Rusted Runner: Nike She Runs LA 10K

Nike She Runs LA 10K

You know things are bad when I don't post for a month during marathon training, GULP!
Where do I even begin? This has been the most messed up training cycle ever! While still recovering from hitting my knee I had a family emergency in California. After 2 weeks of biting my nails at the computer and waiting for my husband to get home from a conference, I hopped a plane to LA. I did my best to keep up with training up to that point, but I knew running wasn't going to be the top of my priority list for a while.

Capitol Records Building

Having fun on the Walk of Fame

At that point in my training plan I was alternating between my longest runs and fall back weeks. Since I knew I wouldn't get in a 20 mile long run while camped at a hospital, I went ahead and ran it a week early. It helped with the stress of the situation and allowed me to not worry about what I would miss during my travels. In my 10 days away, I managed to get two runs in. The first was a lovely 5 miler that took me past the highlights of West Hollywood and refreshed me for a few more days of knuckle biting, and the second run was an awesome coincidence.

While sitting at the computer, waiting on news, I decided to see if there would be any races in the area. Finally, a a bit of sunshine, the Nike She Runs LA 10K would be right down the street! My sister isn't a runner, but she is a tremendous athlete so I thought she might be up for it. She loved the idea (her own stress levels hitting unprecedented highs) so we registered and planned our outfits for the 80's day glow theme.

The weather on race day was perfect and the route was amazing, up and down Melrose Ave. and into the Paramount Studios back lot! The over 1,700 runners, almost all women, were in high spirits. My sister has run a couple of local 10k trail runs in her home town of Mammoth Lakes, but she had never run in a big commercial race. The photographers, videographers, bands, cheerleaders, dance groups, and cheering spectators were all a new experience for her. We hadn't seen each other in over 10 years so the race was about being together and supporting our family member in the hospital so we took it easy and stuck together. Sis, who does a lot of cycling, was having some hip flexor problems so we threw in some walking breaks, but overall had a nice finish 59:01.