I don't run fast, but I have fun

John from my running group put together another great video from our City of Angels Half marathon on YouTube: City of Angels Video. He did a good job capturing the fun of doing these races.

I am realistic enough to know that I will probably never win any of these races (unless I keep running into my octogenarian years in which case I have a good chance of winning my age group ;) But coming in first isn't why I run. It is about being around supportive and encouraging people.

It was hot during last year's L.A. marathon and I had leg cramps that came and went after mile 13. The water stations had run out of water, and I desperately needed salt that was nowhere to be found. I was walking most of the time at mile 18 and just hoping that I would finish in a reasonable time. A woman from the neighborhood was standing in the middle of the street with her daughter and a plate of cookies. She saw me, smiled, and gave me a cookie. Then she said some words of encouragement that I don't really remember except that I started to cry after she said them. I was walking and crying down the street, and I remember thinking that this was one of my most amazing experiences. Almost nowhere in my life have I been at a place where thousands of people surrounded me and cheered me on and wanted me to succeed! There was no criticism of how I looked or how slow I was. Nobody was trying to push-me-down to pull themselves up. It was all about cheering and supporting everyone to the finish line. It was about humans loving and caring for each other.

This is why I love running races.

Last Saturday

With Christmas and the New Year coming and an upcoming move (to a new apartment/townhouse), my days and weekends are busy. Last Saturday I got up early to help with the Leggers waterstation. One of the people in the group, John, makes documentaries for the History Channel and he put together this video. John is great and his videos have really added a lot to our training experience this season.

On Saturday after the water station, I went shopping for Christmas gifts. At Linens and Things, Kristy McNichol got in line behind me. She actually looked her age and it made me happy. Her face has not changed that much except that she has gotten a little older (wrinkles and all of that), and her body is that of a typical healthy middle aged woman. Thank goodness there is one middle-aged actress out there who didn't get nip/tucked to oblivion! I would have taken a picture if I could have, but it's a little embarrassing for me. I don't have the guts to be paparrazzi. Plus, all I had was my cell phone and I didn't want to pay a ridiculous charge to Sprint PCS for uploading the photo from my phone.

*Star* sightings during the City of Angels Half Marathon

I ran the City of Angels Half Marathon yesterday as the group mentor/pacer for the Leggers 12 minute pace group (I'm in red):



John, the person taking the photo, had a Garmin that told us our pace by GPS measurement. It made my job a lot easier because I have this habit of zoning out and running to how I feel-- and I felt good yesterday. His digital pacer reeled me in several times, and kept me doing my job properly.

The City of Angels Half is a beautiful course. It started at Griffith Park, then ran along the L.A. River to Silverlake and past the Silverlake Reservoir, through Echo Park and along the pond there, and finally into downtown by the courthouse. I had rarely seen Los Angeles as beautiful as it was while running along this course.

While running through Silverlake, Geddes Watanabe, the actor who played the foreign exchange student in Sixteen Candles and one of the geeks in Revenge of the Nerds cheered us on from a street corner. It was a pleasant surprise to be cheered on by a recognizable movie personality.



At the race expo the day before the race, I was given a signed headshot by the guy who sold me my newspaper. It was sooooo L.A. to be given a headshot as a 'gift'. Nope, he wasn't attractive and he wasn't a recognized actor. I'm not sure why he handed me his headshot while selling me the newspaper. Maybe he thinks that I am an influential person in Hollywood with connections, and not an ordinary scientist.