2012 Los Angeles Marathon

Report by: Eric Barron

In light of last year's deluge, and the similar downpour the day before this year's race, runners in the 2012 Los Angeles Marathon had no complaints about the headwind; they were just grateful for the dry skies and perfect temperature. Although that wind might have slowed times, it did not stop many TCLA'ers from strong performances, which included many personal bests.

Nick Bowden continues to dominate the men's masters fields. Despite an unplanned taper in the last week due to the flu, Nick won the men's masters competition with a 6:02/mile effort. Mike Davies started “slow" and gradually picked up the pace on his sub-2:45 long run in preparation for Boston. With his 2:55, Alex Thompson redeemed his effort from last year and set a personal best in the process. Also breaking three hours, Gabe Merton dropped a whopping 16 minutes from his previous best time. Rith Tun rounded out the club's sub-3:00 runners.

Dipping under 7:00/mile, Bruce Reisenfeld and Ginna Ladd both set personal bests (and Ginna was the 13th woman overall). Nyron Bernard hit seven-minute-miles as he continues his bid to break three hours. Joining these three in the early stages of the race, Tyrone Black eased up around seven miles, and managed to make the rest of his race a relatively pleasant one. He and Rab Brown traded places for 24 miles, at which point Rab decided that a stretch break was in order. David Ash started his breaks a little earlier in the race, but did not finish too much behind Rab. Like David, Matt Cobos was hoping to run faster, but Matt still finished with a p.r.

Brian Panosian's goal was to simply finish feeling strong, and thanks to much training and a smart race plan, he did just that. Philip Steinman relied on his experience and training to help anyone wanting to break 3:30. Bruce Bair finished just over 3:30, but he looked happy enough doing so. With tow trucks at her sides, Sarah O'Brien worked hard for her medal. Also suffering, at least from the “halfway" point, Tim Petersen gutted out the last six miles. Carl Finer helped pace those looking to break four hours. Kim Brettler and Masami Fukuhara were just on the other side of the 4:00 mark. Jennifer Liu looked pretty well in the late going, and Michael Berger switched to survival mode to finish his race.

While some in the club ran, many others came out in support. Some were tow trucks, including Scott Allen, Peggy Enriquez, Dean Goodman, Mark Harris, Meg Kanatani, Su-Yang Liu, Mike Mahurin, Anne-Marie Mowad, Robert Newmark, Stephanie Pogorelsky, Susan Rendell, Frank Tai (who advanced from last year's DNS to this year's DNF), Rasmus Tamstorf, Ankur Tarneja (your 2012 LA Big 5K winner), Stephen Terry, Theresa Uhrig, Bert Whitson (on bike), Wenise Wong, and Sharon Yamato, and some were more stationary, including Eric and Kate Bowles, Danny Demsky, Ravi Guha, Jim Gidlow, Peter Glassman, David Kent, Wayne Joness (who arranged the USATF tent at 23½ miles), Gilbert Lemieux, Albert Li, Jacinda Raiche, Jim Spear, Efrain Velasco, Noel Velasco, Bram Weinskelbaum, Clara Yoon, and Lily Zepeda (capturing events at the finish).