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Sunday, March 09, 2014

day 9 - one crazy weekend, part 2

as if saturday's schedule wasn't the most conducive to a set feeding/tonifying/detoxing schedule, sunday's was even less so.

it started at midnight, right after i left jai uttal's kirtan at bhakti yoga shala, a room that was so packed that i had to stand during his entire performance. while chanting and clapping along. and in some cases, dancing when i had room to move. so much for my plan to catch some rest before pulling an all-nighter.

i biked a short block to the metro 4 bus (aka the long slow crawl up santa monica blvd), put my bike on the rack, and found a seat up front. it was late at night, so i figured it would be nice and quiet and i'd be able to catch a quick nap before reaching my destination an hour later. but it wasn't to be; it seemed like every worker from every store and restaurant was taking that same bus to get home. we stopped at every bus stop. and each time, the interior lights would turn on full blast, rousing me from the seconds of sleep i happened to fall into. then there was the crazy guy who boarded the bus across the aisle from me and kept yammering on about jesus and god and who knows what. sigh.

i reached silverlake at 1am, quickly found a friend who had arrived shortly after i did, and next thing we knew, it was 3am, thanks to our iphone clocks springing forward for daylight saving time. i was tempted to run to the mickey D's across the street for an iced coffee to rouse me from my stupor, but alas, caffeine is a no-no while i was on my cleanse. i settled for the last two date cakes i had brought along with me, just in case something like this happened.

more friends showed up, and by 4am, we were raring to take off on the wild and crazy bike ride known as the marathon crash race, rechristened the marathon crash ride (that's me on the left in the photo with the beverly hills sign), thanks to a last-minute kibosh by the city officials. someone shouted out "rolling!" and we were off.

i was sailing along quite nicely along a downhill stretch of santa monica blvd in century city, trying to catch up with one of my hardcore biker friends, and right when i shifted to a higher gear, my chain decided to slip off one of the cogs on the back wheel. luckily, i was riding with experienced cyclists; they spotted my predicament and moved aside so i could pull over.

other friends rode by, asking if i was ok, and i said i was, or at least i thought i was.

as it turned out, my chain got all twisted-up on itself, bending some of the links in the process. in other words, it popped off every time i tried to turn the crank. just then, another cyclist stopped to save the damsel in distress -- namely, me. he straightened out the links as best he could, then offered to follow me just in case it didn't work. but it did. and by the time we reached the end of the ride, he was nowhere to be found. and i didn't even get a chance to get his name nor thank him properly :(

he definitely earned himself some karma points in bicycle heaven. and loads of gratitude from me.

6am. it was pitch dark, my bike was squeaking up a storm, i was hungry and tired. now what? the sane person would've gone home and called it a day. or a night. but noooo, i still had more fun and games planned. i rode my crippled bike a mile and a half to the hotel where my running group had established its headquarters on marathon day, where i found my first meal of the day: an orange and a banana. i also found a row of chairs to snooze on, but before i could find myself in restful REM sleep, a fellow runner tapped me on the shoulder. sorry to wake you up so soon, she said, but it's time to go. we'd planned to walk to one of our aid stations along the marathon route so that we could both run with people we knew to the finish line.

it was a 4-mile walk to our destination in brentwood. i was quickly losing steam from lack of sleep and hunger. just then, nykki, my reset self cleanse coach, sent a text message, asking how i was holding up (she knew about my insane plan for the day). i told her i was beyond hungry and needed to find something quickly. she told me to get a juice somewhere, and in a strange "you must be reading my mind" coincidence, i just happened to be walking right past the pressed juicery store. voila!


speeding up the story, we got to the aid station but i didn't end up running with my friend because i was way past zombiefied. i had a friend drive me back to the hotel where i'd left my bike. before leaving, i treated myself to a massage from one of the skilled therapists, headed straight for the bike shop to get my chain fixed, then home for my first real meal of the day and a much-delayed snooze. then dinner. then lights out for the night.

by the way, the detox drink and liver/colon tonics for the cleanse were eventually taken sometime after i got home. hopefully i took them in the right order because i was half-asleep when i did.

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today's yoga class: savasana at home. twice.

click here for yesterday's post