Los Angeles Half Marathon & Etc

I know I mentioned back in December that I was training for a half marathon. That was on January 10th. So in true John Vantine style, I’m only now reporting on it.

I didn’t have time to stretch in the beginning, because just like my last run, I was hanging out in a port-a-potty when the race started… I sprinted straight from the toilet over the starting line. Everyone wears running chips that register when going over the start and finish lines, so I could have slowed down a bit and stretched before beginning the race, but adrenaline got the best of me, and I didn’t want to be behind the pack… I would have definitely not paced myself in attempting to catch up with the rest of the runners.

Anyway, I really started hurting around the 11th or 12th mile of the run… I believe that this was due to my lack of stretching. I seriously considered stopping to stretch out because it felt like my knee was going to explode, but I was too close to the finish to stop. When the finish line became visible, the adrenaline became almost overwhelming, and I took off, passing a good 10 or so people. It felt awesome. The picture above was taken probably 10 seconds before the finish line, and I look like a robot or something, but you can tell I was really booking it.

My goal was to finish in under two hours, and I finished in 1:57:49, so I’m happy with that. My average pace was 8:59.2, and I came in 489/1056 in my gender (724/2442 overall). The reporting on my Nike+ is a little different, but that thing lies.

There is definitely something to be said for choosing the proper running music. I perfected my playlist over the course of several months during my training runs… Excerpts of Disco Biscuits jams provided the soundtrack for the majority of the half marathon, and they really kept me going.

I was pretty excited when someone sent me a link to a trailer for an upcoming (fan made) Mega Man movie. You can see the trailer here.

A year of fail in review – There are some pretty ridiculous clips in this compilation. While watching it, I remembered back 3-4 years ago when I had hundreds of video clips (.mpg and .avi files) on my hard drive. People would upload them to directories and send them around on IRC and etc. I probably still have them all somewhere, but I’m sure every single one of them has made it’s way onto YouTube by now.

I’m still blown away by how bad the soundtrack to Alice in Wonderland looks. It has popped into my head several times since I posted it yesterday… I honestly can’t think of a worse combination than Pete Wentz and Mark Hoppus. That sounds like my own private hell. The only two tracks that have any potential are at the very end of the album. Grace Potter is awesome, and this live version of “White Rabbit” sounds amazing.