A Byrd's Eye View

Bodhissatva Bug Spray

Today, I got to do a completely different Bodhissatva function. I helped out at an aid station for the LA Marathon.

As some of you may recall, I joined a walking/running/marathon training group (the "LA Leggers") back in August after I had a severe high blood pressure episode and decided to start exercising more.

I suffered an injury to my foot in November, and had to pull back on my training at about the 10-mile mark, but I decided to pitch in to support my group at an LA Leggers aid station at the big event today anyway.

So, today I was up at 5:15 am again! (Yesterday I had to get up at the same ungodly hour to go down to the LA County jail for visiting hours). Tomorrow, I'll be able to sleep until 6:00 on a work morning - what a luxury!!!

Anyway, I met my friend Michele and some other LA Leggers for breakfast at the 5-Star Omni Hotel in downtown LA, where the Legger group was kicking off for the Marathon's start at Universal City. The five star price for a breakfast of bacon and eggs? $12.50!! And that's not even including a cup of coffee! Youch! In all fairness, however, they did not have the usual little plastic jam packets with the tear-off tops. They had a high-class little lazy-susan in the middle of the table that held tiny, single serving glass jars of marmalade and jam with the labels in German and French. Lah-dee-dah. I guess that accounts for the price.

After breakfast, we headed out to Mile 22 of the 26.2 mile marathon course, where we set up a couple of card tables with water, salty pretzels, hard candy, and some beverage called "Accelerade", which looks like Hawaiian Punch, but is supposed to contain some fabulous minerals or other. And then we waited as the first hardy front-runners came around the corner, heading into the home stretch.

We cheered and cheered, and then waited for the big surge of team members to come by - when they did, my SGI-USA Byakuren Group experience really came in handy. I was armed with a spray bottle filled with something called "Fit 'N Kool" (or maybe it's "Kool 'N Fit"), an anesthetic spray which smells pretty medicinal. There was a big, gallon-sized spray bottle with a long hose and nozzle on it - it really looked like something you would use to kill termites. So, in honor of this mission, today my Bodhissatva name was "Bodhissatva Bug Spray."

I had another "I love LA" experience with this marathon experience. There were all kinds of folks out there running the big one. All races, all sizes, all ages, and all genders. There was one ancient Asian fellow who was actually one of the faster runners - he must have been 80 years old. I thought - wow! I want to be like that when I'm old and gray! There were also a bunch of young people in aqua-blue shirts that said "Students Run LA" - these were kids who had been drafted out of the public schools, who had been in training for months for the big day. I was really glad to see them out there.

My mission was not just to watch in amazement as my fellow Angelenos huffed and puffed past the aid station. I was there to help my team-mates. The Leggers would troupe up to the card tables, exhausted and sweating, and I would step forward and spray their calves and quads and ankles with the anesthetic stuff in the bug spray jar so that the Leggers could get going again and finish up their race.

We had one near-emergency when a fellow (not a Legger, but we helped him anyway) collapsed at our aid station, clutching at his twitching legs in agony. We sprayed him down, and one of us massaged his legs for him. Ultimately, he was able to get up and soldier on. Talk about a never-give-up spirit! I was impressed.

So, today, my bodhissatva mission was just to provide what relief and assistance I could to those stalwart souls who were out there running the full 26.2.

Sometimes, supporting is all that we can do, and I know that it's appreciated.

Be healthy, be supportive, be cool.

Byrd in LA

Posted by wahzoh at March 2, 2008 04:37 PM