This morning I drove up Ortega Highway for a run with a veteran trail runner, Steve Harvey. He showed me trails I’ve never heard of, mostly single-track, in the San Mateo Wilderness. Colorful spring flowers dotted the trail edges. A welcomed cool breeze blew occasionally beneath a hot sun on often exposed trails. The trail markers reminded me of make-shift grave markers.
I got lots of advice on my training plan for Twin Peaks. And right now I’m feeling a little more confident about what I signed myself up for. I’m so grateful for this run and the knowledge and confidence I gained. I am now armed with “I can do it.” This is opposed to “I’m not sure I can do it.” Or worse yet, “I doubt I can do it.”
We ran past a helicopter rotor on the mountain floor. I couldn’t help imagine the helicopter plummeting down. You really never know what you’ll come across trail running. Helicopter parts was a first for me. We also came to yet another “Four Corners.” But this one was the meeting of FIVE trails. LOL. Then we climbed a foot sliding steep trail to Sitton Peak, where we did some sittin’. 
One piece of advice Steve gave me was to find a good technical downhill and work on really opening up on it. He said that I won’t run the technical downhills that fast in an ultra, but I’ll run them more confidentially. We ran a technical downhill on the way back when Steve took off surprisingly fast, hoping from side to side for the best path. He disappeared from sight in an instant. I have considered myself a decent technical down hill runner, in fact, this is pretty much my strong point. This morning I had to push it to catch Steve. I focused hard, several steps ahead and ran it much faster than I normally would have. It was a blast!
San Mateo Wilderness with grave-marker-like trail markers:
Sitton Peak:
Running back to the trailhead on trails less-traveled:
It really didn’t seem like this much work! : )
