Just Run

Thursday, I planned a 6 mile run for “easy” week.  Ended up, I’ve had “issues” at home regarding my running, because I’m having to put in afternoon runs (& they noticed that).  I drove home perturbed instead.  When I arrived home, the two family members that complain most about my running time said, “What are you doing here?  YOU NEED TO TRAIN!”  I told them I changed my mind (grudgingly inside.)  I didn’t want to throw the guilt trip.  What I really want is for my family to not resent running time.  So, I made everyone lunch, did chores, etc., etc.  “The Two” were waiting for my wrath.  But really, I just changed my mind and decided not to run (wink, wink).

Friday, today was a planned rest day.  Being that I’m out all day tomorrow and I didn’t work today, I decided to go ahead and run early this morning (I woke at 5AM).  But, I decided NOT to train.  Instead, I just ran.  I didn’t aim for a negative split, I didn’t throw in sprints.  I did not try to maintain a certain pace, nor did I aim for a particular finishing time.  Nope, I just ran.  And I played a bit too. 

When I pulled up to Aliso/Wood Canyons, I did not see a person in sight.  Nor did I see any cars.  Quite unusual.  I took off on the trails, the lonely, beautiful trails, breaking spider webs along the way.  I noticed hundreds of pill bugs (aka sow bugs) in the dirt.  I’d never noticed that before.  But I didn’t want to stop to take a picture because I JUST WANTED TO RUN.  I had a lot of negative feelings to shake.  However, eventually I couldn’t resist the camera and stopped to take a picture of this little guy (not the rabbit up the trail, but the adorable weasel in the right forefront of this picture):

I chose to run up Mentally Sensitive.  Why?  Mentally Sensitive is my “shake off those negative feelings,” hill.  I ran a bit up Meadows first, which is a brown meadow now.  Still, not a person in sight. 

Running Meadows making my way toward Mentally Sensitive:

Now, from the elevation profile below, Mentally Sensitive might look impossible.  Remember the profile doesn’t show the actual landform.  Instead, it represents the “slope.”  It merely shows the vertical elevation gained over a certain distance.  So, it always looks worse than it actually is.

As you might agree, the pictures below of the Mentally Sensitive Trail don’t look quite as awful as the elevation profile below:

The kicker is, once you reach the top of Mentally Sensitive, turn right and run off to Top of the World.  I turned left first, did some bushwhacking and ran into a city park.  I did a little playing here with some swing time.  So tempted was I to jump off the swing in motion like I used to as a child.  But I feared my pack would get hung up in the chains and I would end up injured.  I.  Don’t.  Want.  An.  Injury.

Swing Time:

After swing time, I ran off toward Top of the World.  About this time I started seeing hikers.  A little later, runners were hitting the trails.  I took all the little detours for more elevation.  Then while running West Ridge, I noticed some animals off in the far distance.  I thought horses at first.  Then realized they were too slender and not quite tall enough.  Then I thought dogs, from my estimate something like Great Danes.  West Ridge is the only trail here where dogs are allowed.  Anyway, I hesitated thinking that possibly three big dogs roamed West Ridge without an owner.  Upon closer inspection, I realized they were deer.  I have never seen deer on West Ridge.  Ever!  I managed to get amazingly close to the deer when my battery camera died.  But tada, I had a back up – my phone!  And so snap, I caught them just as they meandered off up the trail ahead of me. 

What an awesome “Just Run,” non-training run this morning, measuring 13.26 miles according to my garmin.  (approximately 21.34 km)

Thanks for reading!  And happy running or hiking or cycling to you this weekend.

4th of July Holy Jim Run

It’s funny what some people consider a blessing, others consider a nuisance, and vice-versa.  People with curly hair, straighten it.  Others with straight hair, curl it.  For me, my hair grows incredibly fast.  That bugs the heck out of me because I’m have to constantly cut it.  My fingernails also grow very quickly – some girls’ dreams.  I’m not one of those girls.  I hardly ever paint my nails.  Instead, I’m continually hunting down a fingernail file to shorten them.  Point is (right now), it’s pigtails time.  I can’t get out for a hair cut, so for the first time in a while, I needed to put my hair in ponytails for this morning’s run.  Perhaps I should just grow my hair long again, then I won’t be annoyed by this.  Oh, the dilemmas in life!

