TALES FROM THE TRAIL (AND SOMETIMES THE ROAD TOO)

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Short, Short

Today was Short, Short of Short, Short, ShortThat is 3 consecutive short runs, mid-week of my “easy” week.  If it sounds confusing, it isn’t.  I sometimes have the knack for making the straightforward sound confusing.

The skies were gray, the air heavy with water – so heavy, I needed to use my windshield wipers on the drive out to Aliso/Wood Canyons.  To top it off, with no sun in sight, the weather was a tad chilly.  If you’ve read my blog posts, you may have noticed, I DO NOT LIKE RUNNING IN COLD, DARK, WET WEATHER.  But, alas, I was ready and willing to run, and it was in the training plan.

I took off running into Wood Canyon about 10:00 this morning, and ran my semi-usual short run to Top of the World – a place in the coastal hills, named after an exclusive neighborhood up there that overlooks Laguna Beach and the Pacific Ocean.  Not many runners were out on this socked-in morning.  But as usual of late, I saw plenty of hikers and mountain bikers.  One of my neighbors rode up alongside me, and we chatted a bit before she rode off to join her husband.  It’s so fun to see people I know on the trails. 

Most of the time, I make this “out-and-back,” more of a lollipop by taking a detour onto Park Avenue Nature Trail, which loops back to Westridge at Top of the World.  The green, rocky canyon views are awesome from Park Avenue Nature Trail.  Plus, I get more elevation on the detour.  Today however, I didn’t loop it at the end of this out-and-back to make that lollipop.  Instead, I ran a true out-and-back by turning around at Top of the World and taking the exact route back.  Extending this run .15 of a mile, I completed it 13 minutes faster than yesterday’s “Short” to Top of the World.  That makes this middle-aged Mom happy.

Making my way on a Westridge “off-shoot,” headed toward a little hill I’ve named “Good Girls Don’t.”

Yup, that’s what we call “socked-in.”

Greetings once again from Top of the World:

Miles logged:  6.32

2 comments:

  1. Nice run Lauren! Shorter runs are good for us and I enjoy them. I think they are good for body and soul. Where did the name "Good Girls Don't" come from? Don't they walk on that hill?

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  2. Thanks Johann. That hill (Good Girls Don't) used to kill me. One day, when I running up it, I noticed how filthy dirty my legs were and how much I was suffering, and I remembered that young girl (me) who would have never have gotten so dirty. I was always a "girly-girl." At that moment, an old song, from my youth played on my ipod -- it's called "Good Girls Don't" (by The Knack), and I noticed if I substituted a few words, it described a trail running lady like me perfectly. : )

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