Thursday, August 27, 2009

Hit the LA Ground Running: City Sights and Sites

Urban SunsetIt's that time of year again - in the haze of summer's end and autumn's beginning - I embark on training for some race or another in the fall months. This year I'm running the Nike Human Race because I had such a blast last year (and part of the money goes to a good cause - Pete Carroll's A Better LA charity). I have no idea who the musical artist will be (last year was Kanye West!), but I'm enjoying the training efforts because it always reminds me how awesome it is to exist in a place like Los Angeles.

I mean, I always know this. You can't be a part of ExperienceLA.com and not know the awesomeness of LA, but in the hustle-and-bustle of work commutes and the errands of life, it's easy to slip into a pattern of going to point A to point B and losing out on so much to appreciate.

The other day I had a five-mile training run around the Koreatown cityscape. Really it was about 2 1/2 outside of my starting point, but even in that 2.5 miles I felt like I was transported into so many different worlds. From the urban developments of Koreatown (and its delicious smells of Korean BBQ and tempting bakeries and cafes - wait I'm running, right?), the scenery shifts to the beautiful and elegant homes of Rossmore and run another direction toward Wilshire and you get the classic view of the Los Altos Apartments (exterior of the Angel series, anyone?) and the Masonic Temple designed by Millard Sheets.

While running that day, it's not like I wasn't always aware of these places and hadn't passed by them before, it's just that I hadn't taken the time to soak them in. And doing that precious little - taking that time - it was almost like not ever having seen them before. I was kind of star-struck in a way that a fan might be to a celebrity, but perhaps even better. I just need to walk out the door and hit the LA ground running - for now anyway - to have a sighting.

Leisure walks? They can wait until after the race!

-Charity Tran

For another blog entry of Charity's running around LA (aside from the usual), check out her blog post from the 2007 LA Marathon.

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