Since today is the 4th of July, Independence Day in the United States, I didn’t have to work.   And since this is “easy” week, I keep my runs to ten miles and under (Oh, okay, maybe I will run a tad over ten miles).  Anyway, ten miles – the choice was easy. Holy Jim Trail.  My ultimate goal on this grind of a trail is 1 hour thirty minutes, CONSISTENTLY.  In the Twin Peaks Ultra, I will run up Holy Jim at about mile 15. 

As long as a year ago, I ran this uphill trip in a little less than two hours, 1:50 something.  Semi-recently, my best was 1:42.  Then last weekend, while aiming for 1:40, I managed to eek out 1:37 (I contribute this to the fact that I was chasing, trying to keep up with, my running friend).  Today, I thought I’d up my goal running to the top of Holy Jim, which is at the Main Divide, a place called Bear Springs, to 1:35.  (Bear Springs by the way, is the location where the last grizzly was killed in these mountains.  A little bit of history here, in the late 1800’s the bee keepers who resided in this canyon, Cussin’ Jim among them, became fed up with the bears destroying their honey bee colonies.  Thus “they” set out to kill these bears and hunted down the last grizzly at Bear Springs).

The drive to Holy Jim Parking Lot:

Finishing up the last of my coffee before hitting the porta-potties and pressing the “Start” button on my garmin.  Notice how many cars are in the lot at 7AM.  Not usual, but being a holiday, a lot of people came out to the mountains:

I set out up Holy Jim at a faster pace than usual.  Two hikers made their way behind me.  I also passed about 5 hikers making their way up, quickly into my run.  The skies were overcast at first.  But as soon as I hit the switch-backs, I began to rise above the mist.  On the switch-backs I also noticed those two hikers that I started off with  were gaining on me.  I thought, “I’M NOT GONNA LET THEM PASS ME.”  Yes, I was yelling (inside my head anyway).

Running up Holy Jim Trail:

Just when I thought I’d lost those two hikers (by the way, I think they were the fastest hikers in the world), I’d catch a glimpse of this male/female team not more than ten feet behind me.  Yikes!!!  Whenever I caught a glimpse of them (nipping at my heels!) I’d take off on a sprint stronger than I could handle (but I handled it). 

Their superb hiking abilities were really stressing me out.  I had to come up with a plan to shake them for good.  I knew that a few down hills approached when I switched ranges.  And I thought, “They’re hiking, so their pace downhill will be only slightly faster than their normal pace.  I’m running; I’m going to haul ass down those hills.”  And that is just what I did, and at every glimpse back, I could no longer see them. 

Soon after losing the hikers, I spotted a mountain biker up ahead walking his bike up the trail.  I noticed that he turned back to see me and hopped onto his bike.  Then we played the same game that I did with the hikers.  There was no way this biker was going to let a runner pass him.  And every so often on a switch-back he would glance back and see me.  That’s when I’d see him pick up his speed.  I finally caught up with the cyclist at the base of that final terrible uphill to Bear Springs.  I glanced at my watch a little disheartened because I thought I wasn’t going to make my goal.  I said, “I hate this part!”  And the cyclist replied, “Me too, and I have to push my bike up to it!”  I PLOWED up that hill, groaning outloud, “Come on Lauren!  Come on!!!”  And can you believe it????  I slapped my hand down on the trail marker and quickly looked at my garmin.  1:35.  Goal Accomplished!

I chatted with the mountain biker for a bit.  Then glanced down to see those two amazing hikers approach.  Once they made it to the top, I learned that they are training for a Mt. McKinley hike this fall. 

The hikers I credit for me making my goal:

Bear Springs:

I ran as fast as I could manage on the way down Holy Jim.  Tripping HARD three times and meeting up with dozens of hikers, I slowed at times.  The downhill trip took 1:04.  I really think there’s room for improvement there, especially after I get my pivot down on the switch-backs.  Once on a pivot, I met up with a mountain biker, and I almost ran off the trail.  He said I did it very “gracefully.”  Funny!

The trip back:

Back at home . . . how did I manage to get so dirty when I didn’t even fall? LOL.  Happy 4th for those who celebrate it!!

