CIM Dec. 4, 2016

California International Marathon

December 4, 2016

4:01:24 2,714/6,174 overall   14/73 65-69

Jodi –3:54:20 2,350/6,174overall  87/395 45-49  

            The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful from Jodi: “When everything comes together on race day and all your hard work pays off! Official CIM finish time of 3:54:20, a PR and Boston Qualifying time!! Leave it to me to take a little tumble at Mile 26: landed on my knee, cheek, chin and lip. Thank God I was so close to the finish line and for my wonderful friends at the finish who helped me out, Stephanie Negin and Oliver Valenzuela!!”

            Supreme congratulations to Jodi who ran both a PR and a BQ at CIM. She gave it her all and had amazingly even splits the whole race, keeping them all in the 8:48-8:50 range. Unfortunately, that untimely fall just 365 yards from the finish cost her close to 2 minutes. After the race she spent time in the med tent which is where Bill Hastrup and I found her when Oliver told us that was where to find her. We got our sweat bags and then Jodi got gigantic cramps in both calves. They were excruciatingly painful and Jodi was hollering in pain. Bill, who is a doctor, remarked that they were the biggest knots he’d ever seen. Another record for Jodi!! “Worse than childbirth” was Jodi’s comment.

            Jodi ran the first 6 miles with her Wascally friend, Erica, but then did all the great pacing on her own the rest of the way. She ran the last 6 miles better than she ever has which is a huge accomplishment. This was Jodi’s 10^th marathon, and she has gotten stronger and wiser! She trained more weekly miles with more intense speedwork and really got her race hydration and nutrition just right this time.

            I had Bill Hastrup to run with most of the race. It really helped to pass the miles as we told stories and pulled and pushed each other. So many of the early miles just seemed to fly by; so much better than when you’re alone and spend too much time thinking about how you’re feeling. Then in the later miles when one of us would not feel that strong, the other would keep him going and get us through the rough patch. It was so helpful to both of us. We are the same age and both needed sub 4:10 for BQs and we got well under that. (Bill finished in 4:03:25.) After the first two warm-up miles, we kept each mile in the 9:10-9:20 range. We went through the half in 2:01:50 which means I got the second half under 2 hours. I finished really strong with my 4 fastest miles coming  in the last 7 miles: 19-8:52, 21-8:47, 23-8:48, 26-8:56.

            Race day could not have been more perfect. After experiencing wind and rain or extreme cold in the last few CIMs, this one started in high 30s and got up to low 50s with little wind and some clouds. The night before we had pasta with Bill and his wife, Jeri, and Anita Lee and her brother, Alan. When we got to the restaurant, we ran into Oliver Valenzuela who was finishing dinner with his wife and son, Nick, who was running his first marathon. Also, Nick’s wife, Joanne (who is the daughter of our great friends, Howard and Marty Zinn) was there with their children. “Small world in Fresno”J)

            At the expo I got a “Loyalty” Award for having run CIM 15 times. It was a CIM blanket and medal that you can see in the pictures. The pictures also include some of the history from CIM that has been meaningful to me. There are members of the Sacramento Running Association that John Pius and I were familiar with in the 1980s. Chris Iwashashi was a woman that we seemed to see a lot at races and got to know because we were around the same pace (sub 3 hour marathoners back then) and Dennis Rinde who had won CIM and the old Central Valley (Fresno) marathons. Tim Twietmeyer was a legendary ultra runner and Helen Klein ran world record age group times in her 70s and 80s. The pictures of the highlights of the last 3 CIMs that I had run included the rain and wind in 2012, the 28 degree temperature in 2013, and running with Jodi in 2014.

            We got to ring the Boston Qualifier Bell together and see Oliver do it with his grandkids. Later we celebrated with a Salted Carmel Pizookie at BJs in Elk Grove. Monday, Jodi was a wounded warrior with the marathon hobble as she walked, but she got the hard-earned “Red Plate” at dinner!

This was Marathon #151; 21 states on 2d go round; All 10 Canadian provinces. Next up: Dopey Challenge at Disney World Jan 5-8 with 5k, 10k, Half, and Full-Marathon on 4 consecutive days.     

