61 percent of a marathon

Today I ran 16 miles, a personal record. I was fine for most of the run, getting used to my gigantic new running shoes. The only part that nearly killed me was the very last 10th of a mile, which includes an uphill stretch that connects the Santa Monica pier back to the rest of the city.

The day was nice, or at least I think it was. I've kind of stopped admiring the scenery because it is about the same every week. And there's too much at stake to be looking around googly-eyed at the pretty sunrise and flocks of seagulls. Look away for a second and you could smack into a fire hydrant or fall into a sand pit or lose your footing on a wet sidewalk and wipe out.

A funny thing about organized marathon training is that your running group behaves almost like a single living organism, with all the parts taking care of one another. When someone comes upon an obstacle, like a fire hydrant, he or she will usually yell out "hydrant" and point to it as a warning to the runners behind. The warning gets passed down the line, so what you hear is "hydrant!" "hydrant!" "hydrant!" At first it seemed kind of silly to me, but lately I've come to appreciate how people look out for their fellow runners. It's easy to zone out when you're mainly concerned about putting one foot in front of the other.