Marathon #5 for the year is done (Long Beach)! And I’m very glad. Considering I’ve done so many of these this year they still kick my butt every time!
Let’s start from the wee-hours of the morning. 4am wake up call. Out the door by 4:38 am.
We made it super quick style and I had time to take a pic.
Then, I made it to the starting line. The race was delayed about 15 minutes and they didn’t explain why. It was kind of random, but better be safe than sorry so I’m not going to complain.
Okay the race…
I have heard and really believe that 55 degrees is the ideal temperature for a marathon. Yes yes yes. If you’re not a little chilly at the start, you’re probably going to be too hot. So, as soon as I realized it was going to be a hot race I knew I should just take it easy.
I wanted to bring the last 6 miles in at GP, but just didn’t have it today. Boo. But, I haven’t been training for it either so I can’t really complain.
I didn’t hit my “A” goal = last 6 at GP at all.
I did hit my “B” goal of a sub-4 hour marathon.
I also hit my “C” goat = just finish so you can eat a lot of food after.
Winner winner Sizzler Dinner.
Long Beach Marathon finish 3:46:59 (Last year 3:55:03 so even though this isn’t good for me, it’s great considering how far I’ve come in one year.)
I made a mini-video of my Long Beach Marathon day 
Then, I ate a lot of food. I didn’t take pictures of most of it because I’m trying to enjoy my life.
Also stopped by Tierra Mia for a “beans and rice” frappe – horchata and coffee beans!
And I gave the dogs a BIG treat too!
Thoughts on the Long Beach Marathon…
Disclaimer: I love Long Beach in a first love kinda way so my view of the race is always rose colored <3
I love the first half of the course – especially running along the bike path. The second half is rough. I consider Long Beach very flat, but the second half the course near Cal State Long Beach is hilly around mile 17-22. This part sucks and kills me EVERY YEAR. And some how every year I forget and show up thinking it’s amazing and then I remember there is a reason I am no longer in puppy love with the LBC.
Overall: I love Long Beach. Always and forever. But the course has some hills when you’re already tired/close to hitting the wall. You have to plan for that. If was trying to rock it I would definitely suggest training with the Sole Runners half or full marathon training group because they run parts of the course every weekend. (They just finished this session, but will be training for LA soon.)
#Proof = Sole Runner Mireya PRed today!
Question: How was your weekend?
I I just started running this year, at the ripe old age of 50 and I love it. For decades, I thought runners were nuts but now I’m one of those nuts! The Long Beach Half Marathon was my 3rd this year and I earned that big Beach Cities Challenge medal. And I can’t wait for the next event.
“I didn’t take pictures of most of it because I’m trying to enjoy my life.” LOL! This was my favorite line. 🙂 Great job! 5 marathons in one year = amazing.
I ran the Long Beach Half on Sunday:-). It was my very first half, and my time was 1:57:55. I’m really happy about my time (breaking 2 was a big goal), but I completely, completely fell apart from miles 11-13. I just wanted to be done, and felt like the stretch of road before the finish lasted forever. I know it’s technically not “hitting a wall” like in a marathon, but man did I feel like my blood sugar bottomed out and my head was a mess!
Good for you for doing the full!! I had hoped to maybe see you (I’ve been a reader for a while:-)), but it was so insanely full of people and you’re so speedy that you probably finished before I did. Congratulations on 3:46!!!
-Eve in San Diego
How did you get over hating marathons? I ran Chicago on Sunday and now I’m all depressed and in a funk because they last 8 miles SUCKED. my body today feels fine but I can’t get the marathon dislike out of my mind!!!
Marathons are rough. I totally hated them for years until recently. It happened organically, but I didn’t force it. I let myself hate them for a long time 🙂
I ran the Montgomery Half Marathon on Saturday in Alabama. For this girl from “flat Indiana” those hills were challenging. I didn’t PR but finished within my normal finishing time range so I was pleased. This was my 13th half marathon in 2013. 5 more are still on the schedule.
super awesome! I think you are super speedy!
WHOA need to try that mexican bean coffee drink!!!
Monica, what’s your PR?!? 3:47 is kick ass! (I commented on your Instagram that I thought this was your PR after stalking your marathon recap posts, clearly I am wrong…)
Congrats on your race!! I ran the marathon yesterday too. I was hoping for sub 4, but didn’t reach that goal. It was a beautiful course though. The hills nearly killed me at the end. When I made it up the hill at mile 17, I almost died when I ran around the bend and saw another hill! I was not prepared for that!
Right?! I have run this race 3 times now, but I always forget about that hill and am like “What the heck?!” every time. Boo. Well, at least we did it 🙂
Good to go on the LBC! Always fun to finish a race with something positive accomplished. Knocked out an 18 miler this weekend here in San Antonio, then hit the taqueria for some chilaquiles. Getting spun up for the SA R&R in Nov and pondering a leap into the insane with the Bandera 100k in Jan.
OMG, the “beans and rice” frappe looks delicious. I wish there was somewhere in Sydney to get something like that! Nice going on the race, also. 🙂
Congratulations on finishing with a sub-4 hour time! I’m starting to train for my first full marathon (ran a half this spring) and I’m always inspired by people finishing that 26.2!
You are rocking it every time you go out and race right now. 3:47, are you kidding me? Awesome time. If you are willing to go a little easier, I want to run a 3:56 at MCM and would love to spend the 3:56 running with you. You are in Beast Mode
Thanks Steve! I credit you with all my speed. Well, you and God (I prayed a lot during mile 17…)
Congrats! I did my first marathon yesterday, and after the race I wasn’t sure if I’d run another one but I’ve had a change of heart today. Bring on the next one!
Congrats on LB. I ran the marathon too, and miles 17-22 absolutely destroyed me. First marathon for me, so it was definitely a learning experience.
