Actually, that was two weeks ago that I ran by them and saw them. Both times Lynnette said, "Oh dear," and both times I casually glanced over to see the poor little things and I almost tripped over from shock.
But luckily today, on my 18 mile run, I didn't see them. But I sure did smell them. At least the one near the LA Zoo.
It was a tough run today, especially since I skipped last week's 16 miler. So I went from 10 miles two weeks ago to 18. And it was rough. At first, the timer on my watch stopped. I usually start with a 10 minute walk as a warm-up and I kept thinking that it was the longest 10 minutes of my life because my watch said 4:46 everytime I glanced down. When I finally realized that it wasn't working, it was a good 15 minutes and that threw me off. Oh well. So I started on my interval of 6/1 until I got to what we refer to as "the hill loop," and you can imagine what that entails in Griffith Park. That sucker sucks. So I walked the incline, and met up with one of the other START! Training participants, Megan, and we began chatting and that was the beginning of the end for me. I basically walked the next hour or so, but hey, I made a new friend and it was quite lovely to chat with her. Since she was running the 1/2 Marathon, she only had to run 10 miles, so we parted at the Gene Autry and I had to run the hill loop again, but this time in reverse. So if you know Griffith Park, it is basically running from Travel Town up the hill, past the Compost Center, down to Mineral Wells and the golf course. Personally I think that way is worse because the incline is really gradual. Lynnette and I (unfortunately she couldn't make it today) usually alternate running and walking from fire hydrant to fire hydrant because of the slope, but since she wasn't there today, yes, I cheated. But quite frankly, today was pretty darn hot so I thought I could afford a little break. But I did run all the way down once I got past the Compost Center. So there.
When I got to about mile 15, I was done. It was so hot and at that point, my interval training was shot. I basically started to use distance markers instead of my usual 6/1 because I couldn't think by that time. But it did feel really good when I did run because my body just went on autopilot and I didn't mind it. And a huge help was when one of the volunteers at our water stops gave me a couple of pieces of ice that I just ran with until they melted. They were such a godsend. It really is the little things in life.
Next week: A nice little break. We're only doing 8, but in Santa Monica with the other START! Training groups, so it should be fun!
A HUGE thank you to everyone for their donations! I reached my goal of $1000 this week. Many thank yous to Robert Lund and Lea and Bong Go for their donations this past week But please, if you still would like to donate, feel free to - I would certainly appreciate it and so would the American Heart Association!
Much love,
Rona
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