In May, I made it a goal to run 100 miles that month. I felt it was an attainable goal and in fact, I did achieve it. Yay me! I decided to make it the same goal for June. But as I was adding up my miles in my training log, I found more holes than (non-dairy) Swiss cheese. (Is there non-dairy Swiss cheese?) Well, 100 miles in June did not happen. In fact, I only hit about half that amount. I would’ve needed to run 40.95 miles on Tuesday to meet that goal, but you know, work sorta got in the way of that.
June consisted of a very inconsistent month of running for me, and while I don’t want to put all the blame on this, I must say, it all kind of began with a trek to a tree.
I’ve lived in Los Angeles for many, many years and for many of those years, I’ve grown quite fond of one specific tree. Depending on the angle, it’s highly visible from Hollywood, Burbank, and the areas around Studio City. You can even catch it driving along the 101 Freeway. It goes by the name Wisdom Tree, and I like to call it the Wishing Tree. But I’ve also called it my little tree.
The first weekend in June, my running pal, GW, and I made the trek to it. Up until 8 or 9 months ago, I never even knew people could actually go there. What?! My tree?!
Starting off from the Griffith Park Observatory, we made our way up and down the trails towards the Hollywood Sign. Instead of going around the bend to the Sign, we took a hidden trail just off to the side. I’ve been up to the Hollywood Sign many of times and NEVER have I noticed this path. I guess we don’t see things until we’re ready to see them, right?
Now I heard this hike was somewhat technical and challenging and people were not kidding! Right off the bat we had to climb and maneuver our way up huge rocks and tricky footing. At some point, I had to practically use my whole body to get up over! This was the most technical hiking I’ve ever done and there really wasn’t a portion where any running could be done. At least I couldn’t. I suppose a more advanced technical runner could scale these rocks with ease, but I’m faaaar from an advanced technical runner.
Of course along the way, we kept joking (which we so often do), about heading in the wrong direction because for most of the hike, we couldn’t see the tree. We are going towards it, right? Luckily, we saw lots of people making their way towards us who were coming from there (or so we assumed) and this was a great sign (if they indeed were). Unless, they were just as lost as we were. It wasn’t until we got past most of the ruggedness and over the mountain is when we spotted the tree in the distance!
And when we reached it, it was indeed magical! Well, it was more magical once some guy stopped swinging on it, and removed his backpack from one of the branches.
We took our time admiring the tree. And I honestly couldn’t believe I was up there! We found the box with journals and pens so people can leave notes. It tends to get filled up and cleaned out now and then. But we made sure, we wrote some thoughts of the day.
After we took our gazillion photos and ate lunch (Clif Bars), it was time to head back through and over the same rugged terrain. For the most part, at this point, I felt good. Mentally, I was trying very hard not to think about P-22, the famous Griffith Park mountain lion who roams the area. I was really just trying to stay focused on every little step I was taking.
Just as we reached the final few feet of this rugged trail, I made the last steps down some jagged rocks and as I made a quick twist turn to step, something felt a little “off” in my left knee all of a sudden.
I managed to be able to run the rest of the way back to the Observatory, where for the first time in my Los Angeles living existence, I actually went in. Yes, I’ve lived in LA many, many years and I’ve yet to go inside the Observatory. It was amazing!
Anyhoo, back at the ranch, my left knee wasn’t feeling too happy. Quickly I went into R.I.C.E. mode and iced my knee with my ever-present bag of frozen peas. I’ve been icing it periodically every now and then since that day, and using the Pro-Tec Knee Strap for extra stability. It really does help a lot to keep me running.
But I take this as a reminder I really need to supplement my running with strength training even more. And that’s what I’m going to be focusing on in July. Running and strength training!
So June didn’t quite shape up to be the month I wanted in terms of mileage, but I got to meet my tree and that counts for a lot! And while I loved the experience, I honestly don’t feel the need to go there again. Maybe one day, but for now, I’ll just keep to admiring it…from afar.
Thanks for reading and Happy Running!