Tomorrow’s the big stroll-o-thon along the length of Sunset Boulevard, from its original beginnings* at Union Station downtown to where it meets Pacific Coast Highway at the continent’s edge.
And the weather stands a good chance of not cooperating.  Prognostications up to Wednesday evening left me hopeful of dodging any raindrops, but since yesterday the forecast has been holding steady at a 60% chance of showers for Saturday. And as I wrote in an email update this morning to the small group of people interested in joining me, while I don’t usually pay attention to anything less than an 80% opportunity for precipitation I also don’t usually go on 24-mile walks in potentially inclement weather. Or in any weather for that matter.
The pro and con of it is that the showers are expected (at this point; who knows about three hours from now) to be of the “off and on” variety and aren’t supposed to descend until later in the day. That’s good because we’ll be more than likely to get a dry start. But that’s also bad because this is going to easily be a 12-hour march and it would suck to get soaked somewhere in the vicinity of the 405 and then wrestling with the decision to keep going or turn back.
But whatever. I’m doing the March 4 marathon rain or shine so I’m not going to let any bad weather  keep me from giving this a go and I’ll just make that choice to retire from the field where and when and if the time comes. And in the meantime I’ll just add a disposable poncho to my backpack along with a travel umbrella and an extra pair of socks.
To accentuate the positive, tomorrow’s conditions are conducive to such an endeavor. Cloudy skies and temps around 60 degrees are actually quite ideal for such a trek. I would be much more worried about doing the walk in “freak” conditions like the sun-drenched mid-80s that L.A. experienced just last weekend then doing it under a threat of rain.
But I expect the power of potential precipitation might keep all but the stalwarthiest of that handful of those interested from joining in. If so, at least they can be with me in spirit and keep tabs on whatever progress is made via the phonecam pixs (and hopefully audio)Â I’ll be posting along the way at this blog:
*With the stretch of Sunset Boulevard between Figueroa and Alameda streets renamed in 1993 to West Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, Sunset technically no longer begins at Union Station, but it once did and it’s a fine historic landmark to travel from which to commence.
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