Runners Delight: Too Legit to Quit - now with updates!

Well, for all the bitching and moaning I did about it, the race turned out to be AWESOME. It was one of the most fun things I've done in a long time, and infected me with an energy that lasted the rest of the weekend.

Shortly after I posted on Friday, I re-checked the race website, and it turned out that there would be a bag check, after all. By that time, though, I had already decided that I could easily fit my cell phone, some cash, and my drivers license in a palm-sized change purse, and running with that would be no different from jogging with my iPod. And of course I wouldn't need my iPod, because there would be live music playing throughout the course. (Besides, racing against others is usually motivational enough for me to deem music unnecessary.)

I went to bed early Friday night, and woke up at 6:30 AM Saturday, half an hour before my alarm went off. I ate, stretched a bit, and then headed downtown to the LA Coliseum. The drive was easy, and I pulled into a parking lot a few blocks early simply to get out of the traffic. I had no idea where I was, really, having never been there before, but I just followed the swarms of red t-shirts towards what I assumed must be the starting point. Thank goodness I had kept my cell phone with me, because I never would have found my friend Jen otherwise. Thousands of red robots spanned the length of the football field, talking, laughing, stretching. It was hard not to get excited.

I was worried about my hip, though. I had taken two Aleve before I left the house, and practiced some stretches Jen had shown me the week prior. I figured if I had to walk I would, but, oh, I really didn't want to quit. Around 8:45 we headed toward the starting line, and I joined the 9-minute mile group. Back when I used to run in New York, they never bothered breaking the group down by time, and it could take up to five minutes just to cross the starting live. Here, though, I crossed maybe only 30 seconds after the whistle blew at 9 AM.

Another benefit this race had over those in Central Park was that there were no hills - the whole course was flat! We left the Coliseum and headed down Figueroa. Naughty by Nature was performing about a half-mile in; a bit further down was Dawn from En Vogue, and towards the end of the road, The Sugar Hill Gang. At the end of 2 and 1/4 miles, we simply turned around 180 degrees and ran back the way we came, so we passed each performer twice. There were plenty of runners stopped at each stage, taking photos with their camera phones or dancing to the beats, but I kept going, determined not to stop until I had to. And here's what's fabulous: I never had to. I don't know if the Aleve kicked in, or the stretches finally worked, or my endorphins simply took over, but my hip never hurt to the point where I even considered walking. I was totally fine. And now, more than 24 hours later, it feels better than it has in weeks. I'm not sure what helped the healing process, but I finally feel like it is healing. Yay.

The last half-mile of the race we took a detour down Exposition Blvd., where Sir Mix A Lot was situated. I somehow managed to run by at the exact time he called out "You can have them bimbos, I'll keep my women like Flo Jo..." All the runners went wild. And that was the beginning of the end, a perfect build-up to the finish, where we found ourselves heading underground, running through a dark tunnel beneath the stadium, music blasting and echoing off the cavernous walls, to emerge into the daylight again, crossing the finish line in the middle of the Coliseum. It was spectacular. Screw Central Park. This, quite literally, rocked.

The best, however, was yet to come. Now, I had known that MC Hammer was performing after the race. They called it a "Finish Line Concert". But after the drive-by performances of the other groups, I wasn't expecting much more than a song or two to be played on the field. Something fun, but quick. I was mistaken. MC Hammer came on the stage around 10:30 or 11:00, and performed for a good 45 minutes or an hour, maybe more. I wasn't checking my watch. He was fantastic. Seriously? For an event which was billed as a "Run Hit Remix", a kind of tongue-in-cheek reference to these early 90's bands who had maybe one hit record and are only now washing up on VH1 as has-beens, I really hadn't expected the Hammer to hurt 'em. He killed 'em! The crowd was totally into it - dancing and singing along and shouting at the stage for more. There were back up dancers and audience participation and he performed every song we wanted to hear - and performed them well. Or at least he lip-synced better than Britney Spears. He was all energy, which reinvigorated the crowd, a true feat after running five miles under the late-morning sun.

I took a bunch of pictures on my cell phone, but, naturally, I don't have the cord or the software or whatever it is I need to upload those pictures to my computer. I was hoping the Nike website would post a few photos along with our scores, but they must still be overwhelmed sorting through 10,000 race chips, as the site, so far, hasn't been updated at all. I ended up coming in just past 45 minutes, so it seems like I stuck pretty closely to my 9-minute-mile pace. That's a bit slower than what I typically run on the treadmill, but since my hip is feeling pretty good, I'm thinking I should maybe stick to it for a while.

All in all, this race was was one of the best things I've done in a long time, and I am annoyed at myself for being, in Huphter's words, such a whiner. I get like that sometimes, where I will work myself up over something and convince myself it's going to be one way; and then, often, it turns out being absolutely nothing like I thought. Someone please remind me of that the next time I work myself up in a tizzy and threaten to miss one of the most fun and gratifying mornings of my life.

UPDATE: Well, it looks like they finally posted our scores, although I am a bit confused. It says that I came in 3858th overall and that my average pace was 8 minutes, 53 seconds, which sounds about right. But, they claim that my total time was 1:11:30, which, even factoring in a late starting point, doesn't make sense. I looked at the clock when I passed the finish line, and it was somewhere still in the 45 minute mark. I would have had to have started more than 25 minutes after the whistle blew, or run at a 14 minute mile to get that time. What am I missing? Or is Nike simply suffering from a technical hangover? Anyone?

UPDATE 2: Okay, thanks to my new Reader In Brooklyn, I managed to upload some pictures. More on Flickr.

UPDATE 3: I guess they figured out the race results after all, and while I'm not sure how accurate they are, I am compelled to post them since they are much better than what I wrote before. I finished 995th overall, my time was 44:59, and my average pace was 8"60' (that's how they wrote it; I am aware that 8"60' is actually 9 minutes).