Ultrawoman's Blog: New Years Run..for my friend Tammy

Tina and I get ready for the fun!

On January 4th at 7pm I was standing with a lot of runners on the corner of Grand and 7th ready to run 13.1 miles to celebrate 2014 BUT more importantly it was supposed to be with my friend Tammy Covarrubias.
You see Tammy has MS, and I really admire her grit and determination. She had this crazy idea that we would run this together to celebrate her 50th birthday and to celebrate mine in a few months! Her resolution was to Fight MS one step at a time. Unfortunately Tammy was unable to do the event and so at the last minute my friend Tina said she would do this with me.

relaxing in front of Macys before the event...

The Event
Running through LA from Grand to Dodger Stadium at night was certainly a treat, I was in the first Corral, I have never explored LA during the day so at night was intriguing. There was plenty of aid stations and I had my fuel belt with my Hammer gels and electrolytes so just needed to grab water.. The first 6 miles were mainly climbing I took it conservatively as was not sure what to expect. Entering Dodger Stadium was the highlight for sure!

I took out my camera and snapped a few shots I mean when will I ever get to do this again! I was all smiles and high fived a few security peeps I was so excited! On leaving the Stadium it was mainly downhill for the last half of the run. Ran past China Town and there was two awesome bands playing, one drums next to China Town and there was also steel drums near by too. There was one or two patches were the road darkened and I found myself alone for 30 40 meters! and a lot of homeless people too...With 2 miles to go we are in the lights of LA running towards Staples Center, I slow down to help a teenager he is nauseated and wobbling (he just needed some Hammer Nutrition!) then it was energy to the finish and great to see my friend Rudy on the microphone.


running through Dodger Stadium

all smiles and very happy!

Post Race
plenty of water and the medals are pretty ..the ribbons ready on memory of Boston 2013 I thought that was a nice touch.

I missed out on 3rd place 40-49 by one second! But that is okay I ran through Dodger Stadium and enjoyed every moment of taking pics, giving encouragement and running remembering my awesome friend whose idea it was in the first place to do this.

On the link below you can see the route and when I entered the stadium!went to a nice easy 19 minute mile!!
https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/user/calendar/item/analyze.ftl?id=230712834

Tammy is an inspiration and with MS completed the Arizona Ironman a few years back, despite having limited vision, difficulty in walking and crashing on her bike. She is a strong minded woman and athlete.
For ways you can help with MS check out their web site
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/index.aspx