Big Baz WTRS 21k

Rain poured down upon us all night, waking me every couple of hours.  I said out loud, “Boy am I in trouble.”

2:55 AM, I lay in bed, wide awake.  Finally, I made it out to the couch where I slept until 5:45.  Thankfully, the rain had ceased.  First thing I did (after brewing coffee) was check weather.com.  The website reported rain all day, except for partly cloudy skies between 8:00 AM and noon.  Exactly what I needed.

I will try to make a long story short (because I did after all, make a video).  The weather was cold in Blue Jay Campground.  Runners bundled up in winter running gear.  I couldn’t decide:  wear or pack?  After much debate, I finally decided to pack warmth in my hydration pack, because I figured I would rather put on than take off during the race.

I saw quite a few running friends, and some running friends were absent.  I was especially happy to see Lori, whom I haven’t seen in so long (unfortunately, the photo I snapped of us, didn’t turn out, but she’s the girl wearing back in front of me in a portion of the video).

Oh yes, I wrote that I’d make this short.  Well, in short, Horse Thief Trail was hell.  PURE HELL.  I kept up pretty well with “my” group up until nearly the top of that trail.  My energy temporarily drained, that’s when I lost them.  I was utterly wiped out at the top of Horse Thief that I had to stop at the aid station there.  The guys at the station asked how I liked Horse Thief.  I told them, I didn’t much like it at all (though the views were gorgeous.)  The ranger said I had just missed the snow flurries (bummer) as I stood there gulping down their cold, cold water.  I got brain freeze drinking their supply before taking off again. 

I can’t tell you the relief I felt passing the last aid station with only 2.5 miles remaining.  I was quite cold, but didn’t want to stop to take out a warm shirt.  I thought to myself, just easy-going from here (mistake – never think that!)  And then out of the corner of my eyes, I saw her!  There was a woman gaining on me.  And behind her, another woman.  Where did they come from?  I hadn’t seen anyone for a long time.

“SH**!” I said.  And I had enough energy to kick it in, keeping my pace at around a 9 minute mile for the remainder of the way.  My motivation:  I had already accepted my place in the race.  (Races with about 100 runners, basically all trail races, I have a pretty good idea how many runners are behind me).  Anyway, if these two women passed me, or even one of them, well – heck, I suppose I don’t have to explain.  I was a little disappointed for lollygagging it back when I was all by myself.  

Well, I made sure the two women didn’t pass me by focusing hard on the trail (didn’t want to fall) and focusing on the garmin.  And I crossed the finish line smiling.

Conserving Energy Going Up San Juan Trail

Going Up Horse Thief Trail

Aid at Top of Horse Thief

Lake Elsinore View from Main Divide

Baz’s Raffle

Elevation Profile:  + 3051 ft. & Video Below

Cleveland National Forest

Upon reaching home, it pretty much rained the remainder of the day.

p.s.  I kept up with my target a good long while, almost to the top of Horse Thief, then he took off like a thief in the night!

As I Wait

The rain began pouring down about two o’ clock this afternoon.  Nearing 8PM, it falls even harder.  I can hear branches sway as the wind howls on this stormy night.  More and more, especially now with a glass of wine in my hand, I’m thinking that tomorrow’s run will be a run, not a race.  For races are not cancelled because of rain.  Weather.com reports 90% chance of thunderstorms in the morning!

And yet I am ready, packed with layers of clothing laid out beneath my shoes. I will run the final race in this winter trail series regardless of rain.  In fact, the hardest part will be driving up that mountain.  I think I’ll need to leave a little early.

As I wait, I reflect a little on the silly things that I’ve been working on.  When I want to find a literary agent, also perhaps a full-time job . . . when I need to organize for taxes, and clean out my office, I contemplate on how TO DO CARTWHEELS AND BACKBENDS! 