Really great job on the marathon girlie!! Love the “beans & rice” frappe!! Haha! 🙂
I was out there running the Long Beach Half Marathon. Although I go to the gym 5 days a week, I don’t really do any running training. I didn’t hit my goal of a new PR, but I was only 2 minutes slower from my fastest time. It was a very rough race for me this year. I actually started to hit the wall around mile 3!!! I was overheating by the time we got to the beach part and had to use the beach shower to cool down. It was a rough day, but I got through it and I can’t complain too much. Well, I can complain about all the pain I am in today.
Long Beach was our first race too and I love it!!
Actually they did explain why, he said they were still checking/securing the course to make sure it was all safe….Oh yeah, and I believe I saw you on the turn around at Marine Park/ Appian way , between miles 12 and 13.
congrats! lb was my first half marathon and i love it…just made it into the beach bum club this year! but i got denied entry to the beer garden/beach bum club cuz i forgot my id. boooo!
Great job with the race! I ran the half yesterday and I was thankful for the clouds that covered the sky for most of the race.
Great job to you too!! Me too! I’ve done it in the past where the sun is just beating down on ya!
awesome job!!! I really want to do a race at sea level now that I’m training at altitude…I have this picture in my head of me having superman lungs.
My weekend consisted of running 12 miles at 6am shortly followed by hiking around a 30 acre corn maze at a pumpkin festival. It was a blast – but by the time I got home I really just wanted to crawl into bed for 2 days.
Nice job this weekend! I desperately want to run a southern California race one of these days. I wasn’t a runner when I lived there so it would be fun to see the area in a new way.
I have to agree with you about Miles 17-22 those are the hardest part of the course!I was hurting right around that point ,as you know 🙂 I ran the course 13 minutes faster than I did two years ago and also finished under 4 hours so I am really happy about that. Great race and great time! You are getting so fast and you are an inspiration! Good luck in all of your upcoming races!
You did amazing! I saw you ahead of me for a long time on the bike path. I was trying to keep it slow or I would have tried to catch up and say hi. Every freakin’ year that same section kills me! What race will I see you at next?
My next marathon will be LA Marathon. Are you going to be there? I am running Surfers Point Half on Nov 17 with my husband who will be doing his first half marathon! I don’t have any planned races for December. I am just going to focus on training for LA as a practice run for a goal BQ in May, 2014!!
You are killing these races this year!!
PS- I can’t imagine taking pictures of all my food every day!!
You’re crazy– in the best kinda way, but cray cray none the less! 5 marathons with more to come? Love it!
Great job on another marathon!
I watched my uncle run the ING Hartford Marathon in Hartford, CT on Saturday. I was feeling really inspired so I last minute signed up for the Newport Half Marathon the night before and ran the Newport Half in beautiful Newport, Rhode Island Sunday! It was a great Run filled weekend!
Congrats on completely yet another marathon, that’s sick! I also love that another person thinks about the food they are going to eat after a great workout like this one! Guilty!
wow, congrats monica! you’ve been running such strong races lately. you were a great runner before, but you can tell that you’ve really improved. apparently your training has really paid off – it’s very inspiring! i hope to run as well as you someday =)
You are an inspiration! Good work! I am a big fan of goal C…it’s the reason I run/work out.
You might get a kick out of this story: I signed up to run a 10K race yesterday in Providence to benefit breast cancer research. I was ready to really race my best but I somehow missed the split off for the 10K course (I have no idea why -I am blind?) and ended up running the 5K at my 10K pace. I’m pretty annoyed at myself because I was on track to do really well. I crossed the finish line confused and then ran an additional 4 miles just to get in a workout. Oh well. It was still for a good cause.
Great job!!!
AWESOME JOB!! The video is super cute! Glad you got to gob up yummy stuff as a reward!!!
Wow, that is a lot of marathons in a year. I’m running 2 and I think that’s enough. Great job.
I did my last LR before MCM! feeling good–getting excited!
Good job! See you at MCM!!
No running for me this weekend (boo!) I was in my brother-in-law’s wedding (yah!). Under 4 hours is a great time, no way I could run for that amount of time.
Awesome job!! I don’t know how you run all of these! I spent all weekend in Chicago watching my husband PR in the Chicago Marathon! It was awesome! Loved every minute! He is doing it again in 2 weeks at Marine Corps – I don’t know how you and him recover so quickly!
It was good. Ran my 8th half marathon for 2013. Didn’t hit my B goal = 2:14 because the course was nothing but hills, no flats at all. I finished in 2:18 though. I’m ready to rock RnR Denver on Sunday though. Hit my A goal of going out steady and of course just finished the race. Congrats on a great finish on your race!
Good luck in Denver!
Awesome run! Reading your recap made me super excited for my marathon in January!
Congrats on the race and cutting your time so much from last year! Have you run Chicago before? I watched my friend finish it yesterday. Such a fun, motivating race – I loved being there.
No, I haven’t done Chicago but have heard the best things about it! Great, flat course!!
Congrats on the marathon! Five marathons is a year is awesome!!!
Thanks Heather!
Sounds great, but tough!
My weekend was fab- I placed third female finisher in the CowalFest trail run 5K! It’ll probably be my only ever placing, so I plan to dine out on this one for a while! 🙂
Great race! Sorry you didn’t hit your A goal, but still really good. It’s always awesome to do a race for second year in a row and see the progress we make.
I ran a trail 5k over the weekend and definitely did not PR or hit my GP. It was a really, really tough course with lots of hills, tree roots, gravel, rocks, terrain changes, just nuts. But I’m in my last bit of taper before my first half marathon on Sunday!
Trails are no joke!
My weekend was great! I think you had a awesome run!!