The Silver Lake walkway is bad for runners. (Hint: it’s not dirt.)

I’ve been running around the Silver Lake walkway for almost a year and a half, since the May ’07 fire in Griffith Park. This summer I got shin splints so bad I couldn’t even think, and the pain would stay for days. I took aspirin, and tried to massage my legs, or stretch them, but nothing helped. I finally realized I couldn’t ignore it anymore.  I was afraid maybe I had broken something! I dug deep in my pockets and went to a store that sells only running shoes. No more Mervyns!   ($100 is the low end of most good running shoes, but that was all I was willing to spend.)

Running stores at least pretend they know what they’re doing, look at your gait, old shoes, etc. Better, and I also tried different stretches which seemed to help. Still, I knew how LADWP had lied about the bird balls in Ivanhoe: how they never tested them for heat, or for longevity (anything over 17 days!) And how they didn’t even try alternative measures before dumping in this big oil plastic.

Fascinating photo of REAL dirt, before decomposed granite ruins it. Engineer measures.

So I did a little homemade scientific test, about the same as the DWP did when they lowered little beakers of water into a reservoir to test for bromate: I stuck my finger into the dirt track.

The path looks like dirt. It sprays when you run. It has a crunchy sound. The top layer is about 1/4 inch of sand, or dirt.  But underneath that 1/4 inch, is solid rock. THAT is what we are running on.   

After many phone calls and emails, when the DWP said they couldn’t “divulge” the makeup of the path, I found out that although the LADWP is responsible for this walkway, it was really built (and subcontracted by) the Bureau of Engineering. Not that the B of E was forthcoming either;

The thickness of decomposed granite (D.G.) is three (3) inches, and it is constructed over compacted fill material.

(This was after they informed me that all the specs of this project built less than 2 years ago are “buried in a big binder in the basement, so we can’t get them.”) Compacted fill material isn’t even listed in Google! But when I called the subcontractor who actually built the path, he said that is just dirt and sand; they didn’t import anything, just used what was there.

I pointed out that there is no 3 inches of decomposed granite there, and I finally agreed to meet with Michael Haddadin of the B Of E to observe the dirt in question. (I also got an exclusive tour of the inside of Silver Lake, which I’ll report on later, so it’s all good!)

Michael said,

Councilman LaBonge specifically told me that he wanted runners to be able to run on soft ground, so he wants the new path inside The Meadows [which they are building right now] to also have 3 inches of the decomposed granite.

Thank you, Tom, for the intention, but sometimes Councilmen don’t know as much as they think they do. Which is why they shouldn’t tell contractors what to do.

I am certain Michael didn’t know any more than I did about what decomposed granite (dg) was until now. But as we sweated in the hot sun and stared down at the earth, he said that d.g. is loose to begin with, then as people run, stroll, wheel baby carriages, bike, it becomes like – well, like granite. Within a year it’s solid rock, with a little bit of scuffed silt on the top. (and this turned to stone long before a year was up.)

So I’m running on what my kitchen counter would be like, if I had a granite one.

The path would have been GREAT if they had just used the compacted dirt and sand below, instead of throwing on the granite. The reason they did? Someone thinks sand and dirt would blow around. How often have you had sand blow in your face at the beach? How about dirt in Griffith Park, does that rise up and smack you? This is stupid non-runner and non-walker thinking. This is the thinking of people who build sidewalks. Which is what this is now.

I called the subcontractor and also the guy who laid the decomposed granite, who both confirmed that the decomposed granite turns into solid granite.  I also called granite and concrete companies, to compare the hardness under Moh’s hardness scale. I wanted to see which would be easier to run on, for my knees and joints and back, the walkway, or the road. In an amusing testosterone way, both manufacturers claimed they were harder: 9 on the the Moh’s scale of 10. (The granite company said they were harder because granite was formed in searing heat under the earth; the concrete guy said they were harder, just because (although I notice they need rebar).)

I did another one of my scientific studies: I ran half my run on the decomposed granite walkway, and half on the asphalt road. I noticed that on the road I could feel the outside edges of my (new, expensive) shoes better, like they were bouncing. I am not sure if that means the road is softer, but I think it does; maybe more experienced runners can help with this.

All the contractors said we could use dirt, sand and or a rubberized decomposed granite, instead.  There are LOTS of choices. ANYTHING would be better than running on rock!!

Message to Councilman Tom LaBonge: I hope I don’t sound too liberal here, but did you stop to think about the women (runners) and children? (And we have something else to be concerned about: this is not how women want their breasts to jiggle!) Did you think how all generations to come will be running on STONE? Please make the new walkway inside Silverlake out of a gentler, softer material. Don’t be afraid of regular dirt!!! It’s in most parks, Mayor Tom! That would be 10 times softer (on the Moh’s scale of Runner’s Hardness) than this crap we have now.

Also, please tell me who I should send my invoice for my new shoes to.