Pictures at: https://www.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0MbNGThy3bPJg&emid=shareprintviewer&linkid=link

150th Marathon-Two Cities Marathon 11 6 16

 Two Cities, Fresno and Clovis

November 6, 2016

4:12:08 128/369 overall   6/19 60-69

Jodi –Half Mar 1:50:43  146/1323 overall  13/221 40-49  

            Earlier this year, Jodi told me that it would be a fun idea to schedule my marathons so that TCM would be my 150^th marathon, and we could celebrate in town with our friends including the ones I’ve coached. That has turned out to be a great idea as we have had a great time planning the celebration and a great time running the race and seeing so many at the celebration.

            Jodi arranged for me to wear bib #150 which was very cool. We were also able to walk to the start from our house having slept in our own bed. At the starting area we saw a lot of friends and took pictures. Estella Salcido showed us the two inspirational posters (see Shutterfly pics) that she had put up in the start area. Race conditions were ideal with fog that kept the temps in the low 50s all morning. Having run PEI Marathon just 3 weeks ago, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was able to run mostly in the 9:20s reaching the half-way point at 2:03:49. Oliver Valenzuela ran a few miles with me along Shepherd and then finished up by running Jodi in. Quite a feat to run with both of us and also get a sub 1:50 time of his own in the half. It was quite fun seeing so many people and hearing many calling out my name along the course and from within the sea of runners doing the Clovis Half.

            When I turned onto Friant Road about mile 17, it was pretty lonely as I didn’t see anyone within a few hundred yards, but I worked to see if I could keep the miles under 9:20 so I could get a BQ time. I did keep that average up until about 21 and then the proverbial piano jumped on my back for the last 5 miles going back up Friant Road. It was great to see Sherrie Flynn and Deb Schmidt holding Estella’s sign about mile 22, and then Katie and her CC teammate, Clare had a “Go John, Run” sign and a picture of me that Jodi had blown up from a wedding picture. Rudy Montoya and Jodi ran with me for the last 3 miles, but it was definitely “beating a dead horse” as I struggled to run 10:30’s. They really helped distract me from the struggle with Rudy telling stories about his “Sanger high librarian” (me), pushing Sunny, and taking a video that you can see on Facebook. Jodi had run a great half-marathon and then made it out to mile 23 to run some more miles. It was really a full day for her and above and beyond the call of duty!

            I did get mile 26 under 10, but it was hard. As Jodi and I turned into Woodward Park, she spied Vince Tomei ahead of us. Vince had trained with our Fleet Feet team and was completeing his first marathon. Jodi and I pushed to catch up to him and then Vince and I pulled each other to the finish line with a bit of a pickup. We had both made it!

            After the finish Jodi and I got pictures with a lot of our friends/runners feeling like we had our own paparazzi. I was very tired, but quite happy to finish #150. After cleaning up and resting a bit, we went to the celebration at Debbie Coate’s Boot Camp facility. It was pretty amazing to get there and see all the work Jodi and her helpers had put in to set it up. There was a #150 cake and a special lemon cake (my fav) made by Katie. It was also great now that Katie has her license that she could help Jodi with bringing things like the food. Nick was our official photographer so the whole family chipped in. And then Mom was able to attend as she and Bill had moved here just the week before. She surely enjoyed seeing so many of you that she has met over the years.

            It was really special to have Juan and Suzane Sobenes attend the celebration. Juan was the first person in the Fresno area to run 150 marathons.

He and Suzanne and I have run many marathons together in a lot of different places and shared many memorable experiences. Jodi had asked me some marathon history questions and Shawn Young served as MC recounting those answers and many other fun stories from our running past together. Shawn had been announcing all day at TCM so it was amazing that he still had more to give at the party. Shawn and I told many stories some featuring John Pius with whom I ran for over 30 years. John wrote me a wonderful tribute letter which Shawn read to all and you can see in the pictures and read, too.

