Last Minute Marathoner

I got a "double medal" for running SoCal Ragnar and LA! 

Well folks, I may have just gone from "half crazy and fully determined" to just full on crazy! I decided to run the L.A. marathon on the Thursday before the race!

When I signed up to run the Richmond VA marathon with my Meg's Miles group in November 2015, and to raise money for the family that lost Meg due to the actions of a drunk driver, I also had been considering doing the L.A. marathon in February 2016. But then I found out I had a Severe A-typical mole on my thigh that had to be removed, and I would have to take time off from running while the spot healed. And at that time I thought I wouldn't be able to ramp my training back up to be able to run L.A.


As the L.A. race day approached I saw all my Mom's Run This Town ladies getting excited about running L.A. as their first race. L.A. was my first full as well, and I was excited for them: Click here for my 1st Full story  Then there were my Meg's Miles friends that were planning on running it again, I had cheered them on last year, along with the MRTT ladies who ran it last year. I was going to try and be there to cheer them on this year too, and was in the midst of making plans to do so when I started to wish I had signed up to run it.

I received an email from the L.A. marathon that said "Last chance to register before midnight tonight!" And then I REALLY started wishing I had the money to join in!! I posted on my FB page that I wanted to join my friends and run L.A. again, but didn't have the $200 plus dollars to do so, so I would just have to accept that I would be the cheerleader for them again. Well... a short while later one of my friends tagged me on a post in Facebook that said her charity she was running for was selling their left over/ un-taken bibs for a much lower price than the $200 last minute registration!! Lower than even the price I would have paid if I had signed up when registration first opened! I was stoked! I texted my husband, and after a little bit of back and forth and "sighs" from him LOL... he said I could take her offer.

Well, the story gets even BETTER! After I registered and posted on my Facebook page that I was now running L.A., one of my friends asked if I needed a sponsor. He was going to sponsor me when I initially thought about running L.A., and so he said he would love to help me out. I said, "Sure!" And took him up on his offer. I then decided the charity I would run for would be the LIFE Runners organization that I lead a chapter for. Here's my chapter's FB page to check it out: Orange CA LIFE Runners LIFE Runners is currently doing an A-Cross America Relay for LIFE and I decided to take on all the legs they had left for the day I was running the marathon, which added up to 24 miles. It all clicked together.

And to top things off I found out that I qualified for a "double medal" for doing the SoCal Ragnar relay in 2015 and the LA full in 2016. (That explains the two medals in the photo above) I was like, "Thank you for the confirmation that I am a crazy person." I try to keep convincing myself I am only half crazy, and then that happens. LOL But what is cool about that is, I signed up to be a LIFE Runner the week before I ran SoCal Ragnar. I received my LIFE Runner shirt the day I got home, or I would have worn it during. But I like that this medal is a connection between my starting point as a LIFE Runner and the L.A. marathon, where I would run 26.2 miles in my LR shirt. A very cool symbol of my journey thus far.

Once I was signed up I told one of my fellow Meg's Miler buddies, Doris,  that I would run with her, and perhaps we could try to finish together! A lot of my friends were faster than I was, so I knew keeping up with them would be impossible. But she seemed to be at a similar pace to me, from what I saw of her running posts on Facebook. She was doubtful she could hang with me the whole way, but I had a feeling she could do it. Well, long story short... we ran the ENTIRE L.A. marathon, just about stride for stride, together!

Check out our tracker results!!

This race was a PR for Doris, and I crushed my previous LA finish time, of 5:59:45! I did run faster at my VA race in November, but comparing that race to L.A. is like comparing Apples to Oranges. Similar, but not exactly the same. Courses are different, weather is different... it's just different. Same distance, but not the same. So I am very proud of what I was able to do in L.A. this year. And I have to say, I feel like a bit of redemption happened. The first time around L.A. wasn't my favorite experience, but this time around it was pretty amazing. Last time they ran out of Gatorade, this year they had PLENTY. I brought my own electrolytes and water bottles this time, but I took a few cups of Gatorade along the course, and then looked at Doris and said, "Because they owe me." And gulped it down. LOL I also notice the side line support was better this time around. Even the cheerleaders in "Cheer Alley" stuck around, while last time they were walking home by the time I got to mile 18. It was too hot that year for them, I guess. All the things that had gone wrong the first time went perfectly this time. I felt God had given me a gift. Redemption!

Anna and Doris at the finish line.

I don't know why I thought I could run a full marathon last minute. Perhaps it was because my previous full was only a few months past, and I was still running and working out. But I wasn't doing the full training long runs. I had only done one long run of 11 miles about a month before. But for some reason God took my "crazy" desire (or maybe only half crazy desire) to run a full last minute and He decided to bless it. It cost me nothing, and I was able to run for my LIFE Runner's group. I did raise a little bit of money, although I could definitely use more donations: Click here to donate to Living Well - Pregnancy Crisis Center But even if I don't raise any more money, I wore a shirt that hopefully raised awareness of this group and was a voice for the unborn, and the pregnant women in crisis who need our help. I ran for LIFE, and I ran to support a friend. I ran for God. He gave me redemption, and I hope to spread His love and redemptive message to others!

Psalm 37:4 "Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." The Lord did this for me. He gave me a desire of my heart, and I think that is pretty cool. Thank you God! xoxo -Anna

LA Marathon finishers!!