Okay, I’m writing this entry to confirm that I did complete the 8 miles we were to do at Griffith Park this weekend. On top of the 5 miles I ran on the treadmill a few days ago, I ran another 3.5 today which exceeds what I would have done if I was in Los Angeles this past weekend. I will be returning to Griffith Park next Saturday for more “van damage!”
The treadmill I ran on today had this digital display of some buff and brown-haired dude running along as I exercised. Underneath there was a blonde haired guy who was holding a sign showing my mileage, the time I’ve been running, the calories I have burned, and another showing my pace per mile. That last one could also measure your pulse rate if you were to put your hands on the bar in front of you. Judging by how exhausted I got this time around, I think it’s safe to say that I exceeded the recommended heart rate for my particular age group (never mind what that is).
Anyway, back to the digital display; that blonde guy holding up my stats wasn’t exactly smiling but looking at me as if he couldn’t believe I was training for a marathon. Either that or he just looked tired of holding that sign up for so long. Furthermore, it got me to thinking of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the disembodied voice of HAL. What if this face started speaking to me?
“I’m afraid you can’t run like that Ben.”
“Ben, you’re posture is going. There is no question about it.”
I kept looking at the different displays on the treadmill, and one had a female face holding the stats sign. But despite her slightly more pleasant appearance, she looked a little conceited to me. You know, like she didn’t mind helping me out but would rather be somewhere else. It was almost like she was saying:
“I’m flattered you think I’m cute, but you’re not really my type.”
Another display measured my running if I were going vertical, and it would give you goals of reaching the top of certain landmarks like the Empire State Building or the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. The shortest of these landmarks was the Statue of Liberty. Still, I didn’t want to spend time on this one because even though it was just a simulation, thinking about these incredibly tall landmarks threatened to give me a nasty case of vertigo (and I don’t mean the Hitchcock movie).
The thing I focused most during this particular run was my posture because I kept wondering if I was leaning forward too much or leaning back more than I should. I can’t wait to meet up with my chiropractor when I get back to LA; he’ll probably wonder what the hell I’ve done with and to my body while I was away. Other than that, I kept landing on the ball of my foot and not on my heel, and it’s nice to know that this particular rule is now forever burned into my consciousness.
I did find myself getting more worn out more quickly though. Of course, this may have to do with me have a few too many glasses of red wine or a Jack and Coke too many as my parents threw a dinner party last night… HEY! I’M ON VACATION DAMMIT!!! This certainly wouldn’t be the case were I back in LA.
According to the treadmill’s display, I burned over 500 calories. So why is my stomach still hanging out the way it is?! I’m not expecting a 6 pack of abs from this, but why can’t this part of my body lose more flab on a regular basis?!
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To see the other days of my 2012 LA Marathon training, click on the numbers below:
Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5