Coach Laura Takes On The LA Marathon

When I was asked to write a blog post recapping the LA marathon, I may have panicked slightly. What was I going to talk about? Would people really be interested in my experience? I hope so because you’re about to hear about it!

Several months ago, Chris Braker, Fleet Feet Syracuse Operating Partner, asked if I would be interested in working the LA Marathon Expo with Asics in November. Of course, I jumped at that opportunity. I’ve never worked at a large race expo and it sounded like a great opportunity! We set out early November 3rd, arriving in LA around 1:00 pm PST. We had the best Uber driver who took us to In-N-Out Burger before dropping us off at our hotel. Was that the highlight of my trip? No, but was it a fantastic way to start my trip? You bet!! Seriously, 12 out of 10 would recommend. Upon arriving at our hotel, we unloaded our things and went right to Dodger Stadium to start setting up. This is where I got to meet people from other Fleet Feets and people from Asics. Over the course of this trip, I got to know several of them fairly well. 

Wednesday afternoon and Thursday were designated for setting up. To say we were super efficient is an understatement. Everyone worked really well together and found their role. We set up the expo much faster than they had in previous years. The fixtures and displays were already set up when we arrived. We had to unbox all the apparel (which there was a TON of), and the shoes. Once it was unboxed, we sized and put the apparel and accessories on their appropriate fixtures using a planogram. The shoes were all unboxed and organized by style, color, and gender onto tables in the back so they would be easy to find and grab for customers. It was a busy first two days. 

The expo was held on Friday and Saturday. The race had about 13,000 participants. My job was to help people find the sizes they needed, replenish the apparel from the backstock, and chat with people. It was fun. Although I do love winter, the weather was your typical warm, sunny Southern California weather. It was nice and it brought back some summer tan for a bit. After the expo Saturday, we packed up whatever we didn’t sell of the apparel, shoes, and accessories to be shipped someplace. I don’t know where it went. We just boxed it. Again, super-efficient group. Stephanie and I were packing and taping boxes in recorded time!! I’m not sure how you have fun packing and taping boxes, but we did. 

It wasn’t just working while we were there. We ate FANTASTIC food and we got to go to a Lakers game. They lost, but it was still fun! Asics got a couple of suites for the game, which was cool. I have never been to an NBA game, or in any kind of suite for a game. We also got entries into the LA Marathon if we wanted to run it. I was already marathon training, so I did run the marathon. My legs were already sore and tired before I started running. If you ever run the LA marathon, make sure you are doing your long run on some hilly routes. I feel like if I wasn’t running downhill, I was running uphill. It also ends on an uphill climb. I hadn’t run a marathon since October of  2019, so I was kind of nervous. I may have told my running friends I wasn’t running because I wasn’t very confident going into it even though I was actually running, and some of them may have blown my cover and posted my results on Facebook. I am grateful for the friends I’ve made in the Fleet Feet Distance Program. They are the most supportive group of people I’ve ever had. I was definitely pretty disappointed with how I ran, but they HYPED me. I could have DNF’d, and they would have been hyping me up. They are an amazing group of people and I’m honored to call so many of them my friends. I know this article is supposed to be about me and a recap of my trip, but really this section about running the marathon is about them. I’ve watched them work so hard for their own goals the past two years and they’ve achieved so much this year now that races are back. This will not be the last I rave about them. The Fleet Feet Syracuse Distance Program participants are an inspiration to me and so many others. They’ve become more than people I coach and have turned into true friends. Thank you for inspiring me to race and continue to enjoy running, and pushing myself to new goals. I’m incredibly proud of all of you!! Congratulations on all your success this year!!!

Honestly, the only negative thing I can say about the trip is that I didn’t see any celebrities. I did meet my first influencer. I’m not sure if that really counts though. I am very grateful for the opportunity to go and work at this expo, and hopefully, there will be more opportunities like this in the future. Thank you Chris for the opportunity to do cool things!!!!