That’s Not Runnin’, That’s Playin’

I had this week’s workouts all planned, two “short” runs, two gym days.  Then I would rest on Friday before the big day: SATURDAY. (Yikes!).

Monday, I got the boys off to school then returned home and got back in bed.  I slept until 12:30 PM.  TWELVE.  THIRTY.  I guess I was tired.  No run on Monday.  No gym on Monday.

Okay, so change of plans: two “short” runs and one gym day.

Tuesday morning, I got a 7:10 AM call to substitute teach.  Not being in the position to turn down work, I took the job and afterward drove to my regular job for a very long work day.  No run on Tuesday.  No gym on Tuesday.

My carefully laid-out plans for this week’s workouts were shot in just two days.  This morning I had to admit something to myself.  Training for Saddleback is OVER.  There’s nothing I can really gain (except for some rest) that will prepare me any more for Saturday.

And so today I laced up my shoes, strapped on my pack and hit the trails for some fun running.  Actually, it was more like playing.  But isn’t all running really playing?  I know I get a little serious about it at times, as if it’s my lifeline, but really I just want to have fun.  That’s why I love trail running so much – because it’s fun!

I’m kind of glad my plans were shot.  Otherwise, I may have not got in such a fun run.

Heading up Wood Creek Trail, it’s still a bit chilly:

By the number of spider webs I broke through, I could tell I was the first runner on Wood Creek Today:

Dozens of these enormous webs hung high throughout the wooded trails:

The sun warms up this single track (Coyote Run) as hundreds if not thousands (seriously) of crows gawk and fly about from tree to tree:

View of Wood Canyon and Coyote Run below from the Nature Loop Trail that brought me high above the creek and to this awesome view of new green growth:

Some delightful feathery blooms:

Photo Op on Cave Rock Trail against THE rock:

Running down Cave Rock Trail:

Entering Meadows Trail with no anxiety over the approaching climb:

Approaching top of Meadows Trail and look what’s in the distance – hint:  Saddleback Marathon:

Top of Meadows showing off Pacific Ocean (Laguna Beach) with an awkward pose :

I just love these goats:

Top of the World and feeling great!:

Heading back to truck along West Ridge (notice background – Saturday!!):

10.25 Miles run today (approx. 16.5 km):

Will These Socks Work?

I stand now at the start line as my race season begins.  I suppose it’s now the “moments of truth,” as I’ve got a few races planned over the next five weeks.  Time to find out if all my training helped.

I know one thing for sure, I’m going into this year’s season in better shape than last year, and with no repetitive use injuries.  Although, the other day, it seemed I strained one or more of my chest muscles, not by running, but by strength training.  I am happy, so very happy to report a two-day recovery for that strain.

First up, in less than 7 days, I’m set to pace my friend Hank for the last 20 miles of Twin Peaks 50.  There’s not much more I could have done to prepare for this.  Besides training, I’ve memorized the route, I’ve run to the peak as much as I could take the time to do so.  And I ran to the peak from the bottom.  I start mile thirty from the Main Divide which cuts out a MAJOR climb.  Now, I’m just fine tuning – things like, filling the headlamp and flashlight with fresh batteries, washing my stinky hydration pack and deciding on attire (it may get cold).  And since I usually wear thin socks, I decided to run today in the pair I’ve chosen for Twin Peaks.  They are really comfy, warmer socks that I’ve never worn with the shoes that I’ve been training in recently, and also wearing next Sunday.  Today I put the combo together and went out and ran 12 miles of trails.

Yellow!  A good sign, my favorite color

We’ve got a cool down in Southern California.  The skies are blue with white puffy clouds.  The reptiles are lethargic, the rattlers unseen.  Rain is even forecasted for the next couple days (not good for my local trails!  They close them in the rain )  Today however, I didn’t need to worry about that.  My run was tranquil.  I barely needed fluids, though I packed plenty.  I didn’t even take in gels or solids.  I’d call it a very comfortable run.  Most everything was beautiful to my eyes.  Often I couldn’t resist a picture.  At times I escaped the present and the thoughts turned negative, but mostly I just ran.  I didn’t stop because I was tired.  I stopped because I was just plain ole tired of running.  My husband said, “What are you doing?  You still have time to run.”  He knows me.

Some scenes from my “winding down run”:

Off in the distance is where I’m pacing next weekend:

Top of the World (overlooking Laguna Beach/Pacific Ocean):

Running the rolling hills of West Ridge:

It’s all down hill from here:

Sycamore Grove (Wood Canyon):

The final stretch (about 3.5 miles remain):

Miles logged this morning:  12.02:

Oh ya.  The socks were comfy as usual and worked wonderfully!

