Monday, June 13, 2005
Mulholland Dr and recognizing people
Yesterday I ran the trail portion of mulholland drive as part of the the Valley Crest Half Marathon. The previous weekend, Junko and I tried to check out the historic road by car, but we ended up getting confused and lost. Later we learned that although Mulholland Drive connects Hollywood and Malibu via the tops of the Santa Monica Mountains, it is broken up by a trail in the middle. Since the 405 is our neighbor, we took it up the the nearest part of Mulholland. We quickly learned that it doesn't go far west. We got lost among steep hills and huge mansions, so we weren't exactly fearing for our lives in our little blue Honda Civic. Finally we gave up going west and decided to head east towards Hollywood along Mulholland. It wasn't all that pretty in this direction and again it got confusing and we ended up in Beverly Hills. Giving up, we decide to try it another day going from the other direction.
The trail half marathon was "okay" not all that scenic due to the June gloom and trees. I was running with a couple of like-paced folks for most of the race, until the last hill (~200 ft climb) at ~12.5 mile mark. I saw the two older guys slow down and over-heard one saying that "this hill is going to take it out of him". I felt fine (not having pushed myself too much the entire race), so I decided to march on up the hill. After the race, this guys passes by me and gives me a "Good job". For what?? Everybody there had finished the race just as I did. I don't deserve a special congrats... I didn't recognize who he was until he passed me and I saw his back (I had been staring at his back for most of the race!). He was one of the guys that the last hill "took out". It's interesting how we recognize people. This reminds me of when I was working in a clean room in Silicon Valley and recognized people only by their eyes! I wonder how my little baby will recognize me and Junko....
The trail half marathon was "okay" not all that scenic due to the June gloom and trees. I was running with a couple of like-paced folks for most of the race, until the last hill (~200 ft climb) at ~12.5 mile mark. I saw the two older guys slow down and over-heard one saying that "this hill is going to take it out of him". I felt fine (not having pushed myself too much the entire race), so I decided to march on up the hill. After the race, this guys passes by me and gives me a "Good job". For what?? Everybody there had finished the race just as I did. I don't deserve a special congrats... I didn't recognize who he was until he passed me and I saw his back (I had been staring at his back for most of the race!). He was one of the guys that the last hill "took out". It's interesting how we recognize people. This reminds me of when I was working in a clean room in Silicon Valley and recognized people only by their eyes! I wonder how my little baby will recognize me and Junko....
