My Focuses

Feeling stiff from Saturday’s race, I put in some gym hours Sunday.  Still a bit stiff this morning, the sun was hot, but the breeze was cool.  I decided it was time to hit the dirt.  Though I went to my same wilderness park, I changed it up a bit by entering through Aliso Canyon, at the ranger station (as opposed to my usual Wood Canyon entrance).

White board at ranger station, always an interesting read

I ran with three goals in mind, which I found a little difficult to juggle.  I wanted to focus on form (mid-foot strike, kicking out back, etc).  I wanted to focus on a quick cadence.  And I wanted to focus on staying in the present moment. 

Surprisingly, I found myself running quicker than usual.  I suppose Saturday’s race was a bit of speed training.  Staying in the present helped me to keep good form and a quicker cadence, but the present also posed a problem.  I would often get distracted.  When you’re in the present you hear a multitude of sounds.  The sounds of nature, not to mention the sounds of silence between those noises.  I found myself investigating these distractions.  One particularly high-pitched chirp sent me on a mission to find what I thought would be a bird.  After drawing my attention to every single bit of my surroundings, I finally found the culprit.  Deep within a tree cluster, a perched squirrel set off this alarm-like squeal.  (They seemed shouted in exact increments).

Crossing creek on Wood Canyon Trail

Not only did I notice all the different sounds while staying in the present, I noticed things, like ladybugs, a colorful caterpillar.  I spotted a spider crawling out its hole in the dirt, then quickly slam its leaf trap door as I ran by.  I also noticed this unmarked trail, that I turned onto without a thought:

It lead to this delightful shade:

And the trail dead-ended here:

From Wood Canyon trail I hopped onto Wood Creek trail.  It was dark from shade as I ran through the spider webs, crumbling leaves beneath my feet.  Camera in hand, headphones off I ran this trail on another mission – to finally snap a picture of the deer that has scared me on TWO occasions.  It’s got to be the largest deer that I’ve seen in this canyon.  And both times it about gave me a heart-attack while I ran Wood Creek.  I wasn’t quick enough to get the camera out. 

This time I listened closely to the wooded trail and I heard birds I’ve never noticed before.  Finally, I thought I heard hoof steps.  I stopped in my tracks and listened very closely and could tell the direction of the noise.  It travelled closer to me, but to my right.  I stepped lightly waiting . . . waiting . . .  waiting.  Any second, whatever it was would appear from around a cluster of trees.  And then, I saw it – a large black bird hopping about rustling his beak through the leaves!

Gladly I made the climb to West Ridge via Cholla where I came across fellow trail runner Jeffrey traveling in the opposite direction.  We chatted for a few seconds, and I was off again to The Top of the World.  I got to enjoy a cool breeze this entire run.  And I got to run DOWN Meadows Trail.  Surprisingly, I kept up my faster than usual speed all the way in to the ranger station.

Lovely run!

Top of the World, Santiago Peak in distance (the right of the 2 tallest peaks)

Miles run today:  12.29

Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon

According to internet sources, Heartbreak Ridge is a narrow, rocky mountainous area in Korea. The Battle for “Heartbreak Ridge” began on September 13, 1951 and lasted for about a month. 

This battle is known as

“one of heartaches as well as of Heartbreaks [of the Korean War], but even more for the communists than us. The V North Korean Corps had been destroyed and replaced by the 24th CCF Army. The II North Korean Corps had also been decimated. On "Heartbreak Ridge" the 23rd Infantry had captured prisoners from six communist regiments. And all of this was taking place during the period when the truce talks had been suspended. Soon after these successes . . ., the communists agreed to resume the truce talks.” http://www.2id.org/heartbreakridge.htm

The only numbers I could find on casualties during The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge are:  3,700 American and French, and approximately 25,000 North Korean and Chinese.

I ran Camp Pendleton’s Heartbreak Ridge half marathon a couple years ago and had a terrible time of it.  Though I finished the race, I lost the mental battle.  I was miserable and said that I would NEVER return to this up and down, up and down off-road race.

I should have known better.  One of the few things I’ve learned in life is to never say never.  I am serious.  You can pretty much guarantee that you’ll do whatever it was you said you’d never do.  And you’ll do it relatively quickly too.  For God sake, never say anything like:  “I’ll never do heroin,”  or “I’d never bleach my hair platinum blonde,” or “I’d never have ten kids.”  Just. don’t. do. it.  Fortunately, I haven’t said these things, else I’d be a platinum blonde heroin addict with ten children.    But I did say that I’d NEVER run the Heartbreak Ridge half marathon again.  

