Mama Said There’ll Be Days Like This

Running streak going strong (well, not necessarily strong, but at least still going )

Day 22:  Tuesday was busy with getting the boys back to school, doing chores, etc.  I watched my youngest during his after school running program, then visited my brother in the hospital.  In the evening I was off to teach an adult Excel class at a local high school.  Somewhere in all this, I squeezed in a minimum run about the neighborhood totaling 1.20 miles (1.9 km). Nothing to write home about, but I did work up a sweat, and I did meet my minimum to continue this streak.  

Day 23:  Today was a little less hectic.  I ran first thing, or almost first thing (after getting the boys off to school), so that I wouldn’t flake and opt for a back-to-back minimum.   I hit the dirt in Aliso/Wood Canyons and soon found myself making and receiving work calls concerning my classes.  I was happy to finalize some things and was able to run more freely.  Soon however, I felt weak and tired, and the negative, “I’m no runner,” talk came prancing in. 

Despite my weakness and slight negative talk, I managed to run 11 miles (17.70 km) in this wonderful “wilderness” park.  I’ve put in enough miles in my short running career to know there’d be days like this.  And so, I went with it – hiking when it became too much and always, always remembering to appreciate the beauty.  And it was a beauty.  No matter how tough the trails become, they’re always beautiful.

Tres Dias Mas

I’ve added three more days to my Easter streak, but time is so short, I’ve had little time to contemplate on them. 

Day 19:  I got out late, though I did manage to get in a beloved mountain run.  I drove to Silverado Canyon, and then Maple Springs Road to where the asphalt ends.  It’s a single lane road, that is, not one lane each way.  No, it’s one lane period.  Carefully I drove that road even as eager as I was to finally hit dirt.  And hit dirt I finally did.  I ran up hill on Maple Springs for 4.5 miles.   A mountain biker passed me as he rode downhill and exclaimed, “You’re Awesome.”  Wow.  I never feel awesome.  I should re-state that.  I feel awesome, meaning, I immensely enjoy where I’m at and what I’m doing.  But as a person, measuring my accomplishments, I don’t think I’m awesome one bit.  In fact, I constantly fall miles short.  I am a classic low self-esteem person.  So, when this cyclist hollered this out to me, I felt blessed.  I thought, “How nice he is, and how neat that I am a recipient of his niceness.”  

From “Four Corners,” I turned the bend in the rocky road and headed up toward Modjeska peak for 1.5 additional uphill miles.  I only made it to the point however, as time ran out for Saturday’s run.  At the point, I took in the hazy view, ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, then turned back for a glorious 6 mile downhill run.  With about 4.5 miles remaining, two dirt bikers flagged me down to tell me this:  “We admire you. We really do!!”  Wow.  I hope that I am a stranger that makes someone’s day once in a while. Total miles run 12.02. (19.34 km). 

Day 21 (Easter Day):  I planned on getting a run in during the morning hours of Easter.  The morning flew by however, so I was left throwing my shoes and garmin into the car as we rushed off to my parents home in Fallbrook.  After an Easter lunch and way, way too many sweets (as my no- sweets-during-lent had ended), I headed out the door for a minimum run just to keep up my Easter streak.  I ran Dinwiddie Preserve for a grand total of 1.28 miles (2.06 km).  And I was happy to do it.  Note to to self:  Don’t forget to pack a sports bra!!!

Day 21: This was not a good day.  To begin, I dreamt in great detail that I was Jewish and in a Jewish concentration camp.  The dream was heavy, too heavy and too detailed.  A couple things that I explicitly recall are: 1)  I said to myself again and again as I registered as  Jew and checked myself into the camp, “This has already been endured.  You just must endure it again,”  and 2) the utter filth in the bedding that we were forced to lay in (though I brought my own clean bedding along with me, which was promptly thrown out when I arrived). 

Among other things on this day, which I will not categorize here, I jumped off my front porch, catching my hand on a rose bush.  A thorn tore, and I mean TORE through my ring and middle fingers, leaving a bloody mess that would not relent.  Besides that and other things (like I broke my husband’s windshield!) and one of my baby brothers went into emergency surgery last night, I was worn out mentally.  (My baby brother’s fine now, but I witnessed him in a great deal of pain yesterday, Easter Sunday.  I am so thankful that he has such a terrific wife.  She got him to the hospital despite preliminary doctor’s findings that they would “monitor,” his pain.  Turns out he was diagnosed wrong and had a ruptured appendix all along, that he suffered with for EIGHT days.)   Anyway, I’m off subject.  The point of this blog is that I did manage to streak day twenty-one.  I took a short drive and ran up Aliso Creek Trail into Wood Canyon.  From there I turned off on a single track for one of my happy places, “Dripping Cave.”  I spent a little time relaxing in the cool and shady Dripping Cave, then headed back out to Wood Canyon where I finished up my run with 6.11 miles (9.83 km).  I’m not sure if this made the day better, but I know I’m better for it.  And I did get a bit of tranquil thoughtlessness.  That’s always a good thing. 

