Some of you may know or remember that I had been training for the Inaugural Pasadena Marathon to be run last November. It was to be my 2008 marathon but that plan ended up in smoke (literally-- they canceled the race due to wildfires). I was dead-set on running a Pasadena Marathon so I was one of the first to sign-up when they rescheduled the Second First Pasadena Marathon (a.k.a. Inaugural Redux) for last weekend.
In the week leading up to the marathon, the forecasters had predicted temperatures in the 60's and possible scattered showers on marathon day. By the Thursday before the race the forecast was for a 70% chance of showers with potential thunderstorms.
It started to sprinkle while we were lining up at the race start. It was light misty rain that is typical of Seattle-- the kind that actually makes for fun running. But as the race start time got closer and closer, the rain started to get heavier and heavier, and I was getting wetter and wetter. At 6:30a.m. the race officially started and the skies opened up and dumped water everywhere.
After about 20 minutes, the rain stopped and we all started to enjoy the race. People started to discard their improvised raingear (garbage bags and plastic ponchos) as we ran past Cal Tech. I picked up one of these plastic ponchos off the sidewalk because it was still early. I'm sooooo glad that I did this. At about mile 5 the sky started to dump water again and the gutters in the streets started to flood. The plastic poncho didn't really keep me dry, it just made it harder to get completely soaked. I thank whomever threw it away and hope they didn't regret throwing it away too much.
It continued to rain heavily off-and-on until about mile 15. I saw people huddling under the bathroom structures at the Rose Bowl just to get a break from the rain and wind. About that time (mile 14), a Japanese man looked me in the eyes and said, "This is miserable." The funny thing is, I didn't feel miserable until he said that. Then I thought, "yeah, this IS miserable and I am only half-way done." I was cold, wet, hungry, and tired. Then a few miles later, as I pushed myself uphill, my left calf started to cramp. So I walked. Every now and then I would try to run, but then I would cramp even worse somewhere else. So I walked some more. By the end, I started to cramp in my upper back so I could barely move my arms without cramping. But I kept walking. And I finally walked across the finish line and received my medal.
In retrospect, it wasn't that bad of a race. I now know what it is like to run a marathon in the rain and will be better prepared next time. Plus the scenery is gorgeous and the non-ideal conditions created a sense of unity of spirit based on common suffering.
Since this was Pasadena's first marathon, I expect the race organizers will work out some of the kinks by next year. It was suggested that I write the following section in case somebody involved with the marathon wants to know things that should be improved. It would be nice if in next years race they would do the following: 1)Tell the police officers NOT to stop the runners to let traffic through. Nothing makes runners more angry than messing with their race times because they have to stop for traffic during a race. 2) Tell the volunteers there IS a difference between water and sports drink. It is not nice to be told they are being given water only to be given icky tasting sports drink by a surly teenager. 3)Get more portable restrooms and put them throughout the course! Luckily there are a lot of bushes around the Rose Bowl, but come on! I had to wait until the Rose Bowl for a bush because there weren't enough restrooms. And I'm a girl! 4) Tell the volunteers NOT to make disparaging remarks about how bad the runners look or how slow they are. I heard several comments about this throughout the course. And I easily made the time cut-off. I can't imagine what it was like for the people behind me. 5) Make sure all the bike riders are past the startline before you start the runners. Really. It's just common sense.
All in all, I'm glad that I did the race. But I'm not sure they will get a lot of repeat business. I heard a lot of complaints during and after the race. It is going to take a couple of months and a little bit of marathon amnesia before a lot of people sign up for this race again.
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