            My two coaching groups presented me with some very creative gifts. I was the original coach for Team in Training in Fresno and coached with them from 1998-2014. They gave me a framed TNT coach shirt and a trophy with this inscription: John Volkman  Forever Our Coach  Congratulations on your 150^th marathon!  From the thousands you have trained to cross the finish line  -2016- 

            I have been coaching Fleet Feet since 2013 and my current team headed by Huiwen Hao and Tina Banks presented me with a tapestry/quilt featuring a photo of our team stiched into it. Quite a remarkable gift!

            In case you are interested, here are the questions and answers from the marathon history trivia:

1.      Years running: 36

2.      First race: 10K, 1980 in Sanger

3.     First marathon: March 1981, Napa, 2:58:43

4.     Total marathon miles: 3,992

5.     Marthon PR: 2:57:25, CIM in Sacramento, 1985

6.     Farthest traveled for marathon: Stockholm, Sweden

7.      Favorite Marathon: CIM because my best times and many BQ’s are there

8.     Number of Boston Marathons: 18 (15 CIM, 13 Napa)

9.     Numbers coached: Over 2000

10. Most memorable coaching season: TCM 2013 Why? That’s when I met JodiJ!!!

11. Most gratifying coaching experiences: Steve Wilson (oldest first time marathoner at 59)

and Mark Dorman who went from couch to Boston and ultramarathoner and longtime assistant coach

This was Marathon #150; 21 states on 2d go round; All 10 Canadian provinces. Next up: CIM in Sacramento on Dec. , 2016.     

Pictures at: https://www.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0MbNGThy3bO2A&emid=shareprintviewer&linkid=link

Prince Edward Island Marathon

 Prince Edward Island

October 16, 2016

4:09:40  92/217 overall   10/19 60-69

Jodi –Half Mar 1:53:46   107/437 overall  9/91 40-49  

            Jodi and I set out on our great adventure across the North American continent early on Friday morning and didn’t arrive until midnight, 4 time zones later. (There is a 4^th time zone on the far east coast of Canada, the Atlantic Time Zone.) We got our rental car and drove a short distance out of Charlottetown to the Airbnb home at which we had booked a room. We had checked room rates and found that bnb’s were remarkably inexpensive ($50/night) compared to regular hotels so thought we’d try it out. Our host couple had left the key on the mat and we got in easily to our downstairs area which included bedroom, bath, and living room. We got right to bed and the next morning were invited to join our hosts for breakfast. They were a young (20s) couple who lived in the upstairs section of the house and made money by renting rooms to tourists. They were really hospitable and we had a yummy start to the day, too.

            As you can see in the pictures, PEI has lots of ocean views as no point is more than 40 miles from the coast. Charlottetown is the capital city of this province and Jodi and I enjoyed exploring it’s streets, shops, historic sites, and restaurants. (In 1864, leaders from the colonies met to begin discussion of combining to form the eventual country of Canada.) We picked up our kits (as the Canadians call race packets) and drove along the coast to check-out the course and find the starting area.

            We got up Sunday morning to see “0” (Centigrade) on the car thermometer. That’s 32 degrees Fahrenheit so it was literally freezing cold. Jodi drove me to my starting area farther out on the coast and then drove to hers which was in town near the finish line. Remarkably, with the sun out, I didn’t feel overly cold so I wore shortsleeve shirt with the all-important gloves and cap with earflaps. This was my first marathon since the Boston/Big Sur double at the end of April. (I had my first running related injury at the beginning of the year and had taken a couple weeks off from running for the first time ever after the double marathons. I then rehabbed and ran short mileage for 2 months before getting back to training in July.)

            My first mile was 9:37 and I ran the first half in about 2:03 with miles mostly in 9:10-9:20 range. In the back of my mind, I hoped to get under my Boston qualifying time of 4:10 (it went from 3:55 to 4:10 when I turned 65; there are some advantages to agingJ) which is a 9:32 pace. In the second half there were quite a few extended hill climbs and a lot of headwind so I couldn’t keep up the pace I had in the first half. The last 6 miles seemed to have one hill after another to climb and I was very excited to see Jodi at mile 23.

