(yes, that's right world, I stretch before running and it's wonderful)

 

{snicker}  Obviously, you, too, have been the subject of ridicule re stretching before running.   I used to do it all the time, but am now quite the slacker in that regard.  Actually, I've become quite the stretching slacker in any regard.

 

Flowers - Yes, I'm running Big Sur this weekend. First time.  It's a minimum 8-hour drive from here, so I'm splitting it up over two days, going down and coming back.

I was suppose to run the Whiskeytown 50k in October, but we are going on vacation.  I didn't want to wait until December for my next race, and Big Sur was the only thing I could find that worked, time-wise.

 

 I don't think you can track it.  I would like to complete it in 5:00 to 5:15.  If I finished faster, I would be ecstatic.  It's hard for me to tell from the profile on the Internet just how bad the climbing is, but it can't be any worse than what we train on here.  I creep up the hills, but I can fly down the hills, so we'll see.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing my brother and SIL on Thursday.  They've become a convenient halfway point for me for a few races.

Flower, I am so glad you joined us here!  I love your insights and enthusiasm.

 

I am taking a day off today because yesterday turned out differently than I expected.  I headed out the door early enough in the morning to enjoy the overnight cool temperatures and planned a short reconnaissance of the American River Canyon for Leslie.  My goal?  Find where the Last Gasp aid station might be located.

 

It was what I sometimes call "another beautiful California morning" with distaste because the climate is so blasted unvarying out here (we weather nuts prefer a little variety).  However, I took pleasure yesterday as I set my Garmin and trotted along the canal.  I knew where I wanted to go because of my previous explorations when I lived here before, but I did not know exactly what I wanted to find.  I hoped someone along the way might help me in my quest.

 

I reached what I thought might be the "Last Gasp" spot and looked at my Garmin.  It showed about 2.5 miles and that sounds close.  I also saw an older man walking down the road toward my location and headed to meet him.  I asked if he knows the route for AR50 and he said, "Yes, I ran the very first AR50.  In fact, I used to do alot of running, Western States and other races."  My eyes opened wider and I think I gaped a bit.  Then he told me that he does not run anymore.  "About ten years ago I was in a serious car accident and broke my femur and damaged my knees.  About two years ago, I was in an even more serious accident that broke both my femurs and left me with an artificial knee and two artificial hips.  Now I just get out to walk 2-3 hours every day."  JUST!  I looked at the steep road that he recently descended and the "Cardiac Bypass" trail that he headed toward and thought about my internal wussiness that kept me from pushing too hard.  This guy is practically walking on artificial legs and he walks these trails every day for 2-3 hours.  It sort of makes many of us look like pussies (myself especially).  Anyway, he gave me directions to the American River trail head and we went our separate ways.

 

Following his instructions, I found the terminus of the official "American River Trail" and spend time taking pictures for a couple reasons.  First for Leslie, then simply because it is so beautiful.  Leslie, I think you will really enjoy your race, if you do not become distracted by the scenery and disappointed by your times.  I would have a hard time staying focused, but you guys know me.

 

Back to the story . . . After calculating what my mileage might be for the morning and considering the ascents that were before me, I figured I better get moving.  That is when everything went awry.  Instead of taking the "known" trail back the way I came, I tried to discover the "gravel trail" that someone mentioned in a race report from an earlier year.  I found a gravel road, but it dead ended and I had to backtrack.  It was getting warm and I did not bring my water with me because this was going to be "short," remember?  I was not exactly tired, but I was thirsty and a little concerned, considering my ability to dehydrate at the drop of a hat.  I decided that pushing myself to finish (and drink water) was better than slowly working my way in.  Then my phone started ringing.  My mom, then my husband in TX, then my sister, all of them with good reasons to talk and I needed to stay in place where I could keep a cell signal.  The canyon has many dead zones.  Grrr. 

 

In the end, I put in 8.5 miles and was out for over 2.5 hours.  My lips were tightening, my throat was dry, my legs were squashy, and my hips were sore.  Sheesh!  THAT was not what I expected.  Oh well, at least I have some good intel for Leslie.  I will email you pics and info when I am back in TX, Leslie.

