New Goal Late in the Game for 2012

Still not training, still resting while running.  I plan to continue my “rest” until early December.  Some will wonder how I can rest and run.  It’s fairly simple.  I’m running trails merely for the sake of running trails.  I have no other goals, but to enjoy.  I don’t care whether I run them slowly, whether I feel weak or strong.  I don’t care about negative splits.  I just want to enjoy the trails. 

Yesterday it dawned on me that I was less than 200 hundred miles from hitting 2,000 miles this year.  While deciding on a year-end mileage goal, I settled on 2,012 miles for 2012.  Being that the goal is less than 200 miles away, it’s a doable goal, even while “resting.”

This morning it was a usual routine for me.  Being that the boys (and myself) are on Thanksgiving break (an entire week), I decided to wake early for a run.  I woke to my 5:30 AM alarm, pushed the snooze button on my phone, turned over and slept until my alarm sang out once again.  Then I walked out to the living room, cuddled up on the couch and fell back asleep. 

I finally woke at 8:00 AM and was out the door driving to Aliso/Wood Canyons at about 8:30.  The trails were full of mountain bikers.  I saw runners mainly on the asphalt portion of Aliso Creek Trail.  The skies were gray, the weather pleasurably cool. 

Stretching out extremely tight calves in Wood Canyon (sure I’m still a little sleepy & OH BOY, do I need a haircut!!):

Entering Meadows Trail:

I turned onto Meadows Trail for a clockwise short-ish loop to the Top of the World and around back through Wood Canyon.  I kind of lost myself in the trail and found myself looking down as I ran.  I try never to look down because it makes difficult for a straight column.  I know, it’s difficult not to sometimes look down on trails, especially on technical trails.  Even then, I tend to look out, always a few steps ahead – kind of like a chess game, always thinking a few moves ahead.

Anyway, I was running, looking to the dirt with no thought, nothing going on in my mind.  I was just “being.”  Then suddenly I looked up and saw that I was about to crash into two deer.  No lie!!  They were on the trail feeding on brown grass along the trail’s edge just a few feet away.  This seemed to occur in slow motion, but really only a couple seconds passed.  It’s as if the animals didn’t notice me until I noticed myself.  When I became aware, they became aware.  I scrambled for my camera, they looked up,  and if I could read their minds and they thought human thoughts, I would say they thought, “Oh crap, it’s a human!”  And they ran off.

I caught a photo of them as they ran off:

And then I turned a bend in the trail and saw a buck and two more does:

Running up Meadows, a biker to pass (& I did):

About to clear Meadows Trail (Whew!):

A stainless steel home at Top of the World, a lovely home, but I can’t help but think about ALL THE FINGERPRINTS, and constantly wiping them down:

Running down Mathis Trail:

Mathis on a beautiful day as the gray clouds depart for lofty white clouds and blue skies:

Running the final stretch, I ran a short detour to catch a look at some historic farm equipment (a harvester):