“Victory and The Feet”
To briefly recap, I had been in town for about 36 hours. I Pumped Iron at the big boy gym, ran and did a surprise circuit calisthenic workout, taken a yoga class immediately afterward, and had a combined 8 hours of sleep total in two nights.
6:45AM (What kind of vacation is this?)
“Hey man, are you tired, or are you still trying to go running?”
I previously committed to going running with Light at 7AM this morning.
“I’m not tired, I’m sleepy.” I answered in my sleep. “Ok. Give me 5 to take a shower”
“No time. We have to be out in 3 minutes. Lets get moving.”
(???)
“It won’t just be us? What is it some kind of group run?” I asked, feeling every sore fiber of muscle in my neck and chest as I shrugged my shoulders in question.
“Yeah, it’s a group. It’s all good, it will be short like 45 minutes. Its mostly uphill though”
I need to get my ego in check. I should have known not to go.
I threw on my clothes, grabbed my cell (which was turned off) and my wallet, and headed down to the car still half sleep. We drove off to our start position.
~
“So what’s the difference between tired and sleepy?”
“Huh?” I responded still half sleep, putting my phone and the wallet in the glove compartment as I explained. In the distance I noticed what looked to me like a small mountain getting larger and the roads were no longer flat. We circled for parking at the base of Runyon Canyon
Crap.
(view of Runyon Canyon Park near Hollywood Blvd.)
~
(Base entrance to Runyon Canyon Park)
The air was cool enough to wake me up completely. Light and I walked to the entrance of the Canyon where we met up with Will and Nick, two friends who apparently have run this hill before. Together we started a light jog up the hill. When I say up, I mean UP. The incline of this hill makes it feel like you are jogging up an endless flight of stairs. If you were to drive a car up this winding series of hills your headlights would always be pointed at the sky.
We jogged together for about 5 minutes before I decided that I was going to slow down at the next widening of the dirt road.To my amazement, we all stopped at the widening.Unfortunately for me, we stopped only to do chin ups on the iron gateway at this clearing.
Can I BUY a break???
After the chin ups we were back to the jog.By now I was beginning to see the scope of this magnificent climb.The path winds up and around hilly terrain for miles, and rising several hundred feet.I decided that I would finish the exercise at my own pace.Back to the fast walk.Light looked back to ask if I was ok. With as much breath as I could sacrifice I yelled out “No competition. No worries” and waved to urge him and the group to go on.
This would be the last time I would see the group, and was the start of an entirely new adventure.
~
It didn’t take long for the group to be out of site. Not only were they moving at a faster pace, but the fire road has many turns and elevation changes. After 10 or 15 minutes I came to a fork in the road. To the right, there was a road that went off to a lookout point. To the left the road continued onward and up the mountain. I took a look over the lookout platform and didn’t see the group. Also I didn’t want to get left behind so I decided to continue on to the left. My underlying confidence was that there was one way up and one way down, so when the group reached the top, I would at least meet up with them on the return to the base. I pressed on.
As time went on I regained my wind and began to intermittently jog and fast walk.I was getting higher so much so that my ears popped on a few occasions.I began to enjoy my time here.Runyon Canyon Park is an off-leash dog park so there were friendly dogs everywhere.Also the people were much more welcoming here on their morning walk than those I had been in contact with earlier in other settings.Mostly everyone I passed waved or smiled or gave a pleasant “hello” or “good morning.”I actually stopped thinking about not seeing the group, and pictured them looking out from the top of the highest peak, waiting to see if I made it or not.
(this peak is knicknamed “the widowmaker”)
When I reached the first peak my concerns came back. The group wasn’t there. I had the first moment of reflection which showed me the errors in my thinking. This wasn’t one trail, that went straight out and u-turned to come straight back. This was a complex series of trails or at a minimum a few interlocking loops. I was on my own.
I figured that if I was on a peak, the route back the way I came would be as long as the route ahead.I began to push forward toward two adjacent peaks.As I reached the next peak I stopped to take in the view.From here you can see a magnificent spectrum of Los Angeles, but there was another peak in my way, impeding my view.I made short work of the distance between.When I reached the top I could see absolutely everything.It was still in the 7 o clock hour, so the air was crisp, and the morning clouds were low (or is that smog?).I felt accomplishment.
“Top of the world Ma.”
~
Have you ever run the steps in a stadium? Up looks tough, but down kicks butt! My euphoria of reaching the top was a fading memory by the time I was half way down the mountain. This side of the mountain had no fire road. It seemed like there was no trail at times. Instead I walked in what looked like water drain paths; naturally formed by the rain as it drained to the base. Heading down was twice as hard as the ascent.
When I reached the base, and located the correct entrance I was completely exhausted. My legs were jello, and I was thirsty. I headed to where the car was parked, full of hope that Light stuck around. No such luck.
Now we begin the time for real concern.
Picture this: Exhausted, sweaty, black man wearing a brand new fire engine red shirt walking the streets of LA with no ID, no phone and NO MONEY. Too many things are wrong with that picture, especially when it is ME! To top it all off, I couldn’t remember the name of the street where I was staying, and thanks to speed dial, I don’t know anyone’s phone number. My phone was in the car, but I couldn’t call that because it was off!
~
All this before 9AM.
You were probably still sleep.
In the end I found out I traveled 3.5 miles (not including the streets) and 700 feet up and down. And I would do it all again (with appropriate shoes, money, a cell phone, a water bottle, my meanest dog Kel-El, and the number to a taxi company)
Thanks for reading. Please post your comments.
-The Opinion 06 Beyotch
Want to know how it ends?
**EDIT** Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion in
Back to Cali Day 3: Head Over Hills (part deux) **EDIT**
