It all started when...

It was 2010, and a commercial I had been hearing on 98.7FM had slowly been seeping into my head. After a few days (it was a radio commercial, it took a while to pay attention), I finally made out that they were sponsoring the first annual Rock 'n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon. A half marathon with bands and cheerleaders sounded pretty awesome! Helps that the announcer guy was pretty excited about it!

A few weeks later (sometime in September) I was attending a concert and was talking to my friend Ken while we waited in line, and I mentioned the race and how I always wanted to do a half marathon and how this sounded interesting. Ken seemed interested in the race and we vowed to look up more info later. Then the doors opened to the concert and we forgot all about it. 

Flash forward to 2 weeks, and I hear a chance to win entry into the half marathon on the radio. Text to win contest. I thought "Why not?" and text in the word they asked for. A few hours later, having forgotten the insanity I had gone through entering, the station called back and said I had won! Also, if I had anyone else interested in running. After assuring them I did, and being given 2 entry codes to register with, I called my friend Ken, who seemed so interested in doing a race like this. Within an hour we were registered for a half marathon. 

Wait a minute. What have I just done???

Now a bit about me. I was over 350 lbs at the time, and the most millage I had ever done was 5K. I mean I though that was a miracle! So jumping up to almost 5 times that was pushing it. Also, considering I had less than a month to train was something I though close to insanity. I wasn't worried about Ken, since the boy works out and runs, so I knew he could last. I on the other hand wasn't to sure. 

Reading that it was a 4 hour course limit, I thought I would finish in 3:45 at best. 

Day of the race I was nervous. I had checked in my gear, and eaten some quick food, but not knowing what to expect, I had some New Balance shoes I got on sale to run in, some basketball shorts, and a cotton t-shirt on over a tech tee. ( You experienced runners can see all the mistakes I had made there). The race started from Griffith Park, near the zoo, and ended at the Staple Center, with the route taking me through Atwater Village, Silverlake, MacArthur Park, and Downtown LA. And let me tell you, L.A. is NOT FLAT!

So after struggling through the hills (HILLS!) and fighting through foot pain from wearing the wrong shoes and worse, running on the wrong side of the street, I finally crossed the finish line!

My time was 3:12....

Wait, I was faster than what I thought? With no training???

And then I had a single stray thought... 

"I can beat that time..."

Since that first race, I have ran over 12 half marathons, a full, attempted the Goofy Challenge (look it up, it's Goofy for a reason) and continue to look for more races. And yes I eventually did beat my time. A year later when I ran the same race again.

To this day Rock n' Roll Los Angeles is my anniversary race. It's what started me on the road to be a runner and will be my most important race. I may run other races, some with more flash (LA marathon and Disney come to mind) but for me, this will be the race I will always do.

For more information on the Rock 'n Roll series and find a race near you go to www.runrocknroll.com