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Mar 14, 2014
Training Diaries

LA Marathon Recap: I Left My Ego In New York City or Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

LA Marathon

Words of advice rang in my ears during the 26.2 mile run from Dodger’s Stadium to Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California.

“If you feel good, hold back. If you reach mile 15 and you still feel good, hold back.” ~ Coach Andrew Kastor

“Don’t acknowledge the heat. Once you do it becomes a factor.” ~ Olympic Marathoner, Ryan Hall

“On the uphills feel a friendly hand on your back giving you a push up the hill” ~ Professional Triathlete, Andy Potts

Ā “Take it easy. This is just a training run. Take planned walk breaks and focus on being smart and running easy.” My husband, Rick Prince šŸ˜‰Ā 

LA Marathon
Coach Kastor, Deena Kastor, Ryan Hall & Andy Potts

While those words carried me through the streets of LA, they also kept me entirely in my head. I didn’t realize just how loud that chatter was until after the race. That’s when I learned the course ran past the famous Hollywood sign, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood High (where the movie Grease was filmed), Grauman’s Chinese Theater and Rodeo Drive. I managed to miss my opportunity to see them!

Though, I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised. I tend to run in my head most of the time anyways. I just thought taking this race easy meant letting my mind go for a change.Ā More than anything I want to run a strong race in Boston. I didn’t want any mistakes made in LA to cost me the opportunity to live my dream. Therefore, I guess deep down I was afraid of my decision to run a marathon in the middle of a training schedule.Ā 

The one thing I was sure of on race day, I worked hard for that BQ and if I wanted to make it to the start line in HopkintonĀ feeling strong on April 21st, I had toĀ leave my ego at home.

LA Marathon
Shakeout run with Alysia MontaƱo, Ryan Hall, Andy Potts, Deena Kastor, Coach Andrew Kastor and the Asics Marathon Blogger Challenge Team.

The thought of running a specific time goal for this race crossed my mind more than once while out on the course, but I had to tell my ego to shut-up and let it go. I had to remind myself it didn’t matter how long it took me to finish as long as I finished feeling good.

In the end I met my goals for the day. I held back, didn’t think about the heat and felt a hand on my back gently pushing me up the hills. I did the smart thing (for once) and didn’t let my ego rule the day.

One Last Thought:

I’m not a serial marathoner and yet, Boston will be my fourth marathon in ten months. I never thought I’d be that person who ran back to back marathons. I’ve never had the desire to and don’t actually think it’s the healthiest thing for me personally on a lot of levels. Since crossing the finish line on Sunday recovery has been my number one priority. I’ll start posting more about what I’m doing to stay healthy, how I spent my week after the marathon and what my goals are for Boston, so be on the lookout for more training related posts in the near future.

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Comments

  1. Dori says

    March 14, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    Congratulations on finishing another marathon and for being smart about it!

    Reply
  2. Judith says

    March 14, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    I’ll have to remember that bit about not acknowledging the heat. I ran my first marathon a few weeks ago, and the last hour was in 80+ degrees. Which I definitely acknowledged (especially having trained in the portal vortex then traveling to Florida for a race… system shock).

    Congrats on running smart, though. That’s always hard to do!

    Reply
  3. Jojo @ RunFastEatLots says

    March 14, 2014 at 4:00 pm

    Congrats on the finish and running a smart race!

    Reply
  4. Shut Up and Run says

    March 14, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    Sounds like you ran a really smart “training” run for Boston. I’ll be following you that day!

    Reply
  5. Sara @ LovingOnTheRun says

    March 14, 2014 at 8:15 pm

    What an awesome group of people! Congrats on the race – sounds like you ran it perfectly!

    Reply
  6. Jesica @rUnladylike says

    March 20, 2014 at 7:01 pm

    I love the quotes and thoughts that were shared with you. Very wise. Glad you had a great race! Good luck at Boston! xo

    Reply

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I'm Jess Underhill, a certified run coach and freelance fitness writer. I experienced my first runner’s high when I was 13 and it had a profound impact on how I saw myself and this world. My mission in life is to help people chase down their personal bests and crush their goals so that they too, can change their perceptions. Read More…

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