So there I was this morning beneath cloudy, thundering skies, mingling with runners in the third wave.  First wave participants were all military men and challenged runners.  Wave 2 runners were civilian men and wave 3 runners were civilian and military women.  I asked a runner next to me about the waves, she looked familiar, but I figured I’d seen her at races before.  She looked at me also with recognition and said, “Are you Lauren?” 

LOL.  The young woman was Rachel, one of my blog readers (& commenters!) who is a blogger herself, not to mention fellow trail runner. 

Posing with Rachel

Wave One ready to go:

Hanging back with Wave 3:

I decided to run this race, not to beat my time, or even make a particular time.  I thought 2:15 would have been nice, but with the pretty much constant climbs, I thought that might not happen.  What I really, really wanted, and why I even registered for this race, was to beat the mental battle!  I wanted to run this race hard, never stopping.  I wanted to run it happily, joyfully.  I wanted to enjoy the beauty of Southern California coastal hills.  I wanted to feel the breeze; I wanted to giggle inside when the young marines said “Excellent job ‘Mam,” as I passed.

I took off on pavement with a “C” written on one calve (“C” for Civilian) and 46 (for my age) on the other.  A “3” was written also in black on my hand to indicate my wave.  After about a mile, we hit dirt and I was on familiar ground.  I didn’t contemplate the long hill approaching.  I just ran.

A little dip in the first 2.5 mile mainly uphill run

Heading into mile 3:

Down, down, down to the turnaround

Lucinda going strong (I’ve seen her at every Camp Pendleton race I’ve run, carrying this flag, wearing black and running in boots! One awesome lady)

I have to say that I ran this race happily, joyfully and that I won the mental battle.  That’s not to say that it didn’t get tough, and that I didn’t slow my pace.  I focused on keeping my cadence high on the up hills.  And in the last few miles, a good ninety percent around me began hiking.  I never hiked.  I ran the entire time.  I’m not sure where I lost my time this year, because I believe it took me seven minutes longer to finish this time.  Perhaps it was during the few flats, as that’s where I noticeably slowed.  I know I ran the up hills and down hills quicker.  I also wore a camelback last time.  This year, I drank mainly from aid stations.  One tiny thing that could have added to the extra time is that I did not take one photograph the last time I ran this race. My time this year:  2:32.  But really, I don’t mind one bit because I did what I came out to accomplish.  Mental battle won:  CHECK

3-way-tie crossing finish line

Miles run this morning:  13.1

After thought:  I have nothing against the hair color platinum blonde.  It’s a gorgeous color, just not for everyone, especially not for me. AND nothing against people with ten children.  I just COULD NOT do it.   Birthing babies took A LOT out of me. : )

Playin’ not Trainin’

If I do so declare myself, Thursday was THE HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR.  With the boys back in school, I wouldn’t be able to hit the trails at Aliso/Wood Canyons until late morning.  Therefore, I decided that today’s trail running was a day for playin’, not for trainin’.

I also tried out the New Balance low profile 101’s for the first time on this hottest day of the year.  With all my shoes I take out the insoles because they have arch support, and I don’t want to add more arch support to  my orthotics.  But these shoes’ insoles had no arch support whatsoever.  I decided to leave them in, hoping to enjoy the cushion.  

I literally wound my way in and out of my favorite trails: Wood Creek, Coyote Run, Dripping Cave.  Pretty quickly in the park, after a slew of cyclists passed me on their way out, I didn’t see a single soul on the trails for miles.  They’d have to be PSYCHO to run in this heat. 

A delightfully shady entrance to Dripping Cave Trail

Dripping Cave has been one of my favorite trails for a long time.  And I’ve also tried on occasion to catch a photo of me sitting in one of the overgrown trees with gnarly roots above ground (great stairs).  Mice poked their heads out of the root crevices as I climbed up these roots to get up on the cliff and set up my camera.  The problem with catching this photo is I’ve only got ten seconds once I click the button to slide down the small cliff, hop up into the tree, walk onto the branch and sit down.  Not an easy feat.  But since today was a day of playin’ and not trainin’ I wasted about ten shots before I finally got a decent one. 

Of course I had to stop at Dripping Cave and goof around a bit there.  Same problem here of course.  Only ten seconds to run across the bridge and pose.  It was a lot easier than the tree pose though.

