Posts Tagged ‘alanis morissette’

The “Stars” Come Out at the Los Angeles Marathon

Two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Marathon brought out the crowds, the celebrities and the Hollywood press, and the combination was more entertaining than the race itself.

The first thing to note is that our concept of “celebrity” seems to be ever expanding, since most of the celebrities who took part in the race were in fact stars of “reality” TV shows. Nevertheless, it was enough to generate a slew of stories and blog posts.

The headliner was Shia LaBeouf, star of the Transformers movies and co-conspirator in the worst Indiana Jones movie. He was the most photographed, but his 4:35 finish prompted some criticism of his lack of speed.

Perhaps he was too mellow because he was listening to Tibetan monk chants while running. To his credit, Shia ran to benefit U.S. Vets, which provides assistance to homeless veterans.

Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin ran a 5:16. (Did anyone chant “Rudy! Rudy!” at the finish?)

Hell’s Kitchen star and veteran marathoner Gordon Ramsay was forced to drop out at about mile 15 due to a calf injury, though that didn’t stop Access Hollywood with crediting him with a 3:36 finish.

Singer Alanis Morissette registered and ran in the race, but either didn’t finish or forgot to wear her chip.

And among the celebrity spectators were director Rob Reiner, actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and large Samoan-American Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

But if you want to know what the race itself was like, don’t bother with all those articles. The best account comes from our own celebrity marathoner, Danica the Chic Runner, who combined a strong race, a detailed photo-essay, and a series of firefighter-gropings into an outstanding blog post.

Alanis Morissette Joins the Celebrity Marathoner List

Singer Alanis Morissette completed her first marathon last Sunday in a time of 4:17:03, which placed her 164th in a field of 360. The Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon starts a mile-high in the Lassen National Forest in northern California, but is a net downhill race.

Morissette ran to raise money for the National Eating Disorders Association and called her first marathon experience “truly beautiful and electric and traumatic and exciting and horrifying and surreal and moving and unforgettable.”

Another participant wrote:

I was running behind a woman for awhile with “life, nature, love” on her singlet, but never paid another glance.  It turned out later that this was Alanis Morissette running her first marathon – and she was totally focused on her own music and pace (honestly, she looked pretty strong).

She’s also smiling in all her race photos (scroll to the bottom of this web page), which is annoying for those of us who always look like Grim Death.