Thursday I did an hour run on the track. (I know, I overdid it) The heel still bothers me but I decided to do a run yesterday to test how it was for running. I think it was actually better for running than it was for my other cardio work. Speed helps...I think I just don't "touch down" as hard or for as long on the heel. I think I'll call the podiatrist about the heel. I just want to know what I did to it. It may have been an over stretch after a run.

Haircut and color are done. Isn't it great how much better we feel when our hair is done? I also saw an running friend at the track who arrives after I am done. We both run the same speed (slooooooooooooowly) and I hope we can find some time to run together. He's a good person.

Run on the track for today.

Happy runs, All!   :::HUGS:::

Morning!  I ran 10 (morning) and 4 (afternoon) yesterday and Pilates in between.  Today is 4 in the afternoon with weights before going to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

Judy, hair done gives confidence.  Nice.

LC Runs, nice job on the streak!

Karen, hmm unusual picture. How about the Lincoln Memorial? I agree on the subways, ugh.

Pity we didn't know about this a few years ago. I reckon a picture at Glacier Point might have been in the running! Or that memorial on the point at about mile 7 of Newport.

Laura, mandatory meeting 2 hours away? I hope you get paid for travel time.

Carol, I didn't know your DD was expecting! Congratulations. Boys are actually easier than girls in some ways. The only problem with having a girl then a boy is that you can dress a little girl in her older brother's choo-choo overalls. You can't easily dress a little boy in his older sister's ballerina outfit.

I am working from home today. Too close to the Frigidaire (not the frigid air), but much better than fighting the traffic through the storm that came in last night and is parked over California today. We are very happy about the rain and snow (snow is better for filling reservoirs) but not about what it does to the freeways.

So 6 miles this morning, I got up, dressed for running, and got on the computer while I waited for the rain to die down. Nearly 2 hours later I was still working. Took a long break to go for a run. Back at work however soon going to take a cookie break -- not eating, but baking. I could get used to this.

Race report for Ridgecrest got finished on the bus last night:

Ridgecrest 2014

The official name of the race is the High Desert Ultra put on by the Over the Hill Track Club, but most of the southern California running community refers to it as “Ridgecrest”. That’s the name of the town the race starts and finishes in.

I did this as my first ultra back in 2008, then again in 2009, then didn’t do it for some years due to schedule conflicts. The race is on a Sunday and it’s usually the first or second week of Advent, but this year RN (running neighbor) was doing it with a bunch of members of her running club and encouraged me to come along. Her DH was signed up but he broke his leg on a trail run in October so couldn’t do the race.

The day before the race I got a text from RN. “Can you drive? And how many does your car seat? We have 4 friends who want to carpool.” My Mazda has space for 5, but we also have an Odyssey that seats 7 and still has some luggage space. I informed DS that I was taking the van on Sunday and if he needed to get anywhere he should utilize those big blue/white/green transport devices that the city so thoughtfully deploys on major thoroughfares at fairly regular intervals (ie “take the bus, kid&rdquo and at 4 AM on Sunday morning we piled six runners and one cheerleader (RNDH, sporting clompy boot and sweats NOT short pleated skirt and sweater) into the van and headed for points north. Anne, Fay, and Linda, all doing their first 50Ks I think, Dale, veteran of many an ultra, RN and RNDH and me. (Names have been changed to protect the guilty.)

I’ve done the drive before and it’s not bad, freeway for the first part and then country roads. Most of the group were asleep the whole way. I realized after one direction change that when the van is fully laden I should take the speed limit sign for a curve seriously. We found the community college that’s the start/finish after only one argument with the GPS system, Siri wanted us to go down an unlit dirt road rather than driving a little further to a paved and lit street. I was not very happy with the GPS at that point. RNDH remarked that he thought I was going to throw his phone out the window. However, we found the race without further event.

Picked up bibs, nice long sleeve tech shirt, used the bathrooms and waited for the start. The early start group had left at 6 AM, the main race started at 7. We lined up, heard a few reminders about where the 50K and 30K courses split and come back together (http://www.othtc.com/ for course maps) and we were off.

The race starts by circling the community college parking lot. Runners need to be mindful of speed bumps here. People have face planted less than 100 yards into the race in past years. I make it through this without event, despite my ability to trip on a flat floor, and head out onto the dirt road that’s the first part of the course. I’m fairly close to the back of the pack, which is bunched up at this point, and in front of a large group of Pasadena Pacers who turn out to be doing 5:1 run:walks. I recognize a few of them from previous races and we talk for a short while.

It’s less than 25 minutes after the start and somehow I manage to trip in soft dirt and go down on my face. The nice Pasadena folk pick me up and brush me off. Grazed knees and sore ribs. Oh well, the chances of my falling seem to get better with each race. I trot onwards. I’m not doing walk breaks so pull very slowly away from the run/walk groups. We are back on tarmac for a while, scattered houses, a few residents out to watch the run go by. This is not exactly a spectator heavy race.

