Once More Onto the Streets of Burbank Dear Friends. Once More...

So here it is, the last Team to End AIDS run before the momentous 2015 Los Angeles Marathon which is now just a week away. True to form we’re still, as The Eagles once sang, takin’ it easy. We did a recovery run of 8 miles which took us through the streets of Burbank and Glendale which we have become very familiar with these past few months. It was nice way to celebrate another truly successful training season although it also feels very unreal that we’ve finally come to the end of it. I still see myself coming back next Saturday for another run even though I will instead be at the marathon expo getting my bib.

My constant obsession with Homicide: Life on The Street, a brilliant TV show that has been off the air for close to 20 years now, was today’s reason why I arrived at Griffith Park a little later than usual. Upon my arrival, Coach JC was telling everyone not to set any land speed records on this recovery run. At this point, I think it’s safe to say that we were way ahead of him on that.

The route of this run was chosen by our fellow Lucky 13 pace group runner John who succeeded in raising more money than any other Team to End AIDS participant. Not bad for a guy who is about to run his very first marathon. Part of me wanted to dare him to put in a hill or two on this route just to remind everyone that there are hills in the LA Marathon, but he decided to spare us that fate.

It was another very, very sunny day in Southern California, so I decided not to wear a jacket on this run as I knew I would be disposing of it sooner than later. I felt that I got off to a good start, but I ended up trailing behind many others in my pace group. Actually, I shouldn’t consider that a bad thing because we all were supposed to take it easy on this run anyway. Still, I wondered if being the last person in said more about me than I wanted it to.

On this run I continued to keep a good eye on my form as I constantly kept thinking that I was leaning forward much more than I should. Moreover, I was seriously intent on avoiding any injuries that could possibly come my way. How infinitely frustrating would it be to suddenly drop a microwave on your feet a week before the marathon? Forget about how painful it would be (and boy would it hurt like a son of a bitch), to do all those months of training and suddenly be undone by the most pathetic of accidents can’t do much for your ego, assuming it’s inflated enough to get you through this crazy thing called life.

The fact that this is our last training run feels unreal. I’ve gotten so used to meeting up with my fellow Team to End AIDS runners that I feel like I’m still going to see them at Griffith Park next Saturday. Instead, we will next see one another at the Triumph Dinner this Friday, a dinner which will also serve as our carbo load feast to give us fuel for the marathon. Either that or we will bump into one another at the marathon expo this weekend.

 You know what this means? I’ll get to sleep in on Saturday morning for the first time in months. Now normally that’s a cause for celebration, but it actually feels unnerving. The clock is ticking and we only have so much time left to hang out with one another.

While I am a bit nervous about running the LA Marathon for the fifth year in a row, I’m even more nervous about what’s going to happen after it. My hope is that I will make going to the gym a regular habit or that I will make more frequent use of my Nintendo Wii so that I can keep the pounds off. After last year’s marathon I let myself go a little too much, and anyone knows me knows how much I like to complain about how history repeats itself.

As we approached the finish line where I was bringing up the rear, it still didn’t feel like the training season was coming to an end. I still feel like I need another run or two before I start travelling 26.2 miles from Dodger Stadium all the way to Santa Monica. Well, there’s always maintenance runs.

So this looks to be it for now. A big thanks to all the Team to End AIDS coaches, runners and volunteers who have all helped one another to prepare for a feat few would dare to take on. Another big thanks to the Bolivers for all their love and support as they have been with us right from the start. We will miss their peanut butter and pickle covered Ritz crackers come marathon day. Then again ask them to make a whole bunch for the runners next Sunday would be rather suicidal considering the thousands who have signed up for this event which involves a sport which is as mental as they come.

More importantly, thanks to all of you who took the time to donate to my fundraising efforts for AIDS Project Los Angeles. Special thanks also to Ed, Dan and Kay Mahoney for getting me to my goal in such an incredibly generous fashion. You have done more to help those afflicted with AIDS than you realize.

