Lackadaisical Run

We got rain in Southern California the past two days.  Enough rain to close local trails.  Of course I could have probably run mountain trails, but there’s no one to run with me on weekdays.  And I don’t run mountains alone.  Why? 

Mountain lions. 

And those two legged coyotes (as my husband calls them).

Rain was fine with me, though I’m not a big fan of rain.  I live in Southern California!  But I wanted to cut back on miles this week anyway.  I cross trained instead, and did my short speed workout on the treadmill. 

This morning, the sun shined brightly.  I checked local trail websites to find that they were all open.  Deciding on a venue change, I opted to drive many miles past my usual park to the Newport Coast to El Moro Ridge (which I believe the is part of Laguna Wilderness Park and the bottom is Crystal Cove State Park – I’m not sure on the boundaries.)  (For those of you who know this area, I ran down No-Name Ridge to No-Dogs, then past the ranger station and back up El Moro Canyon where I hopped onto a portion of Missing Link, then ran all of Fence Line to Bommer Ridge.)

I picked a lovely day to run  trails lackadaisically.  Having been wet for 2 days, then dried up today, the amount of animal tracks were astounding – lots of deer, bobcat and coyote, not to mention bird tracks and other miscellaneous tiny tracks that I didn’t stop to identify.   

With my speed training, I found that I took off at a quicker pace with little warm up needed this morning.  And when I found myself plodding along on the inclines, I thought to myself, “I can run faster than this.”  And I could.

But on to the pictures:

Running No-Name Ridge, I encountered lots of friendly hikers, all with walking sticks:

A quick pose on No-Name, I was so, so ready to rip off this long-sleeved shirt despite the cool breeze.  But I wanted to wait until the bottom where I would make a pit stop at the ranger station:

Running along No-Name:

Approaching the Crystal Cove ranger station, notice white water in the distance:

Heading up El Moro Canyon, this lovely shrub lines the trail.  I can’t i.d. it.  Do you know what this plant is?  Let me know!

Fungi growing along the lush, wet parts of canyon:

Just plain ole’ beauty running up El Moro Canyon where a doe dashed out from the brush in front of me, then another and then one more.  They hopped (yes hopped!) across the trail so quickly and back into the brush on the other side, that though I fumbled for my camera, I was not quick enough to catch a picture:

More El Moro Canyon.  It was nice to run a trail where every tree is new to me:

Toward the end of the canyon, I had three options to the top – Nice-and-Easy (which isn’t exactly easy, but it is very runnable), Elevator and El Moro Canyon.  Here is the intersection of Elevator and El Moro.  I had not run either one before.  Guess which one is Elevator?  It’s not the trail on the right!  I took the trail on the right for a more direct route to Missing Link:

Oh my!  I don’t know why this trail wasn’t named “Elevator.”  I was actually slipping back down the hill as I went up.  But I was able to run some of it:

A look back.  Curious what Elevator was doing, I went to the edge, “and there I stood and looked down, you know I lost a lot of friends there baby, ain’t got no time to mess around.”  Not!  I haven’t lost a lot of friends there (but can you tell me the name of that song?  I’ll give a small prize for the first person who can.)  Anyway, I did go to the edge so that I could see Elevator, and saw a meandering trail going up – Nothing like this one:

Fence Line Trail:

Miles run this morning:  9.02:

Not Enough Speed to Lead : )

Friday, I finally got back to speed training.  Still working on short sessions, I actually stepped onto the dreaded treadmill.  The only reason I chose this option was that I didn’t have time to drive to my usual bluff trails.  I was already at the gym, and I had errands to run and chores to do before picking up the boys.  So, I did it.  I crossed the line and stepped up onto the dreadmill.

What an experience speed training was on the treadmill.  I set my bursts to a sub 8 minute pace (0:7:53) and boy oh boy – what a treat.  A treat to my confidence (I didn’t fly off the treadmill) and a treat to my sweat glands (LOL).  I felt a little sorry for the treadmillers on each side of me.  Sweat was flying.  And since I’m giving too much information anyway, my pants were actually falling down as I ran much, much faster than I normally run.  Thankfully, my underwear were the same color as my pants, so I doubt anyone noticed – that is until I noticed, pulled them up and tied them tighter.

This morning (Saturday) I lead the OCTR new member run at my favorite park.  As customary, the run was short.  The runners though were fast!  I guess that’s good for me because it again kept the pressure on to pick up my pace.

