Ah Hollywood, good morning to you.
6:45 AM I started my run this Saturday morning, breaking sweat in the first few feet of this Los Angeles heat wave. 3 blocks in I eyed the snarky alley cat that paced me down the opposite side of the street.
I didn't see what I thought I would though. I didn't see many joggers, most avoiding a run in 80 degree heat; 85 degrees by the time I made it home a hour later. There were
no coyotes that laid in wait, much too early for
the wise raccoon, and tables missing from the sidewalk breakfast joints. Animals and furniture take every chance to sleep in on hot summer days I suppose.
8 weeks ago I messed up my knee.
Every 4-5 days I would jog 5 miles through the hills of Los Feliz and the flats of East Hollywood when I had the great idea to try 10k (roughly 7 miles) without a long enough break from my run a day earlier. My right knee had other thoughts, completely giving out 2 miles in. I could place some blame on my old shoes or muscle imbalance, or some other reason I found on the the internet for what was simply a bad case of Runner's Knee (an inflamed patella) but I think my body was simply saying no more.
Treatment = 4-6 weeks of not running = throttling down = wanting to shoot myself.
So it has been all about the slow build up again. Under the impression I was keeping it around 2-3 miles every Saturday I realized that the rest and leg exercises had made a difference when mapping out the distances this morning:
2.55 miles three weeks ago. 3.53 miles two weeks ago. 4.13 miles last weekend. 4.75 miles today. yay!
This morning I decided my turn around point would be the Capitol Records building...Why? Well because I live in amazing city where I can abuse landmark buildings for my own selfish needs.
It was hot and I'm paraphrasing:
Almost home when I spotted someone I knew parking her car at a corner off Franklin. She didn't noticed me until I was right in front of her (in running shorts and a bright blue exercise shirt, so I look, um different).
"Oh hey there. What are you doing over here?"
"I'm just coming back from my run." I pinched the fabric of my shirt to help it breathe. "Well...I'm walking right now. And you Miss AJ?" I knew who she was seeing in this part of the neighborhood but not as to why this early.
"A. is having a yard sale so I'm here to help her out." I gave her my 'oh really, that's interesting' look. It's sincere and expresses my interest in said yard sale but she is watching the light, waiting for the walk sign to turn green.
"It's fucking early and fucking hot," she continued talking as she started walking away and left me with a quick goodbye from across the street. Pointedly I was not invited to check out this yard sale but she was right, it was way too early to be this fucking hot.
