Last weekend I took a little break from my "official" marathon training and flew to LA! I was sick of shoveling, missed my friends and needed some LA love. It worked! I feel more loved!

I saw a ton of friends and while I didn't have to shovel, the weather sadly wasn't in the 80's as it apparently had been for the previous 11 months. But, hey. I wasn't wearing mittens or earmuffs. Things were good.

Me, Nancy, Mary and some other TNT friends met up to do the Chinatown Firecracker race, which we'd been warned was pretty hilly. Nancy and I did the 10K and were all "what hills?" after the first half mile. And then the climb began. And kept on going. It was like a big hill training run - about 3 miles uphill.

There were millions of "Kids Run LA" kids which usually make LA runners a little bit nervous, if not irritated. It's a great cause - don't get me wrong. And we love the kids! But there are millions of the little critters all over the roads, and as Mary so aptly said, co-erced running isn't necessarily as much fun as the kind you choose to do yourself.

Kids Run LA is a program in the LA public schools where they get kids to run the LA Marathon. Little kids - junior high, even, training to run 26.2 miles. Adult Angelenos who enjoy running see them out at any and every community race from about October til the marathon in March (or this year, May!)

And while they're cute, certain aspects of them are not cute. Like when they're running right in front of you up a hill, and you're both exerting a certain amount of concerted effort (ie, strain) to put one foot in front of the other, and they just stop. Suddenly. Right in front of you, without looking behind or to the side.

So... aside from the little road obstacles, it was really really fun. The weather was perfect for running - overcast and in the high 50's. The views were amazing.. all though Echo Park near Dodger's Stadium. And not to brag, but because of my 6am hill runs in Charlestown, I didn't find the hills that bad at all. It was also just a 6 mile run, which isn't much compared to some of the runs I've been doing.

Afterwards, we feasted on delicious dim sum at a spot recommended by our very own Yelp expert Shawna. She actually is some head honcho at the LA Yelp, so we were in good hands. Mary and I took a blurry cameraphone snap post-meal. There are other pics and once they're available to me, I'l post them!

This weekend is a lovely 10.5 miler. I thought it was 16, but happily not. I do believe though, that from now till the end of March, every weekend run will be pretty long. With the exception of one weekend when I'll be in Atlanta and won't be able to do more than 10.

So... from now til April 20th, it's all about hunkering down and really training.
I think I hear "Eye of the Tiger" in the background, pumping me up...
Until next time!
J
xoxo

Late post...

Hi!

Belatedly posting about this weekend's10.5 mile run... It wasn't terribly eventful, which is a good thing, but I finally got to run with my friend Lisa for the first time in ages, which is a great thing!

Lisa and I met while doing Ultimate Bootcamp in Charlestown last summer and immediately bonded over a shared desire to do some local runs, London and British food (she's British!), being new to Boston, and a definite mutual love of shopping!! For months, we ran around the Charles river, even did some 5Ks and 10Ks together. Lisa's relatively new to running, but picked it up superfast!

She decided to run the Boston Marathon at about the same time as me, but for Team Fox, which is Michael J. Fox's charity team for Parkinson's disease. Lisa's Nan passed away from Parkinson's earlier this year and she wanted to do this marathon in her honor. Unfortunately, since Lisa started training for Boston, she's been plagued with injuries. For my running friends, I'll just say two letters: I.T.

What her sports therapist says is that her knees just weren't built for running. She hasn't let that stop her though and she's been stretching, resting, icing - all the things you're supposed to do. She hadn't been able to do any long runs - till this weekend!

We took the "T" out to Newton and ran back, basically following the last 10.5 miles of the Boston Marathon course. We took it easy (which was good for me too!) and made it in about 2 hours .We lucked out weather-wise, because it was a balmy 35 degrees. That's right, Angelenos. A Balmy 35.

This week, I've been taking it a little bit easy for no apparent reason. I ran around the river for the first time in ages on Monday because the roads were finally clear enough to risk it.. And this morning, I got up and met Beth at 6am in 8 degree weather for our Bunker Hill HILLS. BRRRRrrrrr!! It was cold!

Tonight I get on a plane for LA to see all of my LA friends. Very much looking forward to that! I won't be doing any long runs this weekend, but plan to do the Chinatown Firecracker 10K race on Sunday with my Team in Training friends, then stuff my face with Dim Sum.

I'll post pics and update the blog when I get back!

As for fundraising, things are going pretty well! I've already got almost $1000, and that's just from one round of emails! Feeling very good that my friends and family are going to come through and help me meet my goal!

Off to LA...
More when I return!
xoxo