Race Report: Long Beach Marathon

So rewind a few months to August when Carrie and I decided we wanted to run the Long Beach Marathon in just 6 weeks. Yes, you heard me right. We gave ourselves 6 weeks of training. This is not recommended. BUT I will say that I was planning on doing some long training runs to get ready for my Ironman already, so this wasn't entirely out of the blue.

We did 4 longish runs, with the longest one being 18 miles. 18 is far, but it's still 8.2 miles away from a marathon. Still I knew we could do this....this meaning get a PR. Our last marathons were almost three years ago and we have come so far since then. Our goal: sub-4.

Kelly decided to join us last minute. She had been marathon training for four months prior, so this would be "easy" for her. A marathon is never easy.

Of course we had to come up with some killer costumes. I think these are my favorite yet: superheroes! Introducing Super Woman, Bat Girl, and Wonder Woman.

I've done the Long Beach 1/2 marathon before, so I knew what the first 10 miles would be like. We had a blast running together, as we hadn't run a race together since our first marathon 2 years ago. Carrie was so awesome, as she ran on my left side to protect anyone from touching my elbow. Remember my huge bike crash? Yeah, that was two weeks before this race and it was still so sensitive (and still is). What a sweet friend!

The best part of the race was around mile 17 when Skyler, Desmond, and Carrie's family was waiting to cheer for us. I was so excited to see them! 

The course was great and scenic, not boring at all. I felt great almost the entire race, except for the last 3 miles. Suddenly I needed a port-o-potty immediately! Oh joy. Luckily I was fast and my friends waited for me. Just a few miles to go.

Then I made a rookie mistake, I forgot to eat my last gel. So I hit a wall and I was having a hard time finishing. Just one more mile and I was fading fast. Luckily Carrie was there to pull me through. She encouraged me all the way to the finish line.

And BOOM we did it: sub-4 marathon. Just barely. 3:58:39. 

Desmond and Skyler were there to greet me at the finish line. I was so happy to see them! They are so wonderful, especially Skyler, for supporting me.

Side note: the issue I was having with my stomach was very similar to the issue I had at Disneyland 1/2. I'm wondering if my issue is related to the running shorts I wore under my skirt or if it's the Spibelt I was wearing. Something was off and I can't figure out what it was. To fix, I'm eliminating both items so I don't have to worry about it anymore.