So let’s get hydrated, stock up on Gatorade (and maybe even buy stock in Gatorade while we’re at), get those salt packets and energy gels ready, buy large bottles of sunscreen and anti-chafe cream, and make sure to not break any bones or pull any muscles on or before March 15^th. More importantly, let’s get ready to run through a city that will come together in a way it usually does not. 2015 LA Marathon, HERE WE COME!!! 

Running on, Instead of Digging in, the Dirt

Since we have now completed our “celebration run” of 23 miles, it is all about taking it easy before the actual Los Angeles Marathon which is now only a couple of weeks away. This week had us doing a recovery run of 10 miles, and we were encouraged to take it easy now more than ever. No need to run another 20 miles after what we endured last week as it would be beyond counterproductive to do so at this point in our training.

Coach JC, in his morning announcement, told us that we probably won’t run the LA Marathon any faster than we ran last week’s 23 mile run. Hearing that made me kind of depressed. My best time for running the LA Marathon is 5 hours and 46 minutes, and it took me 6 hours and 23 minutes to complete our “celebration run.” Deep down, I still want to shoot for a personal record like I have the last few years. Hopefully that is still a strong possibility.

Coach JC also told us that the volunteers ran out of Gatorade during the 2014 LA Marathon. Hearing that was a surprise to me because I don’t remember being any Gatorade being handed out throughout that marathon at all. Well, whatever the case, they better have plenty of it this time around.

The key piece of advice we were given this morning was to be prepared for the marathon way in advance and to not do everything at the last minute like we all do when it comes to everything else. Hearing Coach JC tell us that suddenly had The Lion King (the movie) going through my head and Jeremy Irons, who voiced the villainous Scar, singing “Be Prepared.” It’s always Disney villains that come to my mind during moments like this. Go figure.

Our route had us remaining inside of Griffith Park, but it quickly got altered when we were told that a tree had fallen down in the road (TIMMMMBEEEEEERRR!!!) along with a power line. The city workers told us that we would have to turn around as no one was going to let us through. As a result, we diverted onto a dirt path that took us around the fallen tree and towards Los Feliz Boulevard where we would we reach our turn around point.

After weeks of ridiculously warm weather, things have actually been cooling down a bit and there was even a strong chance of rain for a change. It never rained on us during this run, but it actually would have been a nice addition as this was a shorter run than usual. There may always be a resistance to change, but this change would have been very welcome as California is suffering through the worst drought in ages which has me constantly thinking of this line from Fred Allen:

“It didn’t affect me at first, but after a couple of weeks something told me to take a bath.”

I found myself getting winded far too soon which surprised me, and I couldn’t figure out why. I figured that running on dirt would be easier on my joints than running on asphalt, and don’t even get me started about what running on concrete is like. But Kerry, my fellow 2011 LA Marathon survivor who has done many trail runs in the past, informed me that running on dirt ends up absorbing more energy than we think. When running on asphalt, we end up getting a nice little bounce out of it which really helps. But with dirt, we end up getting a lot of energy suckage which takes a lot of us to where we realize that carbo load dinner of spaghetti with alfredo sauce didn’t give us enough to work with. Well, we learn something new every day.

We again met up with the Bolivers whose support of our runs remains never ending as always, and my addiction to those peanut butter and pickle covered Ritz crackers they provide us with remains forever infinite. I had more of them than usual on this run, but I again attribute that to running on dirt more than anything else. Perhaps I should have taken some energy gels too, huh?

So this 10 mile run turned out to be only 8.85 miles long due to a mid-course correction. Still, I ran for 2 hours and burned 1,402 calories, many of which I ended up inserting back into my body with chocolate milk, some chocolate chocolate chip cookies from Trader Joe’s and a stop by McDonald’s for a Sausage McMuffin with Egg sandwich. As bad as their food may be for me, the deliciousness factor of that sandwich supersedes any concerns I have for my cholesterol level.

