A lot of people have asked me over the years what I think about when I’m running. It depends on the day. Not the answer which is that it depends on the day; I don’t make up different answers for people depending on the person asking. The truth is sometimes I think about a problem that I need a solution for; sometimes I think about what I’m going to have for lunch; sometimes I think about nothing or everything or something in between. Often I exist in the moment but just as likely I exist in a time and space of future or past vantage points. It’s not an out of body experience, not some psychic phenomena that would be debunked by Harry Houdini in a bid to find some real mysticism… or Fox Mulder and Dana Scully given the current revisit to The X Files. No, it’s just a means of occasionally NOT focusing on the mileage and just letting the mind forever voyage — though to be fair it can just as likely be in the moment of the run, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and calculating the pace, time, and distance and extrapolating out an expected time to finish. There’s a lot of math though sometimes just as much English. I still try and recall the St Crispin’s Day speech from Henry V when I can.
But today’s running of the 31st Annual Los Angeles Marathon afforded me a run down memory lane. While I’m no legacy runner having completed all 31 years of the race, I did come to the realization that this is my sixth time running this event. And that realization open the lock on the ol’ memory vault, one that has only been further propped open as I grabbed photos for this reminiscence.
2005 was the first time I ran LA (or as I hope they one day rebrand it: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula Marathon, or in English The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on of the River Porciúncula Marathon). It was my second marathon and I did it because my brother said he would like to do it. It was fun training with him and since this was only the dawn of the proliferation of digital cameras, we don’t have a lot of pics from the day. But I did come across one of my favorite running pictures taken by MarathonFoto on the day:
Our pal Tim Lang also came down to support us from the City by the Bay (San Francisco) as did our father who snapped this shot of us on his then new for the time digital camera.
When Steve and I ran the Honda sponsored marathon in ’05, it was the original course that ran through downtown LA and out and back on Wilshire Blvd. A few years later, in 2012, the organizers changed the course to be “From the Stadium to the Sea,” routing the runners from Dodgers Stadium out to Santa Monica, CA.
I had such a good time, I had hoped to run it again with Steve and even had my bib proclaim I was Hanna Bro # 2. But for reasons I can no longer recall, he couldn’t join me and I ran solo.
Thus in 2014, I ran with a bib that proclaimed I was Hanna Solo.
And I ran it again in 2015 as it was the 30th Anniversary of the race and 10 years since I first ran it.
Afterwards the race sent me an email saying if I signed up for 2016 I would be getting the lowest price possible for registration. Temptation is high with such a marketing push, and thus I was back at Dodgers Stadium this morning for the 31st Annual Skechers Performance LA Marathon.
I find it funny that even though the sponsors have changed over the years, and I know the event itself has been running for 31 years, it still felt odd to hear it announced this way. It felt like Skechers was claiming to have been sponsoring the event for 31 years… an impossibility given that the company was apparently founded in 1992.
Here I am this morning, one of 25,000 runners.
And here’s shots of the starting line the past few years.
As the race continued, I found myself snapping photos that echoed back through time.
Apparently, I’ve long been a fan of Chinatown.
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And Disney Concert Hall.
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And the Vista Theater.
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As well as the Pantages Theater.
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The American Cinematheque.
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The El Capitan Theater.
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Grauman’s Chinese Theater.
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In-N-Out Burger on Sunset.
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My delightful neighbor Louise walks down to cheer me on around the halfway point and it’s been a real energy boost over the years.
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And as I round the corner to run along Ocean Drive, I always think of by brother. Steve’s never run the stadium to the sea course but this segment he would rock. I have no kick left in me, no matter how fast or slow I’ve taken the opening 25 miles. But Steve has this amazing burst of energy when he sees the Finish Line in the distance. I can never keep up. Some day I hope he does this course because I suspect he would own this last mile.
And so, having once again completed my LA Marathon, I stopped for my traditional trifecta of finisher photos:
1) The Medal in the Finishing Shoot.
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2) At the Santa Monica Pier.
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3) And finally a quick shot at the Hotel California on my walk back to my car.
It’s been a lot of years and a lot of miles. This may be my last LA Marathon for awhile… albeit if they send me a discounted entry and/or Steve says he’s game for another round, I’ll be back at Dodgers Stadium before too long.