Today was Short, Short of Short, Short, Short. That 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
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?
ReplyDeleteThanks 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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