Normal People

When I arrived home from this morning’s run my husband said, shaking his head jokingly, “When I saw your new [minimalist] shoes here, I knew you weren’t going for a short run.” 

“I only ran twelve miles.” 

He laughed.  So did my oldest son.  “Why can’t you be like a normal person and run a three mile short run?” 

“Ya!”  piped in sonny boy.  “Mom’s short run is ten to twenty miles!!”

Now, that’s NOT true.  Twenty miles is a long run.  And I CAN run three miles, but I’m not sure that makes me “normal.”  Just most of the time, I don’t want to run three miles.  If I’m going to get into the truck and drive twenty minutes to the closest trails, I’m not going to run three miles.  Sure, if I wanted to run out my door, which I do occasionally, I’d run three miles.  That would be just fine with me (assuming I already got in 25+ miles for the week). 

Maybe I’m not “normal.”

Does anyone recall that song with the line “If loving you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right . . .?”  I don’t remember who originally sang it, but in Junior High I bought Rod Stewart’s album, Footloose and Fancy Free, and I played that song again and again.   

Funny, those words are kind of how I feel about trails.

This morning, I ran the big loop at Aliso/Wood Canyons, but ran it counter-clockwise.  I rarely do that.  Usually I run up Meadows Trail in a clockwise loop,  which is much steeper climbing, but the major climbing is pretty much over after Meadows.  Counter-clockwise, I run a continuous gradual climb for quite some time (see elevation profile below) and then I get to fly (I mean run) down Meadows. 

The park was crowded with a multitude of people this cool August morning.  I was “Miss Chatty Cathy” chatting with anyone who would talk to me.  Talking with the ranger first, I learned that what I thought was a ferret a few weeks ago was actually a long-tailed weasel (which is related to the ferret).  I also talked to several hikers from a local hiking club making their way through Wood Creek Trail.  I said a few words to some of the Mater Dei High School cross country team as every single one of them ran past me.  And I even stopped on West Ridge for a bit to chat with an adult student that took, I believe two of the Photoshop classes that I teach. 

Normal people?  These teen cross country runners did at least a 9 mile out-and-back.

Wood Creek Trail entrance

A view on Wood Creek Trail that I seldom see since I almost always run it in the opposite direction.

Dainty flowers along West Ridge Trail

Looks like a party at Top of the World

Running Top of the World toward Meadows Trail (Looking down on Laguna Beach city and Pacific Ocean)

Ready to descend on Meadows Trail 

12.05 miles (19.39 km) run this morning

Elevation Profile: +1,702’/-1723’

Round Two: 2:02!!

With rain in the forecast for the next three days, I decided to go for round two on my timed loop this week.  I felt good, but slightly slower running through Wood Canyon. (And I had to stop and retie my shoe again – for some reason, I keep tying the left shoe too tight!).  Even so, I ran to the end of wood canyon about a minute faster than usual.

I had some strict rules today running up Meadows Trail.  1)  Don’t look back, 2) Don’t look at the top and 3) Stay in the exact moment of my step, just look to my feet.  I didn’t make up these rules, my running friend, Tom, told me about rules 2 & 3 long ago.  The rules helped out for a good portion of that steep switch-back someone thought they’d misleadingly name Meadows Trail  (sure you run through a meadow – but most of the trail is up, up, up).  Let me tell you, I found it quite difficult to follow the rules.  I felt like Lot’s wife, so, so tempted to look back on Sodom and Gomorrah.  She looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.  I stopped myself several times from looking back and was only crusted with salt.

Overall, Meadows wiped me out!  Still, I made it to the top in 1:03 (a minute faster than yesterday).  Also different from yesterday, I seemed to recuperate faster after Meadows.  And therefore, I picked up my pace some running through the neighborhoods.  I entered Aliso/Wood Canyons Park again a whole four minutes faster than usual.  That nearly made me giddy.  (I didn’t want to get too giddy, because that’s when I fall.)

At top of Meadows Trail, running the ridgeline overlooking Pacific Ocean (& Laguna Beach)

When I hit West Ridge, as already mentioned, a whole four minutes early, I blasted down the hill, and I pushed the uphills hard.  I held onto a tiny bit of hope that I could make two hours, and even a little more hope that I could at least beat yesterday’s time. 

I rounded the corner onto Cholla Trail with 8 minutes to spare before the two hour mark.  Man!  So close! 

“I’ll never . . . “ I thought to myself.  I was going to think “I’ll never do it!”  But I screamed inside my head, “Stop!  DON’T EVEN THINK IT.”  And I ran.  I ran right into a camera crew setting up their big flash screens amongst a cluster of pretty mountain bikers in brand new clothes.  I could have sworn one of the photographers took a picture of me (If so,  really wouldn’t want to see that picture).  Anyway, I literally plowed through the group, smiling of course, sweat pouring off my visor. 

