivered the baby without any drugs. That was hardcore. I felt every pain. It was a good thing that he was only 6 lbs 7 oz."

6 Days Left

Only 6 more days until the race, and I'm getting antsy. A week ago, while attempting a 12 mile training run, I had to stop at 8 miles. My right knee was in pain and I had a hard time continuing with it. It felt like my leg and thigh were not aligned. Luckily, I was able to walk it off a little and just suck it up by jogging the rest of the 4 miles. I admit I was worried that this might mean something like not being able to run the Long Beach marathon. After checking it out with my doctor, who thought it was just my ligament being too heated, I was able to purchase prescribed flex pads, which should numb some of the pain as I run. Those things are darn expensive, so they better work!

Onto another subject. Today, I found out that Gary had bumped into an elder Japanese man who lives down the hall from Gary. He mentioned sadly that his wife, Hideko, just passed away a week ago. She was the same older lady who seemed out of touch of reality and that we had tried helping out one day as she was worried her husband wasn't coming home. She had some type of sickness that may have made her delusions worst. Her life was an interesting one. She had been married twice and unable to see her children for several years. One thing I do know is that she was grateful to have such a kind husband who took care of her, even in that stage of life. May she rest in peace. Life can certainly be fragile. It just shows how important it is to stay healthy and happy.

20 Cruel Miles

The toughest week of training is finally over. Running the cruel 20 miles on Sunday night was harsh, but I'm so glad that part is done with. We clocked 3 hrs and 12 mins, with an average pace of close to 9:36 per mile. My feet hurt, and my legs are tired, but I can eat away without feeling as guilty. Okay, maybe not a good idea to do that 3 weeks before the marathon. I just can't wait until we face the final challenge!

Two Shades Darker in Catalina

It was nice to get away from Los Angeles for a bit, even for only two days. After a long dreadful 18 mile run along the coast on Saturday, who knew we would still have it in us to carry sleeping bags, a tent, clothing, and a bike to go camping, kayaking, and jet skiing all in one shot. I just got 2 shades darker from fun in the sun on Catalina Island.

Smokey Sky

Air quality has not been the best around Angeles National Forest last week. The fire has killed two firefighters. It's just sad that humans cause nearly 95% of the fires in California. I saw this bundle of smoke in the air as I was driving through downtown Los Angeles after picking up some merchandise.

Batting Cage Pains

After attempting to hit several rounds of 50 mph baseballs, I think I did some damage to my hands and feet. It caused me dear pain on my next 12 mile run. How unfortunate.