Add Three More Days To My Streak

Day 16: Wednesday; I didn’t get out for a run until after the sun had already set.  For the first time that I can remember, I wished for reflective wear as I ran down Highway One.  For a moment I considered wearing my headlamp.  But vanity got the best of me, and I decided on a light colored shirt instead (light blue).  Okay, so I quickly ran off the streets, into the wharf and marina where cars cannot venture.  Miles run:  3

Day 17:  Thursday, I ran in Whiting Ranch which is in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains (Saddleback Mountains).  I avoid Whiting Ranch because that’s the location that most of the cougar activity I hear about comes from.  A cyclist was killed there some years back by a cougar.  He was reportedly stooped down fixing his bike.  A couple days later, that same cougar dragged off a woman.  She survived.  Fast forward some years -- just last week, a cougar was shot for acting aggressively and “stalking” a family.  Needless to say, being a lone runner, this is a place I avoid (call me stupid, because there’s cougars other places that I run, this particular area though seems to have the most reported activity.)

Thursday however, I ran with a girlfriend whom I have haven’t run with in a few years.  Victoria contacted me early in the week, and after a short deliberation, we decided upon Whiting Ranch.  I printed up a map the night prior.  She read it while we ran (because I run without my reading glasses), and we ran through lovely, green wooded areas for eight miles.  She kicked my butt, needless to say.  I’m so used to lollygagging about the wilderness without needing to keep up with another runner.  It was a wonderful run, and Victoria kept me on my toes no doubt!

Whiting Ranch:

Day 18: 1.35 miles: Friday; I am so wiped out from many days and evenings of work (both teaching adults and substitute teaching children), that it took all that I had to run out the door and put in the minimum.  I ran 1.35 miles into town.  My feet dragged.  Back at home, I did ten burpees in the kitchen.  Then feeling badly for struggling so much for such a little load, I took in fifty squats.  Call me crazy.  Cuz I am.

Nostalgia

Day 14: I hit the trails in Aliso/Wood Canyons Wilderness park.  The weather was perfectly warm with an almost hot breeze, a nostalgic breeze.  The weather brought back many memories as I ran through the two canyons.   I’ve been running the trails in this park for a long time.  There was a time I could get lost here.  There was a time that I did get lost here.  There was a time when I had not yet run every single trail in the park.   Now I know them all. 

On the morning of my 14th day in this running streak, I decided to take the toughest climb to the ridge.  That’s right, Mentally Sensitive (better known in my mind as “Psycho Path.”) 

It’s deceiving at first:

After all the nice, pretty stuff, Mentally Sensitive dumps you out onto an asphalt road for a little jaunt.  There was this guy to warn me off from the evils of “Psycho Path.”

But I didn’t take his warnings because sometimes I am insanely determined.  It was pretty dang miserable too, so steep and difficult it was.  Can it get any better?  This is the top of Mentally Sensitive:

And this is at Top of the World (overlooking Laguna Beach):

I finished up the eleven trail miles a little sluggish, as the warm winds brought back memories of finishing up these trails with drastically less vigor.  I recalled coming out of this canyon many times ready to collapse.  I recalled the friends that I suffered with on these very trails in hot, hot weather, and how we quietly bonded in our suffering.  Boy!  That’s great stuff.  Remembering those runs nearly made me cry. 

When I got home I registered for a Spartan Race (come September!  One month prior to Twin Peaks!!!).  What the heck was I thinking?   It was the nostalgia I tell you!  Nostalgia made me do it.  Wasn’t that what got me into trail running in the first place? Yes, indeed it was.  If I hadn’t camped in Calico as a young Girl Scout, I probably wouldn’t be a trail runner today. 

Day 15:  I began my burpee training.  And as my husband watched me struggle off to the side, he said, “Ummmm, I think you have a problem.”  He said out loud what I knew.  How can I be so weak and at the same time be able to run for so many miles.  Well, first off, I hardly cross train any more.  And I also don’t swim any more.  Something to change.  But first, after a good sweat and some rapid burpee heart beats, I took off for a minimum run around the neighborhood.  On the 15th day of my running streak, I ran 1.32 miles.