Door To The Shore: running across L.A. (a photo retrospective)

photo credit: Susan MacDonald

On April 27, 2013, after running three half-marathon races in six months and countless training runs, before my first full marathon, I ran the run of my heart. The one that had been in my mind's eye for almost a year. The one that I had been working for. 

From my front door to the Pacific Ocean. 

I called it "The Door To The Shore". My sweetheart was endlessly supportive of my vision. It seemed impossible when I first thought of it. Even though at that point the most I had ever run was eight miles (once), I didn't care how long of a run it was, I just wanted to get to the ocean. As it turns out, the route was 18 miles. I ran it solo in three hours. My friend Susan caught some photos of me along the way, and then my sweetheart caught some more. When I got to the pier, I ran the last bit with my boyfriend and his youngest daughter. Together we ran straight down the pier, their flipflops falling off as my running shoes padded along the weathered boardwalk. We ran down the steps (stairs!! after18 miles!!), and onto the hot sand. At the edge of the water were smiling friends holding out their hands to take my fuel belt and shoes as I ran right in, laughing with immense, authentic childlike joy. 

There's a mountain range between the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles proper, and Angelenos always ask my route. It was:

My front door > through NoHo to Universal City > Cahuenga > over the pass into Hollywood > past the Grauman Chinese Theater > Sunset Blvd > Doheny > Carmelita > Santa Monica Blvd > a little zigzag > Idaho > Colorado > right onto the Santa Monica Pier > past Bubba Gump's > down the steps > into the water

Door to the Shore route, from  my front door to the Santa Monica Pier. April 27. 2012

The journey begins with a single step... shut the front door! (photo credit: Darby Orr)

May the Fonz be with you (Studio City, around mile 3-ish)

Coming down the Cahuenga Pass from Studio City into Hollywood

Running past the Hollywood Bowl (Hollywood, around mile 5 or 6)

At Hollywood and Highland (Hollywood - where else?) I got tripped up by Spidey

Sunset Blvd / Doheny (almost at Beverly Hills)

The Witch House on Carmelita Ave (Beverly Hills, around mile 10)

Santa Monica? Century City? photo credit: Susan MacDonald

Running through Century City into Santa Monica, around mile 14 or 15 (photo credit: Darby Orr)

Coming down Colorado Blvd which leads right to the Santa Monica Pier (photo credit: Darby Orr)

A beautiful site! Just a bit further to get to the ocean! (photo credit Darby Orr)

Made it! Running right into the Pacific Ocean. (photo credit: Darby Orr)

Six and a half years living in California and my first time in the Pacific Ocean (photo credit: Darby Orr)

Ridiculously happy! (photo credit: Darby Orr)

Beautiful friends met me at the Pier to celebrate

Door To The Shore: The run I've been working for

15 mile run in March, photo by Susan MacDonald

DOOR TO THE SHORE RUN 
SATURDAY 4/27/13  
THE PLAN: <------------------------

9 A.M. - I'll leave our house alone, run over the Cahuenga pass into Hollywood, take a right somewhere like Sunset or Santa Monica Blvd, run for a while, then take a left somewhere, towards the ocean.

NOON - I'll get to the Santa Monica Pier around noon, kiss Darby and Es, and run right into the water on the north side of the pier to cool my legs and celebrate.

1 P.M. - We will head to Cafe Gratitude for lunch.


DOOR TO THE SHORE RUN
 THE BACKGROUND: <-------------------

In August of 2006, after driving across the country playing shows with my band for months on end, I stood at the edge of the Pacific for the first time. It was El Matador State Beach in Malibu. The sun had set, the moon had risen. I'd never seen the Pacific Ocean before, and it was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. While my ex-husband (the drummer) and the bass player pulled out their phones to text people back home, I just stood in the moonlight, letting the tide fill my ears, and breathed in the salty air. Touring life was hard for me, but in that moment I felt an overwhelming, complete joy. 

That night at El Matador I had no idea that a few months later I would move to L.A., quit touring, eventually divorce from my ex, become a yoga teacher, meet and fall crazy in love with my sweet n' sexy Darby, become a parent to two full-grown kids, and all the other stuff that has come to shape my blessed life. 

Sometime around last June I got this nugget of a crazy idea that, despite having only ever run 8 miles max, I would like to run to the ocean. Remember that List of 100 Things to Do? I added "Run to the beach" at #100.  Living in the valley it can seem so far away, but I felt a yearning to cover that distance and know that all I needed was the power of my body to get me to the western edge of the country. 

