The Spirit of the Marathon

For those of you that don’t know who I am… I am a photographer who happened to run a marathon with his camera earlier this year to “document” the run. Little did I know that a lot of people would find my marathon photos and my comments amusing AND relate to them. Since then I’ve discovered that us crazy people who like running marathons, seem to have a lot of things in common. Our thoughts during a race specially. So after running the Los Angeles Marathon and the San Francisco Marathon with my big chunky DSLR for 26.2 miles, this morning I did it all over again at the Long Beach Marathon.  

This is how my last 26.2 miles looked like. 

We start in lovely Long Beach, CA. The Convention Center. (the day before) 

Which, because there is a God, is -right next- to the Hotel I’m staying at. 45 Medium steps to be exact (the receptionist told me a guest once asked to know -exactly- how far it was so she counted them!).  

Entering Hall C 

First thing as you come in was this lovely lady with a map of the entire run. She knew every turn, every landmark, and was giving those who had questions a tour of the marathon on the map, with things to see, avoid, pay attention to, etc. Me personally I like knowing nothing about the course. “Discovering” the course for the first time, helps me think of something else as I run. 

Right of the bat, you can pick your bib. This was nice. Some expos make you go through the -whole- thing before you can get yours. Sometimes you just want to pick it up & leave. 

Look! Jesus is standing in front of me. Hopefully he will be by my side tomorrow through out the run! 

Getting my bib.

This is the first expo I go where there was also a machine to read our chips inside the expo. Totally random, but curious to know why. Just to know that we had picked our bibs and entered the expo I guess. 

Bib. Check. T-shirt. Check. 

Goodie back. Check. AND awesome. Love the re-usable goodie bags and red is my color! 

Next up the merchandise area. Long Beach folks limited themselves to apparel. There was every color and kind, but only apparel. 

I’m super design picky and some were “okay”… some I really like. If a marathon wants me to help design their merchandise, please contact me ;-) I have some very cool ideas.

…Getting Better…

This was my favorite. That one I would wear. 

This was odd. A contest to win $100,000.00. I will give it the benefit of the doubt. I might get a lot of spam emails soon. We shall see. Or I might win $100,000.00 and use it to run and photograph Marathons all over the world. I will let you guys know either way. 

These are the mile markers. They are here and each one has artwork done by different kids/patients at Millers Childrens Hospital. They are part of a silent auction and all the proceeds will go to the Childrens Hospital. This is the kind of thing I like about these events. Taking something like this and making something beautiful out of it and then using it to help others. 

Amongst the totally odd booths. Two bald heads with fake sweat dripping on them inside bowls of water. 

Cliff Bar and their pace teams. I attempted this once and didn’t really work for me. My running style for marathons is more like “I’ll get there when I get there”…. but just in case I grabbed a 5:30. I know it’s slow but you try running with a DSLR!!!

This was my (personal) highlight of the expo. I got to meet Peter Abraham, Creative Director of the Los Angeles Marathon. What a cool guy. It’s so nice to meet people that exude passion for their jobs. He is so enthusiast about the LA Marathon, it makes me happy to know there are people like him behind these events. He also tweeted a photo of me! And had blogged about me in the past. 

The Rock n’ Roll series booth. Man! these people organize so many marathons! They would be the perfect sponsors to these photo essays…  just sayin’ …

Cool medals they have, must say. 

Saucony booth.

I have to stay away from this booth. I love running sneakers like girls love regular shoes. All pairs are $50.00…. fifty!!! so affordable! (note to self: step away from the shoes) 

Want. No. Need to have. @ Brook’s Booth.

Lululemon. I love how the Lululemon peeps are silently infiltrating marathon events. Silently… they are taking over! Only thumbs down was they were not selling clothes, they did have the free yoga classes area though. 

Love the “make your sign” to cheer for your peeps area. I am telling you people, it’s in the little details…. well done! 

Some inspiration signs for ideas.

:-)

If you tweet me, I will come. These folks tweeted me the night before and asked me to stop by their booth. Well, here I am. 

Here’s their Tweeter. Let’s see if I can spot them tomorrow.

Now outside the Expo… I do my usual “dry-run” walk by the start line which is being setup. 

