Overall Activity

I find that cardio-vascular exercise is one of the best ways to clear my mind -- garbage collection for thoughts that build up over a day. Thus, the majority of my exercise has been running and swimming, with gymming as a way to build strength and flexibility.

Running

2025 LA Marathon

Overall Thoughts : I ended up running the LA Marathon in 2025. It was a great experience, but I finished significantly behind the time I was hoping for - 5:17:31 . I made really good time for the first half, but I cramped really badly starting on the 25th kilometer, and fully had to walk the last 10 kilometers.

Post-Mortem: It is hard for me to write a good post-mortem on this race because I do not know if me cramping up was a function of distance or pace. If it was of distance, then I did the correct thing, I ran as fast as I could before my legs gave up and cramped. If it was because of pace then I should have targeted a less aggressive pace for my first half marathon. What I would change would be to have more training that was long than half a marathon, up to around 30km.

Long Run in LA

One of my favorite long runs in LA is from UCLA to the Venice Beach. I run through Westwood, then along Wilshire Blvd. under the 405 bridge. I then run along there until it becomes convient to turn right and onto San Vincente Blvd. Then, it is just a straight run until I reach Ocean Ave. which I run along until I can turn onto the beach at California Ave. I then run along the beach until I reach the Venice Beach Pier. The run is about 17km, so you would need to turn around and run backwards a bit to make it a half marathon.

Medium Length Run

My favorite medium length run is what I call the "Triangle Run". It starts near UCLA, and goes East along Wilshire Blvd. to Rodeo Drive. Then, you make a traingle, before running back. It is slighly hilly so it is good cardio training.