I ended up getting to Griffith Park incredibly early today. There were a couple of reasons why I arrived ahead of schedule: I woke way too early (around 4 am to be exact), we were invited to attend a speed walking clinic before our run, and I wanted to distribute some flyers for my upcoming fundraiser at Bob’s Big Boy Restaurant in Burbank. With our fundraising deadline coming up on January 20th, I am pulling out all the stops to reach my goal before time runs out. If I don’t get all the money before then (my fundraising minimum is $1,000), then I will have to pay the difference of what I didn’t raise. It sounds unfair, but they inform you of this when you sign up, so you can’t say you weren’t warned.
The walking clinic was quick and more helpful than I thought it would be. It also forced me to get rid of old habits that I have long since gotten into the rhythm of doing. Why speed walk during our walking intervals in a marathon? You can improve your overall time by half an hour. This is nice to know as it took me 7 hours to complete the LA Marathon last year, and I ended up having to swim that one!
The only thing I needed to be reminded of (and the coach pointed this out nicely) was to keep my running hands above my waist. During the walking portions of our training, I just let them flop to the sides and end up giving them more of a rest than my legs. This clinic made me conscious of how I do this, and the other thing I needed to keep in mind was to pump my hands back and forth and not across my chest as it’s a waste of energy. At one point I said it made me look silly, and the coach told me:
“If you’re looking silly, that means you’re doing it right!”
Point taken.
After running 14 miles last Saturday, today served as a recovery run which had us running 8 miles. Now a while back this may have seemed like a lot, but this is now a piece of cake for all of us. This is made even more so when we took into account that next week we will be running 17 miles! Much of our run today was spent talking about what we will need to do to prepare for it.
One thing that stuck with me about this need to prepare was the strong recommendation that we get “nipple guards.” Of course, my first impression was that this advice was more for the women than for the men, but men have nipples too for crying out loud! If we don’t get “nipple guards,” then it was advised that we put a lot of lubrication over our bodies to defend against the drying effects of wind and cold weather. Products discussed included petroleum jelly or Body Glide which is “the original anti-chafe balm.” Fortunately I have some of that in the medicine cabinet of my apartment. I just hope I have enough of it for next week.
All this talk about getting lubed up reminded me of when Jon Voight played a ruthless convict who escapes prison in “Runaway Train.” He put grease and plastic wrap over his body which kept the heat trapped inside his body when he plunged into that freezing Alaskan river. Now while I probably don’t need to do that next week or come March, it sounds like the coaches are encouraging us to where a huge condom over our bodies. By that I mean figuratively speaking, not like what Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley wore during their sex scene in “The Naked Gun.”
Anyway, I wasn’t too worried about our run today as it seemed to simpler compared to what we have in store next weekend. But once again, I found myself running faster than I should have. Everytime I sensed I was, I did slow down and managed to keep up with my pace group (Twisted Blisters). Many of us were still recovering from our last run and wondering what made us think we could do an actual marathon.
Everyone who attended the speed walking clinic was already putting what we learned to good use. You could tell who had been to it by the way people kept their arms above their waists. By then, we all remembered to do that (for most of our run anyway).
Some got away with wearing headphones and listening to music while running this week. This has been designated a no-no rule by the Team to End AIDS coaches right from the start because it can be a safety hazard while running. Still, I found myself slow to criticize those for doing so as it was helping fellow who fell behind the previous week. But as we are running against traffic, as it’s safer than running with it where cars can’t as easily see us, we shouldn’t use this as an excuse to break out our own iPods and dig the best albums of 2011 be it by Foster The People or Adele during training.
While going through the familiar streets we have ran on in Burbank and Glendale, we went down another residential street we hadn’t previously with houses which looked like they were used in “L.A. Confidential.” Remember the one which Russell Crowe went underneath and found that rotted corpse which turned out to be Buzz Meeks? I think I ran past the house they filmed it at. I could be wrong, but it did cross my mind.
Among the most exciting things which happened as we run was seeing a tree being taken down at an intersection in Glendale. Workers were sawing it down in pieces, and we all had a collective “whoa” coming out of our mouths when one big branch fell down to the concrete. Some of us got a kick out of it while others were saddened to see it destroyed. I figured the city was doing it to keep the branches of the tree to a certain length, but after we turned around and came back we found that they had pretty much taken down the entire tree. I’m not sure why they did, but they must have had their reasons.
The whole tree coming down had me think of my favorite movie of 2011, Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.” I was tempted to mention this to the other runners, but I suddenly got the impression one of them would say:
“You mean that long boring movie which didn’t make a lick of sense?”
To this I would have replied:
“No, I’m not talking about ‘Green Lantern!’ I’m talking about ‘The Tree of Life!’”
The majority of us came out of this 8 mile run in one piece while others started wondering what they got themselves into. I hope they take into account that they did get through this run and that their perseverance is paying off in ways they have yet to realize. I guess the most important thing we need to keep in mind is that this is not a race. We just need to run and finish it, and that by itself is the accomplishment we should be aiming for even if it means walking most of the way.
I became concerned that not many had picked up the flyers I printed out at FedEx Office for $12 bucks, so I started passing them out to make certain the runners were taking notice. They were placed next to the 2012 LA Marathon registration and commitment forms, the later which ensured we would participate even if we were still a long way from our fundraising goal. Most were happy to accept them and express interest in dropping by Bob’s Big Boy restaurant next Tuesday. One person I handed it to put it back on the pile of flyers I handed out which annoyed me, but I didn’t want to dwell on that too much.
With my doctor informing me that my cholesterol was still high, I had to watch the number of hard boiled eggs I consumed. However, I couldn’t resist those bagels with cream cheese which I am easily susceptible to even though the voice of a colleague at my former job kept telling me:
“It clogs the arteries!”
Today’s run was good and provided us with interesting conversations, among them how viciously violent parts of David Fincher’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” were. One person said she couldn’t sleep for a couple of nights after watching it. I said I had that problem after watching “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.” Everyone looked at me with that baffled look until I reminded them about the scene where Tom Cruise is hanging outside the world’s tallest building.
So let’s hope we are all suitably prepared to run 17 miles next Saturday. We have been encouraged not to drink any alcohol through the week leading up to it which is advice that is good as it is utterly frustrating. So as a result, I am getting drunk off my ass after today’s run to enjoy what time I have left until the mandatory sobering up period. Believe me or not, I do intend to keep dry until January 21st.
FUNDRAISING UPDATE: To date I have raised $741.20 towards my goal of $1,000. I am getting closer to my goal, and if you can only donate $5 dollars, please let me assure you that it will still go a long way. If you need a flyer to bring with you to Bob’s Big Boy Restaurant in Los Angeles, please let me know and I will email one out to you.
You can also click here to made a donation online.
Days of 2012 LA Marathon training:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9.5, 10, and 11