Two Days in the Valley

Today's run: Medium-Long Run of 12.5 miles at 8:20 pace
38 miles this week. Marathon is 12 weeks from today!

Just like that ...except: it didn't include a cat-fight between Teri Hatcher and Charlize Theron...

I woke up early to get this recovery week's longest run in. I followed this route:The weather was perfect: overcast and a little cool. The route starts out sort of boring, as it is a straight line down a wide boulevard with not much variation. So, I started to take note of things:

• A bus-stop poster for the Spanish-language radio DJ, El Cucuy on La Raza. I recognized this from BART ads in San Francisco, so I assume this program is syndicated and the radio station exists in both LA and San Francisco.
• Some people were setting out signs marked "Big Sunday Parking". Was the Sunday big? Or was it the Sunday parking that was big?
• As I arrived at Woodley Park, I saw the beginnings of an Israel Independence Day Festival.
• A bit down Woodley, I saw recreational flyers, piloting remote controlled planes. One was doing loops in the air, reminding me of the warm-up show at Fleet Week.
• At the halfway mark, I was treated to a stunning view of the Sepulveda Dam, the place where the LA River (which I crossed over about four times) converges in the Valley.
• Dam! Dam dam dam! Shortly after seeing the dam, I curse my luck, as I felt a bit of stiffness in my left quadricep, followed shortly thereafter by pain in my left knee. This was the same location and kind of feeling as when I had injured my plica on my right knee in January. This is of major concern. I will be agressively treating this with ice and advil through this week and see if I can keep it in check.

I felt the need to push a little on the way back, and arrived, feeling a little toasted. I tried using a 50% water, 50% sports-drink solution, but I have to say that the sports-drink just leaves a taste in the mouth that says "drink more sports-drink", so I may stick with water.

Collection of Google Earth photos of the LA River crossings I made: