The Journey to the Dark Side

It all started out innocent enough. My last race was the LV marathon and I took some time off to recover. March rolled around and I knew LA was approaching. The farthest thing on my mind was to run it. To get my “fix”, I decided to the Acura Bike Race (22 miles). I’ve don’t even own a bike so I had to borrow one. I trained after work at the Rose Bowl averaging around 10 miles each time out. The hardest part was sitting on the seat. The butt gets rather sore after a prolonged amount of time on the bike. Initially I was going to do it with some friends but they couldn’t make it so I said “screw it”, I’m going to do it myself. Then my brother Duc who signed up for the LA marathon, emailed me and said he couldn’t make the race. That meant a free entry to the race. I asked my fellow Pacers if anyone want to run it. Everyone said “no thanks”. The day before the race I showed up after missing the past two Saturdays to wish the Pacers who were running the race on Sunday good luck. My intent was just to do an easy 3-5 miles. Somehow I was convinced by the “Boston Training Group” to do 12. Surprisingly my body was okay and better than I expected after the run. (Although it's like taboo to do that kind of mileage the day before the race) Then the seed was planted “Hey maybe I could do both the Bike and then run the marathon.” It was a stretch but one which I was going to attempt.

At the start line: 5:40 AM




I had to go with the Lance Armstrong "yellow" jersey!



My goal with the bike race was not to get hurt and to move at a steady pace. 10,000 riders showed up at a quarter till six for the start of the race. I noticed that there were basically three groups of riders: Those who wanted an easy Sunday stroll with the family (Usually the mom, dad a daughter/son), Those who were in-shape but not really into bike racing, and finally the hard-core riders with their spandex biker shorts and spandex top. I was in awe when I saw group 3 climb the hills. They made it look so easy. The thrill for me was the downhill portions. I remember one stretch on Olympic after a somewhat steep hill climb, I cruised down that hill like there was no tomorrow. It was such an adrenaline rush. I checked my Garmin watch and I was going around 30 mph for about half a mile. So the race concluded at the USC campus. I finished the race in 1 hour 42 minutes (According to my Garmin: 13.17 mph, since this was not an official race just a tour so no times were kept).

Then the “real-fun” began. The USC campus is around 3 miles from the start of the marathon race. By the time I put my bike in my car and was ready to go, I had to run 3 miles on Figueroa on the opposite direction of all the tens of thousands of people who were just starting the race. I was really frustrated because the spectators on the street would make wise-cracks like “The race is the other way!” After the tenth time I heard that I just blocked out what the people were saying. My goal was to run to the start of the race get my timing chip activated. By the time I finally got to 5th and Figueroa, it was five till nine (race started at 8:17) and the volunteers were taking down the start line. I had to sprint to the start of the line and yelled out “Hey, wait! Don’t take down the timing mat!” I think I must have been one of the last ones to actually start the race.

I was a bit flustered for the first couple of miles and it takes a while for the “butt” to get back to normal after sitting on a bike for the last two hours. My goal for the race was just to finish. I told myself if I was “losing it and getting dizzy” then I would pull out. I told myself no shame in pulling out as long as I gave it a shot. So I was basically doing a 10/1 for the first couple of miles (Run 10 minutes, then walk 1 min). I zoomed by all the “walkers” at the start. Then my left foot was acting up. It wasn’t anything “race-ending”, and the pain was bearable. I then started doing 10/2, then 10/3 and before I knew it at mile 7, I was doing a 5/5. My right foot was acting up now. Now I began to feel the pain on both feet. The good news was that it was more painful on the right so mentally I was able to block out the left foot. It’s funny. I remember seeing a lot of oranges and bananas along the course last year. All I saw this year were bunch of orange and banana peels. Out of nowhere on mile 11, I get a tap on my shoulder. It was a buddy of mine, Ahbi. I haven’t seen him in over two years since he went abroad to study. We were catching up and running at the same time. We ran together for the next 4 or so miles and then we lost contact. I was back on my own. It was a struggle and flashbacks of the hills came to my head from the morning bike race. It was sooo much easier on the bike. I knew when I was at mile 17 that I was going to complete the race. I’ve come too far to turn back. I just told myself to stay hydrated and focus on the upcoming mile. When I finally reached mile 25, the adrenaline kicked in and I ran the last 1.2 miles to the finish line. I did it! My time was a reasonable 5:24 (12:21 min/mile) considering the circumstances. I ran 29.2 (3 miles before the race) and biked 22 miles in the morning! I can’t believe it!

My buddy Ahbi at mile 12







Post-race recovery center




I weighed myself yesterday and I was 201 lbs. After the race? 196 lbs. After dinner? 202 lbs (just kidding). It funny, I think the 31 year old Khanh can kick the 25 year old Khanh any day of the week, M-F (31 year old Khanh needs to rest up on the weekends!)

Priceless...



In case anyone is interested:

Pre and Post Race Interviews =)