City Runner

Last night, I was sitting on our rooftop, drinking wine and talking with friends. I brought up my blog and shamefully admitted how it has been forever since my last post. I love writing K And The City. In fact, I composed the City Runner post in my head during my run yesterday (what else do you have to do when you are running for an hour?). However, I always seem to choose to do other things with my time (I am not going to use the lame excuse, I didn't have time. We all have the same amount of time in a day and we make choices about what we do with that time. Can you tell I am a coach?) This morning, instead of checking out new Facebook (huge time suck) posts and pictures, I decided to fix my lack of posting.

We lived in an undeveloped area in St. Louis, which meant I had tons of places to run. (Don't worry, we didn't live in the boonies. There was a mall only two miles away. The area by our condo was just starting to develop and new shopping centers were beginning to pop up.) I could go out our door and run for at least two miles before being stopped at a stoplight. I also felt safe running before dawn. Now, in downtown LA, I can't even go two blocks without hitting an intersection. I don't think it is safe to run before dawn, because some crazy stuff goes down in this city. My runs have been limited to the treadmill (BORING!) and to the weekends.

Yesterday, I spent the morning downloading music for this week's spin class. After listening to some great techno, I got fired up about running. I love when I want to run. Most days, I have to force myself onto the treadmill (it's so much easier to hop on the elliptical at 5:00am) and don't enjoy running until I am two or three miles into my run. I know I am in for a good run when I actually want to run. (Running is a total mental game!).

Of course, I picked one of the hottest Saturdays (reminded me of running in St. Louis in August) in LA to go out running and I wanted to run at least an hour yesterday. (The countdown to the Long Beach half marathon is on.) I set my ipod to my best techno play list and I was off. I started running up Grand because our dogs love to walk that way. It wasn't long before I found myself near the Disney Concert Hall. What a cool building. I ran down Flower Street next to my work building. I love running by where I work. It makes me grateful for my job. I hit a stoplight (big surprise!) and turned to run down Figueroa. I also love running by the Original Pantry House on the weekends. The line is out the door. I imagine the people being hung over and in need of a good greasy breakfast. It's always interesting to run by the Staples Center. You never know what kind of event will be going on. Nothing exciting yesterday, but last weekend there was a wrestling convention. I circled around the Staples Center (I still regret not running the morning of Michael Jackson's memorial. I wish I would have remembered to run down and check out all the craziness.) and LA Live. I noticed a new movie theater (they are building a giant Regal...sweet!) and headed back towards the Financial District. I ran back down Flower Street, past our Ralphs and the Cold Stone Creamery (good thing they weren't open. The smell of fresh cake batter and waffle cones can be extremely dangerous!). I decided to bust up a big hill on Flower (hills are good for the behind!) and found myself barely able to keep up with a jog. I ran past a homeless guy and I can't help but wonder what was going through his mind. I headed back down Grand and started to powerfist, because I was clearly in the zone. I ran by the Standard and thought about all of the good times we have had on the roof (I also thought about the many times I woke up a little too hung over to run...darn vodka!). I ran past my work building, again and headed down Grand...again. (One of the bad things about running in downtown is that I constantly have to circle around the same areas. No matter how many times I had to loop around the same area, I wasn't stopping until I reached an hour of running yesterday.) This time on Grand, I went the other direction. I was in the home stretch. One more big hill (The hills are a perk about running in downtown. Let's be honest, when I'm on the treadmill I run at a zero incline. I'm not going to make it any harder if I don't have to!) and I was home. Out of breath and drenched in sweat I arrived home an hour later. I walked though our apartment lobby feeling on top of the world. There is not much that beats a good run.

It doesn't matter if you get stuck at stoplights or have all of the open road in the world to run. It's your attitude about running that makes all of the difference. (Some great music also helps!) I'm starting to enjoy my downtown runs. There is always something to see (helps make the time pass) and it is starting to feel like home. I think I'm starting to belong in this big city!

