The marathon - now with photo

Yesterday was a nutty day. We got up fairly early, and headed down to Koreatown to see if we could meet up with Patty at mile 9 of the marathon. Thinking we'd missed her (we got a later start than we'd planned), we walked (took a short cut) to mile 11, and waited. And waited. I had done some sophisticated calculations based on her average time, but had to guess what time she would actually start the race. The thing started at 8:15, but there was no way to know what time she got started because of how huge the field is, and the fact that she doesn't carry a cell phone when she runs. Which I think is ridiculous, anyway: it's so funny to see some guy huffing and puffing down the street talking on his cell phone, "dude, I'm at mile 15..."

Anyway, so we waited at mile 11, which is right across the street from Rosedale Cemetery, and is actually a nice spot to wait, except for the sun in our eyes, and I worried that I had grossly miscalculated (I had). I spoke to another couple who were waiting for their friend, who also hadn't passed that spot yet, and I pinned my hopes on thinking that maybe their friend and Patty were running at the same pace and had started at the same time.

Illogical, but it calmed me down.

Anyway, about 30 minutes after I expected her, here comes Patty. The other years I've done this, we've met later in the race, so she usually looks like someone who's just run 23 miles. At mile 11 she looked like she'd just jogged from the car up the block to meet me: she looked fresh and like she was having a good time. I ran with her a bit of the way, she didn't want any of the stuff I'd brought for her (quartered oranges, Oreos, this gel stuff she sucks down [it's gross, I had to taste it when I opened it for her and I accidentally got some on my finger], water), and then we told her we'd try to meet up with her again in four miles, at mile 15.

Traffic was horrendous, we don't know our way very well through that part of town, and unfortunately we didn't make it. We kept thinking, okay, then, we'll get to mile 17, mile 19, but each time we were either thwarted by traffic, or street closures. Finally - and I was really disappointed, I love the marathon, and hated sitting in traffic instead of standing on the sides anxiously - we got to mile 21, which was down near the 10 freeway and Alameda (the LA Times neglected to name the street "Alameda" on their stupid map, and leaving that out made our lives so much more difficult). We stood by the side of the road and watched all the runners and walkers and freaks go by (a girl wearing a Mexican wrestling mask, a guy dressed up as a Tommy Trojan, a guy in a Pokemon outfit).

Once we saw her, though, it was really exciting. I walked/jogged with her about a block, and then she wanted to run, so I let her go. I yelled my totally dorky "go Patty!" and we left to go home, tired, hot, sweaty, and proud.