Expedition Team: Dave Miller
Date: Spring 1991
Rosie and I were training for the race but Rosie become pregnant with Matt and had to bow out. Being a spring race it was horrible doing long training runs in the Ohio winter cold. I flew out to LA. The hotel was by the airport and I enjoyed filming the large planes coming in and landing. I had two days to kill before the race and drove 100 northwest to Victorville where I toured the Roy Rogers Western Museum. I just missed seeing Roy but he autographed and mailed a bunch of photos and comics to me. I drove to famous Forest Lawn Cemetery where many Hollywood celebrities are buried. I drove through Beverly Hills and took photo of the homes of many past and present stars.
On race day I took a bus to the Los Angeles Basketball Arena where the LA Clippers play, the race starting point. There were 20,000 runners in the race. LA Mayor Tom Bradley, TV star Karl Malden, Mohammed Ali (Photo#2) and other celebrities were at the starting area and fired the gun. I carried a camera with me and got photos of USA Olympic sprint star Flo-Jo Joyner (Photo#4) , Mann’s Chinese Theater with the Hollywood Walk of Stars, danced with the Simpson’s TV characters and other sights along the way. At mile 17 you could see the iconic “Hollywood” sign on Hollywood Hills leading to Burbank (Photo#8). The temperature climbed to 74 degrees and it became a tough run. I started to get calf cramps at mile 19. I had to slow down the last seven miles and finished in 5hrs 19 minutes about 45 minutes longer than I wanted but it was worth it. The finish line was at the LA Coliseum where USC and the LA Rams play.
