Run DMZ

I’ve been thinking about why some of us use guides and others don’t when venturing into unknown territory, especially tough, multi-day hikes. A guide sets the pace, makes sure you don’t get lost and can provide local lore and points of interest you might miss on a solo trip or one with friends. They also carry first aid items and monitor members for signs of hypo- or hyperthermia, dehydration and other common medical conditions.  But you also are tethered to a team that might not have the same objectives, pace or experience levels. This can either slow you down or force you to go faster than you prepared. Your guide may be having a bad day or just be a general jerk, which casts a trip in a different light. You might get disparaging looks from others on the trail for taking up so much space. And, guided hikes cost more than do-it-yourself ones. My friend and I had a guide when we went to  South Coyote Buttes , mainly because we didn’t know how to reach it on ou...

One of my favorite annual events is driving up to the formerly known SouthCentral LA and joining hundreds of thousands of other book lovers at the LA Times' Festival of Books. It used to be held at UCLA and now takes place at USC, and, yes, there were plenty of jokes at actress Lori Loughlin's expense but I don't think she was on campus to hear them. Almost every one of us as kids soak up as many books as we can and at one point want to be librarians or independent bookstore owners just so we can surround ourselves with the objects of our affection. Then we grow up and become something else. But the love of books remains. So, fortunately, does this April festival that features excellent authors discussing craft and content. And so many vendors it's overwhelming. That's to be expected for what is now the country's largest book festival. Here are some tips for how to make the most of the two-day festival . Getting there I admit I liked when the fest...

...and it isn't about running! At least not in the same sense as so many bloggers now do. My friend Dennis today launched his first novel, a murder mystery set on the South Shore in Massachusetts called Motherless Children . I read the synopsis and am really looking forward to devouring the entire book as soon as my order arrives. Writing a novel is hard work--harder than non-fiction, I think, because people can be critical of your imagination and that can smart more than if they differ with your interpretation of actual events. My other writer friend, Lee , is putting the finishing touches on his second novel. I was among the chosen few to read an early version and it kept me enrapt. In fact, I sometimes forgot it was Lee's work, which is a compliment because when you know the author, you tend to read a work much differently than when you don't. Dennis is a great runner, as in he sometimes wins races ... and not just his age group. We were once competitors at our jobs, but...

Along with taking on a post-dawn mall with my prodigy in search of sales, we have another post-Christmas tradition here at Run DMZ. It's time to indulge in a little hubris and list some of the races, books, movies, plays and songs that I especially enjoyed this year. First, here's my list from 2010 . And now, on to this year. Favorite Race: Buffalo Alley 10k Once again, I didn't do a lot of races this year. But it never felt so good to hurt so bad as the 60 minutes I spent moving with a couple of thousand others through the hills of Camp Pendleton on a race-perfect October morning. I really enjoyed my video version too. Favorite Book: 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America by Albert Brooks It's impossible to read this Swiftian satire and not start worrying about where we're heading as a country. It is a fictional account of the United States 20 years from now, when we've found a cure for cancer and Alzheimer's Disease and we've continued to let ...

Back when I was one of the cool kids, a group of us would meet after Tuesday track practices for dinner, usually pizza at Luigi’s in Golden Hill or Thai at Saffron off Washington Street. One of the guys was always planning a big hike with the goal of covering every bit of ground in a book he'd bought several years before. He mentioned that if I wanted to be a trail runner, then I had to own this book too because there was nothing else like it. He promised it would make me want to get into the wildnerness more often, and he was right. So I got a copy of that book and another with selections aimed at trail runners, both by a guy named Jerry Schad. To this day, they are the most opened and earmarked of all the books on my shelves. A community college professor by day, Schad wrote extensively of the most popular and the little known trails surrounding just about every open space in the county and beyond. Then today I found this article in our local paper about the author fightin...

Last weekend my friend Suzanne and I made our annual pilgrimage to the LA Festival of Books. This year it was held at USC instead of UCLA and the smaller campus worked well for the event, though there weren't enough food and beverage concessions. Of course, if you get lost leaving UCLA, you end up in Beverly Hills. At USC, you end up at the intersection where Reginald Denny was beaten during the LA Riots of 1992. In the first photo is panelist Jennifer Egan , who has won just about every major book award this year for her experimental "novel" (she never called it that, the publisher did) A Visit from the Goon Squad . Our next panel with non-fiction writers who disprove popular misconceptions (like the MMR vaccine causes autism) was fascinating but also off-limits to cameras because C-SPAN was recording live. Other authors in the photos below include Patti Smith and Dave Eggers -- definitely the place to be that day. Jillian Michaels from "The Biggest Loser." Dan...

Here's a post you may wish to read and comment on over at Amazon. The author disputes weight loss strategies that focus on cardio exercise and particularly running. Consider her opening paragraph: Running is the gold standard of fitness. Not only is it touted as the ultimate fat burner, but you get bragging rights at every social function from fiestas to Facebook. If you're looking to get fit, the first thing you do is strap on those running shoes and hit the pavement, right? That's what we've all been taught, anyhow. Friends, we were taught wrong. Read more .