The convention center is right next to the Aquarium of the Pacific and right in front of the start line. For people that haven’t traveled to other Marathons and just done marathons in your cities, I can’t tell you enough how amazing it is when the Expo, Hotel and Start-line are all within walking distance. Actually the finish line also. Nothing compares to crossing the finish line and knowing that a shower and bed are a block away. I repeat -Nothing- compares to that. 

 

A block later, I’m at the hotel examining my goodie bag. Love the t-shirt. Is wearable and fits well. I have mixed feeling about all marathon goodie bags. And so many ideas to improve them. Seriously I should work for a marathon! I just think that there’s too much paper waste and much better ways to engage thousands of participants.  

And now on to: Marathon Day. 

 

This photo essay begins bright and early at the lovely lobby of the Hyatt “Tydes” in Long Beach, CA. The Hyatt made sure to take care of the runners by setting up a “runner friendly” breakfast bar. 

Insider tip: Lines for the restroom at hotel 1-10 people. Lines outside for Porta Potty’s 30-50 people ;-)

People were stretching, eating, buzzing with excitement. 

Immediately coming out of the Hotel you could see tons of people were heading towards the start line. 

Sign projected all weekend at the host Hotel.

The wheel chair division is already set to go.  Note that before the wheelchair division, the bike race also started. I really tried to make it to the start line in time to capture those guys, but I didn’t make it. As I do these photo essays I have to keep a balance between having time to stretch, pee,  rest and also document. So I have to miss some things!

 

This start line allowed for family members to be there as well. So there were a lot of extra people there, that well, shouldn’t.

Just like San Francisco, this marathon starts in waves. It was a tricky because the waves were not “corrals”… they were just people holding signs. 

 

I really thought I was an hourly early or something so I just started capturing peoples rituals and activities. I realize we all need something different. A hug from a loved one, stretching, securing our laces…and double checking them… 

Then I needed to pee. Again! I confess… I sneaked in to the Porta Potty reserved for the medical team. Hey! I’m a man on a mission, don’t judge me! 

I think it’s her birthday! Or she’s The Queen… I don’t know…

God I love those sneakers!

Now, I realize the marathon waves are starting so I make my way to the corral. The only problem was that I didn’t know where to go as they weren’t divided. It was more like the honor system. 

Spectators/Family.

It got so crowded you couldn’t move to your wave if you wanted. Some people didn’t like this and started jumping the fence… which I understand but at the same time, that’s a big jump! and I felt worried for this peoples legs if they landed incorrectly. 

  

Another jumper!

This is the most crowded start line I’ve been in. It was not comfortable. A guy smacked me on the head while jumping. Great! just what I need. 

Security did a good job and stopped the jumpers. It was not safe for them, or for the people next to the fences. 

I couldn’t resist. Seriously I’m a sucker for the couples that run together. 

Can I get a wha-what? That’s right I’m Mexican! 

Note that most marathons gather the abandoned sweatshirts and pants along the course and donate them to the goodwill. Hooray for that! 

This is like my new “signature shot” for the blog! (Wave 4 @ the start line)

Looking up.

The announcer. I missed his name so if any of you know who he was, please post it as a comment. 

I don’t know what the deal is with heart man.

This is what it looks like at the front.

And we are off. 

That girl on the blue shirt recognized me from previous blog posts! To my surprise it would be the first of many runners who would know who I was. To them I saw thank you and holla!

Was neat to to run in this freeway.

That guy looks like Kevin McKidd (Dr. Owen Hunt on Grey’s Anatomy)

Cheerers! yay! and literally in the middle of the freeway we are in. At least I think it’s a freeway. Previous readers know that it’s really important for me to have people cheering on the sidelines. 

This is really packed! Wow! 

I was a little confused with these signs. This one says Mile 2 5k. (more on this later)

Tiny uphill. Long Beach is a VERY flat course. Just a few hills here and there. Nothing too daunting.

And then another Mile 2. I know that the other one was for the 5K, but all this 5k, bike ride, half-marathon and full-marathon is actually a bit confusing. 

Looking back.

“Welcome to the Port of Long Beach”

First water station. I only noticed the guy in red once I was reviewing my photos. To you sir: Wow. You are amazing!

First of many scenic views.

Most of the Long Beach marathon route are loops… meaning you go through a street, then  you turn around and then you run it back, so most of the time you run against the people running ahead and behind of you. Or in this case you can see the people ahead on a bridge or on another (close) street.