This recovery run was full of unexpected surprises, and it taught me a thing or two that never occurred to me in my five years of training for the LA Marathon. This run was also proof that when a tree falls in Griffith Park, it does make a sound!

FUNDRAISING UPDATE: My fundraisingtotal for AIDS Project Los Angeles has now gone up to $1,116 as of this pastweek. I still encourage you to donate a few dollars to my efforts as you willthank yourself for getting that tax deduction that will help you screw over theI.R.S. come tax time. Please click here to learn how you can donate.

The 23 Mile "Celebration" Run

So today was the big one, the 23 mile “Celebration Run” through the cities of Burbank and Glendale. The past few days had me preparing like crazy as I needed to replace much of my running gear. My compression tights and underwear had developed holes in them which made them largest worthless, and that’s even though it allowed me to aptly describe them as “holy.” But when it comes to running, the clothes that we wear can only be so blessed.

I finally got a new watch with the interval timing at a Big 5 Sporting Goods store, and it was the same make and model as the last one I got. I also went down to several Sports Chalets in the Los Angeles area and got myself a new Fuel Belt pocket for my water belt as the zipper on one of my previous pockets broke, and this allowed me to jam pack it with all the energy gels I could stuff in there. I was also looking for a new pair of compression tights, but I couldn’t find a pair in my size. As a result I bought a pair of 2XU compression shorts and a pair of 2XU compression performance socks as I felt that would be enough even though it forced me to spend more money as a result. I did try on another pair of compression tights from another brand which was cheaper, but they were more for recovery than performance.

I had trouble getting to sleep the night before as I had work to do, and I didn’t fall asleep until after midnight. Part of this was because the nice couple living next door to me was making love, and I couldn’t keep my endless sexual frustration at bay. The alarm on my new watch did succeed in waking me up at 5 am and I managed to get my ass out of bed a lot sooner than I usually do. I got everything prepared and put a huge amount of Body Glide all over my body as I didn’t not want to get any blisters or bloody nipples anytime soon. I also put on a new arm band I bought to put my Android phone in, and it was a little tricky strapping it on to where it didn’t fall off. I was afraid it would end up feeling like some blood pressure sleeve if I strapped it on too tightly.

For once I was not distracted by anything that was on television or on my computer, and I made my way out to Griffith Park to meet up with my fellow Team to End AIDS runners in good time. Of course, I had to go back to my car at one point as I left my sunglasses in it. But even worse, I left my new interval watch at home. Can you believe it? I spent $50 dollars on that watch (it was on sale) and I couldn’t even remember to bring it! Geez…

This run started off with us heading towards Forest Lawn Drive, but we turned around long before we had a chance to travel down the most dangerous parts of it. We have actually avoided running down it during this training session which is just as well as there are so many blind corners where any of us could accidently run over by a gas guzzling car SUV whose driver is talking on their phone when they shouldn’t be.  

At the start of these runs, my calves are always burning up even before we start going up a hill. It’s like they’re telling me, “Oh we’re running? Okay give us a second to warm up.” This hesitation reminds me of when I drove my mom’s Chevrolet Suburban so many years ago. When I took that Panzer Tank of a car onto the highway, I had to slam my foot on the gas pedal to make it go anywhere, and it was like it was telling me, “Oh you want to go faster?”

Throughout the run I had John Carpenter’s “Obsidian” playing in my head non-stop. It’s off his debut solo album Lost Themes, and it was a record I couldn’t wait to buy. I’ve been a big fan of Carpenter’s films throughout the years, and I’m an even bigger fan of his music. After he declined to score his last film The Ward, I figured that would be the last time we would ever compose music (listen to the film’s commentary track to find out why). Then along comes this solo album which he worked on with his son Cody and Dave Davies, and I have been listening to it non-stop. “Vortex” and “Night” are my favorite tracks off the album, but for some reason “Obsidian” seemed to stay with me the most on this 23 mile run.