Those who are regular readers of this blog know I'm more of a Zen runner inspired by nature, not numbers. But, of course, that's probably because the numbers no longer seem to go my way. That said, a post called 40 Exhilarating Reads for Runners came to my attention this week, and having read many of the suggested entries, I wanted to point you to the site and highlight a few of those books I've read and still include in my permanent library. They make great gifts for those just discovering the joys of running and those who can never get enough literary inspiration. Running and Being by George Sheehan . When I first got into competitive running, I'd make reading a chapter from this book or another by Sheehan part of my pre-race prep. That I regularly read George Sheehan's Runner's World column while he was still very much alive gives away my age. Yes, there are some dated parts but it's still one of the best books on the subject of why we run. The Lore of...

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of joining some friends to hear Dr. Joe Vigil discuss how he trains runners to become national champions and Olympic medalists (Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi among them). The man has quite a sense of humor and quite a resume, having coached 425 All-Americans and been inducted into 11 Halls of Fame. He’s also featured in the recent best-seller Born to Run , which helped spawn the current barefoot running movement. I thought I’d share a few bits of advice, both tactical and philosophical, gleaned from the coach’s talk at City College. In Joe Vigil’s world, they are pretty much one in the same because a truly competitive runner embraces a lifestyle and not just a sport. Be passionate. If you are truly fervent about running, you look forward to every workout and you do not fear the potential pain of long runs or speed work. Embrace the experience and be grateful for the opportunity to be helping your body stay healthy. “You’ve got to run as a style o...

This past week I got to witness some dear friends celebrate major accomplishments. Yesterday my husband and I drove up to the San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside to watch Louise and Rolly walk across the stage with Faria, the Black Lab puppy they’ve raised the past 18 months for Canine Companions for Independence . Like any graduation ceremony, there was pomp and circumstance and impressive donations, including one from well-known suspense novelist Dean Koontz and his wife for $1 million. Even the dogs barked along with the applauding crowd to show their appreciation. It takes a great deal of time, money and stamina to raise a puppy specifically to someday be the eyes or ears or arms and legs for someone whose been shortchanged in life. There were sleepless nights as Faria adjusted to her new family, weekly lessons with homework, and, during puberty, there was “Camp Chastity.” Their teenaged son Fabrece sometimes was told to babysit while the couple went out for a few hours. Their other ...

I admit it took me much longer to read, let alone review, this book after I received it in the mail from Stefano . I had a vacation to enjoy, then a tough job to endure, a steady stream of visitors to entertain and a family crisis that continues to unfold. If only I’d sat down with this sequel by Dan Millman sooner, I would have handled all these situations differently. I never read Millman's earlier works, including Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Nor have I seen the movie version. But this latest installation in a series makes it easy for the uninitiated since Millman pulls scenes and sayings from an earlier work to introduce what was gained since he met a man called Socrates. That’s the guy who ran a gas station when Millman was attending UC, Berkeley and who became a guiding force in Millman’s life -- a life in northern California that seems on the surface quite ordinary, actually. If you’re up on philosophers like Alan Watts or even Buddha, then many passages will ring familiar. ...

Here I sit in my cubicle, eager to practice some of the principles I learned at yesterday’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA . As with last year, the panels by both established and emerging authors provided a much-needed shot in the arm for this weary writer, whose reading list just lengthened threefold. Since many people who read blogs also write one (or more), I thought I’d share some pearls and paraphrases from panelists. From Yannick Murphy , author of Signed, Mata Hari : Next time you want to describe the anger, excitement or misery that you or another character in your story experience, try to show it through imagery. Chances are the reader will experience that same emotion, rather than view it from a distance. Lydia Millet , author of How the Dead Dream , offered this ditty about Googling ourselves: “We all do it. It’s like masturbation.” Alex Espinoza , author of the novel Still Water Saints : The best lessons we learn as human beings come not from the times we succe...

Last time I was tagged for this, I was hard up to find a book within reach despite being at my work desk and despite me working for a book publisher. This time Beansprout' s tagged me and this time I have a book right here with the binding barely cracked. It's a non-fiction book about our culture's obsession with cosmetic (versus plastic) surgery. I'm hoping to discover why I can't stop watching Dr. 90210 no matter how hard I try. This is how it works: 1. Find the nearest book. 2. Name the book & the author. 3. Turn to page 123. 4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page. Copy out the next three sentences and post to your blog. 5. Tag three more folks. Beauty Junkies by Alex Kuczynski When surgeons can collectively grow tissue in the breast, Teitelbaum says, patients may face less risk than if, for example, they receive breast implants, which can rupture and cause complications and must also be replaced every few years. "When we can control scarring we can do...

About an hour ago, finally catching up on other runners' blogs, I saw I was tagged by Chicago's very own Bubba to participate in another meme. This one involved locating the nearest book and reciting a passage. Why am I red-faced? I read this while at work and yet couldn't immediately cough up a book despite the fact, ahem, I work for a book publisher . I don't suppose anyone's buying that I just needed some professional distance from my work right now. Fortunately, my work space appears to be the only room void of the requisite reads. Here's how it goes: 1. Find the nearest book. 2. Name the book & the author. 3. Turn to page 123. 4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page. Copy out the next three sentences and post to your blog. 5. Tag three more folks. The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits (Which is excellent, by the way, even if we didn't publish it.) "Roz's earrings, long silver-tentacled things, reached nearly to her shoulders. One was ta...