            Jodi had run the half-marathon as a training run for CIM (running a wonderfully comfortable 1:53).  After finishing her race and getting some nourishment, she ran out 3 miles  to meet me at mile 23.  She ended up with a 20 mile day! I was struggling with the hills and wind and the normal fatigue of a marathon so it was only with Jodi’s help that I was able to get under the BQ time of 4:10. Those last 6 miles were more in the 9:45 range and I was working hard to keep them under 10 minute miles. I was pretty exhausted at the end and glad to be finished. There was no need for an ice bath; I was already frozen. lol But we got hot soup and coffee at little lunch restaurant that we had discovered the day before.

            Later we reaped our running reward of a lobster dinner and seafood chowder followed by Dairy Queen Blizzard. Yum! The next morning, dedicated Jodi ran another 6 miles along an area I had passed during the marathon. She did an out-and-back from a golf course along the coast while I walked in the dark and cold. But we treated ourselves to wonderful hot breakfast downtown. Then we picked up our tour bus that took us around Charlottetown and then out to area where the Anne of Green Gables books by L. M. Montgomery are set and where the author had lived. We had both read the first book in the series and also watched the movie of it so it was so fun to see the actual setting, and learn more about the author and her life. The books had come out in the early 1900s and were favorites of my mom when she was a young girl. (She and Bill have read all Montgomery’s books in the last few years.)

            For dinner we had the most amazing fish and chips and then went to Cows’ Creamery for their locally famous ice cream. What a great way to top off our amazing excursion!

This was Marathon #149; 21 states on 2d go round; All 10 Canadian provinces. Next up: Two Cities Marathon in Fresno Nov. 6, 2016.     

Pictures at:

https://www.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0MbNGThy3bOvg&emid=shareprintviewer&linkid=link

Jodi's Mountains 2 Beach Marathon May 29, 2016

Jodi- Mountains 2 Beach Marathon

May 29, 2016

3:56:41  1106/2668 overall   64/192 Age Group

Post-race Facebook Post: finished Mountains 2 Beach in 3:56:41. Kinda blacked out 3 times in the last 2 or 3 miles. Luckily, as I was being carted off to medical after passing out at the finish, I did manage to stop my Garmin. LOL. I'm ok with my results because I left it all out there!!

Details:

The race started in downtown Ojai.  I was so careful to keep the early miles slower since I started my last 3 marathons too fast.  I kept the first 4 miles right around a 9 minute average pace.  I felt nice and relaxed and even enjoyed some window shopping as we ran by.  (I found the perfect chair for my sitting room.  Must go back!)

Miles 6-10 were very comfortable right at marathon pace of 8:45ish.  (Please note:  when running a marathon it is inappropriate to snot-rocket.  There are people behind you!)  Yes, I received it downwind.  Luckily, I anticipated the draft and covered my face with my own handkerchief.  Also noted a pebble in my left shoe at about the halfway point.  Somehow I worked it into the toe of the shoe.  It bounced around a bit but mostly stayed put. 

I was very comfortable all the way through the first 14 miles, keeping paces at or near 8:45-8:50.  I was not worried about my 3:50 goal because my watch was hitting the miles before I reached the mile markers.  A first for me!  Just before a long uphill at mile 15, the 3:53 pace group caught up to me.  I knew they were way ahead of pace so I didn’t worry about it.  But this is why I hate pace groups.  They can really create negative thoughts!

Sometime between 16-17, Katie joined me!  What a treat to have her with me.  By this time I had run out of water in my hand-held bottle so she was able to fill it and even carried it for most of the rest of the race.  I maintained marathon pace all the way through mile 23.  This was a first for me as well because in the past I slowed down much sooner.  I was confident that I could PR and BQ is I could keep my pace right at 9.  I told Katie this.  Apparently, this is where things went south.  Katie says I repeated “Dear God” constantly.  She said later “it was annoying”.  LOL. 

We saw John somewhere around mile 23.  I barely remember it.  And I hate to admit this, but I had an accident there as well.  It was uncontrollable.  I considered taking a gel but knew I couldn’t tolerate it so decided to keep pressing on.  Still calculating, if I could maintain my pace around 9 I could still BQ. 

