Malibu International Marathon Recap

This is my 16th marathon this year and 72nd marathon overall

I wish this was my 100th marathon, but not yet.

I just ran the New York City Marathon a week ago and I was ready for another race. This time was the Malibu International Marathon, it was their 2nd year organizing this race. I had ran this race last year and I had a blast!! The reasons I wanted to run this one again were the goodies that I got, the beach towel, the medal, string bag, and a little lunch bag, plus the beautiful scenic coastal view during the 2nd half of the race. Running on the PCH for 15 miles is definiately a Race to Paradise.

The Expo

I drove almost 2 hrs in LA traffic on the Friday before just to get to Zuma Beach to pickup my packet, the expo was REALLY small, there were only about less than 10 vendors in the parking lots, so after I picked up my stuff and my Maniac friend Deo's stuff, I hung around for a little while and talked to fellow Maniacs, James, Silver and Jessica, who were also there to pick up their bibs. Then I left later on and I drove almost 2hrs back home and went straight to work.

Race Day 

I left my house at 3am, drove about an hour and a half to Zuma Beach, the finish line, to take the shuttle to the start. The bus didnt leave until 5:30am so I was just hanging out in my truck and trying to get everything ready for the race. It was still pretty dark in the parking lot with only a few street lights. The finish line was just starting to set up.

At  5:30am, I started to head to the shuttle bus, it wasnt really too cold so I was wearing just my Maniac singlet and my arm sleeves with no extra bag to be checked, being in New York the previous weekend, I think this was the perfect weather, at least in the morning. There were a few familiar Maniacs on the bus, Nadia, Dave and Deo, who just finished the Catalina Eco Marathon the day before. So after about half an hour ride and a few wrong turns, we finally arrived at the start in Camarillo Airport. It didnt take me long to locate my Maniacs friends, since most of them were wearing their Maniac singlets.We chatted and took a bunch of group pics just to kill time before the race starts.

Click on all the pics below to see a bigger version

Maniacs invaded Malibu Marathon.

About 5 mins before the race starts, my running friend Andrea grabbed me while I was having my pic taken with the Maniacs, I totally lost track of time with so many photo opportunities, oops. Andrea and I had decided to run together since we both wanted to finished Sub 4, we kept a pretty good pace right from the start, I got my Garmin with me and she had her split time on her wrist so we kept each other in pace.

Me and Andrea before the race.

Me and Yolanda "Walking Diva", she is on her way to Gueniess World Record of Most Marathons in a year by a female

 Me and Casey, our bib numbers were almost right next to each other.

Mile 1 - 8:12, 

 Saw this runner around Mile 2

Mile 2-8:30, 

Mile 3- 8:44, 

Mile 4-8:32, 

Mile 5-8:47, 

Mile 6-9:06, 

Mile 7-9:08, 

Mile 8-9:03, 

Mile 9-9:17, 

Mile 10-9:26 (started to run on PCH from this point on)

Mile 11-9:19, (encounter a few headwinds right around this point)

Mile 12-9:26, 

Mile 13-9:44, 

Finished around 1:57.13 at halfway point

Mile 14-9:48, 

Self served aid station around Mile 14, this is what happen when they dont have enough volunteers for the race.

Mile 15-10:08 

Mile 16-10:27, (Andrea started to slow down so she wanted me to move on to try to get in Sub 4)

Mile 17-8:39, 

Mile 18-8:58, 

Mile 19-9:30, 

Mile 20-10:08, (a few sets of rolling hills started at this point)

Mile 21-11:17, 

Mile 22-10:43, 

Mile 23-11:19, 

A runner was down around Mile 23, Ambulance arrived in no time.

Mile 24-12:39 (all downhill after this point)

Mile 25 -11:18, 

Mile 26-9:46, (time to sprint to the finish!!!)

.2 Mile -1:03 

I finished in 4:14.37,, which was almost about the same as last year when I finished in 4:13.27, what a surprise!! Plus, I finished faster than previous week's NYC Marathon when I finished 4:21.11

Overall I really like this challenging course, although the medal look exactly the same as the previous year, only the year and date were changed, but the towel and the bag were a nice touch. I would definitely run this again next year just because it finishes on the beach.

Next Race................... Death Valley Trail Marathon, 12-4-2010