The LA Marathon was this weekend and I’m just coming down from all the fun (and all the miles). This is my race recap and results – if you ran a race this weekend share how it went in the comments and/or link to your post about it!
First things first – Skechers designed super awesome Los Angeles themed gear for the marathon.
It features the Los Angeles city skyline and palm trees – it’s just so iconic and being from southern California it just gets my heart all fuzzy. I do love LA!!
The night before I opted out of the group dinner to grab something from the Whole Foods hot bar.
I try to eat (tons of) brown rice and salt or soy sauce before a marathon. My stomach was feeling a little high maintenance all day so I wanted to stick to my routine before the race.
Apparently my routine involves cookies.
I set everything out the night before… Aka my pre race #FlatRunner
I also put out my Pre-Race Must Haves:
Spark Drink – for pre-run & post-run
and the new to me Clif Bloks in Salted Watermelon.
LA Marathon Race Morning
I woke up 3 times before my 5am alarm because I was afraid I was going to oversleep.
Finally I just got out of bed, made coffee and started to get ready.
Rise and shine! Let’s go!
Getting to the start line:
The LA Marathon is a ‘point to point course’ which means it starts at one place and ends at another.
So, everyone has to get a shuttle to the starting line at Dodger Stadium or be dropped off – you end up 26.2 miles away so you can’t park there.
We fueled up before the race with this spread of bagels, coffee and fruit…
Oh, and Meb was there… so I asked for a picture 
Before I knew it we had to head to the starting line… my new friends are Mandy, Keira and Adam.
Oh, I should tell them they’re my friends since we didn’t exchange friendship bracelets. Can someone remind me? Thanks!
LA Marathon Course Tips
The LA Marathon Course: Starts at Dodger Stadium and goes through LA to Santa Monica.
It’s a great course because there are so many awesome landmarks and iconic Los Angeles sights.
You even run by PUMP (Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant featured on Vanderpump Rules).
The hardest part of the course comes around mile 4 – there’s a big pretty steep hill.
The best parts of the course are all the landmarks – and there are a lot of iconic Los Angeles scenes to enjoy and some LA Marathon favorites:
The Hollywood sign, Booming Chinese drums, Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, Clif Bar aid station, drag queen cheerleaders, 24 firemen standing outside their fire station, Sunset Strip, Santa Monica Blvd…
The sun rose right around the starting time. The weather was fairly cool (for the LA marathon at least) in the low 60s for most of the race.
I wore the Skechers GoRun 5. They are super lightweight, have a great heel to toe ratio and are one of the most affordable solid running shoe options on the market. I wear a surprisingly lightweight shoe for the distance I run and my size, but this works for me. Always get the right running shoe for you, your foot, strike, distance, goals, size, etc.
I’ve been training in the GoRun5 for a while now. I started with just using them for tempo runs, was pleasantly surprised and wore them for long runs, short runs and even running to the liquor store. It all works.
I found this fun Shamrock skirt in the little girl’s section at Walmart for $5.00. It had liner underneath I cut off.
And ProCompression socks are always my go to for compression sock options in 101 colors and designs.
LA Marathon Course Pics
It’s hard to see in this picture but the Hollywood sign starts peeking from behind the buildings right after this part of the race…
My race:
I didn’t feel super speedy so it wasn’t hard to keep myself from going out too fast. My legs did not want to run fast – which I thought was a really bad sign and scared me a little.
I spotted a few friends running too – Pam and Carlee both about 7 and 11 miles into the race. Then, Pam ditched me, Carlee told me to ditch her. No hard feelings. That’s the good thing about running friends who have been doing it for a long time – we realize you gotta work with what you got that day.
I wanted to do the second half of the race faster than the first half, but I was not feeling strong. I basically just counted down until the Sole Runners aid station. They are always around mile 18 to 19ish. I didn’t need aid so much as I needed a distraction to keep me going.
When I saw it I spotted Leann and ran straight for her. She gave me a REAL HUG (even though I was sopping with sweat and she was not) and that made me feel better and I basically ran away.
Yeah… I hugged my friend who I haven’t seen in months when I was super sweaty, barely said 1 word to her and then ran away… who am I?
Then, over the next few miles… I contemplated how I used to say I don’t like hugs when in reality I don’t like bad hugs. That’s because Ben is the world’s best hugger and it spoiled me. If you are going to hug me should ideally be my size or bigger and really give a good squeeze or just let me skip it. Thanks.
