This week I signed up for the Los Angeles Marathon. Now you may have remembered me going through a phase where I did silly things like running half-marathons or maybe a 25k through Malibu’s mountains, which, although fun, almost always resulted in some kind of long-term injury afterwards.
So I didn’t sign up for the marathon to force my body to run all 26 miles and 385 yards, instead, me and my friend Sonja will run and walk, focusing more on experiencing the city through carless streets and cheering neighbors. And noticing things like this.
I realized after preparing for races all those years that what I really liked was seeing and documenting all the out-of-the-way places that running long distances takes you. Not the actual long distances themselves.
Because I don’t have to run all 26 miles, I can focus on doing my kind of training runs: Like taking an improvised route from my house to downtown this weekend, snapping photos all the way.
Like, who even knew there was such a pleasant little street called Welcome not too far from my house? I sure didn’t.
Running through the urban environment allows me to get closer to LA’s unique brand of nature.
And lets me see some of my favorite streets in LA. (This is Carroll Street, in Angelino Heights.)
I even get to conduct traffic research. The number of cars that plowed by before even one let me cross in this crosswalk? 12.
I want running through LA to bring me closer to LA. Of this I am certain. (By the way, what is this thing? It’s on Silver Lake Blvd. and I’ve never noticed it until today.)
So this March 20, it won’t be about staring down the finish line. It’ll be about looking around on the way there. Taking some photos and posting some Tweets. And maybe even stopping to smell some flowers.