A few miles after the start there is a split. 30K to the right, 50K to the left. The 50 does much more of a loop. I wave to the few 30K runners and head off up a very straight, very long dirt road through the sagebrush. This is right alongside the power lines and is presumably a service road for the power company, and this is the type of run I like – slight sustained uphill and fairly smooth going. I reach the first aid station, which wants to offer first aid for my bloody knee, and wipe off the worst of the sand and blood. They don’t have any adhesive bandages so I don’t worry about it. Orange slice, cup of Gatorade, a few potato chips, and I’m off again, heading out just as the Pacers come in. More slight uphill. We’re doing a loop around the hills to the south and east of the college and the city of Ridgecrest, we can’t go too far north because that’s China Lake Naval Weapons Research Station and there’s no way we’d be allowed onto that!

Like most desert races in the rain shadow of the Sierras and the Cascades, this is through dry, rocky, rolling terrain with sagebrush as the predominant vegetation. There are some cholla cactuses here and there and I give them a wide berth, those spines are vicious and they also have little hairs at the base of the main spines that get under the skin and are extremely difficult to get out. Any animal that tries to nosh on a cholla is truly starving. Or truly stupid. Or both.

Second aid station and now we’re in an area referred to as “The Saddle”, the track is bending east. There are many dirt roads and we have to make sure to stay on trail, which is well marked by ribbons and flour arrows. I gain on one woman in a lime green shirt and say hi. She looks a little strained. I’m just beginning to pull ahead of her when we notice another woman a couple of hundred yards ahead of us step off the trail and take advantage of the very slight cover that sagebrush bushes offer. Lime Green Shirt (LGS) says “oh, I wish I had the courage to do that.” I glance at her.

“First ultra?”

“Um, yes.”

Ah. One thing they don’t warn you about is that there are no portapotties on the course.

“There aren’t any bathrooms. If you need to go, step off the trail, find what cover you can, and just go.”

She hesitates. She’s looking more strained. I draw another conclusion.

“Do you need some TP? I have extra.”

“Yes! That is…if you really have extra…”

I proffer some from my shorts pocket.

“Here. I have more. I’d suggest you pick up a few napkins at the next aid station.”

“Thank you so much!”

She still hesitates.

“People might see…”

“Go behind that fold of rock there. Nobody should be able to see you. And if anyone’s so rude as to look, that’s their problem.”

Mother Nature obviously makes up LGS’s mind for her. She heads off behind the indicated fold of rock with some haste. I decide she probably wants as much privacy as possible and continue up the road.

Now on to Highway Crossing (aid 3). There’s one asphalt road that we cross twice during the race, the approach to the first is notable for its washboard trail. Lots of little dips. I run on the edge of the trail rather than going down, up, down, up…that’s an invitation for me to trip again. One advantage we have this year is that it rained hard on Tuesday so the sand is still moist and hardpacked rather than soft and loose. Also there is no wind, which has been a problem some years.

Enter Highway Crossing aid station, more orange sections, some water, a cup of Coke (mistake, I really don’t like the regular stuff), and across the deserted desert highway to start the toughest part of the course. Highway Crossing is 13.6, Wagon Wheel, the next aid station, is 16.9, and there is very little downhill or even flat ground between them. We turn south and start up the hill. And up, and up, and up the hill. This hill is particularly deceptive because in several places you look up, you think you see the top, you get all excited as you push up the slope, and then you reach what you thought was the crest and find out that this is only a minor respite. There’s plenty more hill coming, it’s just set back out of sight.

Several miles of climbing draw quite a few complaints from runners who were not expecting a sustained uphill. There are advantages to repeating races, I knew exactly what was coming and was prepared for it. We see a campground off to the right, with some people riding motorcycles or ATVs. This is all BLM land and it’s open for most uses. I wish that little ratbag who is repeatedly riding across the trail would take his nasty internal combustion engine elsewhere!

Cross the road again and up into Wagon Wheel. Not sure why it’s named that unless there’s a pioneer artifact somewhere around that I haven’t seen. That’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility. And here I get the biggest disappointment of the race. The volunteer handing out food is drinking sparkling wine and she won’t share. No, she informs me, that is only for the volunteers, not the runners. I look as pathetically thirsty and hopeful as possible. Big puppy eyes. Still no. I appreciate her presence, but not her conspicuous consumption! Off on the next stage. We’ve climbed the biggest unrelenting hill although we are not at the highest point of the race yet.

