Finally time to wrap this race report up….

I had a lot of fun doing the triathlons in 06 and actually finished an Olympic distance tri in September. I was feeling really good and decided to signed up for the OC Marathon early so I’d have a goal to force me to keep going. I continued to just run and was doing really well through the end of October, even finishing runs of 17 and 21 miles holding about 9 minute pace. I knew the course started in Fashion Island and ended at the Irvine Spectrum so the elevation was pretty much gradual climb, especially the 2nd half but with 9 weeks to go I figured a 4 hour marathon goal was within reach. I don’t know if it was the 10 months of solid working out or the time change in Oct., but motivation became an issue and the missed workouts started to pile up. I still logged some miles but not nearly as much as I had. In mid-December, I ran a 5K and managed to finish just over 22 minutes so I was still feeling pretty confident. About a week later, I talked to someone that had done several marathons and they gave me the advice to sand bag the 1st half of the race. In one ear and out the other! No way am I going to make 4 hours by sand bagging the 1st half! Then, the week before the race I tweaked my calf on an easy 4 mile taper run of all things. I took the week off before the race and hoped it would be enough time to heal, it wasn't.

The day of the race the Santa Ana winds kicked up so it was warm and dry which is not good, especially for my allergies. Then I get to the starting area, put on my Garmon 305 Forerunner and the battery is dead meaning I’ll have no idea on pacing, etc. In typical hard-headed fashion, I falsely believe I could fall back on all the work outs I had done during the year and basically ignored ALL the red flags that were waving in my face and stood on the starting line still with visions of a 4 hour marathon. Yep, I was standing on the tracks and the 5:15 was right on-time. Race started great, then right about the 1st mile marker, my calf tightened up again. I ended up changing how I ran and kind of shuffled my right leg forward which took the strain off the calf but it pretty much sucked. About 12 miles in, the course started a stretch of about 10 miles of constant uphill which looked much easier on paper. At mile 14, it was time to pay the band. It was a struggle just to keep running and I pretty much was forced to walk most of the next 8 miles. I actually remember at the 18 mile mark, which was on the back side of the El Toro marine base with absolutely no shade in sight (and did I mention it was hot and dry that day?) thinking this is possibly the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life! Finally, at the 22 mile mark, the course changed to some down hill and I was able to run, if you can call it that, the rest of the way in.

I did finish so that I am proud of that. While during the race I questioned my decision to run it, I think I’ve learned a lot from the experience and am actually looking forward to running either the Long Beach Marathon in Oct of 07 or Pacific Shores marathon in Feb 08.

The missed workouts was probably the one thing I had control over that I would do differently.

Walk to car and suffer.


This is probably not a good choice for a 1st time marathon. The course was tough (at least for me) with the constant climb in elevation. The conditions (dry heat and wind), missed workouts and the injury all factored into the poor results, but bottom line, it just wasn't my day.


Most stuff seemed to be over by the time I finished. I realize the logistics of putting together a race list this must be close to impossible but I have no desire to run in the race again with the current course setup. It's too bad because I like to support races close to home.