The end of 2003 was fairly drama free, I moved into my new apartment on New Year’s Eve with the intention of waking up, and starting fresh in the New Year, 2004. My apartment was a fairly large studio in West Hollywood just two blocks below the Sunset Strip, and it was fantastic. I still dearly miss the early morning runs I would do on my favorite six mile loop where I would run along Sunset Blvd. and practically taste the regret of what went on the night before. I saw many a “walk of shame” on those mornings.
I did not have a refrigerator for a few months, so I stored my perishables in my parent’s old Playmate folding cooler on my balcony, clever huh? At this point in my story, I had been a vegetarian for over a year, so there was never any stinky meat on my balcony, unless I invited some over:) While on that topic, the year 2004 brought some BIG changes in my life, I finally had some great production work gigs again, and had started my dream job selling running shoes at the best running shop in LA, The Starting Line. I learned a tremendous amount of needful running tidbits during my stint, but once my full time job kicked in, I started to burn up from working seven days a week, so I left my retail days in the dust. On the upside, I met a very special fellow at my day job named Marion Spates. Marion was a 3D artist, and Production Manager, and since I was a production Coordinator in charge of moving the work along, we worked pretty closely together. I found it interesting that he seemed to always be in my office, I did share it with my producer, Chris, so it could not have all been me, but even when Chris went home for the day Marion still found reasons to stick around and chit chat away. I knew I was toast in the “Uh-Oh, I have a big crush” department, when every morning on my drive to work I hoped to see him before everyone else arrived for a quick talk in the kitchen, my office, or even at his desk. There was something about him that just felt right; he was kind, funny, a hard worker, and friendly with everyone in the office, plus our eye contact was ridiculous. Yes, there was no doubt in my mind that meeting Marion would change my life forever.
All the while during this heart fluttering fun at work, I was training for my sixth marathon, a home town jaunt in Palos Verdes. I was not taking this race seriously as a Boston qualifier because the course was incredibly hilly, and a total time crusher, but I thought it would serve as a long run to get me out of my Tucson funk. The PV marathon is a very small race in terms of participants, but it literally goes by my parents front yard, which was not by chance on my part, I wanted a built in support team for this race, my bruised ego needed it, and my parents did not disappoint.
I did not break any land speed records with that race, but it was by far the toughest course I ever conquered, so that was satisfying, and I finished feeling better than expected, thus it served its purpose of turning my Tucson frown upside down. Just a few days later I was ready to find a new marathon on the horizon that would serve as another shot at Boston, and I was turned on to the Cow Town Marathon in Sacramento in early October, which meant lots of Summer running on Sunset, and may be a little romance? Hmm, stay tuned...
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