A number of “firsts” for this marathon: My first ever “virtual” marathon, but that’s not strictly true. The version we ran was on the official course, we were tracked via a GPS app called RaceJoy, and if you ran a Boston Qualifying time, it’s an official BQ! Welcome to the… not virtual, but touchless Mountains 2 Beach marathon!

(Which we paid over $100 for. There is an actual “virtual” marathon which cost far less money, but you didn’t get a swag bag filled with stuff you’ll never use, and you have to plot your own damn course, though no one is stopping you from running with a bunch of friends who paid for the $100 version, which is something I probably should have thought of)

I ran with LA Road Runners’ Run Group 4 headed by Kent Sandie, who unofficially hosted Saturday runs throughout the winter and early spring with the goal of finishing a late spring marathon. We had to provide our own support along the way (thank you Kent and Dawn!), and find our way along the route with RaceJoy’s guidance, which was spotty and ambiguous at times. But we treated this “race” more as a marathon distanced long run, took plenty of breaks along the way (“first” #2) and all finished at around the same time: 4:40. Not blazing fast, but since our last marathon was fourteen months earlier, we relished the experience of just getting out there and running again and enjoying each others’ company.

Oh yeah: “first” #3: this was the first time I wore a running pack instead of carrying a water bottle in a holder in any run over 15 miles. For runs like this where one is not racing, the Nathan 7L is a great option. Thank you, Nathan!

I always feel a bit of trepidation before a race, even one where we are all just hanging out at a ten minute mile pace for several hours. In a way, it’s good; races are opportunities to punch through barriers and show yourself what you’re capable of. This nice, easy long run was no exception. A shoelace mishap put me behind the group for the first few miles, and I slowly and carefully inched up my pace to catch the group. But after our first break, a perhaps-too-long 11 minutes or so, I found myself in the comfortable running groove. Even at mile 23, when most runners wish for either the finish line or death (whichever comes first), and when I knew that stopping for the last water stop break would probably end the run for me, I didn’t feel half bad.

But that neuroma of mine. After stopping at least three times to massage my poor left front foot (on top of the opportunities I took to do just that at water stops), I began a segment called 400 meters of absolute f–ing hell: a section of the Ventura beach path made up of cobblestones. Each the perfect size to press firmly into my forefoot and cause my neuroma to squeal like a stuck pig. Good grief, that was agony. And it took a full two week stoppage for the pinched nerve to calm down enough to keep me from worrying if I’d ever run again. Fixing this damn thing is the next thing on my list after getting a few slightly more serious health issues resolved.

But we all made it. And we’re back. Coming up: the postponed 2021 LA Marathon (November), California International Marathon (four weeks later), LA again in March of 2022, and most likely Mountains 2 Beach. Stay tuned.