Rockin the City of Angels!

Exactly one week after Nike Women's half marathon, I ran the event that I've actually been training and fundraising for.

Jason & I trained for the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon as fundraising participants for Team In Training. As I've said before, this raises money for the LLS. They host an appreciation dinner for you the night before the event where you are cheered for as you enter, fed pastas and get to hear from some amazing people to encourage and advise and thank you for what you're doing. We got to sit at a table with and talk to Tracy Sundlan, former olympic marathon coach and the man behind the Rock 'n' Roll marathon series! So cool.
Start village: Griffith Park. 7:30 am. 54 degrees.

Our team is actually staying downtown at a hotel but we meet at 5:00 am and took a shuttle to the start line. That's right. We had to wake up at 4:00 am.

So here we are hanging out at the start, getting kinesio tape for the spots that hurt, filling our water belts, and goofing around. Coach Dave is a great coach and he was out there on the course to help and support us!

I liked having the porta-potties & bag check lined up in one direction and the start corrals in the other on a single road. Other event starts have a start village that is a little more confusing to navigate.

Course: Not the prettiest as we were in a construction area at one point? We did get to pass some good spots though and have some views of neat things like bison? Who knew there were bison living and eating in Los Angeles? The hills weren't that bad. With a little more hill training I could lick those suckers. I just finished the Nike Women's half in San Fran the weekend before this event so...hills 1, Tiffany 0...for now.

Finish Village: One of the best. L.A. Live is a great place to finish. LOVED having gear check immediately available upon getting your medal and exiting the finisher's shoot. Other events make you walk through the entire village to get to your comfy sandals, phone, and wallet, which is cruel and unusual and not good for the vendors.

I hear they might have to change the course next year as this one was adopted from the previous event owners. That'd be fine with me but I hope it still finishes at L.A. Live.

And here is the medal and pin that I love. Team in Training gives you a pin when you finish your event miles. I have a 26.2 pin also.

I do like the LA medal! Another to add to my collection.

Thank you Competitor!

This was my sixth? Rock 'n' Roll event. I am a big fan of this marathon series and am very happy to have a hometown event that I can include on my 2011 Rock Legend tour!

The Plan of Attack: Event List

These are the events we hope to finish in the preparation phase & the challenge phase.

PREPARATION PHASE:

June 2010

Seattle Half Marathon

Our main reason for this event is to be there with our friend, Nicole Ianacone who is fundraising for this event with Team In Training Las Vegas. Our participation with TNT is what inspired her to do the same and we want to celebrate at the finish line together! Added bonus: our friend Remy from Chicago will be running with us! Just like Vegas 2009!

October 2010

Los Angeles Half Marathon

This will be when we really kick off the hard core training. Sure, we hope to do a lot of body toning & conditioning between Seattle and Los Angeles, but once we start running for this event, it will be over a year before we stop! We plan on joining with Team In Training again this winter to train with and fundraise for this event. Training with a team is amazing. Not only is it a support / accountability system, but it helps you learn more about running and training by paying attention to what your teammates are going through.

CHALLENGE PHASE:

Event #1 - January 2011

Phoenix Full Marathon

This will be the kick off for 2011. A full 26.2 miles to get us geared up (and hopefully not psyched-out) for the next 6 events. We ran the Phoenix full in 2009. I'll admit, it was an ill-fated day for me but the course is nice and flat and the weather was cool and clear. We hope to take a few days to visit some dear friends in Tucson after this event.

Event #2 - March 2011

Dallas Half Marathon

With plenty of time to recover, we'll have an easy half in Texas while visiting family. In fact, this is likely to be a full week of vacation afterward. RnR is hosting it's inaugural event in Dallas this year, 2010. So hopefully, by 2011 they will have some of the "kinks" worked out.

Event #3 - June 2011

San Diego Full Marathon

This was our first marathon in 2008. San Diego is a huge event and it is mad fun. I'm looking forward to going back and maybe even going for a PR! Training for this will be our biggest challenge as we have a large gap of time to be training on our own. Completing this event would give us our second Triple Crown.

Event #4 - August 2011 (or maybe July 31st)

Chicago Half Marathon

We know there is a full that we could run but, let's be honest. It's Chicago. I'm imagining hot stickiness and not wanting to finish even 13.1 miles! We've been to Chicago several times so we're not planning on sticking around too long. However, we do know that we have a free place to stay so long as our friend Remy doesn't decide to move away. Finishing this event will earn us the Grand Slam Heavy Medal.

Event #5 - September 2011

Philadelphia Half Marathon

We've never been here before so this is going to be one of most exciting for us! If our buddy Mike is still in the city, we'll hopefully save some cash by crashing with him. He says he might be living in a community house start up. What a randomly awesome experience that would be! This would earn us Rock Star status.

Event #6 - October 2011

Los Angeles Half Marathon

Sound familiar? That's right. We'll have come full circle from the beginning of our training runs and we'll still have 1 more event to go!!! AH! The nice thing is that this event is a hometown deal and we won't have to worry about plane tickets or hotels. At this point we'll have earned a Super Six heavy medal.

Event #7 - December 2011

Las Vegas Half Marathon

If we make it this far, I may have an emotional breakdown at the finish line. We know this course and love it (even if it is 33 degrees out during the entire race). It's flat. It's cool. It's got a lot of interesting things to see along the way (i.e. club-goers who have yet to find their way back to their hotel for the "night"). We make this and we can expect to see our ROCK LEGEND heavy medal!