Streaking into the New Year Day 20

Day twenty of Streaking into the New Year, my 20th consecutive day of running, I met running friend Tom Bychowski at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary in Modjeska Canyon.  The morning was gorgeous, blue skies, a bit cool.  And the climb was up, up, up.  Seriously, there is (& was) practically no relief on the run up Harding Truck Trail.  A little over a mile in we got a little down hill.  But that was it.

As we progressed toward the sky the wind came in strong.  Really strong. Most of the time it blew head on, giving much resistance to our upward run.  My cap flew off a couple times.  Tom caught it once as it flew down the road wanting to jump off the mountain.  There was also a gust that came in so strong I thought it might knock me down.  Really, it was great fun!  I’m not sure if Tom thought the same, but I saw him smiling here and there.  It was also pleasantly cool, or cold rather, but not freezing.  And I continued to hold tight onto my hat at times, because I wore my favorite cap on day twenty of my streak, and I didn’t want to chance losing it.

Once or twice, the wind blew at our backs, and it gave me a much needed push.  Eventually the wind blew so strongly against us, we figured it was time to turn back.  So, a little over mile five, I set up my camera for a quick “group” photo and we headed back down the mountain. 

High above Orange County, I could see the coast was socked-in, that is, covered in clouds.  I’m sure the fog horn blew at my home.  For us out there in the mountains, the sun shined strongly.  And being so windy, the clouds above the lowlands looked like ocean waves crashing against the rocks.  Funny, as we ran down Harding Truck Trail, the wind blew against us still.  Now, someone explain that to me!  Still, it was fun.  Fun, fun, fun.  And we made it back to our cars in very decent time. 

So, after day twenty, I felt great.  I did some floor exercises at home – clams, foam rolling, to keep up the non-injury streak.  And I felt a little proud for getting this far uninjured.  And then.  AND THEN.  I fell over the doggy gate that separates our kitchen from the living room.  Injuries:  a sore wrist, a very sore elbow, a knock on the head, and a gash on my ankle.  That is me.  Just call me “Grace.”

10.23 Miles Run on the 20th day of my running streak.  (16.46 km)

Big Baz WTRS Volunteer

Okay, now I’m really, really tired.  My husband said that I was running in my sleep last night, working up a sweat even, and that I was saying something about distance, something like “that’s not a speed distance, that’s an endurance distance . . . “  Who knows.  I woke abruptly at 4:30 because zombies were chasing me and I couldn’t find any place else to run! (And these were not the slow-moving zombies of my youth, these were the modern fast-moving zombies!)

Phew!  I was tired before the day began.  Then at 6:00 AM, I drove up to Blue Jay Campground in the Cleveland National Forest to volunteer for Big Baz’s first Winter Trail Run Series of 2012.  Usually I’m jealous when I see other people running and I’m not.  This morning, I have to say that I was so glad that I was not running this race.  I just didn’t have it in me.  But I did have it in me to talk with the runners, to greet people I knew, and to call out the bib numbers to the time recorders as they approached the finish line.  I recognized so many runners.  Some of them I knew.  Others I knew only by face.  And others I recognized them as having passed me in one or two races. 

I had a blast.  I would definitely do this more often if it didn’t take up so much time of the day.

Setting up before the runners arrive:

Runners begin to show:  Far left is John (he’s one of the sweepers running down Hank and me in Twin Peaks), to the right of him, Steve Harvey.  And the guy hugging the lady, Big Baz.  He got lots of hugs in today.

Lining up on a cold morning for check-in and bibs:

Baz entertaining the runners:

A guy in the pink skirt always gets all the attention LOL:

Chris Diaz brings out the WHOLE family.  Go Diaz clan!:

Baz gives race instructions:

New Balance Rep. (sorry I forgot your name) gives runners the “run down” on the new line:

And they’re off:

Recording finishing times:

New Balance Rep and John:

First Place!!

Top 6 placers, there was silence for a while after these guys came in:

Prepping snacks:

Steve Harvey makes his way to the finish line:

Waiting for Big Baz’s raffle and his overall fun theatrics:

Me and Rich Merritt (who ran the race, but my picture of him approaching the finish came out blurred :

On my way home, I pulled over to put in a little over a mile run on San Juan Trail to continue my streak.  Day 19 (yikes!):

View from San Juan Trail:

Boulder Hopping

Day 18 of my running streak, I planned on an easy day so that I could “rest.”  I had something fun planned: run the jettys at the marina.  So, I parked the truck in a lot at the base of the cliffs, and I headed for jetty #1.

I ran up the pier on the way to watch the fishermen/women:

Gosh!  Some people ruin all the fun : )

I ran past a replica of the Pilgrim, the brig that Richard Henry Dana sailed from Boston to Dana Point in the mid 1800s (approximately):

I admired the jetty from afar imaging how fun it would be to run:

Then I ran upon this:

Now a person here and there has on occasion referred to me as a scofflaw.  But with 3 or 4 docents ten feet away and a sheriff’s station on the marina island, I couldn’t risk a ticket, so I ran on down to the beach for some major boulder hopping instead:

I had great fun leaping from boulder to boulder.  I surprised myself with what my legs could handle while running.   And I thought to myself, “this is great training for Calico.” (my next race)  The beauty so immense, I stopped occasionally for a photo op with my brand new camera:

The boulder hopping went on and on, 1 mile straight, one-way.  Fantastic fun!  Seriously.  It gave a good sweat.

With lots of tide pools along the way:

I had one close call (& WITH CAMERA IN HAND!):

Waves pounded the rocks:

And I ran these rocks until I could run no longer, else the great Pacific swallow me up:

So I headed back running upon these (or rather hopping):

With 2.15 miles on the garmin at the jetty, I decided to run a bit into the marina before returning to the truck:

Great, great fun for a “short” run.  I am learning to love running again (as if I didn’t already), but I’m learning to love it even more with these short “rest” runs.

Miles logged on my 18th day of Streaking into the New Year: 3.16

Thanks for reading!