Back on Easy Street

Today was my first run of “Easy” week of my “Hard-Hard-Easy” training plan.  I couldn’t hit the trails until after work, which meant my feet didn’t hit dirt until 12:30 PM.  And it was HOT.  But I at least drove to Wood Canyon, and after running up Cholla Trail I got to run the rolling hills of West Ridge which overlooks the Pacific Ocean.   Here and there I got some ocean breezes.  Wonderful run.  Lots of squirrels.  No snakes, but snake “tracks.”  ALSO, also, and this is big, I came upon at least a half dozen runners.  

So on “Easy” week (which really means less mileage) I got the added plus of heat training.

Hope your runs are happy this week.

Hooray for Easy Week!

1:37

I worked all day Saturday, so I wasn’t able to follow my training plan.  But this morning I met Jeremy H. in Trabuco Canyon and he drove that bumpy canyon road to the trailhead where we would begin nearly an 18 mile loop in The Saddleback Mountains.  Parked at the Holy Jim Parking lot on this gorgeous, cool-weathered morning, we commenced a run that would take several hours in the Cleveland National Forest.  First off:  Holy Jim Trail. 

My best time was 1 hour 42 minutes to run up all of Holy Jim.  Jeremy suggested 1 hour 40 minutes.  Two minutes, okay, I’d try.  But inside, I feared that I wouldn’t even make 1:42.  I started off a bit slowly.  But that’s how I run, I conserve energy so that I have “gas in the tank for the entire run,” enough to finish strong and faster than the start.

Ascending Holy Jim:

Even running the entire trail, I doubted I could do 1:40.  In fact, at one point, I got a bit confused and thought I passed 1:40.  That was when I turned a corner of the mountain and saw another climb and corner I forgot about.  I started to slow, but kept on running.  One more glance on my garmin, I noticed that I had not passed 1:40 after all.  The time elapsed read 1:32.  That’s when I began running as quickly as I could.  I didn’t look at my garmin again.  Eight minutes!  I just have to run this last little bit in eight minutes!!.  I saw Jeremy up ahead on the Main Divide and heard him say something (don’t recall what) that made me think I had a chance at a Holy Jim PR.  I found that last tiny steep stretch extremely difficult and wanted to stop and rest so badly.  But I didn’t stop.  I just groaned and kind of laughed.  Upon finally reaching the Main Divide, I slapped my hand down on the trail marker and looked at my garmin.  1:37!  So pleased was I!

Nothing could beat that the rest of the run, though awesome the entire run was.  Difficult yes.  But surely “hard fun.”    Good ole “hard fun.”  The best kind.

Running the Main Divide:

When the gnats came out, they came out in abundance:

Finally reaching Trabuco where it’s basically all downhill from here:

A lovely Trabuco Trail:

Now, That’s MUCH Better!

Confession:  Sometimes I wear a knee brace for no reason at all.  Like right now, I’m sitting in front of the t.v. in my pajamas, my knees feel great.  Then I looked to my gym bag, saw the brace and pulled it up beneath my pant leg up to my left knee.  What’s up with that? 

Today, I was scheduled for another ten mile run.  After yesterday’s hellish heat run, I’m surprised I made it out to the trails.  I felt a bit fatigued at first, but that was probably because I hit the dirt at 7:00 AM.  Ahhhhh, what a difference – overcast skies, lots of trees and plenty of fluids.  Now, that’s much, much better!

You can see from my pictures how very fortunate I was (& am).

Running Cave Rock Trail in the morning, not a soul in sight:

Lovely Cave Rock Trail:

Frolicking through the woods on my way to Dripping Cave:

Can never resist a picture in Dripping Cave (AKA Robber’s Cave):

A Dudleya’s bloom along Dripping Cave:

A favorite spot along Dripping Cave Trail that I usually run up instead of down – I don’t think I ran it much faster going down:

Ending up Dripping Cave Trail to meet up with Mathis Trail (one trail here that I usually avoid running up):

Running up Mathis, which isn’t so bad, ESPECIALLY after yesterday’s run:

Top of the World in sight from Mathis Trail:

About to descend again beneath the clouds as I run down Meadows Trail:

Elevation Profile – and what a delightful profile she was: