ASICS LA Marathon: After the Race

I have posted abut everything I did before the race with ASICS, and about the race itself, but I also wanted to share with you about my last afternoon/night in Santa Monica before flying home.  After Crystal left and I showered, I wanted nothing more than to hop into bed and take a long well deserved nap. I took a peek out my window to see people were still finishing! I felt so bad for them out in the heat.

Exhaustion overcame me, and I fell into my bed…only to realize the music from the finish line was quite loud and I could not sleep! I my have dozed off for a couple of minutes, but between the music and my aching legs being very jumpy, a nice long nap was just not happening for me. After tossing and turning for over an hour, I decided to just get up. I really wanted to walk down to the Santa Monica pier because well, I had no idea if/when I would ever be back and didn’t want to miss my chance.

I texted Nathan who said he was outside watching people finish. What?!? There were still people coming in! They had moved them over to the sidewalk, but sure enough they were there. I watched with him for a minute and he walked with me part of the way to the pier. This is when I realized even though it was 4:30 or so that it was still VERY hot outside and I began to sweat and have flashbacks from the race. I made it down to the beach and walked along the boardwalk area towards the pier.

It’s so interesting to me to see different beaches. This one is very different from the ones I grew up going to in Destin, Florida. We have sugar white sands and crystal clear water, and the beach is full of high rises right on the water. Here, the hotels were on the other side of the street and there were a few homes right near the water like the ones in the above photo.

I finally made it to the pier and realized it was a much further walk than it looked, and then realized I still had to walk all the way back! It was really crowded, so I just walked around and took some pictures.

The sun was really beating down, but there was no shade. I went over to the side for a couple of quick photos before deciding I needed to walk back and get in the shade. Holy cow were there a lot of people on the beach!

it was so bright it was hard to take a selfie, heh.

Close up shot of all. the. people.

What I found the most comical was that no one seemed to have any idea that there was even a race that day. I got some strange looks from people, and had two people ask if my medal was from the race this morning. I think I am runDisney brainwashed because I am so used to every third person telling me congratulations while I am in the parks wearing my medal. Even though I passed hundreds of folks walking around the pier, I got one “congrats” from a stranger. It’s so funny that I am so used to that, that I forget not everyone knows or cares about races going on.

it was really hard to get the above shot, because it was so bright I couldn’t see a thing on my phone screen, so I had no idea if the medal was even in the shot! I again got some weird looks, and was very careful not to drop my medal into the water. I began to really sweat and knew I had a long way back, so off I went. This time, I walked up to the shaded sidewalk instead of walking along the boardwalk down closer to the water.

I walked all the way back down to the finish line, it was a beautiful walk, and there were still people coming in. I will save the rest of that story for a post all it’s own, though. I headed back inside and had time to run upstairs and grab a couple of things before meeting in the lobby for dinner. We walked down Ocean Avenue to BOA Steakhouse. We had a nice long table outside overlooking the water, and they had a special menu made up for us.

The coolest part of it, was Deena and Andrew Kastor sat down right across from me! It was so awesome getting to chat with them over dinner! I also got to chat with Leta some more from Pop Sugar fitness. She’s super sweet!

Coach Kastor gave us a final congratulatory speech, and challenged us to go out and inspire someone to run. He did a great job!

The food was amazing, and then we all got our own desserts. Heaven.

As if that weren’t enough, they came out with flaming cotton candy! Us runners know how to eat.

Sadly it was time for us to walk back to the hotel. We hugged everyone and said or final goodbyes before hitting the hay for the night. My car was coming to get me at 6:00 in the morning, so I attempted to go to sleep at a decent time.

My flight left at 8:00 the next morning, a straight shot to New Orleans, and then I drove home to Mississippi, completing my day of travel at close to 8:00 that night. It was amazing to sleep in my own bed, I just with the baby got the memo when she woke up at 6:30 that my body thought it was 4:30.

So that’s my recap, I just have one more special post to write, but this concludes my amazing trip. I was so spoiled by ASICS, they are an amazing and fun company and it was an honor to work with them over the past few months. I hope you have the bug to run the LA marathon for yourself now. Even though the full isn’t my favorite distance, I truly loved the course, the people, and the organization of this race. Go HERE to sign up now!

QOTD: What do you usually eat after a heard race?