Day Four of Steaking in the New Year

On my fourth day of Streaking in the New Year I was tired.  AND, I ran with a fast running friend.  I could feel it in my glutes as we took off running down Aliso Creek Trail that this was my fourth day in the streak.  I had fun though, lots of it.  But now that I’ve been to a holiday party and it’s time to bed early, I figured now is the time to  blog today’s run because I don’t want to get behind.

We saw the usual blue heron that I always see.  He/she didn’t take off though to glorify its majestic wingspan.  Instead the bird slowly walked away from us as we ran through the meadows on our way to Mentally Sensitive.  And Michael P. took the trails like a champ.  He is an amazing runner (especially down hill runner.)  Seriously, I’ve never seen anyone take the rugged down hills before with his speed. 

Backing up, first off, it was cold, but not so, so cold like it was yesterday.  Michael and I took off about 8:15 AM in Aliso/Wood Canyons.  He had a head start on me as he took off from his home.

Anyway, AFTER running up Meadows yesterday, today, we took the steepest trail in the park, Mentally Sensitive (for regular readers, “Psycho-Path”).  It was tough,  but a LOVELY tough. 

We finished off a beautiful 7 mile run to record in our Streaking in the New Year “challenge.”   And I’m oh so glad to have had a friend to run with on this Christmas Eve’s Eve. 

Michael’s ready for the big climb:

Okay . . . we’ll take a picture of me there too!

Mentally Sensitive:

View looking back:

Climbing Mentally Sensitive:

Saddleback Mountains View from top of Meadows:

Top of Meadows, Pacific Ocean in background:

Miles logged this morning:  7.0:

Three Amigas

On the third day of my Streaking in the New Year  I met 2 friends at Aliso/Wood Canyons for an early morning COLD, COLD run.  Though the parking lot was full, oddly the trails were empty.  And that was wonderful!

We took our run up Meadows to overlook a lovely striking blue Pacific.  By then my gloves were off, my warm sleeves tied around my waist.  Then we looped around for a fun down hill on Mathis.  In total we logged 9.45 miles – that’s a little over 15 kilometers.  AND, I got to use my new camera.  AND, I didn’t drop it!

Hitting Meadows Trail::

Tres Amigos after finishing up Meadows Trail:

Tennis courts at Top of the World:

Celebration:

A little detour along Park Ave. Nature Trail on our way to West Ridge and Mathis:

All done

Charged

Today was my day to play gym rat.  And what a lovely couple hours it was.  I even put in some speed work in on the treadmill, which is oh so painful for me.  I pretty much hate it.  But I thought it would be a good idea to run at the gym – kill 2 birds with 1 stone, so they say (though I have no reason to kill a bird at all).

Ran 3.2 miles on the treadmill, with my bursts at a 7.3 pace.  That is really quite remarkable for me, even though my bursts are only 65 seconds.  Believe me.  This is a vast improvement.  And I hardly do speed work at all.  So it seems that little work goes a long way, as I’ve been told, with speed work. 

On another note, a much brighter note, my 3 boys presented their Christmas gift to me early.  It was a camera!  It’s charging now, getting ready for tomorrow’s run (If I can drag myself out of bed after a few glasses of wine tonight . . . times are tough!)

I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Camera (Yes I do!)

Sunday night I drove the household crazy with neurotic behavior trying to fix my cameras.  I was wrong in my last blog when I said that I’ve killed two cameras on the trail.  I forgot about the first camera I killed on the trail.  It was during my first long distance trail race, my first Calico Ghost Town race.  (Calico Trail Run 2009 – who knows how long MySpace is going to keep my old blogs up : )  I have killed THREE cameras on the trail.

There I sat Sunday night, trying to align the lenses on two of my broken cameras.  Beep, beep, beep.  Beep, beep, beep.  Next thing I knew, I was unscrewing tiny screws and taking the newest of my broken cameras apart, which completely unnerved my husband.  “You need to do that at a table . . . you need better light.” 

Yikes!  I was about to hit the roof.  THE CAMERA IS BROKEN.  Who cares if I lose a screw or mess up.  But I just may luck out and get that lens to snap back into place.  Thing was, after dismantling the camera, I couldn’t get the lens to extend.  And so, DUH!  I put the battery in the camera, and while messing around I gave myself a good shock!  Or shall I say, bad shock?

That was that with the camera.  I wept over my shock scare and for my silly loss and went to bed.

I woke this morning (Tuesday) and went for a much needed run in Aliso/Wood Canyons.  I didn’t dare bring hubby’s professional camera.  I’d kill that camera for sure, it’s just so huge.  It really didn’t matter that much anyway, it’s not like I haven’t taken thousands of pictures of these trails. 

The weather was cold, the park festive with runners, bikers and hikers.  I wore my pack, not because I needed it (because there’s a place to refill a handheld at Top of the World).  I wore my pack because I prefer to run empty-handed.  And though I didn’t have my camera in my vest pockets, I had my phone – my cracked and beat-up phone which has a camera.  It even has a video camera.  Ha! (Why is my phone cracked and beat-up – ahhhhhh, because I’ve dropped it countless times).

Running Aliso Creek Trail ready to disappear into the fog:

I ran up Meadows this morning, the trail that use to taunt me.  And I ran up it with relative ease.  It’s a beautiful trail.  I’m happy to have conquered it.  This morning it was like a spoonful of medicine.

View going up Meadows:

View from top of Meadows:

I ran across Top of the World with joy in my heart.  I was making good time.  So good, that I thought that I’d extend my loop a little and run West Ridge to Rock It. 

Occasionally all the things that I need to do would pop into my mind.  But the trails pretty much succeeded in wiping my mind clean.  Ah, a blank mind, just simply in the moment.  LOVE IT!

Breakfast at Top of the World:

West Ridge view of Modjeska and Santiago Peaks:

For new visitors, this is the most exciting section of Rock It.  For returning visitors, here’s YET ANOTHER PICTURE of Rock It Trail:

Finishing off Rock It Trail leading to Coyote Run:

Finishing up Coyote Run:

Another glorious trail run this holiday season.  Stay-tuned, as I've joined Jessica Deline’s challenge Streaking in the New Year.

Miles run:  11.18 (approx. 18 km)