Whew!  What a run!  What a ride. 

I made my best time since I began timing this loop:  2 hours 2 minutes (see below for complete times including seconds for this exhilarating 9.5 mile loop.)

I finally remembered to take an “After” photograph

The Loop (yesterday’s post has an elevation profile if you are so inclined)

I do not start or stop the garmin until I cross this line.

My times for this 9.5 loop (Canyon Vistas Park, Wood Canyon to the end, backtrack to Meadows, across Top of the World, through Alta Laguna Park, up and down West Ridge, down Cholla and back up through Canyon Vistas):

12/3/10    2:24:35

12/9/10    2:12:08

1/26/11    2:13:04

2/2/11      2:11:17

2/10/11    2:04:48

2/23/11    2:05:39

2/24/11    2:02:47 – almost, almost there!

Snake Run

Saturday, I needed to take care of a residual from my face plant a month ago (Big Baz WTRS 15k).  Whereas my eye actually improved a great deal initially, this week it took a turn for the worse.  It was red and painful.

Turns out, something went into my eye during the fall.  Though whatever it was is no longer there, my eye didn’t react well to the intrusion.  A cyst formed in response, which in turn began irritating blood vessels.  “Thank God you didn’t damage the cornea,” the optometrist said.  And then she went on to say, in not so many words, that women “our age” shouldn’t be taking falls like that.  In my defense, I told her, “Well, I normally don’t fall like that; I was trying to avoid the cliff, so I fell awkwardly.  Usually, I fall much better.”

I’m sure that convinced her that women “our age” are okay to take falls like that.  She sent me off with an eye-drop prescription.  And already, my eye has greatly improved.

Saturday night, I went to bed at 9PM.  I could still hear the boys roughing up the place and didn’t fall asleep until after 9:30.  Up at 5:20 AM, I sat on the couch fooling around on the computer, avoiding getting dressed.  Not that I didn’t want to run.  I greatly looked forward to my long run this morning.  I was just too dang cold (we are so spoiled weather-wise in California – I’m guessing it was 40/45 F).  6:30 AM I was finally out the door and in the car to drive to my local trails (why, Aliso/Wood Canyons, of course).  My plan today was to run every trail up to the ridge and every trail down.  In other words, I ran up the first one (Cholla), ran along the ridge to the next trail into the canyon (Lynx), ran down it, ran up the next one, etc., etc.  The last trip down was Meadows (the beast!) which after running I turned around and ran up it to make the trip back.  Technically, I suppose this 19+ mile run was an out-and-back, but not exactly.  I made a few alterations on the back trip.  It was more like a snake route, back and forth, back and forth.

“Before” (I had planned to take an “After” shot, but forgot), standing in Canyon Vistas Park, layered and ready to take off.

The weather remained cool my entire run, though I stripped those layers pretty quickly.  Running through spider webs on the single tracks, I found myself smiling instead letting out yelps like I used to.  My thought was, “Ahhh, I’m the first one on this trail this morning.”  I would wave my hand in front of my face when running through spider-like areas.  Once a web broke on my upper lip.  I didn’t utter a peep.

Later, I found myself semi-frequently dodging mountain bikers.  Guided groups of hikers also roamed the hillsides.  I ran past one such group struggling up Mathis.  They smiled and shook their heads in amusement as I snaked my way up the mini-beast.  I have avoided Mathis for a while now, because it is so painful.  Surprisingly and happily, I found Mathis Trail quite comfortable to run.  Not at all saying that it was easy.  Just that all those runs up Meadows Trail have miniaturized other trails like Mathis.

Hours later, after running back up Meadows Trail on my way to West Ridge, I met that same hiking group while I ran across Top of the World.  One of the guys exclaimed, “It’s you again, I can’t believe you’re still running!” 

“You’re still hiking!”  It was like meeting old friends.  Turns out I set off this morning at the same time as this hiking group (7 AM).

Running down Lynx Trail in the cool morning shade, spring flowers already dot the hillsides.  (Running back up this at about mile 18 was a bear – no shade!!)

Spring flowers Along Rock It Trail

Dodging Mountain Bikers on Rock It

Car Wreck Trail

Finishing Up Car Wreck

Posing with 2-Headed Dragon I Found on the Trail

Top of the World View of the Pacific Ocean, Catalina Island & Laguna Beach

A Little Detour on Park Avenue Trail (Trip Back)

19.29 Miles: +4,031/-4033 SUPER FUN SNAKE RUN!