I’ve been reading what and how to strengthen in order to conquer these tremendous aspirations of mine.  And some report it’s mainly confidence that allows one to do a cartwheel.  To gain confidence, I can do handstands (with my feet against the wall).  I can also do wheel barrels.  Remember wheel barrels?  A cinch from what I remember.  Well, just the other day, I asked my husband to lift my legs, hold my feet as I attempted to walk across the kitchen. 

He chuckled. 

So, there I was, hubby holding my legs off the floor, all my weight on my arms, and I immediately began yelling, “LET ME DOWN!  LET ME DOWN!”  It felt like all my body weight concentrated in my lower back.

“Walk,” he said. 

“NO.  PLEASE let go.”

“Walk!”

My oldest son stood off to the side laughing.

And so I walked, slow painstaking steps with my hands.  I got about five or six out, until I finally collapsed.  How can I be so strong, yet so weak???

The spectacle was fun laughter for the whole family.  Immediately afterward, my oldest son wheel barreled across the kitchen.  And then my husband did.    I was about to challenge them to a race down the block! 

I walked my hands afterward, by resting my legs on the couch and walking out, then back in.  That wasn’t so difficult now, was it?

The next day, I talked to another elementary school mother (exactly my age, a road runner in fact) and she said she tried a cartwheel recently.  It hurt so bad, she said that she’s never going to do it again.

But she DID a cartwheel.  This week, I just couldn’t stand it.  I told my husband, I’m gonna do it!  He said “No!”  Like that old commercial (if you are in your 40’s you might recall), “Don’t take the car.  You’ll kill yourself!!!”

So, we pulled up to the house, and I ran out of the car to the front lawn and did a cartwheel.  He laughed.  And I did another.  He laughed again.  I’m telling you, the hardest part was getting my legs over, not holding myself up with my hands.  I lacked momentum, because I lacked confidence.  Then finally, I did one that my husband reported looked just like a cartwheel.  It felt like I pulled something in the inner thigh.  (He said later, please don’t do anymore until after this next race.  I haven’t.)

If these lovely ladies can do such graceful cartwheels (not the teenager, the two women toward the end of the video below who are more my age), SO CAN I.  And while I put off all those IMPORTANT things, I will continue working on a dang cartwheel, and then a back bend, until I get it.

Hilarious! I want to do a cartwheel like this : )

And still I wait.  Just about 25 minutes till bedtime

Nirvana versus Inferno

Rain ceased today.  In fact, we had blue skies with gigantic white puffy clouds.  Normally I would have run my 9.5 mile timed loop.  But instead, I swam.  I planned it all week. (Yup, back to “The Planner.”)

Good news, I finally found my purple speedo.  I had to pull my shorts drawer entirely out of the dresser, empty it and go through piece by piece, to locate my favorite workout suit.  I have 3 suits still – this after recently giving 3 to charity.  You can imagine my relief to find my best swim suit ever. 

Bad news, well, not really bad, more like average news – nah, more like normal news.  My swim workout was harder and not as much fun as last week.  (I say normal because sometimes I have workouts that are close to achieving nirvana, and others that are like a sinner  forever pushing that boulder up a mountain in Dante’s Inferno) Last week, I hardly tired.  I glided through the water, dare I say, euphorically.  This week, I felt worn out from the “get-go.”  And then, I KEPT LOSING COUNT.  I usually swim sets of 100 or 200 yards in my gym’s 25 yard pool.  Then because I can’t keep count, because my mind sometimes wanders (well, more than sometimes), every 500 yards I start over with my counting. 

I like to swim at least four of those 500 yards.  Today, I swam five, or 2,500 yards (2,286 meters which is a little less than 1.5 miles).  I actually probably swam more distance, because when I lost count, I didn’t give myself the benefit of the doubt.  Instead, I’d swim the extra 50 yards.

Rain is forecasted for tomorrow and Saturday.  Since tomorrow is a holiday, I have Friday slated for rest and the boys don’t know it yet, but we’re cleaning out the toy box!

And then I wait.  Will it rain for my 21k trail race on Saturday??? 

