For those of you who have seen the movie “Crash” you know that it’s a bit taboo to ride the public transit in L.A. Or, so I thought. I had been told that the subway exists, but most people seldom use it.

Well, today Jeff was on a film shoot, and I was going to be the only person in the office. How was I to get home? Well, I looked at a map of Pasadena, and determined it was only a mile and a half to the train station.

A mile and a half, I said to myself. Nothing. True, longer than the walk from my old apartment to school, but I could walk a mile and a half. I’m on my way to RUNNING one, for goodness sake.

So, today I wore my sneaks, and when 3:30 rolled around, I locked up the office, put my backpack on, and headed to the train. Luckily enough, I ran into K who also works at Poly, and he told me he was also on his way to the train! So off we went. He chuckled a little when I mentioned that a) I was going to walk and b) that I had never taken the metro. He takes it every day, over an hour each way, from way down by the water. That, my friends, is a hike.

Because I was with K, the walk was short. We got to the metro, he showed me how to buy a ticket, and off we went. He even switched to the same line I was switching to, which made it really easy. The metro is just as clean (and sometimes just as dirty) as Boston’s T, or Chicago’s El. I was surprised to learn it’s only $1.25 each ride, thank you very much. From my stop to the apartment it’s a mere half mile, which rounded my walk off to 2 miles. When I got home I wasn’t angry from driving, my back didn’t hurt from clenching, and I had learned a lot about my coworker and listened to some tunes.

It took about an hour and a half, and driving takes about an hour. But, exercise was about a half hour, so I’m pumped.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll take the train, too. Anything’s possible.