Favorite Techno Running Songs
Lifter - Alex Kunnari
Changes (Dirty South Remix) - Chris Lake
Moonlight Party - Fonzerelli (one of the DJs that inspired our dog names)
The Prophet - CJ Bolland
Believe Again (Tommy Trash Remix) - Delta Goodrem
Angel On My Shoulder - Kaskade
Sinnerman - Nina Simone
Addicted (Tommy Trash Remix) - The Camel Rider
This Time - DJ Antoine
Open Ur Mind - Jason Nevins
In The Dark (Dirty South Remix) - Tiesto (the other DJ that inspired our dog names)
Step One Two - Kaskade
Sexy Bitch - David Guetta ft. Akon

The Roller Coaster of Life

When I was a kid I used to love going to amusement parks and riding the roller coasters. I loved the thrill of the dips, flips and turns. My main concerns were how long I would have to wait in line to ride and if my shoes would stay on my feet while riding the up-side down coasters.

Now that I am a grown up (although sometimes I still feel like a little kid) I am still riding roller coasters. I call these the coasters of life. The lines are short for these rides. It seems that before you know it, you are coasting up and down and sometimes spinning all around.

My life has been a very steep roller coaster this week. On Wednesday, I taught my first spin class in LA. The days leading up to the class I felt like I was climbing to the top of that big hill. I was nervous with anticipation. I taught at a few gyms back in St. Louis, so I felt prepared to actually teach. I just wasn't sure if my St. Louis style would vibe with an LA class. Turns out what you need for a successful class does not differ between the mid west and the west coast. Good music and tons of energy make the class. To be honest, I think I enjoyed the LA class better than most of my St. Louis classes. People in LA seem to be more open to a variety of music (bring on the techno!) and give rounds of applause after class. Awesome! I left the gym Wednesday night feeling like myself. I belong in the kind of environment a spinning class provides.

I woke up Thursday morning on the peak of the roller coasters hill. I had climbed up to the top. I quickly came plummeting down to one of the lowest places I have been in a long time. I was in the middle of my morning routine when I head Ants Marching blasting from my cell phone (gotta love making custom ring tones). I thought odd...why is my sister calling me at 6:30am? I figured she was just calling to work out details for her upcoming trip to LA. I didn't realize there could be a problem until I started switching my purse and saw two missed calls from my dad. That's when I started teetering over the edge of the hill. I called my sister back, and she answered the phone in tears. The plummeting began. My sister shared with me that our grandma passed away. You know that feeling you get when riding roller coasters where your stomach feels like it is in your throat? Well you can get that feeling on the coaster of life too.

Thursday was a tough day dealing with the news of my grandma's death. Thankfully, she was not terminally ill or receiving care. She had fallen Wednesday night, went to the ICU and was released to the care of her daughter. She woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air, but didn't want to go back to the hospital. She must have died in her sleep, because she never woke up in the am. I can't help but wonder if she knew her time was nearing an end.

It was difficult to talk to my dad. He wanted to be strong, but I could hear the pain in his voice. I can't imagine the empty feeling he has right now. I am extremely sad that my grandma is not going to be able to see me get married. She loved Joe. But at least she knew we were going to be together.

Thankfully, I called my grandma a couple of weeks ago just to say hi. The puppies woke me up at 6:00am one Sunday. I decided to use the time to reach out to friends and family (something I am awful at doing). I have no feelings of regret or I wish I would have called one last time.

Since I was not able to be with my family, I went into work Thursday mid morning. What a fantastic support system. I am sincerely grateful for the kind emails and for the people that allowed me to share what was going on and how I felt. My puppies comforted me as I sat on the floor in tears Thursday am after receiving the awful news. Joe totally took one for the team and took me out for a martini even after spending the day in San Diego for work.

I know that time will heal this wound. I have already started to climb back up the hill again. I am well aware that what goes up must come down. I just hope that next time I am feeling high on life the descend down is not nearly as steep.