By the time I reached the end of Wood Canyon it really felt like I was running in a furnace.  The outhouse was a downright OVEN.  I could barely stand it.  Actually, I thought it was probably pretty safe to keep the door open, as not a single soul traversed the trails.  The little guy (photo below) found a nice HOT refuge.  I shot the photo below then flew out that oven door to find a county worker in knee high rubber boots waiting to clean the outhouse.  I quickly tucked away my camera, lest he wonder what the heck I was doing in there.  LOL.

While Wood Canyon was a furnace, Meadows was an INFERNO.  I took the handkerchief filled with ice out of my pack and put it on top of my head, beneath my cap to make that run. I ran the entire way, my feet feeling like I was wearing winter wool socks.  

Running up Meadows with pack of ice beneath my hat

Trail runner’s worst nightmare if she’s not paying attention

I liked the shoes.  They were comfortable and definitely promoted a mid-foot strike.  But by the time I reached the top of Meadows, my feet were BURNING UP.  I ran straight to the kiosk and found two other psychos, females on bikes cooling off in the shade.  I tore off my shoes and ripped out the insoles and after chatting with the women, continued on my run.  With the ice melted, I took the handkerchief out and draped it over my head.  As I made my way up the next climb into Top of the World, I noticed another psycho  runner making his way in my direction.  I stopped at the top of the hill to look closer and recognized the runner’s floppy hat.  It was Jeffrey!  (The guy I ran in with at Saddleback Marathon).

Delighted to have company we ran together across Top of the World, then West Ridge.  That’s where I turned off onto Mathis for my brilliant plan for a steep run down and more climbing. 

Running West Ridge with Jeffrey

I do not exaggerate when I say that running down Car Wreck with direct sun blaring down on me felt like I was running alongside a roaring fire.  My goodness!  I could not wait until I reached the bottom where I’d finally hit shade.  My handkerchief was dry, but I still had plenty of fluids in my pack after refilling at Top of the World.  Fortunately, I came upon several Orange County Conservation Corps workers and they very kindly allowed me to use their ice-cold water to cool down my head and drench my handkerchief.  They were all wearing long sleeves and pants, and all laughed out loud when I answered a question.  One young man asked how long I had been running.  My answer, 3 hours (of course there were the climbing tree and cave and top of Meadows breaks). 

The climb back up to the ridge via Mathis was plain old TORTUOUS.  I took out my 20 oz. Gatorade which was a block of ice when I put it in.  With the ice melted, it was still cool and certainly helped me get up that exposed climb.  Though hot, I was not heat exhausted and ran West Ridge and Cholla trail in.  I drank my very last amount of fluids with only about a quarter mile left.

Running West Ridge, Santiago Peak in the distance

Miles logged Thursday morning:  12.67.  I was a bit fatigued and wanted to take a nap.  But after getting all our boys home,  ALL THE POWER WENT OUT.  If you live anywhere in the vicinity, you definitely know (it was all the news) that everyone lost power from South Orange County all the way down into some of Mexico and all the way to the Arizona border – that’s huge.  Ours was out from 3:30 til about 11 PM. 

Elevation Profile:

Santiago Peak Take 2 (Gnats taste yucky)

My plan was to run up to Santiago Peak again this morning with two running friends.  After checking e-mails at 4:15 AM, I learned one friend couldn’t make it.  So it was two running up the mountain this morning. 

I arrived to a dark dirt lot a couple minutes before 5:30, no Tom.  I thought well, I’ll give him until 5:40 (because duh! I didn’t bring his phone number).  With one minute left, and me deciding whether to go back home and crawl into bed, or to drive to Aliso/Wood Canyons and run some coastal trails (I was leaning toward sleep), Tom B. text’d me to say he’d be five minutes.  And I was just getting used to the idea of more sleep.

Let me say this:  I’m so happy that I didn’t get that extra sleep.  I’m even happy about all those gnats that I breathed in, then spit to the ground (they tasted yucky).  I’ll tell you why.  Tom wanted to run to the top, and he had to do it in three hours.  I chuckled out loud when he said that.  Then I said, “Well, when you reach the top, you can turn around and when we meet, I’ll run down with you.”  Needless to say, I lacked confidence that I could do it.  But I kept that timing in mind, and also a close look on the garmin the entire trip up. 

I made it to the top in EXACTLY three hours.  No leg cramps.  I suffered some from the climb, yes.  The climb was still extreme.  And the gnats were even worse than last week.  I believe hundreds at a time swarmed my face.  It wasn’t a matter of keeping my mouth shut.  At certain points, simply breathing sucked those gnats right into my mouth.  But the weather had to be at least ten degrees cooler than last week.  And I ran much, much more of the Main Divide that I did last Sunday.

