The Glorious Spectacle that is the LA Marathon
Unlike other major, big city marathons, the LA Marathon is not steeped in history, known to be particularly fast, or to draw the excitement of top national and international talent. But like so much of LA it is simply bursting with an excess of excess.
There was the new world record set for the heaviest marathon finisher. (Although, with a 9:48 finish time, I can’t really call it “running” the marathon. Most marathons have packed up well before then.)
They are celebrating the “McRunner” who ran a 2:36 after training on a 100% McDonald’s diet. Maybe all those running nutrition books aren’t worth their weight in oat fiber.
Los Angeles is supposed to be warm and sunny. Why were thousands of runners evaluated for hypothermia, with two dozen being hospitalized?
And, oh yes, there is a new course record 2:06:35 by Ethiopian Markos Geneti who “had never run a marathon, wasn’t used to training in the rain, and had a terrible stomach stitch.” And no one had ever heard of before Sunday, around 9:30.
In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Buzunesh Deba won with a 2:26:34.The first American woman, Amy Hastings, led for much of the race but was nipped out in the end by a mere 29 seconds.