recovery!

So, we are 9 days post Jemez, and recovery is relatively complete. I took a few days off, and went for an hour hike on Monday then a short run on Wednesday. I took Thursday off, but Friday did an hour and a half on Glorious Ridge with Justin Evenson. It was good to get back on the trails with him. Saturday I did almost 3 hours in the canyon, doing the tailgate loop while listening to the Lakers game. After hiking on Sunday and going to check out Star Wars in Concert (very good, if a little cheesy and over the top), Monday was a new challenge - High Point!

High Point is the highest point on Palomar Mountain. Starting from Oak Grove, its a 13 mile out and back with 3,600 feet of gain. I picked this one because it should be relatively similar to the climbs for White River at between 500 and 600 feet per mile for several miles. My hope was to get up in 2 hours and 10 minutes and down in 65 minutes. I made my time goal, but was up to the top in 2 hours, and it took 70 minutes to get down. I definitely bonked on the way down, which isn't too surprising given that I only took two gels on the way up and none on the way down. Went through 3 frozen water bottles and could have done another. It was mid 70's at the start at the bottom and mid 80's at the bottom, so it was starting to get warm.

The climb starts with 1,800 feet of gain in 2 miles on technical single track. Definitely some work to get up. It dumps onto a series of fire roads which are fairly mellow for a mile and a half or so, but then kick up before another 1/2 mile flat section through shady oaks and then a final steep kick to the finish at high point. There is a multi-story fire tower up at the top that is sometimes open, but was closed today so that they could do some safety work on it. After about 7 minutes on top, I headed down. I hadn't made it 1/4 mile when a rattler struck at me. It wasn't even close, but it was a wake up call. I have no idea what it was thinking. Its funny because the last time I was here, I had a close call where the rattler struck and missed. Twice! Both times its head bounced off my ankle as I danced and screamed like a 13 year old girl at a Justin Beiber concert. So, the lesson is that they have some grumpy rattlers up there.

Among other sites were numerous blooming wildflowers that were populated with big bees. I thought they were carpenter bees, but they might have been bumble bees. I wasn't taking a close look. There is a great view of the observatory from the top. A possible long run will be to get dropped off at Oak Grove and picked up somewhere in Palomar state park, or, even better, to run down to the state park, then back up and over again. That would be tough for sure. I'll have to scout it out.

More soon!

A view of the fire tower from the top. I'll bring a better camera next time because you can get some good pics from a distance. You can see it for the last 2 miles or so of the approach. A good target.
The view of the Palomar Observatory from the fire tower.
A southern Pacific rattler! This was the culprit on Monday, but the last guy who struck at me was a red rattlesnake which are rarer. Neither one makes a good dinner guest.

Jemez 50 Miler

So the Jemez 50 miler is in the books. This is a 50 mile race on rough trails in northern New Mexico with 12,000 feet of climbing in 5 major climbs, three of which go over 10,000 feet. A good race, supposedly one of the toughest 50 milers in the country. The short version is that I finished in 15:36. The long version is below . . .

Here's the profile of the race.

The trip was a pretty typical one. Scotty was waiting for me as I walked off the plane, and after a line at the Hertz counter that reminded me of the bread lines you used to see in cold war Moscow, we finally got our car and headed from ABQ to Los Alamos. Unfortunately, we missed our exit by about 30 miles, and by the time we got to the briefing, we were fairly late. Scotty’s friend Mike and his wife Fran were there and gave up their seats at the table to us. Mike was planning on running the race at one point, but he was recovering from Massanutten, so he turned it into an impropmtu vacation. After scrounging up the last of the spags, we listened to Caballo Blanco of Born to Run fame and headed back to the room. Actually, Mr. Blanco didn’t have much to say and seemed painfully shy, but his you tube video he showed was interesting. Apparently if you finish this race that they put on in Copper Canyon, you get 500 pounds of corn. I guess you are supposed to give it to the indians who live there, but I might be tempted to keep it. I REALLY like corn muffins. But I digress.

After going through my bag and discovering my portable XM and camera had been stolen out of my checked bag (bummer), I organized the rest of my stuff and hit the sack.

