Mile 1,500 Hit and Under Unsafe Conditions : )

The fact that I neared mile 1,500 for 2011 slipped my mind this morning.  I simply wanted a nice long run, say 15 miles.  I also wanted something a little different.  I opted for Crystal Cove State Park because I thought the ocean views would be gorgeous with these Santa Ana winds blowing.

When I arrived to the trails, a man from the OC Parks department parked his truck at the entrance with a tall, antennae-like measuring device.  Worried the park was closed he assured me that he was just watching for fires and that I should call 911 if I see anyone smoking or any smoke whatsoever. (12/6/11 after note:  Would I call 911 if someone were smoking a cigarette in the park?  Firstly, I never have seen anyone smoking on the trails.  But if I did on this particular day, I would NOT call 911.  BUT, I am at least bold enough that I would tell the person that an OC Park Authority told me to call if I saw someone smoking, and that they should put out their smoke.  I would be friendly and explain why it was important on this particular day.  In all honesty, as an ex-smoker however, I believe a smoker would have great difficulty even hiking these trails.)

And then I was off running through the county park Laguna Wilderness, quickly into the State Park, Crystal Cove.  The wind blew cold, but it was dry.  Bundled up and joyfully running the rolling hills of No-Name Ridge, a ranger parked at the side of the trail waved me over.  “I need to talk to you,” she said.  “You have to leave, the park is now closed.”

“Closed?”

“Yes, it’s a red-flag alert, stage 4 warning.  Winds.”

You know, I could start a fire, like when I throw my cigarette butt.  Or perhaps when I decide to light an open fire to warm my hands.  Or maybe, I’ll run so fast, the sparks from my shoes will start one!

Stalling for a few seconds to think, I asked, “Do you need to drive me out?”  And I thought to myself, I drove 22 miles to get here and now after 2 miles, I’m going to turnaround and run back to the truck.  I DON’T THINK SO.

“Well,” the ranger said, “did you park up there?” she moved her head indicating the area I had parked. 

“No,” I said.  I ACTUALLY LIED.  Shocked and even a bit dismayed, but also a little ticked I continued, “I parked down there,” and moved my head in the direction of the coast where I had NOT parked.

Yikes.

“Okay,” she said.  “Go ahead and run down to the parking lot and leave.”

A little giddy that I had prolonged my run, I continued the lovely rolling hills, thinking I’d just sneak past the ranger station and make my way to a single track and then eventually Laguna Wilderness (which was not closed).  I studied the trails in the distance carefully to see which ones to avoid, the most visible from No-Name Ridge.

At some point during this glorious run, the ranger drove past me toward the station.  Man!!!  Now she was going to know I lied, because the parking lot was probably empty.  What to say, what to say?  I thought about this for the last half mile into the station.  I thought I could say, "I parked down the highway in North Laguna.  Or, I took a bus.  Or, okay, I LIED.”

With her truck license plate committed to memory, I ran on into the station, relieved to see the lot full with several cars, most of them driving away.  I noted the ranger’s truck parked among several other state trucks.  And as I studied the map, another ranger, a man said, “'Mam.  Did you see the sign?  The parked is closed.  You have to leave.”

‘Mam?  ‘Mam?  Don’t call me ‘Mam!  I suppose I was just a little annoyed.  What was I going to do now?

“I didn’t see any signs,” I snapped.  That was the truth.  But I saw the signs as I walked away dismayed.  The gates to the park were closed with “Do Not Enter” warnings posted.

With the rangers out of sight, I removed my red shirt so that they might not recognize me later wearing the blue shirt I wore beneath.  Then I removed my cap, looked behind me and walked out of the park like I was leaving.  But instead, I jumped over the chain and “closed” sign onto the trail leading to El Moro Canyon. 

I peered over my shoulder relieved that I couldn’t see the ranger station.  Then I came upon another closed sign at El Moro Canyon.  Running with my ipod off, I ran up that trail, listening closely for truck sounds.  I noticed no tire prints on the trail, but still I worried.  I’m not a liar.  I don’t run from rangers.  I was worried, because I knew that I was going to jump into the brush and hide if a truck came by.  What kind of 46-year-old woman does that???  I surprised myself.

I also hugged the left edge during the portions where No-Name overlooked the trail.  And then I came upon a hiker.  “Do you work here?” My question reminded me of those movies where the drug dealers or prostitutes ask a prospective client, “Are you a cop?”

He said that he didn’t work there and upon more questioning, I learned he hadn’t seen any rangers in the canyon, and in fact had never, ever seen a ranger in the canyon.  That’s when I eased up and continued through the wispy canyon, up Elevator and along Fence Line until I finally hit Bommer Ridge – that’s when I was safe – Ahh, Laguna Wilderness.  I ran on in against the cool wind, happy that I had not been cited.  It wasn’t until I looked at my garmin did I realize that I had hit 1,500 miles for 2011. 

What a way to hit 1,500 miles.  My husband cracked up when I told him.  You can bet, my sons didn’t hear this story. 

Yes, it was that chilly this morning:

Pacific Ocean in background, running down to Crystal Cove ranger station:

I don’t think so:  (I hope I can’t be cited after the fact)

Past the sign, on my way up El Moro Canyon:

The beauty of El Moro Canyon:

Running up Elevator:

A look back:

Quick pose on Fence Line:

9.09 miles logged this morning: 

My Own Private Marathon

Had we not lived with only one car for so long, I might never have thought of riding a bus to a trailhead.  Even if I had thought of it, I probably wouldn’t have done it.  I should point out, that we finally have two cars again.  And I should also point out that I love riding the bus, pretty much anywhere.

This weekend I had planned on an 50k, but it wasn’t “in the cards.”  To be truthful, I was feeling a bit jealous reading and hearing about different runners’ marathons and ultras.  And so today, I decided to run my own marathon, one with lots of elevation.  Waking at 5:00 AM, I drank my coffee, dressed, grabbed my pack and ran to the bus stop.  I like to arrive early.  Turns out I was only about two minutes early, so I worried that I missed it, until the bus finally appeared about five minutes late.

Waiting for the bus.  Perhaps I should have run a brush through my hair?  Nah.  I was on my way to a marathon.

The bus was busy this morning.  Many of the riders wore uniforms – hotel and restaurant uniforms, drug store uniforms.  Two riders got on (separately) carrying skateboards.  One rider boarded in my town who I thought I recognized as a Crystal Cove worker one of the first times I rode the bus to this trailhead.   Turns out, Steve and I got off at the same exit again this morning and walked up to the ranger station together.  (Hi Steve, if you’re reading this blog).

I began running in the dark, surprised how many runners and hikers  I came upon early on.  I ran up “No Dogs” and “No Name,” two trails I had to mostly hike about 2 years ago.  This morning I ran them in their entirety as the sun appeared on the horizon. 

The mighty sun shined brightly when I reached Bommer Ridge.  I ran without headphones so that I could eavesdrop on other runners.  One guy passed me running up hill, then two others.  When we all reached the top, the leader said to me, “Did you see how much I beat those guys?”

“Yes,” I said.  “But you all beat me.”  I ran on past them as they rested at the top of the hill.  I heard them running behind me on the flats when I overheard one of them say, “Man, this really SUCKS!”  That made me giggle inside as I turned off onto Fenceline Trail, a lovely warm and sunny single track.

Then I began my descent back down into the canyon and the sun disappeared.

Running back into the mist:

I ran over deer tracks.  And I was alarmed by the tufts of bunny hair scattered about the trail.  Lovely spider webs dangled from the brush like delicate jewels.  Stink bugs scampered across the trail.  I ran East Cut-Away for the first time.  It seemed to be a never-ending climb.  With the mist and clouds I wasn’t quite sure when I was going to finally hit El Moro Ridge, which I would run almost to the top.  Just before reaching the top I ran two of my favorite trails, one of them a delicate, misty single track called “Emerald Falls,” and the other, “Old Emerald Falls,” a treacherous rocky uphill that I took  to hit Bommer Ridge again.  I felt strong, even running up “Old Emerald Falls,” where I gladly hopped to the side to let mountain bikers fly by.  I noticed one of them with blood running down his knees.

Emerald Falls Trail

I wasn’t exactly running fast, this was a marathon after all.  But I still felt physically strong as I ran Bommer, Willow and finally Laurel Canyon out of the park.  “Stair Steps” into Aliso Wood Canyon Parks took my remaining mental strength.  Though my legs still moved onward, I was fatigued.  Not drop-dead kind of fatigued but the “this needs to end soon,” kind of fatigued.   

Glee filled my heart when I finally reached West Ridge.  I ran it to Top of the World and stopped there to refill on water, etc.  I had to move onward quickly.  Time was fleeting, and I couldn’t help but think – if I keep this pace for Saddleback I’m in trouble.   

Laurel Canyon (a gorgeous run!)

Ending Laurel Canyon, about to cross Laguna Canyon Highway and make ascent into Aliso/Wood Canyons Park

Stair Steps Trail

I still had physical strength upon reaching Meadows Trail.  But I consumed no additional calories.  With my headphones on, I ran onward, “Just make it out of the park,” I said to myself.  “Out of the park!!”

Top of Meadows Trail

I ran the streets after exiting Aliso/Wood Canyons Wilderness, UTTERLY fatigued.  I forgot how locate Aliso Summit Trail, asked a stranger for directions.  Upon finally finding the trail, I cut through the brush to catch it, so anxious I was to finish this marathon.  I continued running, wanting, wanting, wanting for this trail to end and my race to finish. 

Aliso Summit Trail ended with a total of 26.38 miles (42.45 km) on my garmin.  I took time to stretch waiting for my family.  I was chaffed raw.  Otherwise, I felt fine.  No cramping.  But I really felt that I sucked, excuse my language, as a runner.  Why did I run out of energy with so much training?  I can answer that now with several hours to rehash the experience. After about 17 miles, I didn’t take in additional calories.  Why?  Because I didn’t feel like eating.  I must learn from this, continue with the calories!!

The good news is, this is the first marathon I ever WON!!!

View of Meadows Trail and Top of the World from Aliso Summit Trail

First placer, placing first in my age group and first overall – Just play along 

Elevation Profile:

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:

No Name-El Moro-Fence Line-Bommer Loop

This morning I drove a total of forty-two miles (round trip) to run less than 7.  That cracks me up. 

I’m not complaining.  Just laughing.  I wanted something short because I thought I’d bring the mileage down this week, as I accidentally topped 40 miles last week.  I also wanted something a little different so it would seem like I was exploring.

So, I drove up to El Moro in Irvine.  The clouds were gray, the weather cool.  And I enjoyed this solo-run immensely, all without getting lost, boxed in or stung by stinging nettle (I also didn’t fall, which is always a good thing). 

After running down No Name Ridge (truly, that’s the name : ) I turned off onto West Cut Off (below) to connect up with El Moro Canyon

I ran past lots of these wild roses

El Moro Canyon Trail

Running up Nice and Easy (Yup, that’s the trail’s name : )

Posing on Fence Line Trail which heads up to Bommer Ridge

Ahhh, single-track

6.6 miles run this morning

Two Parks Before The Rain

I posted a group run for Crystal Cove this morning, then learned I wouldn’t have access to a car.  So I woke a little earlier.  And I walked down to the bus stop and waited for a bus in the dark.  I don’t mind taking the bus.  In fact, I kind of like it.  I get to look at all the shops and landscaping along the way without the fear of slamming into the car ahead of me (not that there’s many cars on the road at this hour anyway.)

First the good news:  1) The bus was on time and even arrived at my destination 5 minutes early, 2) The weather was perfectly cool, 3) and five perfectly cool people showed up to join me on this run (Hank, Sheila, Vicky, Rick and Kelly) and then 4) I had absolutely no piriformis muscle pains or any pains whatsoever.

The bad news:  No bad news! (Oh, except maybe that I was a little worn out for today’s run)

Rick, Kelly, Sheila, Vicky, Hank on “No Name Trail” (that’s really the name : )

Rick, Kelly, Me, Sheila, Hank

 

We ran up, up, up on a trail (a fire road) called “No Name,” that I think should be renamed “No Relief.”  From there we hit a single track, eventually making our way to the top.  Well, almost the top.  We cut it a little short to run 2 other single tracks just beneath the ridge.  Then we ran Moro Ridge back and with my directions ran us directly into a dead end.  Backtracking some, we picked up Moro Ridge again, eventually making a 9 1/2 mile loop back at the ranger station.

Then Sheila, Hank and I took off for another run up to the top – the top-top this time, Bommer Ridge.  I had this notion to try and connect my park (Aliso Wood Cyns) with Crystal Cove.  So after running through a lovely El Moro Canyon to the top, Sheila and Hank veered to the left to complete their loop.  I took off to the right out of Crystal Cove Park into Laguna Wilderness Park with no idea how many miles lay ahead before I reached Aliso/Wood.

I was feeling pretty dang tired.  But after some calories and a bit more hiking, I got my second pair of legs and was off running again.  Bommer Ridge went on much longer than I expected.  And then Aliso/Wood Cyns came into sight.  I was actually running parallel to West Ridge (one of my regular trails) as I ran along Bommer.  Still, it was a long way off, and I ran out of fluids before I even reached Big Bend, the long steep down hill that would bring me into Laguna Canyon. 

Making it happily and without injury to Laguna Wilderness’s parking lot, I looked up at the nasty climb that would take me into Aliso/Wood and knew I wouldn’t be able to make it without fluids.  So I called my husband for a ride home and spent a good long while stretching these old muscles after running nearly 18 miles through two different parks.  But not before calling hubby back really fast with a special request:  “Please, please, bring water!”

Tonight the rain pours down.  I’m sitting here practically giddy that I got in such a good run before they closed the trails : ))

View of Saddleback from Fence Line Trail

Waiting for Lauren : )

 

Heading down Moro Ridge

 

El Moro Canyon’s Beauty

 

A Dead Baby Rattler on Elevator Trail : (

A view of El Moro Canyon from Bommer Ridge

Running Big Ben (highest peak in background is Top of the World at Aliso/Wood Canyons Park)

Laguna Ridge Trail

Portrait of Big Bend Trail in parking lot

 

 Elevation Profile: +3,059’ 

Miles logged:  17.65 (Route:  No Dogs Trail to No Name Ridge, right on Ticketron, up Deer Canyon, Fence Line Trail, Missing Link Trail, Moro Ridge to B.F.I. back to ranger station, El Moro Canyon, Elevator Trail to Bommer Ridge, Big Bend Trail down to Laguna Ridge and parking lot, Entrance #7 to Laguna Coast Wilderness Park)