Mile 4 already!

Still -really- packed! 

Volunteer and doggie-volunteer. Observation: Long Beach is the marathon I’ve seen the most dogs at! Very doggie friendly all over. 

Look some of those bare-foot guys!

Hey! I spotted one of the Team Sparkle girls!

Everywhere you look there’s something nice to see. I had been to Long Beach once a looong time ago and just to visit the Queen Mary, so most of the sights were new to me. If you are an out-of-towner, this is a great & entertaining marathon. There’s ocean, city, residential, tourist, areas and just enough of each one. 

And to the left ladies and gentlemen… The famous light house!

This is the  Shoreline Village and it’s full or interesting little stores and places to eat. Great tourist and weekend hangout. 

Parkers’ Lighthouse Restaurant.

Running right next to the marina and the boats. This area was full of people cheering! High 5 brother! 

Insiders Tip: While it might be “rude” not to high-five people cheering for you… think about this… They might have high-fived a thousand people before you. So basically you are just picking up the (sweaty) germs of one thousand people and then just putting them inside your eyes and noses when you wipe of your own sweat. Next time… just flash them a peace sign or wink!

woof! 

The next few miles are beach side. The weather was just perfect. This is where I realize why the start-time “waves”. It was packed and having more people on this area would have been chaotic! 

This band was singing “Don’t Stop believing” from Journey when I went by. Very appropriate selection. 

Mile 8. I always make an effort not to use my ipod through out a run. Last time in San Francisco I didn’t even take it, but this time, I tried something different. I had it and instead of Music, I loaded it with ‘Notes from the Universe”. I wanted to hear positive things through out the run.  So I had it on and off through out. 

I’m going to mention a few times (okay, a lot) how many people were out and cheering. That’s my thing, what I like and what I look out for in every marathon. Long Beach gets a 90 out a 100 in cheer! The highest so far from LA and San Fran. 

I saw about 5 people running with strollers. Seriously my respect to people that push a stroller for so many miles. You are amazing! 

Love this shot. Dear God, please let there be that many people behind me through the whole thing. 

Lots of peeps doing mid-run streches.

Out of my 5 marathons. 3 have had Vaseline for runners every few miles. Two had NONE! Vaseline is always appreciated ;-) 

I don’t know why the Pride flag AND the pirates in this particular area…. mixed with the drums. Still, loves it.  

Drums.

Pirates.

She is running with two birds!

This is another loop where you see who is ahead/behind you. ( I am mentioning this for a reason you will soon find out…) 

Hey lady! Happy Birthday! It must be a great thing to do to run a marathon on the day of your birthday.  Okay, “for some people” ;-)

This cop was high-fiving people and cheering loudly!  And the band playing behind is Ugly Paint. As the guy finised his song he asked us to visit the bands website at UglyPaint.Net

I bet he thought no one was listening ;-)

Spirit of the Long Beach residents :-)

Why is everyone going left?

So, of course I have to be honest and confess that sometimes I sound like Pollyanna with my positive comments. So here’s a negative one. At the division of half and full marathon the crowd thins out DRAMATICALLY. And all those people behind you, make a left and then all of a sudden, there’s not that many around.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional marathoner. Though I have finished 5 marathons, I don’t consider myself a marathoner. I am a guy who runs/walks marathons because I like it… but it’s -REALLY- hard for me, so I run slow and I do realize that there are a LOT of people ahead of me. I am by no means saying this is more a half marathon than a full. End of disclaimer. 

  

How much do you love that lady? and she is going for the full!

5:30 pace team catching up to me=Not good. They all look very happy.

This is another loop where you notice that the people on the left know how to run. I applaud you and I envy you. You guys are almost 10 miles ahead of us. You frickin’ rock! These 3 guys are running in perfect sync!

For the rest of the marathon you mostly run opposite side from the people that are way ahead of you. 

This is where it gets personal, because for me, this was when I started doing bad. And some people might relate and some might not, but TO ME, to have the super fast peeps running on the other side psyched me up in a bad way. I never though about it, but you know how there is a saying that 10% of a marathon is training and 90% is mental. This was the case for me in this marathon.  