Mile 24:  9:30.  Mile 25: 9:26.  Mile 26:  10:54  0.21 mi:  Took me 2:43.

Somewhere in this stretch I was aware that I was severely hunched forward.  Katie told me to try to improve my posture but I wasn’t capable.  I kept hearing Coach Brad “keep your chin up” but it  wouldn’t go up.  I told Katie I couldn’t see.  I know I blacked out at least twice and Katie said she caught me once.  I have no memory of it.  I also know that I kept running.  I had to.  I didn’t have the mental capacity to look at my watch so finish time was never on my mind.  I just knew I had to keep running so I could finish.  I couldn’t let myself down again by walking.  Or Katie.  Or John.  Katie kept telling me I was almost there.  I literally couldn’t see.  I kept asking where the finish was.  At some point near the finish I crashing into the barricade by the spectators.  A man came and helped me up and guided me toward the finish.  I have no recollection of stopping the Garmin, getting my medal or getting help to the medical tent.

Medical is not a place you ever want to be!  They got me ice, water, orange slices, and a bag for my dry heaves.  The worst part was knowing John and Katie must be worried.  Finally found a man who allowed me to call John to tell them where I was.  John arrived just when the severe leg cramps did.  Thank the Lord for Icy Hot! 

Obviously I survived still not quite sure what caused my demise when I was on target for a PR and BQ time.  It was either nutrition or hydration I’m sure.  Perhaps I needed that last gel around mile 23.  Or maybe I didn’t drink enough along the course in the humidity.

Regardless, I was able to keep running at the end (except when I collapsed).   

I had 3 goals for this race:  1)3:50.  2)PR (under 3:54). 3)Or run a sub 4-hour marathon.  I reached the third goal but proved to myself that I have a lot more mental toughness and determination than I give myself credit for.

This was Marathon #9 for Jodi.

Pictures at: https://coachjohnrunning.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

Big Sur Marathon 2016

 Big Sur Marathon

April 24, 2016

4:55:21  2076/3237 overall   22/46 Age Group

Jodi 4:55:23   2077/3237 overall  144/312 AG   144/312 F

Boston 2 Big Sur Double

Combined 9:20:11   336/402 overall   150 of 175 Male

            Six days after running the Boston Marathon, I was set to run the Big Sur Marathon with Jodi as part of the Boston to Big Sur Challenge. I had spent the week resting and going to Barrows for physical therapy and was apprehensive of how I would feel. Jodi and I drove to Monterey Saturday morning and had a wonderful clam chowder lunch on the wharf and went to the expo in the parking lot there. While on the wharf, we spied a lady walking around with her Big Sur bib attached to her shirt; hadn’t seen that one before. Definite rookie! lol

            We enjoyed a wonderful pasta dinner at Fish Wife in Pacific Grove with cousins Paul, Linnea, Clara, and Leslie Koopmans. Linnea was doing the Boston 2 Big Sur double and Paul was running Big Sur. It was so fun to see all of them back in the area where they were raised.

            The trip to the starting line started early with a 3:50 wake-up and 4:30 bus ride to the start. The ride was in the dark on the winding road that is Hwy 1. In the waiting area, Jodi got a picture with a guy named Tai who is currently on the TV show, Survivor. Once we started running, I was hurting a bit, but after a few miles, I could run fairly well and felt pretty good. As I did at Boston, I ran a few miles and then walked a couple of minutes. Because of the mountainous terrain, this varied a lot, but we did a lot more running than I did at Boston because I had Jodi to pull me along. We stopped to take pictures of the gorgeous coastal scenery especially the Bixby Bridge, the drummers, and the grand piano player.

            There is a two mile mountain from mile 9 to 11 and we ran most of that so were happy about that. Jodi ran the mountains really strongly and then would slow so I could catch up to her. It was a very fun atmosphere during the race. We even got strawberries near the end of the race.

            Afterwards, we went to the special B2B tent where I go my B2B medal and jacket. They had tri-tip sandwiches and pasta salad to eat, so it was much better than the usual post-race fare. Quite an eventful coast-to-coast adventure!