Now down and the “road” is actually a wash. I’m glad the sand is relatively hard. More cholla cactus here. There is an older woman runner in front of me and I slowly gain on her and pass her on the next uphill. This portion of the course takes us in a generally southbound direction and the course seems to have been drawn to have the runners as high as possible. The views are mostly of jagged mountain ranges. The Sierras are to the west, the Panamint Range to the east; just beyond those mountains is Death Valley. As usual when I run in this area I think about how the pioneers must have felt, struggling across these expanses of sagebrush and salt flat in ox-drawn wagons, wondering if they were ever going to see a tree or a river again and how they could possibly scratch out a living from this arid land. It’s barren, bare, and, in its own way, beautiful. I tend to think the ultra course is not worth doing unless at some point you can’t resist breaking into “This Land Is Your Land”.

But more beautiful is Double Rocks aid station. We’re making progress. Most runners are spending more time at the aid stations now, shaking sand out of their shoes and refilling bottles and chitchatting with the volunteers. I don’t hang around there; I’m looking at my watch and realizing that I have a good shot at coming in under 7 hours if I can maintain my pace. I would like very much to get that, even if Ridgecrest is one of the easiest courses at which to reach such a goal and it’s almost impossible to compare times from different courses because there are so many variables. A PR is a PR.

More uphills. Scattered single runners or pairs now, the larger groups seem to have broken up. I have pulled well ahead of the Pasadena group, Linda who drove up with me was running with them and I’m glad she found people to run with. Another woman and I power up the hill and pass a man who cheers us and then tells us that we are an inspiration. I remark that nobody’s said that about my rear view in quite some time. He chuckles. We grin. She’s a bit faster than me on the downhills (just about everyone is faster than me on steep downhills, I’m cautious about falling) and soon loses me. We’re entering a long valley which we wind through and we’re coming up on the next aid station. This one is a bit creepy. I see brightly coloured things in the branches of the bushes. Coming closer, it becomes apparent that they are stuffed animals. Lots of them. It looks like a six-year-old’s bedroom sneezed. Everything from little Beanie Babies to a four-foot-long alarmingly lifelike leopard – except I don’t think leopards come in pink. This is Pack Rats aid station and I can see why it is named that. They have even set up a big tinsel-wound hoop for runners to go through. The usual food, I do my customary orange slice and few potato chips and cup of water. I’m thinking longingly of the diet Coke on ice in the van. Eight miles to go!

Some of the first timers are wondering how there can be so much up in one race. Easy. Have they not looked at the elevation profile of the last few miles? We chug on up the hill, many walking by now, and get to the high point of the course. Yay! Off to the right is one house, somebody really values their privacy and seclusion. Down off the ridge, a couple more miles of rocky trail, and we are entering the penultimate aid station, Gracie Mansion. (I guess that is the house we caught a glimpse of? No idea who Gracie is and I presume this is no relation to the mayor’s official residence in New York City.)

Only 5 miles to go now. The 30K course had been with us for the last few miles, since Double Rocks, and now there’s the last split. 30K’rs go directly north back to the college, 50K’rs go around another mountain and down a long canyon to approach the college from the west. And I do. At one point we get buzzed by a large remote controlled plane. I look around to see who is in charge of it and eventually spot the vehicle stopped on the top of a hill. Hope he’s having fun. I am now feeling that I would very much like to get to the end. They have mod cons there – like flush plumbing.

Turn a few more corners on the winding downhill road and YAY! Last aid station and 1.5 miles to go. There’s a little girl at this one, perhaps 4, calling “this way runners! This way runners!” and we all thank her. I look at my watch and realize that unless I stop for a long time I should make it in well under 7 hours. It’s just before 1:45 and we didn’t start until 7:04. I am heartened and try to speed up for this cross-country dash and the last little bit of the course. We are not headed directly for the parking lot and the finish line. The course takes us on a trail on the south side of campus, all the way to the east end, then down the road we ran up at the beginning. Past the parking lot and there are a number of already-finished runners kicking back and watching for friends. I put on as much speed as possible, circle the parking lot as directed while making sure to avoid speed bumps, get whacked in the head by a branch from one of the parking lot trees, and head for the finish line. RN is applauding. RNDH is aiming his camera. I cross the finish line and thankfully stop running.

Annie and Fay finished long before I did, as did Dale and RN. Linda is still out there. RN wants to know if I saw her. I tell her yes, she was about 15 minutes behind, I think, and she’s with the Pasadena group. RN is happy to hear this because she has enough time to go get something from the van and not miss Linda finishing. We walk to the van, retrieve items, I grab a diet Coke and inhale it. The college has made the locker rooms available so I go and take a much-needed shower and finally wash off the grazed knees. They have pizza. Mmm. Linda comes in and also heads for the showers, and we finally head back home. Two hours more of driving. My knee is bothering me and it hurts to breathe – more strained ribs, darnit – but I’m not badly off. And I took 56 minutes off my previous time, which was 7:50, I came in in 6:54. Very proud of myself!

This is not a spectacular or technical course, but it’s a nice little race and a very good introduction to ultras if you think you are ready to try one but are worried about making the time cutoffs or about overly technical trails.

SRD for me today.

Tessa-great RR!  Looking forward to ours together in April!