And those random thoughts ^^^ are the kind of delirium that seem 100% normal after 3 hours of running.
I hit a wall around mile 20 and wanted to walk because I was around a lot of runners who were majorly hitting their own walls. Boo! It was hard to push on when I felt like we were all fading.
I finished my Clif shot (mocha for life) and just kept running. Finally, by some Christmas marathon miracle I got a second (or maybe third or fourth?) wind and felt great. The last three miles of the race I pushed it. I stopped looking at my watch hours before (probably around mile 8) because I wasn’t feeling great. So, I wasn’t sure what pace I was running but I figured it had to be faster than before!
After the Surf City Marathon I sent my splits to SR and she said I’m the worst and went out too fast. So I was on a mission to do at least one of the last miles faster than the one before so I could text her and tell her I’m NOT the worst, maybe just the second worst.
I really felt good the last 3 miles – it was weird. I was questioning if I saved too much in the tank. I don’t know where that 3rd wave of energy came from but I’m so happy with how I felt at the end.
(Photo by Jonathan Moore/Getty Images for LA Marathon)
Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon 2017 done in 3:47:07
Post race I celebrated. Hard.
Run hard. Party harder. Repeat.
Question: Did you RUN this weekend? Did you run the LA Marathon or another race?? Tell me!
Feel free to share your random run or race – and link to your blog or social media.
Sometimes links in the comments don’t show up right away, but I’ll push it through spam if it gets stuck.
Disclaimer: This post is part of a collaboration with Skechers. All opinions and views belong solely to the blog owner.
Hi! I just found you a couple of days ago when doing a search on running and thyroid issues. I am hoping to get a call back from my doctor soon saying she will order all the blood tests I’ve requested (research ). I’ve had something unexplained going on for past two months, hoping to use April to get back to normal or better! Saturday I ran a half marathon that I do every year… I knew it wasn’t going to be a very good race, but it was worse than I expected. I guess having a couple of glasses of wine the night before didn’t help. But I will be scouring your blog and Facebook page for tips on dealing with a low thyroid (what I expect). And great race! I do not run even splits myself, and I’m perfectly fine with that as long as I finish in my expected window
Hi. It’s Tara, the one who emailed asking for advice on this marathon. I believe you said there may be a hill a little after Dodger Stadium. Um, hello mile 4. That sucked! And mile 20 too. Lol. I couldn’t believe how many of those roads seemed to have a slight incline to them. I was dying but survived. I think your amazing for not dropping pace on those miles, especially mile 4.
Congrats again on your time and thank you again for taking the time to email me.
Right?! That mile 4 hill is legit.
How was your race??
WAY TO GO GIRL! You are one speedy chicky, that’s for sure. 🙂
Yay for Mocha Clif shots! That is my FAV!
I would love to run a race in LA sometime, likely a half though, as I likely won’t do a lot more fulls, but you never know. I’m definitely a city girl, so LA would be a fun run.
Half marathons are my favorite distance all the way! I love those Clif shots, definitely my favorite.
Way to go, Monica!!! No running for me for a bit. After I was finally cleared to do low impact cardio on Wednesday last week, I fell on the ice and reinjured my already compromised back. Starting board all over for me. It’s depressing to say the least.
Tracey that sucks. I’m sorry. Are you feeling better? What can you do to help your back? Just wait it out?
I ran LA too on Sunday with my hubby It was my 3rd time running LA, and hubby’s 8th. We love this race!
We drive up to the stadium early before the start, leave our car, then have family drive us back when we’re done. It works for us, and we get good catching up time with the cousins on the ride back to Dodgers stadium.
Our run started out fantastic! We both felt great, jammed up that steep, long hill with the beat of the Chinese drummers. Then, with the amazing crowds through Echo park, miles 5.5 through 7/ 8 really flew by! We were on pace to finish in 3:40 and change at just over the halfway point. Woo hoo! I was hoping for a BQ (3:45 for my age group). It was around this point too, maybe mile 14 or so, when I saw you and said Hi that was fun!
But, then my poor hubby started to have hamstring issues, and it only got worse for him. I had had a few injuries/issues throughout this training cycle, so wasn’t really sure how this race would go for me, so we had already planned on running together the whole time. We ended up doing a run-walk for the bulk of the last 8 miles, stopped at a couple aid stations along the way, and made it across the finish line together! Not the race we had planned, but we still enjoyed the run and spending that quality time together. We’ll be back next year!
