Gorgeous Gloomy Skies

My heart sang as I drove over the hill to see gray skies above Aliso Wood Canyons Park. We had five runners for a 6:30 AM start. I was happy to be there, my hand completely healed. A new member, Larry, showed, as well as Luis, who I’ve been calling Leo, which turns out to be his initials, as well as, ever-faithful running friends, Victoria and Tom (the first runners to accompany me on these Wednesday runs.)

We began at a pretty quick pace (for me) against a cool breeze. I took up the end and plugged in that bright pink ipod to keep these feet moving at a constant pace. Since this is “My Run,” sayeth Tom, I picked the route.

Well, I could not face the idea of climbing Mathis this morning. So, after pretty mild terrain, and the lovely Coyote Run trail that proceeds above the stream, we headed up, up, up via Rockit. Though difficult (at least for me – the others, especially Larry, seemed to plow up that thing), Rockit isn’t as tough as Mathis. I think it’s not as tough because there are brief moments of leveling out on the hilliest part, and there’s the fun single track further up. (For some reason, the thinner the trail, the easier it seems).

Then onto Westridge we climbed some more under gorgeous gloomy skies. After a break at The Top of the World, we headed back down Westridge, and took a right onto that oldie-but-goodie, Mathis. Mathis is such a delight on the downhill – nice and wide, plenty of visibility. That made it easy to focus (especially important for me after Saturday’s fall). After a detour onto Dripping Cave Trail and a quick stop into that hiding cave, we were off again to finish this Wednesday’s run with 10.8 total miles.

The sun did not show its face all morning, and I felt a lot stronger coming in today than I have the past many runs at Aliso Woods. I’m hoping this is a trend.

Again, a great group today. I feel lucky. It’s good to be the laggard – the others drive you to run harder, and that’s a fine place to be.