I was up before the alarm went off, and about 4:10 AM, Scotty and I rolled from our hotel in Espanola, about 20 min outside of town. The only problem was that neither of us had bothered to check the directions to the start line before we left, although I had some idea of where we were going. Scotty was able to find the directions in his bag , and we made it with several minutes to spare. After some socializing and half a donut and the usual port a potty stop, the crowd started moving down the road, meaning that the race I guess had started. I missed it.

Scotty and I at the start. Scotty looks drunk. Probably too many donuts. All pictures here courtesy of Scotty thanks to my camera getting stolen. Stupid US Airways.
Mmmmm, donuts.

So off we ran through some horse stables and then onto a horse trail system that paralleled the road we had ridden in on. The first 5 miles were rolling, and Scotty and I were still together at the first aid station where I stopped for a quick refill at 57 min or so. I then headed out, but didn’t see Scotty. I figured he was up ahead somewhere and put my head down for the first big climb of the day. It was pretty straight-forward - switchbacks up a burned ridge that were fairly steep. You could see the runners all out in front of you, which made for quite a sight. At the top there was a small aid station, so a quick refill and a few chips and then straight down a moutainside. I mean straight down on a game trail that zigzagged in an approximation of switchbacks. I had a ball and bombed down the trail, passing a few people that had gotten me on the uphill. Before I knew it, we were at the bottom at a ladder over a dam. After a quick climb it was onto an idyllic trail through the trees along a creek.

Running the roly polies at the start before aid station 1.
After aid station 1, after running through a creek bed, you headed up the 1600 ft. climb of Guaje Ridge.

Runners all going up Guaje Ridge. Every white speck is a runner. The crest in the picture is about 3/4 of the way up. From there, its a quick traverse and then a final push to the top.
Here's the famous ladder climb. It comes right after the descent from Guaje.

For whatever reason I was already struggling a little, which was a bummer because this trail was very runnable, and I was running maybe 3/4 of the time. I did have a yard sale wipeout at one point with my radio going one way, pack another, hat another, etc. It was crazy. Every muscle in my body cramped - hamstrings, calves, chest, biceps, etc. It took me a few minutes to shake this off, but then was up and at it again and actually ran a little better. But I took the cramping as a sign to eat more salt pills and did just that. Passing through the aid at mile 10, it was a 2 mile climb with 1800 feet of gain to Caballo Peak. At over 10,500 feet, it was one of three climbs over 10,000 feet. Then it was straight back down the same trail again. The climb was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, and it was great to see the leaders come bombing down the trail, as usually you don’t get to see these guys. It was also great to get good words from everybody and give them right back. There is a brotherhood/sisterhood to trailrunning that you don’t get in any other sport that I know of. We are all out there together, and we want to do our best, but we want you to do your best as well and let the chips fall where they may. Its a fraternity of idiots. Misery loves company, so they say.

Believe me, this elk was feeling better than I did after my fall and cramp session.
Typical section of the creek trail on the way to Caballo.
Heading up Caballo. This gives an ideal of the typical steepness of this section.

From the top of Caballo. You can see the Pajarito ski area in the background. We would top that for our last major climb of the day at mile 34.5. This was mile 12.

So up we went, then around a random tree at the top, then back down. I had thought Scotty was way ahead of me, but he was coming up the trail still, battling the altitude and the three ultras he had done in the last 4 weeks as well as a bad back. Crazy. That dude is monster tough.

Again, I passed people on the downhill but couldn’t keep it going when I got back to the creek. Pretty soon it was a steep climb out of the drainage onto a really fun jeep road to the Pipeline station. This is where I took my first break, pillaged my drop bag, and ate a groovy grape popsicle. I was doing a poor job of eating and staying with my salt pills, and nothing looked good at the various food tables except for that beloved otter pop. While I got organized I talked to a girl who was thinking of dropping to the 50K at that point. We were about 5 hours into it and only covered 17 or 18 miles. But, I told her, we had also covered 3 of the 5 big climbs, and there was only one cut off, at mile 36, so why not stick with it and try to make the cut, and if she got pulled, then she did knock out a 50k and gave it her best shot at the same time. I have no idea if she took my advice because I took off, but if she did, given the climbs coming up, she probably hates me with all of her heart and soul for talking her into going on.

A typical section of the climb to Pipeline. It is steep and somewhat forgotten about given the other climbs, but no fun.

