Way Too Cool is over. Now is the time to focus on running the American River 50 miler in about 3 weeks. I feel recovered from WTC. I saw Dr. Lau this past week and feel put back together. I didn’t get a lot of runs in this past week but I did run. I also slept. A lot. I tried to sleep at least and I managed a few good nights and a few not so good nights. I also didn’t work the running store the day following WTC which I think was a huge key in my recovery.
When Saturday rolled around, I was ready to run again. The training plan Pigeon and I are following called for 16 miles. I planned our course because I had some potential family obligations in the morning. We knew the weather would be warm so we were pushing it starting at 9 am, but that is what I could manage.
When Pigeon showed up, we quickly grabbed our (still muddy) shoes and set off. I had us running through New York Creek over to Wild Oaks Trail which was a first for Pigeon. She’s done New York but has never crossed the road and back tracked to the Wild Oaks Trail entrance.
I am beginning to love this little section of trail. It is downhill and situated between some homes but the beauty that surrounds you is just awesome. From these little bridges that you cross to the rock walls that line the sides, this little section of single track is one of EDH’s best kept secrets.
We ran through this stretch and made it the Marina entrance. My plan was for us to run the first portion of the new American River 50 course. I had a good idea of how I thought the course would go and as it turns out, one of the Folsom Lake Trail runners had posted a run that incorporated the whole first 26 miles of the race complete with ribbons and chalk on the ground. All Pigeon and I had to do at this point, was follow the ribbons and chalk.
We know our way through Browns Ravine. The ups and downs, the single track and the wide open sections. The lake is looking better … closer to looking like a lake then it did quite a few weeks ago.
When Pigeon and I reached the levee we ran across it. This particular section of the course I think will be my nemesis. It is a levee road with really hard gravel rocks. It will also be dark when we are running this section. I just need to focus myself on running in the tire tracks that cross the levee. That seems to lighten the impact on the ball of my foot which tends to get really sore when I run over really hard rocky roads or trails.
When we finished the levee the ribbons took us up into Folsom Point. I knew the course would wind this way but I wasn’t sure what would happen once we hit Folsom Point. This is where doing this run really helped. The chalk and ribbons had us running all around the parking lot of Folsom Point. We basically ran what would have looked like a two leaf clover from above. Up down, around the lot, past the bathrooms and down a hill to the same sort of lay out and then back up the hill to the park entrance and then down to the main gate.
After that, the course takes you out onto the main road where you follow the sidewalk or bike path towards Folsom Damn. You cross the damn and then wind down and around back towards Folsom. This is where we stopped and turned around. Definitely will be an interesting race with this new course and it may lead to some struggles mentally when you know you are running away from the finish initially.
Our run back was warm and up hill at first.  We didn’t do the clover at Folsom Point and instead just ran straight to the levee.
On our run back we talked about past races and I realized Pigeon has some shadows of races past within her that I think drives her and pushes her to succeed at all her races. She is competitive with her current self and her past self. I think everyone has a bit of that in them actually.
It was running back through Browns Ravine when Pigeon started really slowing down. Earlier in our run she mentioned that her hamstring had been bothering her but she didn’t stop all that much and stretched it when she did. Our route home however, I could tell it was bugging her. It bugged her physically and it bugged her mentally and I think the mental part is what ate at her the most.
The sun was really pouring down on us in certain sections. I was happy we were on our way home as my water was getting really warm and not very appealing. When we reached the entrance to the Marina my Garmin chirped that our 16 mile training run was over … except we weren’t near the house quite yet.
We had to cross the road and run back through Wild Oaks to get to the main road in EDH and then from there, I had a short cut plan. Pigeon was a trooper, she kept moving running when she could and hiking when she couldn’t. Wild Oaks is mostly up hill on the way back too.
It was on Wild Oaks that I ran into my own “shadow” that had me almost hitting the ground.
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Those darn figurines are there every time and I know they are there but for some reason, I was day dreaming and when I came up the hill and saw them I about dove under a rock …. and then proceeded to crack up at myself until Pigeon got there.
“They scared you didn’t they?” she said. Yup. Of course they did. 🙂 That brought a smile to Pigeon’s face.
We ran the rest of the way back to EDH Blvd, and then I took a short cut that leads to my street and will be the future home of the EDH Mountain Biking Skills Loop course. It was pretty neat running a trail that just dumps me out onto my street about two houses away.
Pigeon’s goal was to rest her hamstring the next few days. We stood in my pool and iced our legs post run which helped a lot.
The count down to AR50 is on …. this up coming weekend I am running solo. The plan calls for 18 but since we ran 18 this past Saturday by accident, Pigeon thinks I can get away with only running 14. We’ll see. I had a great 5.5 mile trail run tonight at a quick tempo pace. Faster than I have run in a while (not fast, just faster than I usually run). 🙂
It has been a busy few days. So busy that I haven’t been able to get this post out. Sunday evening Squeaker grabbed the scalding hot stove burner with her tiny little right hand which resulted in a trip to the Emergency Room. She’s okay. I don’t think the burn is severe but they always want to see burn especially when it is on a child’s hands.
She was a trooper though and a most excellent patient. She let the doctor and nurse look at her hand and bandaged it up.
We only spent about 2 hours at the ER which isn’t too bad and they were very accommodating for us in getting us in and out as quick as possible. We did get home late and we’ve all been tired ever since.
Squeaker went to school today and did fine. Tomorrow she has a follow-up. I changed her dressing tonight and I have to say, her hand looks amazing. I swear her little skin heals almost instantly sometimes. Her thumb caught the brunt of the burn and still looks kind of ugly, but overall, I am super proud of my Squeaker. She’s a tough cookie.
Happy Trails
~Trailmomma
