LA, The Marathon that almost didn't happen

I'll share with you guys a little bit of what I thought was the most amazing weekend of my life.
Full recap later.

Short Version:

I finished. Or shall I say, WE finished. JV decided to run the marathon with me.. all 26.2 miles. What I thought would be a disaster (trying to stay together.. feeling bad I would slow him down... my foot leading to a DNF.. which would mean he would either continue or drop out too) turned out to be the best time I had.

Some highlights:

• L.A is an amazing city! I love it there and was sad to leave. But for sure, L.A Marathon 2014 is in the books
• WE MET DEENA KASTOR!!!!!!!!! AND SHE SIGNED OUR BIBS! (i think she was like my good luck charm, sorry JV lol)

yep, me and Deena were matching :-)

• People will hate me after I say this.. but... it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I imagined I would be dying at the end. I mean I was.. but I guess I was just so happy to be there at the moment. I took my time.. I listened to my body (sorta)... hydrated as well as I could and never got thirsty.. never cramped.. didn't need to stop for bathroom.. no stomach issues.. never hit the wall... ate along the course to provide my body with sustained energy.. most importantly I smiled the whole way!

• I wore new gear, Oops
  Although I wasn't suppose to wear anything new the day of the race... I tend to go against the rules. If you havent read many of my recaps last year, I tend to do it ALOT. and well.. it works (most of the time). This time I wore new shoes. Yep. NEW. The most I ran on them was 1.3miles a few days leading up to the race and I got lucky. Too lucky. My knees didn't hurt as much, small blister and that is all. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS. Don't do any of what I did today, because honestly, it was a reckless miracle I finished. (I also ate a bunch of new things.. and thank god, everything worked.) I tried out the Flipbelt, new Brooks shorts, new headband (which worked! usually they end up falling off on me) but more on that later...

• I ran injured. and I still finished at a time of 4:29 and pace of 10:17min/mile. Not the best time in the world, but I'm so proud of it. I'm 90% sure that this is a PR'able(?) time.
  10% not sure.. because.. well shit happens. :-)

• I now have a bruise on my tendon.. where the pain began a month ago.. oops. Needs to go to doc asap again. And I have a feeling it aint gonna be good news, but I'm ready for some more rest :-)
  my hamstrings hurt like a bitch everytime i walk..

• The course was better than I imagined... and harder than I imagined. I lost count of how many hills and downhills there were.. mile 4, I'm out to get you next time. 

• I RAN WITH NO MUSIC! and I loved it!!!!!!!!! (a first in my books, when it hurts i plug my earphones in, today there was no such thing)

What did I learn?
Well more like re-learn every time I race... EVERYTHING is possible.
If i can run a damn marathon injured.. after being out for almost a month and enjoy every mile, and even shout out "MILE 13 ALREADY?!" then I can damn well finish another...

This marathon wasn't going to get the best of me. I am so glad it's over, because I still don't know how far I can go.

Couple of snapshots, more to come later.

L.A. Marathon 2013, completed.