I may have tweaked my back last week but there was no way that I was going to be kept from the inaugural Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood 5K on Saturday.  I even got up at dark-thirty to take the train to the tourist heart of Hollywood (Hollywood and Highland).

Hard Rock Cafe 5K

It is dark in the car with my number. The “Good Luck” message was taken post race.

The plan was to meet my fellow SCLB member, Jennifer@RealMomofSFV at the start line and let her know that I was going to walk the distance due to my injury but let’s just say that I got a little caught up in the energy of 10,000 runners.  

Hard Rock Cafe 5K, Hollywood, running, RealMomofSFV

Getting caught up in the moment with Jennifer@RealMomofSFV at the Hard Rock Cafe 5K.

Just being on Hollywood Boulevard as the sun was rising was pretty special and so I ran more than I walked.  I wasn’t concerned about time (although I did come in 999th place – a cool number) but it was fun to learn that David Beckham and Eva Longoria were among the participants.

Hard Rock Cafe 5K, run, Hollywood

It was great to be in LA for an event like this but as a Duran Duran fan, I am sad not to be in NYC right now.   The David Lynch “Unstaged” movie is being screened at the MoMA tonight (twice!) with a Q&A and cocktail party with the band and I’m more than disappointed that I’m not in NY to attend this event.  To cheer myself up, I decided to get a little LA Duran fix that I hadn’t yet experienced since moving west!

First, I asked the Hard Rock Cafe if they had any Duran Duran memorabilia on-site.  They didn’t but they did show me this very cool Astronaut tour guitar that they have in one of their cafes in Africa.  I like the Astronaut album a lot.

Duran Duran, Astronaut, Hard Rock Cafe memorabilia

Duran Duran “Astronaut” guitar in a Hard Rock Cafe in Africa

Then I took a walk (which is unheard of in LA) because it was 80 degrees in November and took myself to see these 2 Duran-centric sights:

Capitol Records, Duran Duran, Walk of Fame

The iconic Capitol Records building (Duran’s old label) and the Duran star on the Walk of Fame.

I’m hoping that my fellow Duranies that will be attending the MoMA event will be on Facebook and Twitter and sharing details.  I’ll try my best not to mope or be bitter about not being there myself. I’m not holding my breath that there will be a similar LA event but it would certainly be nice! However, I am hoping that whenever Duran announces the 2014 tour dates for the new album, that this will be the year that I get prime seats and score a meet & greet ticket!  Fingers crossed!

If you are one of the people going to the MoMA event, I hope you’ll share details soon!