Where have I been?

Wow, its been a while since Iposted. When I last left you, fair reader, I was preparing for an assault on the 2 lap 6 plus hour run. Well it was a failure. I don't know whether it was the two hours of running I did the night before or whether it was the heat (80 degrees) or just what it was. But I made it through the first lap in 3:13, which was about what i figured I would do. As I headed up north fortuna for the second lap, I got to the top and completely lost the will to go on. There was no other way to put it. Sad. I headed back to the car, with a run of 5.5 hours, but I shorted myself another trip up South Fortuna and Kway Paay. Weak, weak, weak.

I took Monday off, then Tuesday headed out in the AM for a slow run with the dog. Wed. was a good run as I ran home from the Padres game in a light rain. It was about a 12.5 mile run in about 2:15 to 2:20 on the pavement, an unusual run for me. Thursday was my usual Friday run, which I did in about 1:30 pace, partially because it was done partly in the dark, but I also didn't go as hard as I could go as I kept getting texts about the draft and couldn't help but respond. I like where most of the Gators went, with three going to the Pats and one to the Broncos. I'm not going to be popular at Chargers games.

Friday I took off, and Saturday was attempt two at the double loop. I headed out at 10:05, the start of the Padres game. Up through the grasslands, I was feeling pretty good. I decided to take it fairly easy and not push the pace too much, but try hard to stay within myself. I did the north Fortuna climb in 20 min, which is pretty fast, but I felt very comfortable. There was a runner ahead of me to pace me, and I caught him going downhill, running fairly aggressively. I had a little hip pain after getting all the way down to Shepherd's canyon. Up and over Shepherd's Hill and through the canyon, then 15 minutes from the benches to the top of the South Fortuna stairs.

I was feeling fairly strong, and cruised down the saddle and into Oak Canyon, pausing only to give a hiker with a sprained ankle my frozen water bottle. Then I hit Kway Paay and made it up and down in about 50 min., finishing the first loop in 3:02, a record, which is remarkable because I felt I was within myself the whole time. After half a turkey sandwich, I was back on the trails in about 8 minutes or so. I started out walking and finishing my turkey sandwich, then hit the run button. My legs were tired, but not overly so. I did the North Fortuna climb in about 23 min., so I wasn't losing too much time, although my climb to the saddle took about 13 min. and I had to make up some time on the way to the peak. Everything felt good going down, but I was definitely getting tired and struggling on the flats.

I took a 2 minute break to sit at the benches and then pushed pretty regularly up south fortuna. I did more walking than I wanted to do after i got to the top, but I knew I was going to be close to 6:30 for the total time, which was on the early side of my goal. I struggled down through Oak Canyon and took another 4 minute break or so. Up Kway Paay I went, figuring I had 1:15 to get up and down and still stay under my 7 hour goal. I switched to music and tried to push up. I had to take a few pauses on the steepest part, and made it back to the car in 53 minutes up and down Kway Paay, meaning 6:38 for the run.

That puts me about where I wanted to be for the New Mexico run. I would have liked to have been a little faster, but this was a 25 mile run with about 2700 feet of climbing, or roughly 1/2 of what I will have to do for Jemez. That puts me at about 14 hours or so, I would guess, for New Mexico. Not bad.

Good wildlife on the loop. 3 roadrunners, which is very unusual, and a jack rabbit and a garter snake. Also, lots of good lizards. Pretty fun. Tonight will be a run for the heck of it with the dog and then Monday off and then back on the usual plan. We'll see how it goes . . .