May 30, 2009 Newsletter

THIS SATURDAY AT-A-GLANCE

Mileage: 12
Volunteers:
Bananas - Denise Ellison (May 2, 9, 16 and 30)
Bagels - Mira Reverente (May 16 and 23)
Set-up and Breakdown - Naomi Kress

TRAINING CORNER
By George Arita, Adviser of Training
Georgerunvta@aol.com

LSD

Congratulations to those who ran LAM. Hope you fulfilled your expectations or did even better. I think the weather was good (I was OOT), just got back last night (Wednesday) and didn’t have time to catch up on the newspaper reading. I don’t even know who won. LAMers should have been taking it easy during the week and can rest or do a short and easy (4-5 miles) on Saturday.

Those running RNR in San Diego or Shadows must rest on Sat. Don’t overdo yourself at the expo.

Others, if you went out for 8 miles last Saturday, you should go for 12 miles this Saturday as part of your “8 – 12 – 8 – 15” maintenance, no race routine.

See you all on Saturday.

THE "OTHER" INSIDE TRACK NEWSLETTER

Many of our members have been getting two newsletters, one from our distance-oriented group and one for the more track-oriented group. As we move forward, we will be incorporating everyone into this one list. In the meantime, as we migrate over, we will be posting links to the other newsletter so that everyone can get all the information. See the other newsletter here:

http://www.runventura.com/itrcnews_other.html

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

By Christopher Means, recent LA Marathon finisher
cmeans@ctm-design.com

2009 LA MARATHON

What an amazingly beautiful day for a marathon. The morning was just right, so no extra coverings such as sweats or even trash bag dresses were necessary, though the well-prepared still had them handy. It was a typical southern California morning, balmy-but-overcast.

“I Love LA” by Randy Newman looped over and over as we did the shuffle to the start, finally getting to jog as we passed 6th street and he crooned “6th Street! We Love it! We Love it! We Love LA!” No Ali or Flo-Jo to send us off this year like in years past, but I always love Randy. I’m with him in our love for LA - like only a true New Englander can.

It was a slow but steady race for me. My training had been as spotty as the LA Marathon’s track record for the year, changing dates and courses multiple times as it went through some issues at City Council and the change of ownership over to the LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. However, it was my 14th LA Marathon, so I figured my muscle memory would get me through. I took it easy, and they did me well.

Along the course were the usual suspects, the running Elvis’, Darth Vader, the USC Trojan, even running testicles (promoting male cancer awareness) were out this year. The one-legged veteran on the single roller skate was missing again, it’s been a few years since I’ve seen him. I hope he is well and happy, his was a struggle but also a beautiful determination.

The young cheerleaders from all the schools were there, enthusiastic and supportive, as were the bands of all varieties. Colors exploded everywhere - neon from the 80s is back. OMG. Like, totally...

I slapped a lot of high-fives, thanked the volunteers, and people watched; between the almost 7’ female runner to the under 5’ guy who whooped up the crowd as he ran, telling everyone how great they were, and all the folks in between; it was quite the show. I love the variety, and try to celebrate the differences.

I think Students Run LA was the biggest winner of the day, out in force in their bright neon green. To see SO many kids, so happy, running so long and hard, just makes you swell with pride. Girls and boys of all shapes and sizes, who have found joy and accomplishment in running. You know these kids know now – they can do anything! I’d love to see a program like it in Ventura some day.

Overall it was a lighter turnout than years past, but with close to 15,000 runners it was still the spectacle it tends to be. The weather, and the high clouds, would last the day, making it a course-record kind of day (and that’s just what kind of day it was for the winner – Kenyan (via University of Louisville) Wesley Korir, who finished in 2:08:24 (that’s a sub-5 min pace!) – so, just slightly ahead of me.

The one real bitch I have was with the course length and my Garmin 305 GPS. I noticed early on that the distance-mileage flags were a bit off, and near the end of the race at mile 25 (per the GPS) I poured on the final kick trying to beat those last ticks. It seems my Garmin was off, not the mileage flags (according to race officials ;) – my Garmin would read 26.57 miles at the finish line, almost .4 miles longer! That last kick averaged 173 bpm heart rate, which is max for me, and to do it for that long, at the end of the race... I thought I might puke when I finally crossed the finish line.

As I sat on the curb at the end, exhausted, a Students Run LA boy sat next to me and started texting. I gave him my congratulations and he looks back at me - “I beat my time by over 10 minutes from last year!” he says, a twinkle in his eye and a grin showing on his face, the sweat still pouring down.

Next year I believe McCourt wants to change the course again, this time to run from Dodgers Stadium to the beach. Sounds like fun to me! I hope to see more of us down there next year. Long before there were so many marathons and half-marathons throughout the US, there was LA. It’s like going home for me. It’s always new and fun, even though I’ve “been there, done that.”

CLUB NEWS

*Birthday greetings

May 12- Jeff Lowell
May 14 - Ed Burnett
May 27 - Erin Howard