This was Marathon #148; 21 states on 2d go round; 9 Canadian provinces. Next up: Prince Edward Island Oct. 2016.     

Pictures at: https://www.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1JcNWbVkxZ3s&emid=shareprintviewer&linkid=link

Boston Marathon 2016

Boston Marathon

April 18, 2016

4:24:50  21,195/26,639 overall   229/547 Age Group 

            This Boston Marathon (my 18^th Boston, most of any qualifier in the Fresno area) was dedicated to my own dear cat, Boston, who was named after the marathon and who died in January.  Also, my uncle Howard Duncan passed away at the age of 94 on Friday morning April 15^th so I ran the race in his honor.

            I went to the expo onFriday where I immediately ran into J.K. and shared the moment of silence at 4:39 in memory of the victims of the Boston bombing 3 years ago. I saw Kathrine Switzer who was the first female entrant to run Boston. I’ve met her a few other times including arranging for her to come to Fresno to speak at TC Marathon and FSU so she remembered me and was nice enough to sign my bib in honor of Uncle Howie. I also got to talk to Bart Yasso whom I’ve met at various marathons from Vermont to Saskatchewan.

            Jodi texted to tell me how much she’d owe me if I got a picture with Meb so I took ones with some cutouts and posters that were all over the expo and sent them to her. But the secret was that I had talked to the folks at his booth about this and they gave me a ticket to go to the head of the line and indeed talk to Meb and get his picture. (See all these and other things I mention at the Shutterfly link.)

            After leaving the expo, I went by the finish line and through the Boston Common on the way to Cheers where I had a wonderful dinner and fun time seeing the Cheers gang. I went down Newbery Street, the famous shopping street in Boston and then headed back to Dayville, CT where I stayed once again with my cousins, John and Linda Duncan. We visited a cool waterfall and enjoyed some great sunsets and went together to church in Marlborough on Sunday. They both were great chauffeurs to and from the marathon and Linda made sure I had great pre and post race meals!

            For the first time in 36 years of running I had been experiencing a running injury that noticeably affected my running. I was also going to do the Big Sur Marathon in six days so my plan was to run 2 miles and walk 2 minutes through most of the race. I stuck to my plan and didn’t have a fast finish time, but was a lot less sore than usual after Boston or other marathons. I did run a relaxed race and even took time to take a few pictures along the way. It was a fairly warm day with temps in the mid 60s and bright sun so not a day for fast times anyway. I saw one lady with yellow and blue tutu and told her about those Boston colors being the theme colors for Jodi’s and my wedding and I avoided the temptations of the girls of Wellsley College, even the one who had a sign that said, “Kiss me; I’m from California”! I did have a nasty blood blister on my toe so skip picture #129 if you don’t want to see itJ

This was Marathon #147; 21 states on 2d go round; 9 Canadian provinces. Next up: Big Sur on April 18 and 24, 2016.     Pictures at: https://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1JcNWbVkxZ2o

LA Marathon Weekend

LA MARATHON

Feb. 14, 2016

4:20:40   4529/20,623 overall   22/186 Age Group 

lace

Name

Bib

Age

Div Place

Gender Place

5K Split

10K Split

15K Split

20K Split

25K Split

30K Split

35K Split

40K Split

Clock Time

Net Time

Hometown

4529

JOHN VOLKMAN

2144

65

22

3308

31:17

1:03:36

1:33:51

2:03:58

2:35:09

3:06:28

3:38:12

4:08:50

4:21:38

4:20:40

FRESNO, CA

            Our Valentine’s weekend actually started with Jodi running 21+ miles on Friday morning. Then she, Katie and I drove to LA Friday night and got up early Saturday morning to drive to Dodger Stadium where Jodi was entered in the LA Big 5K. Before the race I got some pictures of the some of the memorabilia at Dodger Stadium bringing back a lot of fun baseball memories of the Giant-Dodger rivalry. Then we ran into Shawn and Dorina Young who had run to the start from their hotel. Dorina was also racing the 5K. Shawn and I were running the marathon on Sunday so we hung out during the race and cheered the ladies. Katie ran with Jodi who ran 26:00 and finished 4^th out 162 in her age group. She was only a few seconds out of 2^nd; it was a really strong run the day after her long run!

