LA Marathon - Part 1

Race weekend is here! Time to get out to LA for a little break and run a marathon while I am there. Plus visit my grandparents with my mom, and meet a cousin and her son who are also running. So despite the forecast for rain, it should be a nice weekend!

I got up at 4:30 (wow- and it’s not race day!), my mom drove in the night before from Divide, and we left a bit after 5:30 to get a 8:30 flight out of Denver. On time and eventful, just how I like ‘em.

When we arrive in LA and it’s overcast with some light rain and temps slightly under 60. 

We are definitely in LA! We hopped shuttle to Westwood, where my grandparents picked us up. A nice lunch of bagels & lox and some chill time.

A few hours later I got picked up by a friend of a friend and we met up at the friend’s place (Vicky), watched FSU pull of a victory agains St. Bonaventure in the NCAA tournament, and then headed out to the Expo at Dodger Stadium. A little irony here because my brother, nephew, and uncle are in Phoenix to see the Dodger’s in spring training.

The guy in the foreground is Kirk, the friend of Vicky. I know Vicky from Girls Heart Rockets. 

Kirk, Vicky, and I walked around the expo for a bit and hit up some of the vendors for an afternoon snack.

Buffet line #1: Clif

Buffet #2: Honey Stinger

And buffet #3: Probar

That tided me over until dinner.

I also “ran” into Meb at the expo. Generation UCAN is my main fuel source for endurance events. (Try it! Get 10% off with coupon code UCANTRIND).

Then we found our names on the Honda vehicles.

that's me in the very bottom corner!

Then back home for dinner, which was a yummy kale salad, veggie & goat cheese ravioli, and I added a few slices of turkey to get some more protein.

A set of backgammon games with Oma (I couldn’t quite get luck enough with the rolls and she was 3-2) and then bed...

Day 2, Saturday: 

I slept in until 7am, waking up a couple times, but pretty good rest being at sea level! At 8am my mom and I got picked up by a high school friend of my mother’s. We ventured out in the rain the short distance to the Beverly Hills Hotel and had breakfast at the Polo Lounge. I picked the egg white frittata and added some toast. Yum!

I was pretty full after this meal, but it was a great day-before-the-race breakfast. The rest of the morning was pretty relaxing, and it was a good day for being lazy since it was raining with some heavier downpours every so often. But by 1pm the rain had lightened up enough for me to go for a quick run to make sure my legs were working. 3 miles around the hills of Beverly.

In the afternoon a distant relative (but now not so distant!) and her son came by to visit. Robin (same first name AND occupation as the Robin with whom we had breakfast!) lives in NY and her great-great grandfather is the brother of my grandfather’s great grandfather. We had coffee and apple cake, and got to know each other a bit. They are both running and agreed to pick me up in the morning so my mom wouldn’t have to get up at o-dark-30 and drive me down to Santa Monica. Very nice!
After they left I started to get stuff around for the race before we ate. Dinner was salmon and brown rice as requested, with some carrots and green beans, and some more apple cake for dessert. In my Oma’s house there is dessert every day. Good thing I am here to run a marathon!

I put my stuff together for the morning, as they were going to get me by 4:20. Bed by 9pm!