It's official!

Thank you for registering online for the 2005 City of Los Angeles Marathon.

Congratulations on taking this important first step on what will prove to be a remarkable journey. When you receive your confirmation card it is very important you keep it in a safe place until race week. You will be receiving this card in the late fall or early winter.

Best of luck in your training. We look forward to seeing you March 6, 2005 at the start and finish line.

AWESOME!!! I'm totally thrilled. This is the biggest goal I've ever had! I'm expecting it to be an incredible experience regardless, but guess what makes it even better? When I told Misti I was doing this, she said she wanted to do it with me! She was cool about it, too, and said, "Oh, unless you want to do this as a personal thing." But I told her I'd love to do it with her! How exciting that we will both be working towards this amazing personal victory and doing it together, too!!

I can't stop typing with EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!

Anyway. It's a long road ahead, but one well worth travelling, I think.

Training starts August 21. In the mean time, I'll keep walking and hiking with folks down here. I'm on a walkers mailing list and we get together to do hikes and walks and stuff.

On Saturday, I went hiking with a new friend, Heidi, the one girl I liked at the meeting of strangers the other night. She and her dog, Howie, and I climbed up some very steep hills in Hollywood! All the while, we talked about animals, and it was a lot of fun. Okay, we didn't chat all all the while. Part of the while, I was panting my ass off as I climbed up the steepest incline of the hill. In some areas, I had to put my hands on the ground to help myself climb up! (But don't take that to mean too much, I was the only one doing that!) Some of the dirt was loose and it was a little scary. But then we made it all the way to the top and the view was incredible! That was a mighty fun afternoon! I got home and took a nap, and that evening, Joe and I went to see Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle. Oh my god. Such a funny movie!

Monday, I met a new girl from the walking list, Monica. She was pretty cool, though I'm not sure if we have a ton in common. Still, the conversation flowed between us pretty well and we had a nice time. We walked down by the beach in the evening for a little over two miles. It was nice and cool out, and we passed lots of families. She said, "Kids love looking at you! Have you ever noticed that?" I told her I hadn't really, and she said she thinks it's because I have a fun face. That's a cool compliment!

On the way back from dinner with Monica, I met up with Joe, Alan, Nicky, and Jeff at a local diner. We sat and chatted for a bit. Alan asked what I'd been up to, and when I said, "Oh, I just went out with someone I met on the internet," Alan said, "Meg... Joe's sitting right here!" Heh. I guess it came out different than I meant it to!

Nicky and Jeff were planning on going for a walk, so I said I'd join them! Our walk was great. It was pretty late, though, and at one point, a woman's dog started barking at us from the upstairs room of a house. "Lie down! LIE DOWN!!" the woman yelled. After we got out of earshot, we started adding things to the woman's yelling: "Lie down with your face on the ground and your hands where I can see them!" Heh. Nicky heard her say, "Who would be out there at this time of night??" Just a couple of night owls, taking a walk, ma'am. No need to worry! Or, you know, call the police or anything. Please.

Then Wednesday I went to UCLA before another scheduled hike (more about school later). Well, that turned out to be more of a walking excursion than I'd intended! When people told me UCLA was huge, I believed them, but... now I know. Crazy!

After I hung out on campus for a while, I headed over to the meeting place for the hike. I'm glad I left early, or I would have missed them altogether. I got a lost a few times, but I finally found it, and was soon chatting with other hikers. Then Heidi and Howie showed up, which was awesome! The people there were really friendly. One guy saw my Disneyland water bottle strap and asked, "You wouldn't by any chance happen to be an Annual Passport holder, would you?"

"I would!" I told him, and soon we were swapping Disneyland stories.

Throughout the hike, I talked to whoever happened to be going at my pace, i.e., slower than everyone else! I got to have several cool conversations, though, which was nice. I saw a lot of Howie, but I didn't get to pet him much. I barely got to pet another dog, Cosmo, who is a dachsund mix, but I got to pet one dog named Keiba a good bit. Keiba is beautiful and reminded me a lot of Hannah. Naturally, I liked her right away.

I guess I was being a bit adventurous when I chose to attend this hike, given that the words, "moderate to difficult," were in the description. I reached what I refer to as the "elliptical machine level of exercise," which is the point at which I could feel my blood pumping in my face. That was insane, but a ton of fun. At the top of every hill, I got to have an, "I did it!" victory moment. Definitely a challenge, but do-able, too. I tried not to feel too embarassed that I was the only one red-faced, drenched, and out of breath. But doing these hikes is the only way to get good at them! So, I'll just keep doing them, anyway, and then I'll be as in-shape as these people I'm exercising with. I swear to god, they're all a bunch of hiking cyborgs!

So yeah, lots of exercising going on over here; it's great stuff. I'm so close to the halfway point of my goal! Woo! Getting in shape is a lot of fun, but I have to admit, it's especially fun out in nature. I love climbing the hills and seeing incredible views. Meeting cool people is a plus, too. I'm really enjoying all this outdoorsy stuff! And I'm looking forward to the next adventure!