Moving on, I have literally been dreaming about today, Tuesday, July 13 (and not just because we were originally planning to crash the "Inception" premiere at Grauman's). Granted, the dream only started a few weeks ago (short term dreams are quite rewarding), but nonetheless, getting to run in LA was too exciting for me to handle. I had mapped 1000 different routes in my head, so I could run past some of my favorite places. We don't exactly relax on our vacations so I had been worried about fitting a run into our schedule, and also how tired and sore I would be already. But, the day had arrived, and I could hardly wait to get out there. My feet were sore, but when I peeked out at the clear blue California sky, I felt no pain. I did feel like I needed a fanny pack for my gear. After all, I needed my ID, room key, credit card (in case I needed a cab), a pen (for fear I wouldn't be able to remember the streets), phone, camera (because who knows who I would see - NCIS LA was filming yesterday!)....I had wisely decided to leave the mp3 behind, because traffic has to be listened for here, and decided to leave the camera (after all, I did have my phone's camera if a real emergency broke out). Plus, this would make me look even less touristy...
Our hotel was on Highland, which intersects with Hollywood Blvd (and Sunset) and runs parallel to Vine. If Hollywood and Highland sounds familiar, it's because that's where the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards, sits. Our hotel was about halfway between the Kodak and the Hollywood Bowl. I can't overstate my love for LA. We were in the Hollywood Hills, and I wanted to run up, through the residential area, but I was concerned about a lack of sidewalks, the narrow, winding streets, but mostly the Hills themselves.
I decided to run toward Hollywood Blvd, which was also downhill. Today was a repeat of the last run: Run 15, Walk 5, so I took it nice and slow. It was only 6:30, so there weren't many people out, but plenty of traffic. The first stoplight I came to was red, and despite being in LA, I wasn't interested in doing the Super Douche, because I knew this light could take awhile. So, I turned down Franklin, a residential street. And holy moly, a hilly street. Well, there's no avoiding it. I start up the hill, and I'm feeling pretty good. How could you not, running past a Mercedes in every driveway, fountains in every building's entrance, flowers everywhere?!
There was a girl headed my way. She started smiling almost as soon as she spotted me, so I assumed she was just smiling on her own, not at me, because I only encounter sheer rudeness when I run at home, after all. Oh no, as I got closer, she was ready to have a full on conversation. She wished she had enough energy to get out and workout, but she just wanted to eat (she was tiny, of course). I told her that I run purely so that I CAN eat, which amused her, but I couldn't quite make out her reply, as I was panting my way up the hill still.
I turned on Whitley and just loved, loved, loved running past all the high rises and dog walkers and feeling as local as I may ever feel in LA. Up to Hollywood and the Walk of Fame! Yeah! Running with (on) the stars! And there were like NO people!! YES!!! We were on Hollywood the day before, and I did see people running amongst the crowds, but I don't know how they could stand it. I was ecstatic running down Hollywood, back toward the Kodak. The Star's Homes Tour Guides weren't harassing me with their brochures, the shopkeepers were polite as they opened up, it was sheer local gloriousness.
I planned to finish my run here, where it's flat, then spend my 5 minute walk trudging back uphill to the hotel. I started pushing it to make it to Highland, hopefully right when my alarm went off, so I would have an easy coordinate to end my run time with. As I sprinted ahead, and rounded the corner on Highland, I suddenly realized I was only at 10 minutes, not 15. If I had my head out of the stars, I would have kept running down Hollywood, past the front of the Kodak and Grauman's Theatre. Too late now, I'm headed uphill (past the TV Superman "Daily Planet" building), 5 minutes to go.
I passed the famous Hollywood United Methodist Church, with their great banner "Hate is not a Christian Value" and made it back to Franklin, but once again missed the light. So I turned down Franklin again, which, at least, was flat here. I was impressed with how well I was handling the 15 minute run, and I only had to go down one block to Las Palmas before the timer went off. I turned around and walked back to the hotel, which turned out to be just about 5 minutes, with a brief wait at the light at Franklin.I loved it! I actually LOVED running the hills, which shocked me, but I think I could definitely get used to running THESE hills. I was red-faced, but today I think it was because we made an unplanned stop at the Santa Monica Pier yesterday, so I was without sunblock and the California sun is relentless, what with the utter lack of clouds in the sky! My left ankle hurts, but it was totally worth every second.
Weather: 76 (didn't feel even close to this warm), SUNNY!, no wind, 54% Humidity (100% PERFECT, AS ALWAYS!!)
Time: 6:30am; Run 15, Walk 5
Distance: 2.28K (1.41m)
Elevation: +68.5/-79.6/net -11.1 ft
5K/10K: 46:43/1:38:44
Run Time: 15 mins
Distance: 1.94K (1.2m)
5K/10K: 41:43/1:28:10
Here's a map of the run route today.
One last note: Sunday, we were at Sequoia National Park. We were on one of the main, paved hiking trails through the park, when we came up on a couple girls, stopped in the path. One of them put her finger to her mouth and then mouthed, "bear." You have got to be flat out shitting me. There was a freaking brown bear not 30 feet away from us. They are as cute in the wild as I always knew they would be, so I was a mess, torn between total excitement that this was happening and total and utter fear about what was about to go down. There was another guy ahead of the girls, and 2 more guys came up behind us. We all stood there, in disbelief, snapping pictures, not sure what we were supposed to do. (Shouldn't there have been signs at the visitor's center!? I freaking know you aren't supposed to FEED them, but what do you do BESIDES not feed them!?) All I could think was thank goodness I have been training. I may have a purse and flipflops, but I guarantee I can outrun a couple of these people. S/he finally wandered back into the woods, and we walked on, only to come up on a black bear just down the path. Most amazing thing ever!!
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