Me, Mike, Victoria, Chuck

The morning was cloudy and heavy with moisture -- what a lot of people call perfect running weather.  With my heat training, I’ve kind of grown accustomed to running in heat and don’t prefer this cool misty weather as much.  It was a fun run anyway.  Always great to meet new trail runners.  And it was also great to run with Victoria.  We’ve run together on several occasions, but it’s been a long, long time. 

Taking up the back (LOL), I “lead” this run down Wood Canyon and up into Wood Creek Trail.  Taking the lead, Chuck was kind enough to break through all the spider webs for us.  I usually run this tranquil trail alone and have to do that myself.  We didn’t see any coyotes on Coyote Run Trail, however plenty of mountain bikers rode the route.  We also saw several deer, both does and bucks on Wood Canyon Trail (our route back).

Waiting for Lauren

Running Wood Canyon Trail back

Miles run Friday:  2

Miles run Saturday:  4.5

Nature Loop Trail

I went for another evening run today.  I find it very difficult, strenuous to run in the afternoon or evening.  And this evening it was hot.  I wore minimalist shoes which are still so extremely comfortable.  It’s not actually like I’m running barefoot.  But it’s like I’m not wearing shoes (and my neuroma knows it too!  I came in from today’s run limping.) 

As I ran Coyote Run Trail, I saw something dark to my side run and leap through the brush.  I thought “Oh crap,” because I feared I was running alongside an extra active bobcat.  I’m not usually fearful of bobcats.  But I usually see them in the morning when they are a bit lackadaisical.  So, I abruptly stopped in the single-track trail.  Not ten feet away stood a wide-eyed deer chewing on a wad of grass.  A few feet from her another deer bent down to chomp the vegetation.  My presence didn’t phase these beauties a bit.  As I ran onward, I saw the third deer, the smallest one, the one that had been leaping through the grass when it spooked me. 

Off Coyote Run Trail I ran the last remaining trail at Aliso/Wood Canyons Park that I had not yet run.  I put off Nature Loop Trail because it seemed that every time I ran past it, time was fleeting.  I finally took that right turn and climbed up to the ridgeline trail, and as of this evening, I have conquered every single marked trail in these canyons. 

Who would have thought?  And I had lots and lots of fun doing it (not to mention some disappointments, some falls and injuries), but mostly an awesome time.

View from Nature Loop Trail

A pause before coming off Nature Loop Trail

The Trail

Miles run today:  5.13 (The loop:  Canyon Vistas Park, Wood Canyon to Wood Creek Trail, back to Wood Canyon Trail, Coyote Run Trail, Nature Loop Trail, Mathis Trail, Wood Canyon Trail back to Canyon Vistas Park)

Six Deer!

5:40 AM as I drove away from my home the skies were black.  What happened to the sun?  Times are a changing again.  Not too long ago, 6:00 AM runs gave us light skies.

The 3rd runner of today’s group run was running late, she text’d me for us to go ahead without her.  I was hoping we’d meet up on the trail.  We never did.  Sheila and I ran those lovely trails that parallel Wood Canyon together, chatting along the way, enjoying the cool, wet air.  We both love that cool morning air to run in. 

This morning’s run was a heck of a lot easier for me than that 3.25 mile run at Disney.  And it was very nice for a change to stay on the lower trails, rather than huff and puff to the top.  We ran Wood Canyon Trail, then hopped onto Dripping Cave Trail.  From there we hit Mathis and ran down to connect to Coyote Run until it lead us back out onto Wood Canyon.  We ran Wood Canyon to the end.  On the way back, we ran Wood Creek Trail, a beauty of a trail, rarely traveled when I ran straight through a fully developed spider web. Wood Creek dumped us out on Wood Canyon.  And that’s were we saw them – six, yes six, lovely deer grazing in the grass.  That is the most deer I’ve ever seen on the trail at once.  Absolutely amazing.  Part of what trail running is all about!

Dripping Cave

Dripping Cave Trail – an eerie fairy tale

Coyote Run Trail

Wood Creek Trail

More Wood Creek – look at all that leaf litter, sheer delight!

More Delight on Wood Canyon Trail

 

Count ‘Em, 6, SIX Deer!

The Crazy Runners who Hit the Trail in the Dark this Sunday Morning

9.91 miles logged today : )