The plunge off Pipeline to the Caldera was ridiculous. Take the steepest slide at the water park, one that’s about 300 feet tall and straight down, then cover it in 2 feet of dust and loose gravel. Then run down it. That’s pretty close. When it straightened out, it was great, but in the process of going down, I almost lost my otter pop. Very uncool.

The big descent with the Caldera in the distance. No pictures really capture how ridiculously steep this is.

The view of the Caldera from the top. The road we would run on runs through the center of the picture than off to the left.

The Caldera was probably my favorite part of the run. It was an undulating fire road that cut across this giant meadow framed by 10,000 peaks all around. It was very runnable, and I made decent progress with a few walking breaks. Before I knew it, I was at the mile 21 aid station. A quick clean out of the Pipeline drop mess that was all in my shoes and I was off on the cross country portion of the course.

Running a typical section of Caldera fire road.

The first part was a pleasant gradual climb across the clumped grass of the meadow. The second part started with bouldering section followed by a climb straight up the side of the mountain. And I mean straight up. To paraphrase Tim Robbins in Anchorman, no switchbacks, no mercy. I was climbing well though for someone my size and at my place in the race and managed to pass a few people I had been swapping spots with in the Caldera. Topping out over 10,000 feet a second time on Cerro Grande, there was some tree jumping and then onto a primitive trail that became a very runnable trail along a creek downhill. Unfortunately I started pooping out here so didn’t hold my pace as well as I should have on this section. Rat bastard. At some point, we had to go over a barbed wire fence. Somehow, I screwed this up and caught my running shorts on a barb. Thus ended my shorts which I had run every ultra I have ever run in as they ripped from top to bottom. Luckily I had tights on underneath, so I was able to run through despite my wardrobe malfunction.

The Cross-country portion. We would go into the trees, then up to the saddle and up to the left to top out on Cerro Grande.
Just a fun day of bouldering. Or not.

After awhile I came on the Pajarito aid station and decided I needed to try to get some food down here as nutrition was becoming a real issue. Fortunately, they had the magic formula that worked at Grand Teton: potato soup! Salty with lots of carbs and easy to swallow. Between that and some ginger ale, I was ready to go again, and headed out. I pulled into a group of 4 of us and we just put our heads down and did the gentle climb. It was getting hot, but I was not affected too much by either heat or altitude or wind. It was about 80 I guess in the canyons, and the wind was blowing at a steady 20 and gusting to 40, but the wind was cool, I thought, and I felt pretty good considering the mileage I had put in to that point. When I pulled into the Townsite Lift station, I heard someone calling my name, and it was Mike and Fran! Man was it good to see a familiar face. They were super encouraging and snapped my pic as I got ready for the last big push of the day.

It started gentle enough, and I let it lull me into a sense of security. It went from runnable to straight up parallel a double diamond ski slope. And there was no trail. You would run from an orange flag next to a rock to an orange ribbon on a tree 200 feet and 200 vertical feet beyond to an orange ribbon tied to a squirrel another 200 feet and 200 vertical feet ahead, etc. Finally, I saw the top. Nope. This was just the top of this ski slope. But you could still go higher on the mountain, so off you went perpindicular to the slopes, still going up. Finally I came to a blue bench made of skis and sat down for a minute, enjoying the view of the Caldera and literally hanging onto my hat in 40 mph winds.

You would think the top of the lift would be the top of the climb, right? Not in this mother scratcher. You do get an idea of the steepness of the climb, however.

About 5 minutes after continuing, I had reached the top of the final climb over 10,000 feet after 3200 feet of climbing, 1,800 of it in the last mile and a half. I came to the downhill to get me back to the ski lodge that was the 36 mile cutoff. I still had plenty of time, so I wasn’t too worried, but the steepness was similar if not more than the Pipeline drop, so instead of following the flags straight down, I ran my own switchbacks until the trail ducked into the woods and became runnable. I ran over several of the mountain bike obstacles to provide a little variety and came cruising into the ski station. There were Mike and Fran again! Too sweet. With a few more good words and the news that Scotty was hanging in there, I took off up some gentle slopes towards Pipeline again. I ran what I could and probably could have done better, but was at Pipeline before too long. I had thought it was all downhill from there, but there were two climbs to go. They looked intimidating as I came to each of them, but they really weren’t that bad. And I ate another Otter Pop at Pipeline to give me some strength.

