Posted in Running

LA Marathon 2018

Last weekend I ran my second full marathon, the L.A.Marathon. My official time was 5:13:36 hours. My goal had been to run the marathon in under 5 hours but that didn’t happen unfortunately. However, I am happy to see that my time improved by 6 minutes from my first marathon in Long Beach back in October 2017.

I was originally supposed to start my training in late November/early December, but that didn’t happen! I’m fact, I ended up running only twice in December, one of those times was a half marathon which I had signed up for in November. In January I decided I need to start taking my training more seriously. I ran about 50 miles in January and 100 miles in February. One thing I did differently during this training was finally start running with a running group. I did a few runs with them, including the 17 mile run.

One thing that worried me was whether I would have enough energy and fuel for the marathon as a vegetarian. I had decided to take part in Meatless March, so by the time I ran the L.A.Marathon, I had gone nearly 3 weeks without eating any red meat, poultry, or seafood.

I was so nervous for the L.A.Marathon. I didn’t get much sleep the week before. I ran the San Diego Half Marathon with a time of 2:13 hours and felt pretty good. I also ran the L.A.Big 5k the day before the marathon. I was worried that these two races would hurt my time or that I would be overdoing it.

The night before the L.A.Marathon, I went to eat at a local Italian restaurant with my running group. I ended up eating spinach lasagna and ate three pieces of garlic bread. The food was good. I managed to go to sleep early, by 9pm, but unfortunately, I ended up waking up at 2:30am the day of the marathon. I was unable to go back to sleep because I was so anxious.

My journey to the Dodger Stadium took a while for me. I left my house at 430am and drive to the Atlantic Metro Station in East L.A. From there I took the gold line to the Union Station in Downtown L.A. Once I was there, I took a shuttle to the Dodger Stadium, where I met up with my running group. We started the marathon a little bit after 7am. 

I ran about 12 miles with one of my friends from the running group, but we got separated. From the beginning, I had some mild pain in my right calf. Luckily I wore a compression sleeve and kt tape on both calves, which definitely helped. 

I’ve driven around many different areas of Los Angeles before, but it’s a different thing to see everything while you’re running. We went through Downtown L.A., Chinatown, Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Brentwood to name a few. The crowd support was incredible! No matter where you ran, there were groups of people cheering you on! I definitely needed that especially in the last 4 miles of the marathon, when I felt like giving up. Hills are always tough,but it’s worse when the hills come after you’ve already been running for 20 miles.

There are many things in would change about my training for the next marathon. I would stick to my training plan and add more long runs. Between January and the L.A.Marathon, I only had one long run that was 17 miles. I guess the fact that I did multiple half marathons during this time helped me stay in shape and prepare for the marathon. I also need to add more hill training, speed training, and cross training.
As crazy as it sounds, I can’t wait to run the L.A.Marathon again next year. In fact, I’m already signed up. My goal is to run the marathon in 4:45-5:00 hours. The next race I’m training for is the OC Half Marathon, where my goal is to run a sub 2 hour half. I would be happy with the time of 1:58 . Will start training for this race tomorrow!

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Posted in Running

Running in 2017

At the beginning of 2017, I set a goal to run at least 300 miles. I ended up running 438 miles. I ran the most miles in August 2017. I ran 13 5k races, 6 10k races, 6 half marathons, and a marathon. 

I even travelled to San Francisco for a half marathon and Las Vegas for both a 5k and half marathon. It was fun getting to go on short weekend racecations. 

I think my biggest accomplishment in running In 2017 was running the marathon. It was my first time ever running 26.2 miles. I trained four months for it. It took me 5 hours and 15 minutes to finish. My Next marathon will be the Los Angeles marathon. My goal will be to finish In under 4 hours and 45 minutes.

Having done so many different races, I feel like my favorite is the half marathon, 13.1 miles. It’s challenging but not as hard as the marathon. I also like the 5k races, but I’m not a big fan of the 10k races tbh.

In 2018, I hope to travel more places and run more miles. I also want to set more PRs. My running goal is to run at least 500 miles in 2018. 

Posted in Running

Long Beach Marathon

I did it!!! Back in January, about a week before my birthday, I decided that I would sign up for a marathon. At the time I had only been running 5-6 months and the idea of running a marathon (26.2 miles) seemed crazy to me.

I decided that since this would be my first marathon, I should start my training in June so that I would have at least four months to train. I followed my plan as much as I could, though I did have to stop training for the first three weeks in July. The reason for this was that I hurt my foot and had trouble walking. Despite the break i took, I feel like my training really helped me prepare for my first marathon.

Before the Long Beach Marathon, I had done three half marathons. The longest run i did in training was a 20 mile run. The day of the marathon, I woke up really early because I was so nervous. In fact, the whole week before the marathon, I kept thinking to myself, what did I get into?? I really did not think in would be able to finish the 26.2 miles. I felt so unprepared.

It took me 5 hours and 17 minutes to finish the marathon. There were a few moments during the race when I wanted to quit. I felt a little dizzy at miles 13-15, but eventually felt a little better. At the end I felt really sore. Was in so much pain all over my body! But I’m already looking forward to doing this again at the LA Marathon in March 2018. I’ve learned a few things that I will do differently next time.

I’m happy to be able to call myself a marathoner!

Posted in Bucket Lists, goals, Life, Running

September 2017

A new month a new list of things to do this month! The biggest thing I’m doing this month is the 30 Day Vegan Challenge. I have given up meat and poultry for a month before, during Meatless March, but I’ve never given up dairy products or other animal products. This will be hard for me. Here’s a list of my goals and bucket list for this month!

1. Run 100 miles

I’m training for my first marathon next month so this is definitely possible. In August, I ran about 90 miles. This will be my last full month of training so I hope I can stick to the training plan as much as possible. 

2. 30 Vegan Challenge

No meat, no poultry, no dairy products, no eggs, no seafood, etc. I’ve on!y been vegan for about four days and it’s been really hard for me. I’ve had headaches and have low energy. This is bad for me as a runner. I know I will need to improve the way I eat if I want to last the finish the 30 Day Vegan Challenge.

3. Continue learning German

I know some basic German, but I want to be able to read the German version of the Harry Potter books. One day I would love to visit Germany, it’s one of the top countries on my travel bucket list.

4. Learn to play guitar

My boyfriend said he will teach me to play guitar. I would love to be able to write some songs for him to sing while I accompany him on guitar.

5. Go on a spending fast

Anyone who knows me knows I have the bad habit of buying things I don’t need. This month I want to stop that. My plan is to not buy anything like books, running shoes, makeup, non essential things.