Stay tuned . . . I have already picked a target.  Of course I won’t tell him that I’m racing him (though it is a race).  Let’s see if he figures it out.  I bet he will. 

A Run to Beat the Rain

Rain approaches, so I hear.  Don’t much like running in rain.  It’s like “been there, done that – now I’m done with that.”  Besides that, they close my trails when it rains .  With little time to spare between pick-ups and drop offs and grocery shopping and chatting with elementary school moms, I’m fortunate to have slated today as my lackadaisical run. 

With about 36 miles logged last week, I planned to bring it down a notch this week, mainly due to the final Big Baz WTRS this weekend.  Turns out, with the amount of rain we’re expecting, I’m going to bring it down more than a notch.

I dug around beneath the bed for a pair of road running shoes.  Funny thing, I have five.  Not five pairs, but five shoes of the same type – 3 left and 2 right.  Go figure.

I carried nothing on my back, nothing in my hands for today’s run down to the marina.  I wore a small running belt with my camera, lip balm and phone.  (Gotta carry that camera, I never know what I might see).  The sky was gray, the weather cool.  Pelicans swooped down on the marina waters like planes coming in for a landing.  Two sea lions lackadaisically swam the Pacific waters.  Squirrels ran rampant on the island on the other side of the marina.  They’re the scrawny type, overpopulated, scavenging for too little food, and no predators to take them out.  (In comparison to the plump furry squirrels on the trails that have to look for food and have plenty of predators seeking them out.)

I didn’t see many runners this morning.  I saw one woman that I recognized. She smiled wide like she recognized me, and I smiled back.  I didn’t see this area’s famous runner (among runners, that is, an Olympic qualifier from years ago).  He runs through the marina at top speed.  An amazing sight.  But he never smiles or even nods. 

Anyway, I find it nice to have a water fountain to drink from every 50 feet .  I also enjoy looking at all the different dogs walking their owners.  I didn’t much appreciate all the stop lights I needed to wait for. 

As I ran back home, I saw my husband driving to pick up our youngest son.  He yelled out the window that the back door was unlocked.  Thing was, I couldn’t get the back gate opened (I’m clumsy that way).  So, while talking on the phone with my mom, I climbed the gate and jumped down about five feet onto the cement.  And I think I heard a gasp from the other end of the phone that said, “yikes, women your age shouldn’t be doing that!” 

Here’s to hoping to no rain tomorrow so that I can fit in one more run before the weekend.  If not, off to the gym I go . . .

Dana Point Wharf, Rain Threatening

Have you ever seen a blonde squirrel?  I never had until a few years ago.  They scramble all about the marina island. 

And lastly, I was surprised to find that I ran beneath sea level at times.  What the heck?

Miles logged: 6.14

Snake Run

Saturday, I needed to take care of a residual from my face plant a month ago (Big Baz WTRS 15k).  Whereas my eye actually improved a great deal initially, this week it took a turn for the worse.  It was red and painful.

Turns out, something went into my eye during the fall.  Though whatever it was is no longer there, my eye didn’t react well to the intrusion.  A cyst formed in response, which in turn began irritating blood vessels.  “Thank God you didn’t damage the cornea,” the optometrist said.  And then she went on to say, in not so many words, that women “our age” shouldn’t be taking falls like that.  In my defense, I told her, “Well, I normally don’t fall like that; I was trying to avoid the cliff, so I fell awkwardly.  Usually, I fall much better.”

I’m sure that convinced her that women “our age” are okay to take falls like that.  She sent me off with an eye-drop prescription.  And already, my eye has greatly improved.

Saturday night, I went to bed at 9PM.  I could still hear the boys roughing up the place and didn’t fall asleep until after 9:30.  Up at 5:20 AM, I sat on the couch fooling around on the computer, avoiding getting dressed.  Not that I didn’t want to run.  I greatly looked forward to my long run this morning.  I was just too dang cold (we are so spoiled weather-wise in California – I’m guessing it was 40/45 F).  6:30 AM I was finally out the door and in the car to drive to my local trails (why, Aliso/Wood Canyons, of course).  My plan today was to run every trail up to the ridge and every trail down.  In other words, I ran up the first one (Cholla), ran along the ridge to the next trail into the canyon (Lynx), ran down it, ran up the next one, etc., etc.  The last trip down was Meadows (the beast!) which after running I turned around and ran up it to make the trip back.  Technically, I suppose this 19+ mile run was an out-and-back, but not exactly.  I made a few alterations on the back trip.  It was more like a snake route, back and forth, back and forth.