Looking back from just past the ski lodge aid station. The slope we ran down is on the right.

Then came the fun. It was 8 miles of downhill ridge running, and I was hauling butt! Well, relatively speaking. I had saved enough to really do some damage here and was having a blast, although it would have been more fun with someone to chase. I blew through the second to last aid station and kept going. About 2 miles after that, things fell apart. I tried to take a salt pill and blew banana chunks and whatever else was rotting in my stomach all over myself and the trail. I then tried to take a gel about 2 minutes later and lost it and more banana chunks. That was it for eating for the day, so I knew I had to milk what energy I had left before I lost it. I kept it together for about 2 more miles, and then the bonk came. I struggled through the bottom of the canyon into the last aid station.

Typical section of the downhill ridge run.

From there it was 2 miles back to the top and I chatted with a guy from Spokane for most of the way, the first person I had seen on the trail since mile 31. Eventually he had some legs and took off and I fast hiked it up to the blacktop where I stumbled a few steps across the finish in 15:36, good for 83rd place. Of course, Mike and Fran were there to cheer me in, and we had fun chatting and cheering for Scotty and the other runners when they got there.

My shirt after the race, covered in dirt, grime, banana puke, and snot. Wearing white for an ultra is not the best idea for the fastidious. Fortunately, I don't fall under that category.
My ripped shorts. Such a bummer. I bought these for 50 cents at a Goodwill store in Tucson in 2002 when I needed something to play basketball in. I've worn them for every ultra and long run since. So sad. Maybe I can repair them with some more duct tape. I have no idea what the goo is next to the rip.

Overall, it was a killer race. I heard 300 started and only 100 finished (I was later corrected that 158 started and 100 finished - 63 percent finish rate, no doubt lowered by some who dropped to the 50k option which can be awfully tempting . . . Thanks for the correction, Beist!), with the rest either dropping or dropping down to the 50K. So 83rd ain’t too bad, but room for improvement for sure! I could have run stronger on the flats and the very last climb. Bleah. Well, it was a training race, and I’m already feeling up to run tonight - a good sign! If I can use this as a stepping stone to White River, then I’m in good shape. As usual, I was relatively unaffected by the heat and altitude, but I still need to get stronger on the flats to cut serious time off. The good was the climbing, the views, the company, and having some legs for the last 10 miles. The bad was walking some of the early flats and the some of the downhill from Cerro Grande when I should have been tougher and losing track of my nutrition.

Big thanks to Mike and Fran for the good words and friendly faces, to Scotty for bringing this race on the radar, and to the race director and all the great volunteers out there who make it possible. More soon! Bring on White River! Sub 12 here I come!!

Two weeks to go

Its been a while since I posted, but I've been keeping busy. I managed to set 2 new course records, including a 1:16 on my Friday night run and a 2:59 on my Fortuna/Kway Paay course. The only questions I have for the upcoming race are can I hold my climbing pace over a 2 mile versus 1 mile climb, is the altitude going to affect me, and will I have anything left in the legs for the fun downhill to the finish. I will be interested to see just what I have left, if anything. My goal for the race is just to make it to the cutoff in 12 hours and then see what happens. If I get it faster than that, great.

So, one of my interesting adventures was last week when I did the illegal train hike. Its a 13 mile hike from Jacumba to the desert that goes along abandoned train tracks. You go over 22 trestles and through 14 tunnels, or something like that. Most of the time you can walk along the tracks, but sometimes you have to walk on them like in Stand By Me across the bridges. The highlight is the Goat Canyon Trestle which is the longest curved wooden trestle in the world. Yes, that's a lot of modifiers, but its a very cool bridge, with catwalks and so that you can explore. There are also abandoned tunnels where the tracks used to run that now house bats and other critters.

I also made another trip up to San Jacinto. After only a week, the snow had receded significantly, and I was able to make it another 15 minutes or so up the trail. Still climbing relatively well, at least for me. We'll see what that means for the race. I'm mildly confident, but nervous. My times have been pretty good, but 50 miles is a long, long way.

Here's the view from the high point I reached on San Jacinto. All below was a thick snowfield. Pretty nice. I'm going back up to Idyllwild this weekend for some acclimatization. Won't be a lot of running, but will be hanging out at 6500 feet. That should help for the race, I hope.

