Nostalgia

Day 14: I hit the trails in Aliso/Wood Canyons Wilderness park.  The weather was perfectly warm with an almost hot breeze, a nostalgic breeze.  The weather brought back many memories as I ran through the two canyons.   I’ve been running the trails in this park for a long time.  There was a time I could get lost here.  There was a time that I did get lost here.  There was a time when I had not yet run every single trail in the park.   Now I know them all. 

On the morning of my 14th day in this running streak, I decided to take the toughest climb to the ridge.  That’s right, Mentally Sensitive (better known in my mind as “Psycho Path.”) 

It’s deceiving at first:

After all the nice, pretty stuff, Mentally Sensitive dumps you out onto an asphalt road for a little jaunt.  There was this guy to warn me off from the evils of “Psycho Path.”

But I didn’t take his warnings because sometimes I am insanely determined.  It was pretty dang miserable too, so steep and difficult it was.  Can it get any better?  This is the top of Mentally Sensitive:

And this is at Top of the World (overlooking Laguna Beach):

I finished up the eleven trail miles a little sluggish, as the warm winds brought back memories of finishing up these trails with drastically less vigor.  I recalled coming out of this canyon many times ready to collapse.  I recalled the friends that I suffered with on these very trails in hot, hot weather, and how we quietly bonded in our suffering.  Boy!  That’s great stuff.  Remembering those runs nearly made me cry. 

When I got home I registered for a Spartan Race (come September!  One month prior to Twin Peaks!!!).  What the heck was I thinking?   It was the nostalgia I tell you!  Nostalgia made me do it.  Wasn’t that what got me into trail running in the first place? Yes, indeed it was.  If I hadn’t camped in Calico as a young Girl Scout, I probably wouldn’t be a trail runner today. 

Day 15:  I began my burpee training.  And as my husband watched me struggle off to the side, he said, “Ummmm, I think you have a problem.”  He said out loud what I knew.  How can I be so weak and at the same time be able to run for so many miles.  Well, first off, I hardly cross train any more.  And I also don’t swim any more.  Something to change.  But first, after a good sweat and some rapid burpee heart beats, I took off for a minimum run around the neighborhood.  On the 15th day of my running streak, I ran 1.32 miles.