The Magic of 2024 Los Angeles Marathon Weekend - Part 1

 Jet Blue flight #687 from Boston to LAX was on time to begin our LA Marathon Weekend adventure. We went to Davio's for breakfast. Ruth Anne really wanted oatmeal but it wasn't on the menu. Our waitress said that there are so many runners who pass through especially around the Boston Marathon that it should be on the menu. Ruth Anne had packets of oatmeal and a bowl that she was going to use for race day. The waitress brought her hot water. After we finished our breakfast, she cleaned out the bowl! Fortunately we packed extra oatmeal packets.

When the Jet Blue representative arrived to the gate, Ruth Anne said she was going to see about getting us an upgrade to Even More Room seats (that typically cost $180-$198 per seat). "Excuse me," she said. "I am running the LA Marathon on Sunday and I was wondering what the cost would be if any to upgrade to Even More Room seats. "Just give me a minute," Laura with curly red hair and freckles said. When she returned, her beautiful blue fingernails (matching the blue of Jet Blue) moved quickly across her keyboard. "May I see your boarding passes please?" She ripped them up! "Are you giving us an upgrade?" Ruth Anne asked in a stage whisper.  

"Shhh," she said. Just like that we were moved from row 14 to row 7 right near the bathroom with even more leg space. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we boarded, Ruth Anne noticed that the woman in the row in front of us was wearing a St. Elizabeth's Medical Center jacket. 

 When we got up to stretch, Ruth Anne asked her if she worked at St. E's. She retired several years ago after working as a nurse in Cardiology for 45 years. We talked a bit about our sadness over what happened with the Steward Medical Group. After Ruth Anne returned to her seat I said, "By any chance did you know Joe Stetz?" "Well I knew of him and saw him walking around the hospital." I shared with her how Joe was my camp counselor and instilled in me the heart of a champion shortly after I contracted polio as a child at the end of summer Olympics. After the diagnosis of Post-Polio, his love and encouragement to have confidence in my ability and strength inspired me in my journey as a most unlikely runner. I told her about the coincidence at the Bermuda 10K start in 2019, when I stood next to Lynn Landry who worked closely with Joe. She said she worked with Lynn for years!

It was a smooth flight with just a bit of turbulence as we landed in LA. From an email communication with the concierge, I knew we had to take a shuttle to get a cab or an uber. We collected our one checked bag clinging tightly to our carry on luggage that held everything Ruth Anne needed for race weekend. We boarded the shuttle. Ruth Anne and I had the same thought, "How in God's name are we going to ever get transportation to the hotel with all these people?"

The doors opened and a woman in a yellow vest greeted us. She magically took our luggage off of the shuttle which had a big step and said, "Come on. I'll take you to a taxi!" There were no other shuttle greeters and she seemed to disappear after she helped us. I was so glad Ruth Anne had the same experience as I had. We both felt she had a spiritual aura to her. {We passed by the shuttles on our way back to the airport departures and saw no shuttle greeters!) 

When we arrived at Fairmont Century Plaza, we were warmly greeted by everyone we encountered. As is often true of race-cations, we became instant friends with the staff who went above and beyond to ensure we had a memorable time. 

Although our dinner reservation for Capri at Eataly was not until 5:30pm LA time, we were hungry and tired yet exhilarated and excited. Fortunately, they were able to seat us at 4:45. The hospitality reminded us of Bermuda. 

Let the carbo loading begin:

 

 

 We bought provisions of bananas and tangerines and enjoyed the glorious Los Angeles sunshine on our short walk back to the hotel:

 

 

 Rather than unpack, we went to the rooftop pool to watch the sunset:

 In room dining is a race-cation tradition:

 

After breakfast, Ruth Anne went to Santa Monica to get in a pre-race yoga practice:

I became fast friends with the concierge who guided me through the map to do a reconnaissance mission to find bus stops to the start at Dodger Stadium and the finish line. When Ruth Anne returned it was off to Dodger Stadium for the Expo and bib pick up. The weather forecast called for wall to wall sunshine. I noticed a few dark clouds here and there but trusted the forecast as we excitedly took a cab to Dodger Stadium.