Here's something you don't see everyday. Found these guys heading down from Monserate. Fed them pretzels, which they seemed to like.
The first tunnel on the hike. That's Mrs. Hamlet in front about to enter.
This was the NAFTA train. There were 3 abandoned trains on side tracks. This one had a bunch of passenger cars from a Montreal commuter train and a Mexican caboose. Go figure.
This is the Goat Canyon trestle itself. Very cool and rickety.

This is a desert iguana. He was the nicest one I've ever seen and was pretty docile to boot.

After getting to the car, I found this big horn sheep horn. Too cool! Next to it was a big horn ewe skeleton that had gotten tangled in some wire. It looked like maybe she strangled herself? I hope it was quick. It was kind of sad.

Less than two weeks to the race!

Winter wonderland

So the week proceeds apace. After taking Monday off, I had the chance to scoot up to San Jacinto on Tuesday. My thought was I could do the first two miles of the trail, which match almost exactly two of the climbs from Jemez. Well, joke was on me. I expected some snow. But after about 1/2 hour, this was what I got . . .

Very pretty, but not super conducive to doing hill repeats. I struggled through the snow in my trailrunners and shorts for a while, but really, it just was a pretty hike in terms of training value, which isn't the worst thing in the world . . .

On the way home, this was the view:

These are lenticular clouds. Straight from Wikipedia, the Reader's Digest of the internet:

Where stable moist air flows over a mountain or a range of mountains, a series of large-scale standing waves may form on the downwind side. If the temperature at the crest of the wave drops to the dew point, moisture in the air may condense to form lenticular clouds. As the moist air moves back down into the trough of the wave, the cloud may evaporate back into vapor. Under certain conditions, long strings of lenticular clouds can form near the crest of each successive wave, creating a formation known as a 'wave cloud'. The wave systems cause large vertical air movements and so enough water vapor may condense to produce precipitation.

So there you have it. Anyways, I think they are very interesting, and you don't see them all that often, particularly in dry Southern California. I didn't see any UFO's. Bummer.

Wednesday was a run through the canyon with Gator in the morning. It was raining lightly, so the tall flowers and low grasses were all bent over with the weight of the light rain that had been falling. Gator and I went crashing through them, and they left wet petals and leaves all over us. By the time were were done, I was soaked, not from the rain, but from all the moisture on the vegetation. We both looked like something from Swamp Thing!

No big plans for the next couple of days. I'm in a minor taper. I'll go for a run tonight from softball and then in the morning with Gator as tomorrow night is beer fest at the Padres game! Saturday will be the long run and Sunday I will be trespassing along the Goat Canyon Trestle. Hopefully more pictures then . . .

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 . . .

Strange days . . .

Wednesday's run was an odd one, and I let it throw me off my game. There was lots of wildlife of the two legged variety. My plan was to do my new modified loop - grasslands, north fortuna, shepherd's hill, south fortuna, kway paay. All told it should take me between 3 hours to 3:15. I've only timed it once, and it was 3:10, so that was the goal. Well, I was well on pace going up north fortuna, and I was trailing a figure that was maybe 400 yards ahead of me. Whoever it was was matching my climb up to the top perfectly (time -20 min. - that's good!). So North Fortuna has a couple of bumps on the ridges as you come to a peak, then down and to the real peak then a third false peak, and then a small rise by the highway before a rocky descent off the ridge. Well, as soon as I hit the first peak, I started motoring and caught what turned out to be a girl by the second peak. When I was about 20 feet away, I yelled that I was coming behind her so as not to scare her when I came bounding up along the trail. It had the exact opposite effect and she screamed. I apologized as I scooted by her on the narrow trail, but she shrank from me with fear and revulsion in her eyes, none of the mirth that usually follows a scare that turns out to be a false alarm. She was clearly freaked out. I wondered why she was out there by herself. It was almost 7, and for a hiker, it meant at least an hour back to the nearest trailhead, wherever it was, which meant she was going to be out here alone. Given the unfortunate events of Chelsea King, who was found about 5 miles north of the park (for any out of towners, Chelsea King was a 17 year old cross country runner who was snatched and killed while trail running in Lake Hodges apparently by a sex offender out on parole - very tragic), I can't blame her for being spooked, but for christ's sake, lady, don't be out in the middle of a giant park at night by yourself. Show some common sense. Speaking of which, I'm probably lucky I didn't get maced.

