Badass Women Run Marathons – My LA Marathon 2021

The race at a glance

• RaceLA Marathon
• WhenNovember 2021
• Place in the yearSecond marathon in four weeks
• Boston qualifierAlready earned in Chicago

A hard one to write about

I signed up for the LA Marathon almost a year before race day, hoping to run it. By the time November came around, I had just run Chicago — my first marathon, and a Boston Qualifying time of 3:23:22. Four weeks later I was in Los Angeles, lining up again.

This post took me a while to start. It was a hard marathon for me, and the honest version of the story is mostly about what was happening in my head. The hills asked a lot of legs that were still tired from Chicago, and the fatigue showed up early.

What carried me through was the crowd. Strangers along the course shouted and cheered, and that noise turned into something to hold on to when the miles got quiet and heavy. Badass women run marathons — and the people lining the streets helped this one finish hers.

Running a second marathon so soon after the first is a strange kind of test, and the LA Marathon turned out to be one of the harder races to put into words. Training through a cold winter, juggling a schedule that rarely left room for long, quiet mornings, and then lining up again with tired legs made the day feel less like a victory lap and more like a lesson in patience. What carried it were the crowds, the badass women running alongside, and the simple decision to keep putting one foot in front of the other until the finish line finally appeared.

Writing about it afterward took a few days, mostly because the soreness lingered and the thoughts needed time to settle. There is a particular honesty that comes with a race that does not go smoothly, and it fits well with the spirit of this blog, where style, beauty, and running share space with real, unpolished reflections. Recovery becomes its own routine of gentle movement, skincare, and rest, and the appreciation for everyone who cheered along the way stays long after the medals are hung up and the next training cycle quietly begins.

What made it tough

• The hills. The course kept asking for more than flat, easy running.
• Four weeks between races. Chicago was still in my legs when I started LA.
• The mental side. The toughest stretch was less about pace and more about staying in the race.
• The crowds. Cheering strangers gave me the push to keep moving forward.

Two marathons, one month

Training for both races happened with South Loop Runners and coach Denise, with my husband Sam in my corner along the way.