I am so impressed by anyone who runs a marathon – I’m terrified of that distance. How were those salted watermelon GU things? Any good?
Yes, I liked them. I feel like the margarita bloks are actually saltier.
Thanks for letting me tag along for a bit! You are a ROCKSTAR! http://www.carleemcdot.com/2017/03/los-angeles-marathon-race-recap.html
Great job! I ran LA in 2012 and those hills by the VA at mile 20ish are super killer. Right at the point in a marathon that you DON’T need hills!
I ran a couple of great training runs this weekend where I felt great and thought I was out of the woods with my hamstring niggles and then I started to go into the woods of toe pain which is freaking me out because I had to limp home after just .7 miles yesterday. Hoping it’s nothing serious.
I talk about an amazing video I got to be a part of a few years ago on my latest blog. http://www.sweatoutthesmallstuff.com
Your pace at mile 26!! Wow!!
LA was my first full a few years ago, I loved it. The only thing i didnt love was the later start time and the heat! Great job!!!
I don’t think I’ve ever finished a marathon happy, so that’s awesome for you!
I have those same Skechers and I was pleasantly surprised. I tried out the GoMeb Speed 4’s for some speed work today and I am equally impressed 🙂
Your outfit was adorable! Great race!
This is a great recap! I love your outfit. I run but have no ambition to run a marathon to be completely honest! You people are crazy, I get to bored around mile 7. My hat is off to you for doing this. An amazing accomplishment for sure especially considering you didn’t feel great.
You are an inspiration Monica!
I love your skirt! Congrats on finishing strong!
The LA Marathon is one of the races I would love to run!
What an AMAZING accomplishment, girl. I just still can’t comprehend paces like that at distances like that. My last half marathon I did in just under 2 hours (1:59 and some change) and my next one coming up in April probably won’t be as fast. I’m really trying not to think about pace because when I do, I basically have a panic attack and then don’t progress at all. Boo. I’m thinking I should just run without my watch at all times these days.
Anyway, you are an inspiration and I’ll keep absorbing all your wisdom! Hope you’re resting/celebrating well!
I ran the NYC half this weekend. It … could have gone better, but I was nursing an injured ankle back to health for most of the last 5 weeks, so I’m happy that I finished and only really walked through the water stations.
Good job and nice strong finish! I ran the Shamrock Marathon this past weekend in Virginia Beach with my daughter. The weather was the WORST! Rain, hail and wind – temps around 40 and I don’t even know what the windchill was. But we finished and it was my daugther’s FIRST MARATHON so she got a PR (I on the otherhand got a PW). I’m so proud of her though – it was totally worth it! Also – the volunteers at the race (and the expo, post race party, etc) were all amazing!
However, next time we may choose the LA Marathon based on your review and pics and the generally decent Cali weather 😉
Congratulations on your race, Monica! amazing picture they took of you at the finish line.
I ran this weekend and it felt so good, since I just recovered from an injury. Looking forward to my next race!
I have to say, this post really made me want to run the LA Marathon! Maybe next year. Congratulations on a great race!!
I enjoyed reading your post! I also ran in the LA Marathon on Sunday (it was my first marathon). My sister and I ran it together and finished in 4:03:26. I agree that is really is a great course!! Couldn’t have asked for more or better landmarks throughout the 26 miles.
First off, I totally love that skirt!!!
No racing for me over the weekend but I had some race envy over the marathon that ran past my apartment. The LA marathon sounds like it has a great course!
Great job!! This post inspires me to get off my butt and go run!
Love race recaps! And I am really enjoying your blog. Thanks for sharing. What a great finish. Interesting comparison of 8:42 vs 8:24 at mile 24. Just kinda sticks out there…
Sounds like a pretty fun race, I prefer out and back courses. I may have to put this one on my list!
Congrats
You are amazing, Monica, and part of the reason I am inspired to run! Your blog is so refreshing and real and positive–I love it! I ran the LA Marathon barefoot yesterday. You can find my YouTube channel by searching Lauren Kelley Marathon. Have a great day!
Yay! Good job for hanging in there till the end!
Congrats on completing the marathon! Everyone looks so cheery in neon clothes – love it!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
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