The rest of the run went fairly uneventful for a while. I was on a good pace, when three things happenned. First, I started to get really hungry. These long, post work, skip dinner runs need to be better thought out, and I need to bring a sandwich with me. Gu's aren't getting it done. Second, it started to get dark, and on a technical trail, I was surprised how much it slowed me down. Third, I ran into an episode of the Jerry Springer Show. Well, almost. I ran into two people who were barefoot(!) hiking down from North Fortuna who had forgotten that it gets dark and who were stubling along the trail. Since I had a light, I offered to walk them in, shining the light behind me. The lady struck up a conversation and told me all about herself, and that she was a great runner, a great navigator, a great seamstress, had great night vision, etc. You get the point. Her boyfriend was an ex-marine living in Pacific Beach. He told me that he had just gotten his second DUI, while the girlfriend had just gotten out of jail after a DV stint for attacking her father and kicking in a door. Great. After we reached the trailhead, they still needed help because, for some reason, they had stashed their cell phones and shoes under a bush instead of at the car 100 yards away. Finally, left them at their car (how they were going to get out of the locked gate is anyone's guess) and headed up Kway Paay, but at this point I'd loss massive amounts of time. I did the Kway Paay climb and called it a night instead of tacking on the extra 1/2 hour I was planning on running in the park.

I did love my new Wildcat trail runners. The did a great job on the loose DG of the saddle and Kway Paay, and my foot didn't slide too much. So far a success. Listened to the Lakers drop their last game to the Clippers. Clearly on cruise control waiting for the playoffs.

Thursday, had a late deposition, so took Gator in the canyon for a run, but shorter than I had planned and skipped a chance to run that night and again this morning. Feeling lazy and eating a lot. Need to beat that. We'll see what this evening brings. I forgot my running clothes, so if I go home, I doubt I will go back to Mission Trails and waste time. I will probably do a reverse loop in the canyon or something along those lines. Not as much climbing as I should get, but we'll see. Tomorrow maybe a short one in the mountains and then Sunday a challenging double new loop, so hopefully somewhere between 6 and 6:30 of hilly technical running . . .

Til then . . .

An unfortunate weekend off . . .

Well, as the name of the post above demonstrates, it wasn't the most productive weekend. It started great. I ran my usual Friday course in 1:21. Again, this course is about 7 miles and involves about 1300 feet of elevation gain. My previous record was 1:28, so I shaved 7 minutes over 7 miles. Its amazing what you can do when you are climbing well. A great sign that my speed is getting closer to where it needs to be. I think my best case scenario on this course is probably about 1:15 if everything went perfect and I was a little lighter and stronger. But I'm psyched to average 11:30 miles on the course. And I saw snake species number 4, a gopher snake! He even did his rattlesnake imitaiton routine, curling up and striking and hissing at me.

The rest of the weekend, however, did not go as planned. I went up to Seattle and was hoping to do a scout run on some of the trails for the 100. Unfortunately, 2 days before my trip, a storm dumped 3 feet of new snow on all the trails in the Cascades, putting the kibosh on that idea. Because I had family and friends to see, I ended up doing no running whatsoever over the weekend, which is the first time that's happened since Japan. Monday I went to Discovery Park which is a beautiful park with some old growth that used to be a military base. There is a nice 3 mile loop trail, but that connects to several beach trails and lets you go up and down the hill. I also put some street time in, including a run by the locks and the fish ladder. In front of the dam where the locks are located, there is a rope that runs from one side to another upon which one can often see fabulous waterbirds. This time I was fortunate enough to see a belted kingfisher, which are usually somewhat elusive. This guy was pretty determined to hang out where he was, and while he would flit off, he would always return.

Anyways, always good to run in the NW, although I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to do some more, especially on the trails. But it was chilly and damp and the beach had the deep smell of brine that is so pervasive along the Washington shore.

This morning was just the usual canyon run with Gator on my new trail shoes. I'll give a review later. As you may remember, my last pair of fancy trail shoes were a disaster on the GTR. What will become of these, who knows? I'll give the full report on my La Sportiva Wildcats soon.