Back from LA

Well it's been an interesting two weeks. Return home from Williamsburg, promptly get stomach flu/gastroenteritis, immediately upon recovery drive to Los Angeles.

Phew. Am exhausted.

Didn't CF on the drive out there - 5 days of driving and feeling jelly legged from the flu. Once we arrived in LA, I helped my friends move into their sweet apartment in Marina Del Rey, and started re-entering the world of the active person by going for walks.

Walk One : From my cousin's west of the marina, walked up to muscle beach then back to her place.

Walk Two : Dropped off about a mile north of muscle beach by another cousin, walked home to my friend's place just east of the marina.

Walk Three : Around the Getty Museum all day.

I had intended to do a longer walk, but it didn't end up working out. It was also a plan that received gasps of incredulity from locals. "You plan to walk WHERE?" "Do you know how far that is?" "I'll drive you!" "I'll drive you halfway!"

It's okay ma'am. I have a hat.

Here's the plan. I still consider it an active plan as I'd like to do this next time I'm in the area.

Start at my friend's apartment. Walk approximately one mile to the beach around the marina. Walk approximately four miles north along the beach to the Santa Monica Pier. Turn around, reverse directions, and go home.

I'm good at reading maps. I have a degree (undergrad) in Geology. That's reading maps. I have a degree (grad) in Landscape Architecture. That's reading maps. I spent my childhood following my parents through the woods and the desert, sometimes leading them. That's reading maps.

I have a good map of LA, and I have a ruler. I estimated that the walk was between 10 and 11 miles round trip (Google agrees with me). The walk is flat, in easy distance of food, water, and shelter. The walk is interesting. The walk is at sea level. It is probably the easiest 10 mile walk you can imagine, and it was almost unimaginable to the several people I pitched the idea to. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the 13-miler around Minneapolis' Chain of Lakes? I was also raised with my father telling me about the Lyke Wake Walk - a 42 mile slog through heather, bracken, and mud in Yorkshire. To be completed in one go, in one day.

Today I'm just going to do the CFWU to start getting into CF mode. Tomorrow is rest day I think, then back at it full speed.

The good news is that even with all the awful (but tasty!) travel food I've been eating, my weight isn't up. Phew.