Much of my life I have been the type of person who does not want help from anyone. In fact, I’ve been known to act quiet childish regarding it, by downright refusing help. This is not a good thing. One thing that trails has taught me, again and again, is that it’s good to take help from your friends. Monday, very early in the morning, I met my friend Kelly at the mouth of Trabuco Canyon. She hopped in my truck and we drove in to Holy Jim Canyon. Let me tell you – I felt like running like running to the top of the mountain like I felt like taking a swim across the ocean. I even more so didn’t feel like taking this run when I took those first steps and it felt like my legs weighed fifty pounds a piece. I could barely lift them!
Our Goal (as witness from about 3 miles up Holy Jim):
Left to my own devices on Monday, I would have turned around at the top of Holy Jim for a 10 mile out-and-back. Yes, the mountains were green and beautiful and tranquil – but that wasn’t enough. Every step was excruciating. The Trek up The Main Divide adds three more uphill miles before reaching the peak, and it’s the pits. But it isn’t so bad when you have a friend encouraging you, helping you to move on.
I could not have been happier when we reached the peak. It was far from my best time. But heck, I made it, and that was a major feat in itself. We trotted off to the ledge, took in the views, snapped some pictures and ate a snack. We also chatted with a group of young cross country runners from Saddleback College who came up after us. After that, it was all downhill – downhill for 8 miles! All with a little help from a friend.
You are lucky to have a friend like that. I very seldom run with anyone else. I'm a very solo person in this way. 99.99999% of my training runs are done alone. I'm sure my performance would be much better if I didn't always run alone.
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