Familiar Ground

My husband fixed my camera.  He could not fix my garmin .  I’ve heard runners comment that they feel free when they run without their garmins.  This is not the case with me.  In fact, without my garmin, I feel like my freedom had been taken away.  I couldn’t run any route I wanted. No garmin, no stats.  Therefore, I had to run a route that I had data for.  Why?  Because I am a stats person.  I love my stats.  They are part of who I am.

This morning, I hit some familiar ground and ran a loop that I have run many times.  It goes up Aliso Canyon and hits Mentally Sensitive via Meadows Trail.  The route is a tranquil one, that is until I hit the climb on Mentally sensitive.  Then WHAM.  Today, as usual, the climb in parts was such that it’s difficult to stand upright.  Sooooo fun!

The nice n’ easy part of Mentally Sensitive:

The miserable, yet lovely climb on Mentally Sensitive:

My loop continued on along the ridge where I came to my half-way point at Top of the World.  I stopped for a moment to snap a picture, because I take one or two pictures EVERY SINGLE TIME I reach Top of the World. 

From there, the trails ran pretty much downhill.  I took the ridge (West Ridge) to Mathis.  Mathis is a truck trail, not technical at all, and completely exposed.  Fortunately, I had some cloud cover today.  Still, the weather was a bit humid. 

I crossed Wood Creek on Mathis into Wood Canyon where I ran Wood Canyon Trail back to Aliso Canyon and closed up the loop.  I finished much stronger than I have lately.  And I must say, it was nice not to have a clunky garmin strapped to my wrist.  But I still have my stats:  Miles 10.9, with an elevation gain of 2,297 feet.

Thus concludes day 6 of my streak.

Top of the World:

Creek Crossing on Mathis: