Why Calico

For some years there during my late thirties and early forties, I ran road races. Lots of road races. The tally on the side shows races beginning in 2008 but they actually began a little sooner. I believe I ran my first Turkey Trot in 2003, and every year after for several years. I ran mostly 5 and 10k distances at first and could run a 10k in about an 1 hour. My best 5k's were a shy of 30 minutes. Not impressive except for the fact that I could even run at all. I was middle of the pack (and was fine with that). I spent a lot of time running roads and poured over race directories hunting for races within driving distances -- I had young children at the time (my youngest born in 2004).  

May 2008 I thought that I was going out for another typical road race. Instead, I landed myself an adventure that took me up a "huge" incline to the Bay Bridge in San Diego, CA. The incline was half the adventure. After that I ran alongside the railing (posted with suicide prevention signs) high above the Pacific Ocean for more than two miles where we leveled out at Coronado Island. The race was a total of four miles.

I had so much fun running the Coronado Bay Bridge Race it prompted me to search the internet for other interesting races, something more than the usual road race that I was accustomed. That's when I found the Calico Trail Run that started and finished in Calico Ghost Town (in the sleepy high desert town of Yermo, CA just outside of Barstow). People actually visit this tiny ghost town, and they visit from around the world. My husband camped there with his Boy Scout troop in his youth. And I also visited Calico Ghost Town as a Girl Scout back in about 1975. We camped in a valley just outside the old silver mining town in a place that we called Rainbow Valley. It was a beautiful colorful valley with greens, blues and reds in the distance rocks. I haven't been able to find the place that we camped back then, but I know that it was a very short distance from the ghost town where we spent some fun hours. Nostalgic as I am, the Calico Trail Run was a must. An absolute must.

And so I set out on a quest: learn how to run trails. I joined the OC Trail Runners and more importantly, I met Tom Fangrow, who in his infinite wisdom taught me a great deal about trail running (not to mention showed me the way on trails from the coast to the mountains). After an 8 month crash course on running trails, I felt ready. In fact, I had ran two 5 mile trail runs in my local foothills and another 10k trail run at the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. I could now run uphills and my endurance was pretty good (but not good enough . . .  sigh; the story of my life!).

January 2009, I drove out to Barstow the night prior and checked into a nice hotel next to the train tracks. I mention the train tracks because a train rumbled by every couple hours. The next morning, I timidly walked past the crowd of runners in the lobby who were taking in a continental breakfast and I drove fifteen or twenty minutes to Calico Ghost Town. My mood was somber. (Perfect mood for a ghost town setting!) Even though I had learned much over the past 8 months, I was still a newbie. I knew nothing about hydration. Nothing. I was basically still a road runner. Road runners need very little water. If I carried water on a road race, I carried very little. There were always aid stations short distances apart where I could grab small paper cups of water out of the hands of volunteers as I ran by on the pavement. As a road runner my skin had never completely crusted over with salt. I mean all of my skin -- my face, legs, arms, all of it crusted in salt. I had never pushed myself to that extreme. I hadn't even Googled the word electrolytes.  

Calico 2009 was a beautiful run. It was rugged. The valleys were colorful and rocky with pink and blue canyons. The course teared me up with its beauty. And the course beat me down too. After a freezing morning, the sun appeared and scorched down on the mountainous desert terrain. My body crusted in salt and every muscle in my body was cramping. I drank water, a handheld that I refilled at aid stations 3 to 7 miles apart. But I did nothing else to combat dehydration or an electrolyte imbalance (evidenced by all the salt leaving my body!) Long story short, I tripped during a particularly rocky section and all the muscles in my body cramped at once. As a result, I crashed down onto the rocks, my camera smashing onto a boulder. It was a hard fall that took me several minutes to climb up from. In front of me lay 3 short miles. I guess I had enough adrenaline to carry me to the end.

A couple of race personnel rushed me when I crossed the finish line at my first Calico race. My arms and legs were crusted with streams of salty blood. I didn't waste a second at the finish line. I was so exhausted that I was ill. I made my way straight to the restroom because vomiting seemed the only option to cure my woes. After sitting there hunched over, my face in my hands for a good long while, my nausea subsided. Perhaps twenty minutes later, I arose and splashed water over my face and rubbed away the salt. I then painstakingly made my way back to the festivities and met up with a friend (Lori) whom I had run with a few times with the OC Trail runners. We sat together at the awards ceremony, she handed me some "salt" pills to help replenish my loss of electrolytes. Sitting directly to the left of us, Annie Harvey had just received an award for placing in her age group. As she got up to accept, she turned to me and said, "It pays off pays to run when you're old," meaning the longer you run, the more likely you are to place. To her side was her husband Steve Harvey (Old Goat) whom I had also never met and would not meet for a while yet. (Funny how things turn out).

Anyway, I wanted adventure. I certainly got an adventure. I got freezing temperatures in the morning hours and hot desert wind once the sun had its chance to shine. I climbed up boulders and slid down the other side. I ran through sand, then rocks and boulders and colorful canyons. I learned what is meant by a technical terrain. I got a really good schooling! Back at home, as my husband used tweezers to dig out the clusters of pebbles embedded in my arms, I was already thinking about running the Calico Trail Race again. As it turns out, I did. I crossed the Calico finish line 7 more times after that.

Just Before My First Calico Trail Race

After My First Calico Trail Race 

Calico 2010: I had some hip issues from obsessive (perhaps reckless) trail running but more from a four car pile up that I was involved in (totaled my van!). I was also recovering from a winter cold and was popping ibuprofen and "salt" pills to keep the forward momentum going.  Somehow I managed to cross the finish line once again. And once again, I began revving up for the next year.

2010; Making it a Family Event

And Here We Go Again!

Calico 2011, I was sick again and was not in a good emotional state. I pretty much started at the back of the pack and stayed there. I met another back-of-the-pack runner, Suzanne (from New Mexico I believe). And we ran through that awesome desert, best friends for a few hours, until the 30/50k split. I crossed the finish line in tact and once again began thinking about the next year. It's like I was trying to catch that perfect wave, the perfect Calico desert wave.

2011; Me and Suzanne at the 30/50k split

I would finally catch that wave in 2012. I trained hard and I spent a lot of time running over boulders at the jetty and my local beaches. Everything came together for me during the race. I handled the elements, my hydration and the terrain like a perfect wave. I placed this year, third in my age group.

I have not caught that perfect Calico wave since 2012. But I ran it and crossed the finish line in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. I registered for 2017, but the race was cancelled due to rain. I did not register for 2018 or 2019. I thought that I was done with Calico (so many, many issues, mainly chronic injuries derailed me, and I doubted whether I would ever run trails again.)

But then about 3 months ago, I don't know what it was, perhaps nostalgia, I got to thinking of my old friend Calico Ghost Town once again. I am foolish sometimes about these things. One of the things I have found to be a great gift in life is meeting up with an old friend. Just a few short days from now, I will be meeting up with an old friend, Calico Trail Run. I am nowhere near as ready as I wanted to be. My hope is merely to cross the finish line.(And beside all that, I need a good place to hold my pack's retirement party. My Ultimate Direction Wink is on its last legs.)

2013

2014

 2015

2016 

Silverado Loop

Saturday, January 11 I headed back to Silverado Canyon for my longest hike/run since I decided to "train" for Calico. The gate to Maple Springs Road was open, so I was able to park directly in front of the trail that I would be ending on -- Silverado Trail. Starting and ending here made what I (& others) call The Silverado Loop measure 16.86 miles on my Amazfit watch (with 3,727' elevation gain). 

The first 7 or so miles were a climb up Maple Springs. It was dang cold at the bottom of the canyon, and that's perfect practice for Calico! Things warmed up after about 8 miles when I finally took off the beanie and long sleeves (also perfect practice for Calico). There was the last remnants of snow toward the top of Maple Springs Road and on the Main Divide in the shadow of Modjeska Peak (which still had snow on its backside). 

As I write this post, I am one week out from Calico . I suspect I stand a good chance of placing last 🤣. Go DFL! But that's okay. Not near the shape I wanted to be in, but in much better shape than I started 3 months ago. So yay! It's been a long time since I've done the Silverado Loop. I cannot deny that I have progressed in the past 3 months. 

Those first 7 miles up Maple Springs are nowhere near the course at Calico (which is mildly rolling hills through desert sand). But the Main Divide to Silverado Trail, that was quite tough, and more comparable to some of Calico's terrain. There was so much climbing in the overall downhill along the Main Divide, that reaching the Silverado Loop took much longer than I expected.  

After turning onto The Main Divide, I focused on running long stretches to make up time for the Maple Springs Climb. I saw no other person on foot. Occasionally I'd see one or two motorcyclists and they'd nod or wave as they went by. I was completely alone and wonderfully lonely. The kind lonely where I don't focus on myself, but instead, on things outside me. I could see for miles and miles in every direction. It was beautiful. And some parts were hard has hell (which I took like a tortoise but recovered quickly after the climbs -- my saving grace in being able to tackle these longer distances). 

When I finally arrived to the top of Silverado Trail, I took note at the sun's position in the sky and thought, "Oh no, did I do it again?" With a quick calculation I realized that I had two hours before dark, and I knew from the last time I got caught out in the dark, that I could make it down that treacherous trail in more than half that time. And I did.

The Silverado Loop was a wonderful experience last weekend. There should be crowds, droves up people up there. Do they know what they're missing? I think not. One of my favorite routes in these local mountains, so I'm not complaining.

Maple Springs Road

Looking back at Maple springs Rd from the Main Divide

On The Main Divide

Ocean View from Silverado Trail

Measured Hike

I hiked the The Big Loop (really a lollipop loop) at Aliso (pictured below) last Sunday (11/2).(How's that for parentheses!) 

I'm purely hiking this loop right now, but I can certainly tighten it up and cut my time quite significantly by just picking up the pace of my hike. I want this 12(ish) mile loop under 4:30 hours to start. I figured I could do that with a minimal push, as the last time I hiked the loop (toward end of October), I finished in 4:37. Seven minutes over twelve miles isn't much to cut. 

Sunday, my husband accompanied me and I thought for sure I'd come in less than 4:30, merely because I would be trying to keep up with his pace. We would have probably come in at around 4:30 if he hadn't stopped to look at EVERYTHING. I'm half joking. It didn't bother me to stay above the 4:30 mark (I'm still only in the "Getting Started" Phase on my road to Calico). We ended up completing the loop in 4:44, which is still better than the Big Loop from three weeks ago, by 8 minutes. And the company was better too. Last time and the time before that, and before that, and so on, I was solo. 😉

The Big Loop

Making a Habit

The key to so many things that I want to accomplish, for me anyway, is making a habit. If I want to write well, I should write all the time. Great piano players make piano playing a habit. Alcoholics make drinking a habit. Habits run our lives. I start morning the very same way every single day: I turn on the computer and make a pot of coffee. Every morning. That's my habit. Once you've elevated some behavior to the status of habit, it's smooth sailing for that habit, it runs on auto-pilot, and it's very difficult to stop it. Just as difficult almost as breaking a habit though, is the making a habit in the first place. Especially so if it's a beneficial habit. Creating a good habit sucks. (This by the way is not necessarily so with bad habits).

Some years ago, running was my habit. I didn't need much motivation to get out and run. It was part of my routine; it had become habit. It wasn't always like that of course. The process of developing the habit was long and took a great deal of patience. I was about 36 when I dabbled in running again (the first time being during my teen years). Though I had keep active most of my years with other sports and activities, I couldn't run a street block without it feeling that my heart was going burst out of my chest. That pissed me off, which is the catalyst for my subsequent running years. The road was very slow; it took months, perhaps more than a year (I don't even recall!) to have the endurance to run ten miles. By then of course, I was already hooked, the habit had been formed, and just like all habits, it stuck with me for a long time, until it didn't (injuries and life took me down).

So, here I am once again systematically trying to make running a habit. Fortunately, I can run much more than a street block. I ran five miles at the harbor this past Friday (Nov. 1). Five miles is a lot more difficult than it used to be, that's for sure. It didn't kill me though, and it didn't feel like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. My goal for this run was just to establish a routine, get my feet moving for consecutive miles. It's all part of Phase I (Getting Started) on my road to Calico -- then I will bide my time (in other words force myself) until it becomes habit.

5 mile harbor run:

The Road to Calico

I want to run Calico Trail Run again. I love this race, and I miss it. It's been a few years -- 2015 was the last year I ran Calico 30k. I had come a long way. It destroyed me the first time I ran it in 2007. Going in, I felt fairly confident with the distance. It was the terrain that caught me off guard. Oh the troubles I encountered that first year! This race taught me the meaning of technical terrain. I crossed the finish line with bloody arms and legs having wiped out on the rocks in a bluish-pink canyon. At home, my husband used tweezers to dig out the pebbles embedded in my arm from my fall. I was wiped out for days. Calico 30k basically chewed me up and spit me out. I never realized how much I would love something like that. I was smitten.   

IF I can do it, Calico 2020 will be my 8th year. It is going to be a tough road to Calico. I'm not starting from scratch, but I'm definitely far away both mentally and physically to run this race well. The time to beat, well, that would be my best time which is 4:30 (from 2012, the only year I placed in my age group).

MY TRAINING PLAN is twofold. In the midst of teaching at two schools and directing a race in December, it has to be twofold, otherwise, there's a slim chance I'll be able to run Calico come January 2020.

FIRST PRONG of my attack (but not necessarily most the important): I need to get in good physical shape. I have a long way to go in building strength and endurance. I'll accomplish this by running, hiking, calisthenics, and some weights. I may even get back to the gym. 

SECOND PRONG, which is crucial to my success: I need to get in good mental shape. This entails proper sleep, proper food and completely cutting out all sugar. Fasting will be a huge part of this prong. I have been using it frequently, since I decided to run Calico again a few weeks ago.

I've further divided my plan into 3 phases, each lasting a little over a month. 

Phase 1: Getting Started 

Phase 2: Building

Phase 3: Maintaining

Currently, I am about 2 weeks into Phase 1. I have been running short distances on the road, as well as, hiking trails. I started slowly with calisthenics (planks only). And right now, I'm using The Big Loop at Aliso which is about 12 miles with 1,565' of elevation gain as my way to measure progress. (Love that loop!). I'm hiking all of it, but with a goal to increase my speed, I will add some running soon. About a week ago (10/27) I hiked The Big Loop in 4:37. This was an enjoyable hike; I didn't kill myself doing it. I'm in the "Getting Started" phase which is extremely important to my success. It's all about getting into a routine and doing it nice and easy with mental clarity so that I don't injure myself. Two prong attack, I believe that is key.

The Big Loop