 

Today, I am tending to my sick sister (she is running a fever) and helping with the kids.  No running for me.  Hee hee.

 

Kitrin

DOH!

 

I realize, upon rereading my post, that it seems like I referred to my fellow trail runners when I said "makes many of us look like pussies."  What I really meant was "many typical, lazy Americans."  I guess I should have written it that way. 

 

You guys are all hardcore!  I would never call you as pussies (or pansies or any other such derogatory term).

 

Kitrin

Miss Leslie - you are a great story teller - laughed pretty hard when I read it but I can see just how pi$$ed you were with the directions off the never to be mentioned by name terrible website! I would possibly have been even more pi$$ed had it been me especially considering the lack of sleep and the BAD coffee; I can't stand bad coffee. Why would anyone make bad coffee when you can make good coffee? I just don't get it.

___________

I am glad to know that you were able to make some good decisions on your hydration and clothing needs for the race tomorrow. Will it be cold in the morning? We are having Indian Summer here in the South (East Coast) - I can't wait to run in cooler weather. I have all my fingers crossed for you - we look forward to more great reporting after the race. LOL!!

If I wasn't afraid of offending my friends, I'd use a plethora of 4-letter words to describe yesterday's race.  Instead, I'll say hot, brutally hot, and unrelenting.  I felt worse at a little over the halfway mark than I did at the end of SOB.  I'd say that for about 70%+ of the run we were either going up or going down, and 80% or more of the course was totally exposed.  We started at 9:20.  For 90% of the first 5.88 miles we were climbing in the direct sun.  Took me about 1:40 to get that far, and by the time I got to the aid station (2nd station, first one with food), it was probably in high 80s.  I was told it ended up being in the 90s.

 

One of the aid station workers told me that even the elite runners were having a hard time, which gladdened my heart a tad.   And when I got done, the paramedics had 2 people laying down, and one guy - who was a really good runner - ended up having to have oxygen. I don't know if any others had to have assistance.  I had to sit for almost an hour before I felt like I could drive.  The upside of that, had a really cute medic keeping watch over me.

 

There was no way I could drive back to Healdsburg last night, so I stayed in Monterey.  Had fantastic lasagna, and iced my poor shins.  And as bad as my feet felt, I'm surprised I ended up with only one blister.  I still feel like I could drink an entire gallon of water.

 

I was either DFL or second to DFL - but I finished!

Thanks, Flower.  And I lifted from the ultra forum this question you had:

Which running shorts do yo use? I used my Race Ready with lots of pockets on the back at Lynch's Wood but my big zip-lock bag with dates made too much of a bounce in the pocket and I had to hold it in my hand for 6.5 miles while finishing that loop. The smaller pockets were good for the s-caps and my Clif Shotbloks. My Race Ready shorts are very short and I didn't have any problem with chafing on the run, however, yesterday, I ran 10.5 miles in a short Addidas track type split short and experienced chafed inner thighs for the first time ever. I had been running in a misty rain for a little while before I noticed that I was chafing - perhaps it was the moisture that made the skin more vulnerable, perhaps it is just my bulging adductor muscles In either event, I do not want to experience chafing while running an Ultra. Any advice as to which trail shorts to use? Compression shorts? Lots of pockets would be good.

 

The only thing I don't like about the shorts I wear is they're too short and I have problems with chafing on the inner thighs.  I'm a big user of Body Glide.  They have one small pocket that holds my inhaler.  I haven't tried compression shorts, but am leaning that direction.  I wear a waist pack that holds the rest of my things, including a water bottle.  If I want to bottles, I do a hand-held with a great strap set up so you don't have to grip the bottle.  It just kind of hangs in your hand.  With the waist pack, I take sandwich size baggy, put food in in at the aid stations, then split the food in half in the bag so I can hang it from the strap on my waist pack.  It bounces a bit, but at least I don't have to carry a sweaty baggy in my hand.