Sara Runs The 2007 Long Beach Marathon

Oct. 14, Sara ran the Long Beach Marathon which she trained for over the last six months. She had a beautiful day and gorgeous scenery to test her mettle. We left Redondo Beach early for a 7:30am start. 18,000 people signed up for the marathon, half marathon, walk, and bike ride that made up the day's events. An early start and Sara's knowledge of the back roads of Long Beach helped us beat the traffic.

We knew we were close when Bob and Sara saw half of those 18,000 people lined up at the porta potties.
First item of business for most runners -get the Ipod going. Sara used a Nike sensor in her shoe connected to her Ipod to track her course, pace, and distance.

Bob gave her a few final words of encouragement. He has participated in Iron Man competitions in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.

With that, she was good to go.
Seven and a half minutes after the starter's gun, Sara crossed the starting line to begin her race.

The 26.2 mile course runs largely along the harbor of Long Beach.

Runners first head toward the downtown area.

They then loop back ...

run by the Queen Mary ...

around the Lighthouse at Rainbow Harbor ...

(Here's Sara feeling pumped up at the six mile marker.)

(Sara's friend, Sheila, graciously came along to lend moral support and encouragment. It really helped.)

and then out onto the beach.

Then they wound through Belmont Shore before looping back to the starting line. (See the woman running in the pink tutu?)

Here Carolyn is cheering on a participant running in her grass skirt. Carolyn rang her cowbell

throughout the race prompting several runners to say, "We need more cowbell!"

At the 23 mile marker Sara is still looking strong! Just 3.2 miles to go.

At the finish line! Subtracting the time it took Sara to get to the starting line to begin the race gives Sara an official time of 5:10:42. A terrific first marathon.

A hand raised in triumph.

Sara receives her medal.


A proud pop.

In her first effort, Sara outran 25% of the men who entered the race.

She's already talking about her next one.