Around that same time I met a runner who confidently told me that if I had already run 8 miles, I could surely run a half-marathon. 13.1 miles. It sounded impossible, but I realized that if I trained for the L.A. half-marathon in October 2012, I would be on track to run to the beach by the last week of December. I signed up for the half to keep me honest in my training. 

During this time, as I have been racking up miles, I have been working on my writing as well. The two -- running and writing -- have been linked, and I believed that if I could accomplish the impossible (running to the beach from my house) then I could accomplish other impossible things (publishing my writing, writing a book). Impossible is a state of mind. Accomplishing both of these things seemed, well, Impossible. 

And strangely, quietly, in the back corner of my mind, possibly Possible.

Running has been my meditation on achieving my hopes, for showing up for myself, for not letting hardship derail my dreams, for getting to the finish line even when the going gets really tough. 

Planning to run from my front door to the shore has been a practice for setting my sights on something beyond my current ability. Since leaving the touring life of being a band on the road, I've been timid about looking too far down the road. Running from the Door to the Shore is a sight I set beyond what I could see. It's been a practice of having faith in myself. Committing to an idea. Becoming something new. Tapping into some kind of inner super hero. Trusting that I could grow beyond what I'd ever thought possible.

I run with superheroes. (LA rock n' roll half marathon 10/31/12)

Finishing strong for my first half-marathon in Oct 2012. Chip time was 01:58:01

The half marathon in October went really well, but the following week I developed an over-use injury in my foot that sidelined all my physical activities for a few weeks. The doctor ordered me to stop running, spinning, walking, and practicing yoga completely for two weeks to allow my foot to heal.  I was derailed by enthusiasm. This has happened before.  

It's pretty impressive (read: dismaying) how quickly the body softens from inactivity. Over November and December, I rested. I went to holiday parties. I baked a million pies. And then, after Thanksgiving, slowly began building up my miles again. On New Years I recommitted. On January 2 I started training again. I struggled to even do an 6 mile run. For all of January I kept going out, but every run I felt heavy and sluggish, as if I hadn't put in all those miles for the first ten months of 2012. I wrote about it on this blog. I kept track of my miles. I wondered if I'd ever again feel that inner superhero I channeled at the October half-marathon.

My second half-marathon on 2/17/13: Pasadena Rock n' Roll. chip time: 02:00:45

Finally, by mid-February, I built up to half-marathon distance again. In retrospect, I'm glad I'd signed up for the race, but it was tough. The six weeks of training kicked my butt. The race itself was so hard, I almost felt defeated. I bonked out at around mile 9 and when I saw the 2-hour pacer group fly by me -- they had started the race after me by a few corrals -- I nearly stopped right there. I was disappointed in myself before I even got to the finish line. I wanted to lay down on the side of the road at mile 10, but I had no savior who could come and get me so I kept going. At mile 12 (ish) I saw a friend and her new baby cheering me on from the sideline, and somehow found a last surge of energy. I picked up the pace a little -- at least, it felt like it -- and when I saw the balloons, I sprinted to the finish line, arms up in the air as if I was the first-place winner. Which of course I wasn't. But I'd finished. 

The next week I set out to increase my miles again. 

My third half-marathon: Hollywood Half on 4/6/13. Chip time: 01:59:59.5

At the beginning of April I ran my third half-marathon. By then I had increased to 14.6 miles, so I thought the 13.1 miles would be no-problem. I was wrong. Again, around mile 10 I started to bonk out. This time I had been running with the 2-hour pacer the whole time, and when I slowed at mile 10 and she sailed past, my heart sank. I don't know why I wanted to clock in under 2-hours, but I did. I really did. I begged my feet to move. I said things to myself like, "Keep it up, buttercup!" I bargained with myself. I pleaded. And then I found an extra store of energy at around 12.5 miles. With less than half a mile left, I picked up the pace. Again, when I saw the finish line, I sprinted towards it. I came in .5 seconds under the 2 hour mark. 

And then the week after, I ran 15 miles. 

Last weekend I did my first17-mile run - my furthest ever. 

Which brings me to now.  Five days till my beach run. I am ready.  My body and mind are trained. Here we go now --   DOOR TO THE SHORE. Saturday 4/27/13.