My LA Run Yesterday

I’m a runner.  I go all over the place. One of my favorite things to do is to travel to a new city, go to the hotel, immediately put on my running shoes and discover new things with my favorite Jay-Z songs in my ear.  I pretend I’m being filmed for some awesome movie that includes a ridiculously in shape and super hot male lead that keeps being told to keep his hands off me between takes because he’s so wildly attracted to me.  …the fuck has this post gone?!  Oh yeah, running. As a runner, I’m pretty tuned in to what is happening on the streets around me for various reasons (not the least of which is not being hit by cars).  I don’t actually love running in LA like I used to because people seem to just not care if runners (or people in general) are in the crosswalks (or on the sidewalks) and they are almost always annoyed at you for being their barrier to a happier life, apparently?  I still really love running, but this makes me sad.

We all know by now that the Boston Marathon was rocked by a sad event, the details of which do not bear repeating.  The running community (as it always does) banded together for support, people ran subsequent marathons in other cities the following weekend (see the photo from the 2013 London Marathon below this paragraph) and every single runner in the country felt even more inspired to just run.

Photo via twitter @Gilberto82

Yesterday, I ran my normal route on Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks, CA and felt great but something was very different.

On this run, cars stopped well before I was in the crosswalk and waited for me to cross.  On this run, people smiled at me (and if you live in LA, you KNOW that this is like seeing a unicorn).  On this run, people nodded at me.  On this run, men trimming trees way above the sidewalk stopped when I ran by to make sure I could run by safely.  On this run, I felt there was a sense of community in this city that I have never felt before.  Running is a notoriously solo act, and yet I felt like I was being supported by these small gestures.  It was not a diminished experience, to say the least.

Photosource – npr.org

The promise of unity is imminent in situations where a community feels victimized.  We cannot make heads or tails of what happened.  There is so much pain and so little resolution to be experienced over the next weeks, months, years.  What I can say is that the small experience of having kindness shown to me while I ran (that was undoubtedly related to the massacre in Boston) showed me that it is possible for people to unify in crisis, and not just on the East Coast.  It also showed me that people are kind, loving and tuned into the needs of others if they want to be.  That normal run wasn’t normal at all.  And, I’m better for it.

Moral of the story – It’s way more fun to not be a dick.  Let’s all try that from now until forever. #Bostonstrong