On the upside of things the weather cooled down for the first time in weeks. When we learned that the average temperature on Saturday morning was going to be around 60 degrees, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was still unseasonably warm, but not unbearably so and it was mostly overcast throughout. Of course, the sun did make an appearance on the last few miles as if to say, “You thought I forgot about you, didn’t you?” Fortunately we didn’t have to deal with the heat too much.

 I came into this 23 mile run with a lot of confidence, and I didn’t have any alcohol throughout the week as it was of the upmost importance to say hydrated with water and Gatorade. What slipped my mind, however, was how this run is usually harder than the actual marathon itself. Why I thought this run would be a piece of cake is beyond me because I’ve been through this enough times to know better.

Many of us threatened to be deterred by those yummy advertisements on the windows of a Carl’s Jr. restaurant. Okay not really, but looking at those ads made my mouth water. Of course, it I ever bothered going into a Carl’s Jr. after one of these runs, I’d find that the actual product is nowhere as delicious looking. Don’t even get me started on their “All-Natural Burger” because you cannot convince me that such a thing exists.

The Lucky 13 pace group started out with at least a dozen runners, but by the end there were about 3 or 4 of us left. A number of runners had to drop out because of injuries or that they weren’t feeling well. One lady, who ran a half-marathon last weekend, was using this as a recovery run, and you have to give her credit for having the balls to treat this as a recovery run. She ended up dropping out as her feet were like, “ENOUGH ALREADY.”

I don’t know how it is for other marathon training programs, but none of runners were chided or berated for not running all 23 miles. In fact, Coach JC later commended them for knowing when to stop:

“And for those who didn't quite make the full distance today... remember that you were not training for the 23-mile Celebration Run. And there is nothing quite as rewarding as seeing you've developed the wisdom to accept (albeit reluctantly) that it was better for you to stop than continue. I hope you are all even half as proud of yourselves as I am for you.”

Truth be told, it is very important for every runner to have that wisdom even though you don’t want to come out of this training feeling disappointed or that you didn’t do enough. The fact that we have gotten this far does say the world about what we have accomplished.

As for myself, I did pretty well although my feet started feeling the pain early on. Seriously, it didn’t take long for them to tell me to go fuck myself and burn in hell, and I eventually gave in and took another Aleve tablet. The bottle says takes only one, but it also says to not take more than 2 in an 8 to 12 hour period. I figured screw it, another one won’t hurt. It certainly was a big help in getting me to the finish line.

I tried my best to be mindful of my running form throughout. There were a number of times where I felt like I was leaning forward too much, and I kept thinking that I needed to straighten myself up. Heck, there are times where I am not even sure if I have the correct form of a runner. I keep waiting for someone to tell me that my running form is all wrong and I have a lot of work to do in that area, but I still hope to beat anyone who downgrades me like that to the punch.

We came up to a train crossing where the gates kept going up and down even though no Amtrak or Metrolink train was heading our way. While waiting for the gates to rise, I started doing the limbo on one of them and discovered my back has no patience for going that low. My ego on the other hand…

Running through the Toluca Lake neighborhood was more fun than usual because we took the time to marvel at how beautiful the houses were instead of complaining about the fact that we can’t afford them. We also passed a number of the neighborhood’s residents who were incredibly impressed at how far we were running. Then again, if we were running just half that distance they would have been impressed anyway.

Seeing this reminded me of when I first attended an info session about marathon training where the woman handling it told us we would be surprised as to how responsive people would be when we told them we were training for a marathon. She was right. I can be really modest about doing something like this, but we have all earned bragging rights that others could only dream of having.

Of all the Team to End AIDS runners to cross the finish line that day, I was the last of the bunch. But that was okay because this can in no way be mistaken for a race, and making it to the end was a huge relief. While I did hit that psychological wall which kind of made me want to slow down long before I reached the end, I still had a big smile on my face regardless. Despite having trained for the Los Angeles Marathon for four years in a row, I’m still astonished at how grueling it is to run 23 miles. While this is referred to as Team to End AIDS’ “Celebration Run,” it feels more like a torturous one as our bodies threaten mutiny on us at any given opportunity.

