WHAT COULD HAPPEN?

Happy New Year everyone! It is hard to believe that 2015 is already upon us and that 2014 is over. I, for one, am looking forward to a new year. Not that 2014 was terrible, I just felt like it wasn’t really a memorable year. Running wise I guess it was. I ran Way Too Cool 50k, The American River 50 Miler, Miners Revenge Marathon, Mt. Tam 50K and CIM and quite a handful of other neat races. I survived the year with no injuries which for any runner, pretty much means it was a successful year.

Still, I want different things for 2015. While I don’t typically list out new year resolutions, I do have some internal goals and aspirations in my mind and heart. This year, they are not running focused. I have a few races on the calendar but running wise, I am looking forward to just sitting back and enjoying the trails while maintaining a solid base so that I can pace Pigeon later this summer on her next 100 mile race.

Although 2015 did start off on a sour note running wise for me. New Years Day I met Pigeon for what was supposed to be an easy 10 mile run. What could happen? Apparently, a lot. 🙂

Within 5 minutes of starting our run my toe caught a rock and I went flying. I thought I was going to be able to correct myself and avoid a very rocky tumble, but my hand got cut on a rock and it pretty much weakened my support and down I went. I tumbled pretty hard and almost fell off a little cliff on the trail. The ground was frozen solid since it was still early so the impact was pretty harsh on my legs and right side. Pigeon and I started cracking up instantly. She did ask if I was okay. But overall, we laughed for probably the next 20 minutes replaying the fall in our heads.

The rest of the run was pretty humorous too. At one point I heard something falling from the trees above. I thought for sure it was a tree coming down on my head (we just had a big storm that had weakened a lot of trees). I stopped and started screaming with my hands on my head. Pigeon started screaming “what?! what?!” as she turned around to see what the heck was going on with me.

When I looked up to see if the tree was still coming down, I saw a squirrel jumping from branch to branch. That little bugger! “Oh, it’s just a squirrel.” I said. Cue laughter.

Needles to say, with my legs gushing blood, an uneasy tummy and very muddy conditions this was a tough run for me. Happy New Years Day!

For days after that run, I was quite sore. More sore than I have been after any race. The cuts on my knees are deep and require being covered by bandages constantly as they keep, oozing and leaking (sorry – too much sharing?). Still, I agreed to meet Pigeon for a 14 mile run two days later.

Hobbling out of my car, I was thinking I was ready to run. In reality, it probably took me about two miles before I even felt nearly comfortable. It took the first 7 miles (aka our turn around) before I didn’t feel pain every time I took a step. Mind you, not the type of pain that is serious, more the dried up stretched out skin kind of pain (again, too much sharing?).

We saw a family of deer on our run. We ran through mud and puddles. It was so awesome and it was NOT technical at all which is exactly what my body needed.

We ran, we talked and we took a lot of photos. I don’t have much to write about other than what you see in the photo. It was a beautifully chilly day. We ran into a duathlon happening along the trails but it didn’t inhibit our run much at all. We even cheered for some of the runners along the way.

 

Back in the day, Pigeon and I used to joke around with all my photo taking during a run. We used to pretend that we were posing for the JC Penny catalog. If you have no idea what the JC Penny catalog is, than you are WAY younger than me. 🙂 Just know that the photos in it were hilarious and painfully forced.

We only had to run 7 miles out before we turned around but in that last mile, I have to say, a lot happened. As we were running, Pigeon yelled out “There’s a hoe” … and clearly she meant it.

That was kind of odd to find sitting along side a trail, but later we realized why it was there. Someone is building some off shoot trails that lead down to the lake and this “hoe” which I think they feel is hidden, is helping them.

At our turn around spot, Pigeon and I had a little fun with the camera trying to get some decent shots. These are the kinds of runs I enjoy where we can laugh, have a little fun and still run pretty hard.

I think our action shots look pretty nice no? 🙂 We are just plain silly sometimes out there. If you can’t have fun, what can you do?

Our mileage back was at a pretty good pace. We did have some photos stops along the way which kind of make me laugh.

Pigeon kept asking me if I had seen the stripper pole on our way out. I had to ask her what she said, because I thought for a minute she said stripper pole. Oh wait, she did. So on our way back she made sure to point out this “pole” to me.

Clearly I was not nor have I ever been, nor will I ever BE a stripper as that photo above is about as stripper as I can get. Seriously, why is that pole even out on the trail!?

Soon we came to the overlook spot again and we paused, as we always do to enjoy the view, have some fuel and just well, take in an unexpected selfie.

Our mileage back was pretty fast. We had some good clips of just running hard with very little walking. We both agreed these types of runs are great confidence boosters. Both of us has had some hard runs the last two times we ran together, so we needed this good boost of running strong (even if it was flat) to reinforce that we are in shape.

In case you are wondering, she made it across the above puddle. We both did. Neither one of us felt like getting wet on this run so we skilled ourselves at getting clever at jumping and dancing around these types of puddles. It was pretty funny too.

Overall, we accomplished 14 miles. It felt good to bust out a decent 14 mile run despite the aches I’ve had lately. I still can’t move much let alone bend a knee and kneel on something, but run? That I can do. These cuts that I have are pretty deep and with the cold weather, it is hard to wear anything but long pants which requires a band-aid so as not to ruin any more of my favorite jeans. 🙂

However, I can’t complain. It has been a pretty good start to 2015. I am almost done with my Rouxbe Plant Based Cooking course which I am quite excited about.

It has taken a lot of hard work and a lot of my time to manage this course. I am excited by what I have learned. It has also made me realize a few things about cooking and cooking for people, that I would like to improve upon.

The girls are having a blast during their break from school. Too much in fact. A lot of bike riding has happened lately.
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Not to mention, quite a few trips to the park where the Peanut is excelling at doing the monkey bars.

It really has been a great end of 2014 and a wonderful start to 2015. I am really hoping to manage a lot this coming year but in an entirely different way. 2014 had a lot of saying ‘yes’ in it despite what that meant or what affect it would have on my family. 2015, I am hoping will be a bit different. Let’s see where this crazy year will take me.

What New Year resolutions do you have?  Please feel free to share in the comments. I am curious. 🙂

Happy Trails!

~Trailmomma

(warning – no proof reading, sorry)