Looks like she should be close to finishing about now!  Go Arla!!!

Leslie, I like the new do!  Short and sassy, and suits you well.  At times I wish we could all just agree to go bald.  No more bad hair days, and a lot less time/money devoted to hair care.

Went for a short run in the snow here this morning.  Only an inch or two at the most, but it was fun making first tracks on the bridges in the park.  Glad I got out when I did because that wind Jim was talking about has arrived here and it's cccccooooolllllddddd.  Ev, hope you don't have to run your 12 in similar stuff.  Brrrrrrr.....

Hi guys! Thanks for the virtual cheering!

Leslie - way to go on that tough workout! I was thinking about you this weekend, helped me to HTFU! I like the 'do - actually it's pretty similar to mine. Very runner-friendly, I'll say - I gave up on long hair a few years ago, too lazy.

Carol - snow this late in Texas? Crazy! Must be pretty though, and not enough to be a big problem, I hope.

Cindy - hope the spring breakers are (mostly) behaving.

LA was much harder than I expected, first of all I caught a cold on Friday night, but then the course was honestly tougher than I thought it would be, with several significant ups and downs, and some more sneaky, slow, long climbs that were surprisingly taxing. I also stopped at mi 0.5 when a middle-aged guy just went *splat!* right next to me! He hit his face, hard, on the asphalt, and wasn't moving or responding - someone had a cell phone and fortunately we had the Fire Department there in what seemed like way less than 5 minutes to help. I have no idea what happened but the LA Times only reported one hospitalization for the race (21 year old at mile 18 with cardiac arrest - yikes...21!...) - so I guess the guy I saw did better than he looked. Nonetheless, it was very, very scary and disturbing. I gotta tell you guys, seeing that guy face plant, and hearing about the young guy's cardiac arrest makes me feel pretty grateful to live to run again.

After leaving the stadium there was the first of two tough downhills, and then around miles 4 and 5 two pretty good uphills that were steep but short and kinda fun. The last of the two tough downhills came around the halfway mark and really hammered my quads (in fact I'm more stiff today than I ever have been post-race). I guess other people were feeling it too, because folks started the death march very early in this race. I was kept very busy from miles 16 to 25 dodging the walking wounded! Also, most of the race was pretty warm, due to the late start and a bit of a heat wave. The last 10 miles featured three stations with strapping young LAFD volunteers showering us with cold water - definitely appreciated!! Around mile 21 there was one more short but tough hill, then the last 4 or so was a long, gentle downhill along one of my favorite streets in the area,  toward the beach and, finally, cooler air - nice! The good citizens of the City of Santa Monica really showed up in force those last few miles, which was pretty exciting.

My Garmin said 4:27 and change, about 26.5 mi (the extra must have been all that zig-zagging??) a little off my PR but I was happy with that considering the eventfulness of the day, the warm weather, and the quad-busting (for me) course.

One of the highlights of LA is the big presence of Student Run LA, a program that helps at-risk kids train to complete the LA marathon. The success rate is high, and the high school graduation rate of those that succeed is above average for their communities. It was neat to see the kids working so hard to finish - a lot of determination there.

Probably the low point was the awful shuttle situation. There was a big traffic problem getting to the start. People driving their own cars to the start were actually leaving their cars on the freeway and walking!  The organizers are going to have to shuttle folks much earlier to the start.

Post-race was too much fun - I had booked a hotel right by the finish, so I quickly showered and returned to watch the rest of the field finish, which was wonderful! I think it's among the back of the pack crowd that you really get to see people having a life-changing experience - at any rate, emotions were high.

Hmm...guess that was pretty long...

Going to limp off and go for a walk now...

Arla