At the finish line we were greeted with a feast that included cheese, roast beef and turkey sandwiches which were incredibly delicious and not the kind I am able to make back at my apartment. There was also a great pasta salad covered in balsamic vinegar dressing, and tasting it immediately reminded of just how hopelessly addicted I can get to any kind of pasta. There were lots of leftovers as the celebration was coming to a close, and you can sure bet that I took away as much food as I could. These days I am all about the free food as I’m trying to save money any which way I can. It’s certainly more preferable than hunting for food in Hancock Park with a bow and arrow.

Following that incredibly difficult run, I drove back to my apartment and stopped along the way at the Ralphs Supermarket on the corner of 3^rd Street and La Brea Avenue. Knowing that an ice bath was going to be mandatory, I splurged and bought a 20 pound bag of ice as a 7 pound bag was not going to help me recover from muscles that were infinitely sore and which would remain sore for an obscene period of time.

So now I have a few days to recover as my feet continue to tell me to go fuck myself, and I have a lifetime to never forget the fact that these 23 mile runs are harder to endure than the LA Marathon. Trust me when I say it will never slip my mind again.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE: While I have reached my fundraising goal for AIDS Project Los Angeles, I still encourage youto donate a couple of dollars to this non-profit company which I am still proud to support after all these years. Click here to learn how you can get that much needed tax donation.

A Recovery Run on Singles Awareness Day

There’s nothing like a hot summer day in February. While the eastern states in America are dealing with infinitely frigid conditions and snowstorms which refuse to end, we Californians seemed to have skipped over the winter season and instead went straight to spring. This makes many of us want to move to a state that actually has seasons, and it also had us Team to End AIDS runners leaving our jackets at home as we knew we wouldn’t need them on this our 10 mile recovery run. 

I arrived in Griffith Park to see the runners all gathered around Coach JC and Coach Jennifer as they made their morning announcements, and I also saw Drea lathering herself with all the sunscreen that was available. Looking at her made me wonder if I had put enough on myself. I guess I’ll know the answer to that after the run. I haven’t had sunburn in ages, and the last time I can remember having it was when I was 10. Having it then was not fun as I became “appealing” in a very painful way.

Actually, seeing Drea and others putting on sunscreen got me thinking of one of those fake commercials in the god awful sequel that was Robocop 2 in which a woman advertises a new suntan lotion that will keep your skin from burning even though the ozone layer is now completely gone. It was this bluish lotion that made her look a bit like Mystique from the X-Men movies, and it made me think that we may not be far off from a reality like that. Climate change is real folks! All you global warming deniers can suck it!

A few days beforehand I had finally gotten around to buying a new pair of running shoes for which I was long overdue. I have been sticking with the Saucony brand these past few LA Marathons, but the shoe model they have this year proved to be a little too tight on my feet. Instead, I went with running shoes from Brooks which felt very comfortable in a way many other brands do not. I also made sure to break them in with a maintenance run this week as Coach JC encouraged us to do that instead of just trying them out on the day of our 23 mile run (which, coincidentally, is next week). Our feet will not be happy with us if we do that.

Another thing I had to contend with was that I had a phone interview with John Madden, the director of the upcoming sequel The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, at 9:50 am. This 10 mile run started at around 7:30 am so I figured I would be able to get back just in time. Then again, I ran into the same dilemma when I had that interview with Ethan Hawke about Predestination. When it came to that one, I got lucky in that my interview with him was delayed for about a half hour (WHEW!). 

Oh yeah, I should also mention that this recovery run was happening on Valentine’s Day or, as I’ve been calling it for years now, Singles Awareness Day. At the starting line I wished everyone one a Happy Singles Awareness Day which, of course, was greeted with much laughter. One of my fellow pace group runners, John, ended up thanking me and said that I didn’t know how much that meant to him. John may have been saying that sarcastically for all I know.