Hmm.. that looks more fun that running… 

Also, I noticed and maybe I skipped them, but there are no clocks through out this course, so if you are not wearing a watch, there’s really no way of knowing your time. For some reason I felt that the people ahead (on the other side of the road) where so ahead of me and that I was the last one. I felt intimidated. But it was really just my mind playing tricks on me. No one judges you at a marathon. No matter how fast/slow, thin/fat, crazy dressed, heavily breathing, wearing feather boas, hats, advertisements, really we’ve all been there an we just want to finish. 

I felt so demoralized for some reason… and the next few miles I felt depressed. I didn’t stop, but I started walking and just focused on shooting.

Kept shooting all the great runners that this race had…. 

Like these…

Hmmm, golf course to the right… that looks like a slightly easier sport…. something to think about… 

Mile 15. 11.6 to go. Lord-Jesus. 

The convalescent home. Now-that-is-what-I’m-talking-about-ultimate-cheer. Awesome! 

With so many people on a race, the people around you change, but at a certain point, when you start walking you pretty much can tell that the people around you will cross the finish line shortly before or after you. Guy in the green hat crossed the finish line about 3 mins after me and here we are barley at mile 16 or so.

As much as (personally) I didn’t like the “two-way” marathon… it did allow me to shoot something else aside the back of people’s heads ;-)

I caught many runners who had their families waiting at certain spots and would run a few blocks or miles with them. Pretty neat.

Marathon Grandpa… would be ahead of me for many miles for the rest of the race. That guy and his wife were loving it. Sometimes running together, sometimes apart. He would stop to photograph flowers and murals. He was having the time of his life. 

Marathon Grandma. 

This part of the route goes into Cal State Long Beach. When I saw that online, I thought “oh great”, that will be deserted. I stand corrected and I want to give a big-shout out to the Cal State Long Beach students who were cheering for the tail end of the runners. That’s always my complaint. Cheerers cheer for the front runners and then go home, well… they shut me up… because through the entire campus, they were cheering. 

On every corner of the university… they were there….  

All groups… 

With signs…

Clapping…

Dancing…

With signs for their runners…

More..

And more of them…

Some by themselves… Although I’m not sure if this is a student… a teacher maybe?

I beg to differ.

I was tempted to try that spray thing but I’m a firm believer on not trying anything new during a marathon. So I skipped it. On second thought, I should have tried and it might have helped!

More students. I know I have too many photos of them but I didn’t want to leave any group out. I don’t know who organizes them to do this… but I gotta say…. respect. thank you! 

Even the medical stations are encouraging runners.

I want to be that guy when I’m old. Mustache and all.

As you can see I’m going slow. I mentally drained myself of energy and god is my witness I trained, I carb-loaded, I rested and there’s nothing left in me. 

And then a little magical moment, when I realize that there are three races in every marathon. The elites, the runners and “the people”. 

Who have stories. 

Who are not here to finish fast or to prove anything. 

They just like long distances. 

Some ladies walk the marathon and chat through the -whole thing- (you wont believe the gossip I heard from a lot of them)… here I am, thinking I am the slowest and worst runner ever  and right next to me, someone is having the time of their life, chatting it up and exchanging some gossip. 

I talked to a few of them and this is their ‘alone time’. Their “me” time. Moms who power walk to keep in shape and walk/run marathons. Not Kenyans but moms with jobs and husbands, and kids and bills… who take this time for them. Now that, is spirit. 

I sound like a broken record, but this is the marathon (from my 5) with the most cheers, aid stations, FOOD stations, medical stations through out the course. They were there for the elites, the runners and “the people”. 

My skeptic self thought that all this people I had seen while I was on mile 12 cheering for the people already on mile 23 (on the way back) would be gone once they saw the runners thinning but I was wrong. 

The lady with the hat was so awesome and she really didn’t care about a time, or a medal. She likes doing this. Like many of us, swears this will be her last time, but does it again. I walked with her for the last few miles.

(Now on the other side) Seriously. Golf. Yes. Easy.

3.2 to go.

The mile markers that had artwork for kids and were part of the marathon expos silent auction where very visible. they were constant, so you knew what to look for. Aside from the confusion of the first, they were good. 

The “Walgreen’s Station”

That guy was awesome. He said to me… “Hurry up… tomorrow you can go to work and ask your co-workers what they did on the weekend and when they ask -and you- then you say… I ran a marathon… bitch!”