It was quite the adventure since the cab driver spoke little English and was visibly stressed with the bumper to bumper traffic. When we arrived at the Stadium, he said that he had to drop us off in the upper parking lot. Using our inner GPS and stopping a few people along the way, we made it to bib pick up and the Expo. We felt a few rain drops but they didn't dampen Ruth Anne's spirit:

 The skies opened and we got soaked. We went into the volunteer tent. They welcomed us as we expressed gratitude for the shelter. Fortunately the shower passed and we ordered an Uber. It was scheduled to be there in 7 minutes. Whew! Ruth Anne got a notification that the Uber driver cancelled. Oh no! Someone else took our Uber. We didn't know how or where since no one else was waiting for an Uber where we were waiting. It was getting late. Fortunately we had a late lunch. Pre-race jitters were kicking in knowing Ruth Anne needed to get off her feet AND her marathon running shoes were soaked. 

We got a notification that we had to walk to meet the Uber. What?? Ruth Anne called him. He explained that Ubers were not allowed to go to Lot G. There was a huge hill leading to the general parking area. Jose was an angel who told us to wait once we got to the general parking area and he'd come to us. The return ride was so much more pleasant than our ride to the Expo. When everything seems to be going wrong, it is being perfectly orchestrated by the Divine! We had the most divine in room dining experience for dinner with chicken and salmon which we wouldn't have had if we would not have been delayed by the rain.

 

We slept in on Saturday and were treated to a beautiful sunny day which we spent relaxing by the pool. We started the day with carbo loading on the balcony with a view:

Ruth Anne and I did a shake out walk to the finish line and to the bus stop for the shuttles to the start:

 

As marathon manager, I got everything ready for Ruth Anne's 26.2 mile run from Dodger Stadium to Century City and Ruth Anne put out her flat Ruth Anne for race day:

 

While relaxing by the pool, we met our new fast fitness friends, Erica and Brendan who were running their first LA marathons. We talked about how quickly runners strike up conversations with each other and become fast friends. "Yes fast fitness friends," Erica offered. Erica was running her first marathon. Her pre-race jitters were palpable and we shared in her excitement as she kept repeating with hand gestures for emphasis, "It's gonna be fine. It's all gonna be fine." We took a picture of them and they offered to take a picture of us:

 We were going to have an early dinner but Friday evening, Ruth Anne said she wanted to eat a little later. I quickly changed the reservation at Eataly's La Pizza and La Pasta. Fortunately we were able to get a 5:45 reservation where we had more carbo loading (since spectators need carbo loading too):

The electric energy of the running community the evening before the marathon swept me away. There was hustle and bustle at Eataly as people waited to get a table and the Mall reverberated with pre-race excitement. I realized how blessed we are to have found our way to the sport of running. We felt that energy from the Mall to the lobby and elevators at the hotel.

 

 

 I said to Ruth Anne that I wanted to stop by the concierge desk to make sure about the location for the shuttles to the start and to also ask if we had to take a shuttle at the airport for departures. Alyssa was delightful and patient as she could sense my pre-race day nervous energy channeled into these questions. There was a woman standing to the side of the concierge desk wearing a sweatshirt with an LA Marathon logo on the side. She jumped into the conversation asking us where we were from, was this Ruth Anne's first marathon and suggestions for race day logistics. She gave us her cell phone number and said that if we had any problems in the morning with Ruth Anne's hospitality tent or my finding a seat at the bleachers, to please text her! She let me know that she would be there for Ruth Anne at the start which of course put this mother's heart at ease. If there were any issues with Ruth Anne's hospitality tent, she would take her into the VIP tent!  Ruth Anne had reserved a shuttle for 5:00 but she said we should get out there at 4:00 or 4:15 at the latest to give Ruth Anne plenty of time at the start to have breakfast. We thanked her profusely for her help and hospitality! Had we had an earlier dinner, we probably would not have bumped into Jen.

As the sun set, we set the alarms for 3:45am.

We felt God's blessing and presence in the magnificent beauty created by the Master Artist. We said our prayers and expressed our gratitude for the amazing gifts and synchronicity we experienced since Thursday. 

One more sleep until race day!

To be continued....

In health and wellness,
Mary

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