Race Report: 2012 LA Marathon (4:42)

LOS ANGELES -- Put in the long runs and felt mighty fine in the lead up to the long haul. Didn't do as many short and mid runs as perhaps I should have, but did tons of CrossFit leading up to it and, to me, those workouts are just as useful.

The whole thing was great. Lovely weather after being told it would be freezing and raining for days leading up to it. Instead, sunny and cool -- ideal conditions. A bit of strong winds, but generally lovely.

It all starts at Dodger Stadium, which was also ideal. Just a hop and a skip from the car to the starting line. Although, I was stuck in a line for the bathrooms when the gun went off...haha. And when I got in line to start, I ended up about 20k people back and about 15 mins late to the gate. Wow.

Run went very well. Spent most of the starting 8 miles passing folks on sidewalks while being careful not to dash and dart as much as in 2005. Saw Maggs and Beck in front of the Vista at mile 8 or 9 and that was awesome. All through Hollywood I felt fantastic. Just hanging back on the pace a bit and thinking maybe I could give a nice push after the 405 to slip under 4 hours. Really held back except down hills, where I took the free speed more than usual.

Just as the optimism was starting to swell a little past mile 15, I got (for the first time ever on a run) actual calf cramps in my right leg. Bizarre. And the thought that far from a PR, I'd not even finish the stupid race. Nothing like this last year during the super hot 28. Or this year (last month) during the 30 after three days of CrossFit. So weird. Hard to understand.

Reading up since, perhaps it was a lack of sleep or the long hours on my feet in the shop or even the long car rides to and from Arizona the days before. Either way, it makes no difference...my legs failed me for the first time in a race.

It ended up being one of my finest days, however, as I didn't get down on myself...drank more water, switched my stride to a shuffle, experimented with how much pace I could deal with...and ended up fighting through it. All credit to the CrossFit on that note. I had a lot more auxiliary strength to power me the 11 miles I didn't have my calves. And I left it all out there. I turned on the speed again with a mile or so to go and the finish line in view. Calves exploded on both sides every time I hit a normal stride. They had zero left. I was glad to be done, but was not spent emotionally or physically (cardio-wise, I mean).

I had a sub-4 in the sights, but ended up with a 4:42...8 mins off my old PR. At the end of the day, I ran a casual marathon on a whim without what I would describe as exceptional ramping up of my training. And that was my goal 18 months ago when I read Born to Run. Eff yeah. Good stuff.