“Before” (I had planned to take an “After” shot, but forgot), standing in Canyon Vistas Park, layered and ready to take off.

The weather remained cool my entire run, though I stripped those layers pretty quickly.  Running through spider webs on the single tracks, I found myself smiling instead letting out yelps like I used to.  My thought was, “Ahhh, I’m the first one on this trail this morning.”  I would wave my hand in front of my face when running through spider-like areas.  Once a web broke on my upper lip.  I didn’t utter a peep.

Later, I found myself semi-frequently dodging mountain bikers.  Guided groups of hikers also roamed the hillsides.  I ran past one such group struggling up Mathis.  They smiled and shook their heads in amusement as I snaked my way up the mini-beast.  I have avoided Mathis for a while now, because it is so painful.  Surprisingly and happily, I found Mathis Trail quite comfortable to run.  Not at all saying that it was easy.  Just that all those runs up Meadows Trail have miniaturized other trails like Mathis.

Hours later, after running back up Meadows Trail on my way to West Ridge, I met that same hiking group while I ran across Top of the World.  One of the guys exclaimed, “It’s you again, I can’t believe you’re still running!” 

“You’re still hiking!”  It was like meeting old friends.  Turns out I set off this morning at the same time as this hiking group (7 AM).

Running down Lynx Trail in the cool morning shade, spring flowers already dot the hillsides.  (Running back up this at about mile 18 was a bear – no shade!!)

Spring flowers Along Rock It Trail

Dodging Mountain Bikers on Rock It

Car Wreck Trail

Finishing Up Car Wreck

Posing with 2-Headed Dragon I Found on the Trail

Top of the World View of the Pacific Ocean, Catalina Island & Laguna Beach

A Little Detour on Park Avenue Trail (Trip Back)

19.29 Miles: +4,031/-4033 SUPER FUN SNAKE RUN!

The Easter Bunny has ALREADY Arrived!

Okay, now I'm totally screwed (excuse my language).  The day that I commit, once again, to get on the straight and narrow with my dietary intake (so that I can be healthier, plus drop some pounds) happens to be the day that Easter candy hits the shelves.  Oh the humanity!  What is going on the in the world????

I am a candy fiend.  Easter candy is my favorite candy.  Nothing compares in my mind. 

But Valentines hasn’t even arrived yet.  Yup.  That’s right.  The aisles have both Valentines and Easter Candy. 

I like to know how candy got associated with Easter anyway.

I already had set Saturday (tomorrow), the day before my long run to get my diet straight.  So today, after an Italian birthday dinner (my son’s and mine – his birthday is today, mine in a few days), I bought a whole bag of Easter candy. 

I won’t say what happened next.  But it wasn’t pretty.

So, if dropping some pounds and eating a healthier diet is so important, why haven’t I done it?  I have to answer, sadly, that it must not be that important.  If it was, I would do it. 

In my defense (yes, one of my excuses) is my work schedule.  I leave for work well before dinner and arrive home after dinner time, starved.  But I should count my blessings.  I love my job.  It’s actually too good to be true (just need a tad more hours).  So, I refuse to blame my job.  I have to blame myself!

I’ll just close my eyes when I walk past the candy aisle.  And I’ll take it day by day.  And because 90% of the day my want to get healthier is not that important, I believe I must resolve again to record calories.  And I will drink more water, especially when I first get home from work (so that I don’t clean out the fridge : ) and I will celebrate Easter (when it finally arrives) happily without loads of sugar.

Happy Easter Valentines Day.