Andi and I after the 2005 LA Marathon. We ran 3:38:42! There was a lot of great performances this weekend all over the world. Everyone who completed the LA Marathon on Sunday put up with some crazy conditions to get their finishers medal. Some of the times out there were incredible based on the wind and rain that they had to deal with.
9:48:42 Kelly Gneiting broke the Guinness World Record for "Heaviest Person to Complete a Marathon" by crossing the finish at the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday.
5:17:04 Fran Cowart finished her first marathon at Los Angeles. Way to go Fran! See Clay's blog for details.
3:43:53 Chuck Fieland continued his streat of LA Marathons. He has run many different courses in many different conditions.
3:24:23 Dale Lister some how dealt with the conditions better than most and ran a BQ minus 10 minutes to almost certainly secure his spot at the Boston Marathon in 2012.
2:36:14 The McRunner, a man who ate all 3 meals at McDonalds for the past month and raised $27,000 dollars for Ronald McDonald House, also ran a PR at L.A. During this time his cholesterol and body fat dropped! He was also running 100+ miles per week.
2:27:03 Amy Hastings of Mammonth, CA was 3rd at L.A. and ran the 3rd fastest debut marathon for a US female ever! This made her 3rd fastest on the trials qualifiers list and 8th fastest American female of all time! I heard that 6 of the top 8 US females EVER are expected to run at the US trials in January. EXCITING!
2:06:35 Markos Geneti won the L.A. Marathon with a course record and the second fastest debut marathon EVER! How he did that in those conditions is beyond me. There is something to be said for being a first timer in the marathon. It either humbles you, or you are so naive (because you don't know what it will feel like late in the race) that you can go out hard and don't look back. I know I exceeded my expectations when I ran my first L.A. marathon in 2004 in 80 degree weather, in 3:15:12.
Also this weekend, Galen Rupp was 3rd at the NYC half marathon in a world class field with a time of 1:00:30, and he fell at one point in the race! This was ALSO his first time at the distance. Again, I think ignorance is bliss. Salazars group did great with Mo Farah winning the men's race and Kara Goucher 3rd in the women's race. Alberto Salazar coaches all three athletes.
Shalane Flanagan was 3rd at World Cross Country and lead the US Women's team to a bronze medal. This was the first medal by an American woman since Deena Kastor in 2003.
Finally, there was a World Record in the marathon last week! Michael Wardian broke the World Record for a marathon dressed as a super hero when he ran the Lower Potomac Marathon dressed as Spiderman in 2:34:56!
7 comments:
2 world records in two weeks! The conditions Sunday started out great and slowly got worse and worse. I am thinking that the rainfall and wind were not so bad during the first two hours. The elites had it much easier than the 3 1/2 hour people, who had it easier than the 5 hour people, etc.
one more thing.... That picture of you and Andi was AFTER the marathon? You two don't look like you have just run a marathon!
Great post! Thank you for all of the links.
I agree with your assessment about first time marathoners not being afraid of the distance. What Markos Geneti did on Sunday was amazing! Not only were the conditions terrible, but that is not a 2:06 course. I am now 0 for 2 on that course!
Watching the video of Amy Hastings was very heart warming. What a great young lady! I will be rooting for her in Houston!
Is the Peanut Man a super hero?
Chuck, I don't think it is lack of fear so much as just pain ignorance and lack of "bonking" experience. Every runner is a little scared the first time they run a marathon. Most of them have never run that far in training, many never over 20 miles in training. But because they have never run a marathon before they go out like they are running a half marathon cause it still feels easy the first few miles. Some are fit and able to keep the pace most of the way like Amy Hastings. She basically doubled her half marathon time from Houston in January to get her marathon time at LA. Others go out too hard, are not quite fit enough to maintain, hit the wall, and are humbled by the distance. We have all done it before and that is why we go out extra conservative now.
Like Dr. Sheehan said, "[Marathoners] are like surfers seeking the perfect wave. No matter how many times you attack (the marathon), you will always think you can do better, find more energy, more fortitude, more courage, more endurance. You always think this time you will be the hero you were meant to be."
I don't think anyone can every run their true potential for two reasons, doubt and pain.
Karl, you did an outstanding job putting into words what the marathon is all about.
Andi is a very good runner!!! Nice time. One thing I have questioned is this: Why is Galen looking to make his full debut in Europe -- so I hear? I think he would have a much bigger impact doing Boston. He is already more gifted than Med and Hall.
I am only guessing, but I would think that Galen would concentrate on the 5k and 10k for another Olympic cycle and then possibly move up if he could not make the jump to world class level at those events. He is fit and talented enough to post a sub 13 min 5k or a sub 27 min 10k but has had bad luck, illness, falls during races, and earthquakes, that have kept him from a breakthourgh performance.
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