Elevation Profile of this morning’s run:

Heading up (Holy Jim, then the Main Divide)

Tom takes in view on Santiago Peak

Posing before above a multitude of cities and the Pacific Ocean:

No, that is not a beer in my hand (it’s coconut water)

The run down went slower than I hoped (than perhaps we both had hoped).  Swatting gnats with my handkerchief, the temperature grew some and I warmly welcomed the shade and an occasional breeze. 

Tom and I hit Holy Jim about the same time.  Then after a steep descent we ascended a bit.  That’s when Tom passed and I felt the first warning of heat exhaustion.  I actually had to stop in the shade for some seconds to gather my wits.  I pulled an ice cold Gatorade (slushy with ice) from my pack and ran down that mountain ONE STEP AT A TIME. 

I saw Tom in the distance, but made no big effort to catch him.  I gather, he was just as eager to get down that remaining 5 mile climb as I was.  When I came upon the spring, that “saved” us all last weekend, I stopped.  Then I leisurely cooled down.  I practically took a bath in that dribbling water.  When I was finished I had an ice-cold handkerchief on my head, brain freeze from the slushy Gatorade, and a handheld filled with spring water in my pack just in case I ran out of fluids.

Completely refreshed, I raced down that mountain, running as quickly as possible attempting to catch Tom.  I tripped several times, but remained upright (amazingly) each time.  On two particularly bad stumbles my calves cramped-up and I thought for sure that I was going to eat dirt.  (core work does help with falls!).

Just when I thought I wasn’t going to catch Tom, I looked up and there he was cooling down in the stream as I crossed.  Guess what he said.  It’s something I’ve heard frequently recently.  He said, “I ran out of water.”  (And he was carrying a lot of water going in).

Thank goodness, we only had about a mile left.  I offered him my spring water.  But he declined.  I had just enough water in my hydration pack to make that last mile.  And that last mile was very difficult.  But not as difficult as last week.  Cloud cover came in.  People by the dozens were hiking up (with seemingly little water).

Though we made it down in a little more time than hoped, I’d say we did pretty dang good.  Tom’s time limit to get to the top was a GREAT motivator.  Thanks Tom.   

Running down the mountain

Holy Jim’s beauty

Last creek crossing before making it to the truck (where ice-cold water and Gatorade await)

16.41 miles run today.

According to my garmin, I made this trip about an hour quicker overall, than last Sunday. 

Just Be

Thursday, I wasn’t up to running as planned.  I woke to run, then fell back asleep on the couch at 5AM.  When I woke at 7ish, I simply sat on the couch.  Well, I did sip my coffee.  The house was still sleeping, even our puppy was asleep.  So, I packed a gym bag and spent two hard hours at the gym.  I upped the resistance to 12 on the elliptical crossramp and pushed hard.  I upped all the weights one notch as well. 

Friday I woke a little sore and wondered why.  Then I fell back asleep on the couch at 5AM AGAIN.  When I woke at 8ish, only our middle son was awake.  I packed my hydration pack and with coffee in hand, drove off for Aliso/Wood Canyons. 

The skies were cloudy, the air misty in Wood Canyon.  As I set off running, I had two goals in mind.  They had nothing to do with pace or distance.  First, I’m continuing to work on form.  My running friend Tom B. (who I saw on the trails this morning) noticed on our last run in the Santa Ana Mountains that I had a bit of a heel strike on down hills.  I really wanted to concentrate on eliminating that heel strike.  My second goal sounds simple, but was really quite difficult – that is to JUST BE.  Enjoy the moment.  Observe my thoughts without judgment and focus on my body, what it felt like when the breeze hit, what it felt like to run up that strenuous Meadows Trail.  In other words, live in the moment, and enjoy the present.  Just be.

And that is what I did.  (But it was hard sometimes)

A little detour to Dripping Cave, one of My Happy Places

Quick “breather” in Dripping Cave (AKA Robbers Cave)

At top of Meadows Trail, running ridge to enter Top of the World

10.45 miles run today (16.82 km).  AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL.  And I felt strong.  Finally. My route:  Wood Canyon, a bit of Dripping Cave, Cave Rock, back to Wood Canyon, Meadows, Top of the World, Park Ave. Nature Trail, West Ridge, Cholla. 

Elevation Profile:  +1749/1732’