Another Medical Station.

Ocean side again, but not on the beach. I will take it. This is a good sign. We are getting closer.

Great scenery ‘till the very end.

“The People” ahead of me.

Runner who was “walking back home”… gives me a thumb up!

This guy was awesome and gave me a three thumbs up (his words). I don’t know what that means, but at this point, I will take it ;-) 

Seriously… “kids”, on a Sunday morning, with a sign, that was well done and funny. Long Beach you and your people, have spirit. 

Just like your runners.

As I’ve mentioned before… I think, if not: the last mile, I run it. I might be empty, and now that I run a camera with me I tuck it. No matter how slow/fast I went, I ask God to give me a hand… and power me for one last mile.

So from Mile 25 to the finish line! 

Hooray! Finally done!

Look at her! She is so happy to be handing out medals!

Now, could have there been more people at the finish line? yes. But it is 6+ hours plus into this and well, when your peeps have crossed you go with them and go to eat and back home. I did hear earlier finishers complain about how crowded this whole area was earlier. So this really depends on your time.

Sights from the finish line.

An AWESOME thing… FOOD TRUCKS! they are very “in” right now. So this was cool. And they had vegetarian dishes. They also tweeted me to check them out. So I did :-)

I hear the free chocolate milk at the finish line was a big hit.

Collapsed.

Relieved.

Hungry!

After a 20 or so minutes of collapsed time, I make it an effort to shoot some finishers getting their medals. 

Others…

And saying “thank you lord Jesus, this is ovah’” 

Note: I mention Jesus & God a couple of times in my comments, but I’m not really religious fyi ;-)

A nice area to check your finish time. 

This is done in many marathons, about .1 mile before you cross there is a sensor that alerts the announcer you are about to cross the finish line so as you cross, he announces your name. 

Massage area & line. 

I feel you brotha’ 

Good Job Rick!

And folks, I am -exhausted. This was my slowest marathon. And hey, some are good, some are bad. I might have finished very late, but you know what? I finished. I didn’t give up. I’ll take that.

And for my new readers: this is me. In the elevator on my way to my room. Tired. Defeated and victorious. Elated and thinking I could have done better. Disappointed and proud. I am not Kenyan. I’m barley 5’4. I’m overweight. I’m newly vegetarian and for the life of me I can’t figure out how to run faster without animal protein. This is just “ONE runner’s story”. My story. 

Now since I am posting now the photo essays on this new blog/site you might have noticed that I’ve added a “reviews” section. I will try to always “review” the marathons from now on. 

So my Long Beach review is below and I will also post it later on the “reviews” page. 

Long Beach Marathon. Grade: B+. 

Scenic: Very. 

Flat: Very. 

Crowd/Cheers: A lot (except at the finish line if you are a slow runner) 

Medical: A lot through out the course. 

Water. Plenty. 

Powerade: Plenty. 

Snacks. Plenty. Some residents had bananas, some water stations had cliff shots, some had candy. One station had beer! 

Restrooms: Plenty and with “short” lines because there were enough, except at the start line, but it’s understandable that there will never be a marathon with enough @ the start line. I don’t think there will ever be a marathon with enough Porta Potties. So, let’s not get crazy on this one.

Expo: Nice but… I needed a little “umph”… I think adding a DJ would be rad. The music was really low and the huge exhibit hall with super high ceilings and fluorescent lighting made it not inviting. 

Why a B+ and not an A? 

-Personally- I like Full Marathons, like LA. When its half-full and half-half-, it’s confusing and the crowds thin out a lot after mile 13. 

The finish line could have had more people. AND for the record, once I finished the LA marathon in 6:35 hrs and there were -thousands- of people still cheering. 

Clearly defined and divided corrals AND entrances to them would make the start line less chaotic. In SF your bib had your corral # and it was checked before entering your corral. 

Social Media. Excellent. I recently read that a lot of marathons are trying to engage people not only before but after the marathon. Long beach has a facebook, a twitter and they update it often, respond to your questions and comments and do a GREAT job at it. 

Will I be back? Yes. 

Thanks for reading. If you like this post please click on the facebook -I LIKE- link to recommend to your facebook friends. 

Sound of on the comments and tell me your story. ‘till next time.