{"database": "pelican", "table": "content", "rows": [["ryan", "musings", "How pretty it was\n\nOn Sunday March 18, 2018 I ran the [LA Marathon](https://www.lamarathon.com).\nIt was my first one and it was an amazing experience.\n\nI never thought I would be able to compete in, let alone finish, a marathon,\nbut on Sunday I did.\n\nI started training, like **really** training, for the marathon last August. I\nwould wake up every morning and walk for 45 minutes. This was to get me back\ninto a shape that would allow me to run a bit.\n\nOn Sunday, September 24 I completed my first run since February 25th\n(basically 7 months between runs!). It was a 45 minute run that covered 3.82\nmiles. Over the next 6 months I slowly increased the distances I would run\nfrom that modest 3.82 run up to an 18 mile run. In total, I completed 89\ntraining runs which covered 441.92 miles and spent 79+ hours running (see\ntable below for details).\n\n* * *\n\nMonth Distance Time Runs September 14.68 3:03:14 4 October 62.96 12:12:05 17\nNovember 87.70 16:52:06 20 December 37.42 7:03:57 7 January 90.80 17:09:12 18\nFebruary 69.49 14:16:52 17 March 43.06 08:29:11 6 **Total** ** 441.92 ****\n79:06:37** ** 89**\n\n* * *\n\nWith all of the training that I did, there was a bit of December where I had\npulled my right calf on a training run that forced me to rest for a couple of\nweeks. The only good news of that was that it coincided with a family trip to\nUtah where I would not have been able to really run while there (the average\nday time highs were in the teens and the ground seemed to be constantly\ncovered in ice).\n\nAlso, with all of the training that I did, there isn\u2019t really any way to train\nfor race day itself. You get up early (in my case 3:50) and you take a shuttle\nto the start line and then wait. For hours. I got to Dodger stadium at about\n5:00am but the race wasn\u2019t set to start until 6:55am.\n\nSo I waited, with my running buddies, for the run to start. It was cold (about\n48 degrees) and crowded. Once the race started it took nearly 20 minutes\nbefore I was able to cross the start line (there were nearly 25,000 people\nthat ran).\n\nNone of the training that you do can really prepare you for this. Even if you\ndo a race during your training, chances are it won\u2019t have that many people, or\nhave that many logistics involved with getting to and starting. That being\nsaid, having good company and a good playlist is essential.\n\nI stayed with my coach, Marirose, for the entire race. We ran for the first 15\nmiles without stopping (except for a potty break at mile 5) and were making\npretty good time. For the most part I felt really good.\n\nBut then something happened. At about 15 miles I hit a running wall. At 20\nmiles I hit a walking wall and didn\u2019t want to finish. I think the only reason\nI finished was because I promised my daughter that I would finish a marathon\nand I wanted to keep my promise.\n\nAt mile 23 all I wanted to do was sit down and take a break, but I kept\nwalking anyway.\n\nFinally, at mile 26 I could see the finish line and Marirose and I ran the\nlast 0.2 miles to the finish line. I had such a wave of emotion.\n\nI kind of wanted to cry. I wanted to cry because I had accomplished an amazing\nphysical feat. I wanted to cry because I hurt EVERYWHERE. I wanted to cry\nbecause it was my daughter\u2019s 12 birthday and I was running a marathon and she\nwas home with family friends.\n\nWith the wave of emotion and the feeling of having completed such an awesome\nexperience I walked towards the people handing out the medals and got my\nfinisher\u2019s medal.\n\n![Finisher's Medal](/images/uploads/2018/03/IMG_9370.jpg)\n\nNow, not only did I have the feeling of completing the LA Marathon, I had a\nphysical manifestation of that feat!\n\nWhen it was all said and done my unofficial time for the [LA Marathon was\n05:56:08](https://www.trackshackresults.com/lamarathon/results/2018/mar_results.php?Link=14&Type=2&Div=F&Ind=4).\nNot too shabby for a first timer. Not too shabby for guy who 7 months earlier\nstruggled to run 45 minutes and wasn\u2019t sure he\u2019d ever be able to get past 10\nmiles.\n\nAfter the race on Sunday I said I\u2019d never do a marathon again. I had checked\nit off my bucket list and that was that.\n\nNow, sitting here, only a couple of days later, I\u2019m thinking that **never** is\na long time and that there is a possibility that yes, I might run another\nmarathon.\n\nBut not for a while. For now, I\u2019ll stick to my next goal of getting to a sub\n25-minute 5k and running a half marathon every year. Those goals seem a little\nmore reasonable, and a little less brutal on my body!\n\n", "2018-03-21", "the-la-marathon", "How pretty it was\n\nOn Sunday March 18, 2018 I ran the [LA Marathon](https://www.lamarathon.com).\nIt was my first one and it was an amazing experience.\n\nI never thought I would be able to compete in, let alone finish, a marathon,\nbut on Sunday I did.\n\nI started training, like **really \u2026**\n\n", "The LA Marathon", "https://www.ryancheley.com/2018/03/21/the-la-marathon/"]], "columns": ["author", "category", "content", "published_date", "slug", "summary", "title", "url"], "primary_keys": ["slug"], "primary_key_values": ["the-la-marathon"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7883617654442787}