The new shoes worked out well for me on this run, but I kept wondering if I was slouching or leaning forward too much. I wasn’t always sure and I was conscious of things being off this time around, but I’m certain that I straightened up long before I crossed the finish line. I still need to get a watch with interval timing though.

Unlike last week though, I was not dragging behind everybody. I was keeping a good pace even as we ran past people walking their dogs who were more than interested in running with us. I also keep wondering if we will ever run into Adam Hendershot as we keep passing his house from time to time. Adam and I trained together for the 2012 LA Marathon, and he runs a photography business with his wife. I don’t know, maybe he is just happy to sleep in on Saturday mornings for a change.

I should admit that I did have a cocktail the night before this run. Usually I try to stay dry throughout the week especially when it comes to the longer runs, but I got invited to the birthday party of a friend of mine at the Sassafras Saloon in Hollywood and they had quite the drink menu. When I saw that they were serving the Sazerac, a delicious cocktail which has Rittenhouse Rye, Peychaud’s Bitters, Absinthe and cane sugar in it, I had to have one. But I only had one as the thing was $14 dollars, and I have no business spending that much money right now. For those disappointed in me, just be happy that the cocktail had cane sugar in it instead of high fructose corn syrup.

As we approached the end of the run, I suddenly realized that 9:50 am was coming up a lot sooner than I realized. Despite staying on pace, we did make some bathroom stops and had to say hi to the Bolivers who brought all their goodies including those delicious peanut butter pickle covered Ritz crackers. Like Boy George once sang, time won’t give me time and I was becoming concerned that I would end up answering my phone during the last portion of the run. Somehow, I don’t think it’s entirely professional to conduct a phone interview while I am running the streets of Burbank.

When we finally made it back onto Zoo Drive and the finish line was getting closer and closer, I ended up running the rest of the way to the finish line as it was now 9:48 in the morning and I wanted to beat John Madden to the finish line. I wasn’t sure the people at Fox Searchlight Pictures were going to be patient with me if I asked them to wait until I finished my run.

Anyway, I crossed the finish line and Coach JC looked at me and asked, “Where’s the rest of your team?” I explained my situation to him and then promptly retrieved my car key, jogged over to my car, opened the door, sat down in the driver’s seat, turned on the air conditioning as it was too damn hot in February, got out my Simpsons Moleskin diary where I had my questions written down, got out my digital recorder and waited for the good folks at Fox Searchlight Pictures to call me…

Well, it was actually around 10:15 am when they finally rang my phone. In the end, the delay really helped as it allowed me to catch my breath and think about any other questions I might like to ask. John was a real pleasure to talk with, and he apologized for being late to call me. I told him it was fine as I just finished a 10 mile run and that I was training for the 2015 LA Marathon, and he was very impressed to hear about me doing that.

I did the interview and breathed a huge sigh of relief that I didn’t miss it. From there I drove out to Steve “speed walking” Robinson’s house where he was holding a breakfast in honor of the Bolivers for their consistent support of our training each week. It was fun times as we sat back and were treated to bagels with cream cheese which we could top off with salmon and onions, pastries from Porto’s Bakery, fizzy water and an enormous box of chocolates. Floyd talked about his times in New York, Steve talked about how he and his partner manage to keep the sun from shining too brightly in their home, and other runners spoke of how sick they are of the heat. Granted, the east coast is sick of the freezing weather they are forced to deal with, but at least they live in states that have seasons.

All in all, it was an interesting way to spend Valentine’s Day and certainly a whole lot better than having to sit through Fifty Shades of Grey. Don’t waste your time on that one! See Kingsman: The Secret Service instead!

 

FUNDRAISING UPDATE: Ihave reached my fundraising minimum for AIDS Project Los Angeles, but I stillencourage you to donate to this very important non-profit company. Just clickhere to find out how you can do that.