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A new addition to the celebrities group of marathoners, Shia LaBeouf will be joining me and the rest of runners of the Los Angeles Marathon on March 21, 2010. Known for his starring role in Transformers, he will be running to raise money for the non-profit US Vets. Good to finally hear some celebrity marathon news since Ed Norton.

Actress Tanna Frederick (currently starring in Henry Jaglom’s “Irene in Time”) will also be running the marathon to benefit the North Iowa Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NIAMI), and the North Iowa Transition Center (http://www.northiowatransitioncenter.org/). Hopefully Shia and Tanna will shame the rest of the Hollywood celebrities who chose not to join the ranks of celebrity marathoners (especially with *the* marathon in their own backyard!)

Here is a list of famous people who ran the LA Marathon in the past (I better beat Freddie Prinze):*

Scott Bakula, Los Angeles Marathon 2005 (4:10:21)

Freddie Prinze, Jr., Los Angeles Marathon 2006 (5:50:49)

Nick Hexum, Vocalist from 311, Los Angeles Marathon 2006 (5:29:44) and 2007 (5:39:?)

Dexter Holland, Vocalist from The Offspring, Los Angeles Marathon (5:09:?)

*source Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.com)

Don’t be fooled by the fact that this path (usually used as part of the L.A. River Bike Path) is called a “trail” – this is a concrete jungle at its FINEST.

The LARIO Trail is a part of a long stretch of the L.A. River Bike path which begins in the South part of L.A. County where the L.A. River and the Rio Hondo River intersect. The LARIO Trail begins in Lynwood and reaches all the way down to the end of the the L.A. River in Long Beach.

I won’t lie, scary and scrap metal industrial ridden as it is, I had the BEST time running this path. Inclines, concrete, birds, faux rock beds and some seriously scary overpasses… the best hard core feeling combo any gray sweat hoodie Rocky I – IV obsessed American would love.

In addition to a well-paved path and the best experience that industrial South L.A. County has to offer (minus the taco trucks) the LARIO trail also comes with some slight inclines in various parts along the river. The path I took maxed out at about 161 ft with total elevation fain of 282 ft during the run. Not too shabby!

Want an up close and personal look at this part of the river? Great… I happened to have my Flip handy:

You know what winter in L.A. means? Gasp! Sleeves!

But in all seriousness, we have hit a cold front here (we’re talking 30s-40s most of the morning). Now, I’m not writing about this to boo hoo hoo our weather, I think it’s perfect, actually. And with the LA Marathon coming up and my disdain for the treadmill stronger than ever, I’ve bumped up my mileage significantly this week. So far so good…

However, there are some Angelenos (I won’t name names) who may not be as get up and go to bear the cold… So say you’re looking to do a Spring Marathon and need to up your mileage and happen to be spoiled in the City of Angels – and also hate the gym – want to know what to do for those 5am wake up calls? A few tricks for you:

1) Don’t think. Set the alarm for 5am or whatever time you need to get up to do your run. Alarm goes off, just remember that you DON’T have a choice in the matter – and that whole achy feeling… that’s just fear. Unless you need to see a doctor, don’t fake yourself into feeling an “injury” coming on.

2) LAYERS are your friend. Tech long sleeve, tech tee, and sweatshirt on top. Beanies… if you find yourself needing to unlayer (de-layer?) after a few miles, I would suggest buying a fleece or running jacket with removeable sleeves so you can pop them off and stuff them in your pockets during the run (I’m sure no one likes to carry clothes and if you are a guy are least likely to wrap a sweater around your waist). I frankly keep all my layers on, I sweat like a beast but hey, it beats the cold…

3) GET A BUDDY. This time last winter I ran with my friend Meagan 2-3x a week and that not only kept me accountable to our runs but made sure I was doing the runs on my own (even upped my mileage – so I could be in tip top shape to be able to run with her). This winter I have another running partner, who is faster and not as forgiving as Meagan was with my pace. It’s a good pressure and it’s nice to have someone to talk to about running specific trials and tribulations. I like the 50/50 solo runs and run with buddy.

4) Make a plan and STICK to it. This goes back to point 1) I mean what are runner’s mentalities anyway “Just Do It.”

5) Pre-run hot drink! I used to treat myself to a latte or other fancy and caloric coffee type drink before my Meagan runs since they were always so damned early. If you’re not a coffee drinker, have a hot cocoa or tea before your run – it’s fast and you won’t have to wake up earlier to get one.

Need more? Feel free to leave a comment with questions!

If you are not friends with Jimmy Dean Freeman on Facebook… you missed out! This guy ran the LA Marathon course on Black Friday and made a pit stop every 5-6 miles to eat LA famous foods. He also managed to tweet about it during the whole experience. Here are his notes:

From 9:30am – 2:51pm on Black Friday – I ran the NEW Stadium to the Sea LA Marathon course, with some support, and stopped about every 5-6 miles to eat a signature LA food.

Mile 6 – Burrito King’s 3-fish taco special, fried, with hot sauce, a Coke, followed up with pumpkin pie.
Mile 13 – Carnie’s chili-cheese-dog (while running)
Mile 16.5 – Sprinkles red velvet cupcake w/some coffee
Mile 20 – In’n'Out Burger double-double ‘Animal Style’ and a Coke
Mile 26.2 – bad case of heartburn… duh.

Location: Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica – Los Angeles, CA

*Jimmy also managed to video the whole thing and put it up on YouTube! Check it out:

The race is perfect for locals who want to do a 5K on Thanksgiving Day. The area is quaint, the park is like most of the state parks in Los Angeles, so nothing to write home about. Lake Balboa itself is pretty “quaint” to put it as bluntly as possible. The course for the 5K was the sidewalk path through the park. It’s probably the smallest race I’ve done to date.

I would probably not do it again because the location is not close to home. I did it to meet up with some friends I know from Twitter and because it was a great excuse to head out to the Valley. I had a chance to catch up with some amazing and influential people which made the experience a five star race all the way, however for the sake of being as objective as possible I had to give it three stars in my racevine review. Race highlight: Glenn Jones was awesome enough to run me to the end of my very first 5K – so he’s all good in my digital book!