Turning the Tide

I have been sneezing all evening.  And I’m not a sneezer.  I hate sneezing.  I hate being “under the weather” even a tiny bit.  I use it as an excuse to be a glutton, eat junk food, drink wine or a really thick ale, and then tada – I’m even sicker.  Smart thinking eh?

I never claimed to be smart, though I may be smarter than the average bear.  (If you grew up in the U.S. and are about my age, this may make sense.).

Anyway, it took me a day to get over Saturday’s race performance.  Actually, my “performance” wasn’t terrible.  It was the mental defeat and physical breakdown that was terrible.  The sore throat lingered, and I slept A LOT before, and especially after the race.  But now, I’m scared to death of April’s 50k (which does a lot of the same trails as Saturday’s race).  So even in my fatigue and apparent “cold”, I worked hard on Sunday.  I worked hard on sleeping, eating right, ab work, glute work, upper body weight training, rolling, not to mention my household chores that were neglected all week long (because I worked every day – yay!!!).  It’s time for the tide to turn!

Today, I had a reprieve.  That is, I got to (yes, that’s “got to”, as in “was fortunate” to run with Steve Harvey again to take down the 21k race markers.  Yup the very race that nearly defeated me.). 

Aside from waiting for Steve at THE WRONG gate, I had a nice pleasant run, beneath cool, gray skies.  It was lovely.  And as usual, the company, grand.  To top it off, I got the added bonus of learning about new trails (& I thought I knew nearly all of them up there!  I suppose I will never know all of them).

Before I continue on with the pictures, because I took lots on this grey day, let me say this.  1)  Running the loop going DOWN West Horsethief, UP Trabuco, is a much more pleasant run than the reverse, 2) Running it lackadaisically with fun company is also a much more pleasant run than racing it in the opposite direction, and 3) Racing this weekend’s 21k pretty much scared the cra* out of me as far as April’s 50k is concerned, not to mention, my overall physical capabilities being way under par.  4)  I’m pretty much back to my “scared to death” status that had pretty much left me after my grand Saddleback Marathon comback.  5) And so, starting tomorrow, I’m putting on the ritz!  Natural foods, no cheese, no wine, and I’m adding lots more core and strength training (once again, but this time without a gym membership) to my regimen.

With that said (or rather written), back to today’s run.  The lovely pictures (have I ever mentioned how very, very fortunate I am – really.  I promised my son that I wouldn’t post this, but I must today.  Saturday, a few hours after the 21k as I lay on the couch resting, my son was hit by a car while riding his bike.  Thankfully, the driver was paying attention and hit the brakes in time so that my son landed on top of his hood.  No head injury, no problems whatsoever so far.  We are watching the bruise/bump on his leg – but again, so fortunate am I (not to mention he!)  He won’t read this blog, so therefore, won’t know that I posted this : ) : 

Taking down a marker on The Main Divide:

Running along The Main Divide:

Steve running the Main Divide:

East Holy Jim (If my memory serves me correctly – I gotta run this trail):

Heading down Horsethief (I decided not to post the picture of me giving Horsethief “the finger.”  Because I never really give anybody “the finger.”)

Horsethief really is beautiful:

Horsethief coming to an end:

Going up Trabuco, which I believe I’ve only done once before.  I’ve run down it many, many times.  Climbing Trabuco, oddly, I hardly recognized it:

(10.33 miles logged today):