            After a quick clean-up and breakfast, we went to watch the Olympic Marathon Trials. We had such an amazing time watching with a number of Fresno friends and cheering for two locals who were running: Molly Friel and Fernando Cabada. It was an extremely warm day for a marathon which didn't start until after 10AM. We saw the thrill of victory with Galen Rupp winning the men’s in his first marathon and Amy Cragg getting first in the women’s after being fourth in 2012, and the agony of defeat as Dathan Ritzenhein had to drop out (you can see him in the pictures hugging his wife) and Kara Goucher finishing 4^th at age 37.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-us-olympic-marathon-trials-live-updates-20160213-story.html

            Sunday morning I got up at 4:30 while Jodi and Katie slept and got to the bus pickup about 5:30. Arriving at Dodger Stadium I got to hangout with Anita Lee, Bill Hastrup and Oliver Valenzuela. Then I ran into Amanda Whitten and Matt James as I was going to my corral. Ahead of me in the corral I saw Julie Weiss who was running her 100^th marathon; she is the runner who came to Fresno last year for the showing of Spriit of the Marathon 2 which Fleet Feet showed at the Tower and in which she has a large part. She and her coach ran with our Fleet Feet team the morning after the showing. Interestingly, she married her coach which I’ve heard has been done locally, tooJ I talked to her during the first mile and you can see her with the purple balloons in the pictures.

            My plan for this marathon, since it was going to be a warm day and I was using it as a training run for Boston, was to run a comfortable pace around 9:30 and walk about 30-60 seconds every two miles or so at the aid stations. A few miles into the race I found Anita who also wanted to run comfortably as she was training for Napa Marathon in three weeks. We stopped a number of times to take pictures so we could really enjoy and remember the run. You can see pictures of hot dogs being given out on the course (yuk!), Hollywood and Vine, Graman’s Chinese Theatre, Rodeo Dr., and Gucci’s. We stuck to our plan really well and I ended up with 4:20:40, a 9:54 overall average pace. We looked for Jodi and Katie at mile 4 and 10 where we hoped to see them, but due to traffic issues that didn’t happen. But they were there at 25.5 and I got my Valentine KissJ

            The weather wasn't as warm as Saturday and we had quite a bit of shade. It wasn't optimum by any means, but it was doable. The last 3 miles or so, as we neared Santa Monica, were actually foggy and had a gradual downhill. The coolness really felt good and my last two miles were my fastest at 9:00 and 8:50 with an 8:09 pace the last few tenths. I had caught Oliver with a little over a mile to go so we had fun seeing Jodi  and running in together. After the race we met Shawn and Dorina and drove them back to their hotel. Shawn ran an amazing time a week after returning from their honeymoon in Italy! They also bought me a wonderful gelato for a post-race treat which I enjoyed greatly!

            But my Valentine’s Day was not over. After I got my ice bath (ask Jodi how that went—quite funny) and cleaned up, Jodi and Katie took me to Westwood for a fabulous Persian dinner. Lots of yummy protein in the delicious meats and then we got our replacement carbs at another place with which they surprised me. We went to Diddy Riese which specializes in ice cream/cookie creations. Great way to celebrate Valentine’s and an incredible weekend!

Here are times of ones from our Fleet Feet teams and friends that I know who ran LA:       

Martha Soto	4:57:26
John Volkman	4:20:40
Jesus Rodriguez	3:27:43
Amanda Whitten	3:37:00
Bill Hastrup	4:11:59
Anita Lee	4:21:03
Oliver Valenzuela	4:20:40
Janine Harvey	4:21:21
Shawn Young	3:04:56
Janine Harvey	4:21:21
Julie Weiss	5:40:48

This was Marathon #146; 21 states on 2d go round; 9 Canadian provinces. Next up: Jodi-Napa Marathon on March 6, 2016; Me-Boston Marathon and Big Sur on April 18 and 24, 2016.

Pictures at:

https://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=5da9d7b3dd9f3f9e&sid=1JcNWbVkxZww