It has been an absolute whirl wind around here. Blogging has taken the back burner unfortunately but hopefully there is a light at the end of this crazy tunnel and I can resume some normal activity on here.
Let me try and recap the last month or so.
Nothing like bullet holes in a sign to wake you up!
To start, I had a great run in the canyons on the Western States trail with Pigeon. We only ran 17 or so miles but we climbed over 6,000 feet. We started at Michigan Bluff and ran to Devil’s Thumb and back. I love this trail and no matter how many times I have been on it, it never gets old and it never gets easier!
You know it will be a great run when your hat matches the sunrise.These views never get old!On the bridge!It was a super HOT climb back to up to Michigan Bluff
Then Jersey Dad arrived for a visit and to celebrate the Peanut turning 8 years old. I quickly jumped from running mode to mommy and hostess mode.
Jersey Dad and his grand daughters!
On top of all of this, Squeaker had the chance to try out for the swim team! Big sis was there in support (sort of) and luckily, she made it with flying colors! So proud of that kid.
Congrats Squeaker! Age 4!!
Alas, that means swim team season has officially started with scheduled practices 5 days a week! We are working on a routine and balance right now. School comes first even though there is not much school left!
Auburn!
During Jersey Dad’s visit, I took a “mental health” day from work and joined Pigeon on her mid-week long run since I knew running over the Peanut’s birthday weekend wasn’t going to fly. It was a hot day and running long on a Thursday really threw me for a bit but we had fun regardless, as always.
Pigeon
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The meadow in CoolLove this place!
Shortly after that long run, it was time for the final long run of the training program! Pigeon and I agreed to meet on Saturday and kick out 30 miles as our last long run before our race in two weeks. The day started out nothing short of entertaining …
Base Jumping off the bridge!
Within minutes of running we were startled by some base jumpers off of the Foresthill Bridge. Talk about taking your breath away. These guys were super nice. They landed right in front of us so we chatted with them for a bit before continuing on our run.
A perfect landing!
It was a beautiful day to run and we’d occasionally switch things up by picking a new (old) trail to follow to change the course a bit. There was also an equestrian race happening at the same time so that made things very interesting. I don’t mind sharing the trail with horses but I do admit, they give me a bit of a scare at times. I’ve met too many not so skilled riders who tend to not have control over their horse. Hence, my fear level always raises a notch when we encounter one. I am sure the horses can sense that.
A beautiful day.
We had to cut the run a few miles short to due to a small situation at home (nothing to worry about) but I was content in myself and the way that I was feeling during the run, that I could have continued on if need be.
I feel pretty darn good going into taper right now. Truth be told, I was mentally ready for taper about a week ago! My training this round, I feel has been good. I raced two solidly hard 50ks (not intentionally) and was able to maintain a higher mileage for longer than I normally would in a training period. That’s the nature of the beast when you choose races as ‘training runs’ and have life get in the way from time to time.
I feel comfortable in my ability to climb, mildly comfortable in my ability to descend (going to take it super easy on those to save my knees) and I feel somewhat comfortable in being able to handle the distance. A 100k is farther than I have ever gone before, so I can’t lie and say a small part of me isn’t a tad bit nervous about that but mostly I am excited and curious. I am curious to see what unfolds. I know there will be ups and I know there will be downs.
Pigeon and I have decided to run together. She has a set pace and a set goal in mind and since this is my first ever 100k, I am content to go with her flow. We both want to finish. So, for my first ever 100k, I am content to enjoy the experience, the company and the scenery so long as I finish, and finish smiling AND qualifying for the Western States 100. 😉 Can’t forget that little piece of the puzzle right? Although, that wasn’t my initial reason for doing this race … but it is a HUGE cherry on top.
Now, to enjoy my two weeks of taper. This should include taking care of myself with good quality food, some decent sleep and lots of stretching.
A few weeks ago we joined forces with Stonegate and her family and had a garage sale. As often happens when you have a garage sale, you find things that you forgot that you had. While searching through boxes and closets I came across the following book ….
This book brought back a sea of memories for me. You see, years ago my friend Sally Edwards reached out to me and told me that a friend of hers was writing a book about women conquering triathlons. Â She wanted me to contribute a story detailing my very first attempt at a triathlon. So I did. My story in this book is called The Monkeys on My Back. When I found the book, I reread my story completely forgetting what I had written.
Essentially my story was about all the doubts in my head (aka those monkeys riding my back dragging me down) and how I defeated those monkeys and doubts, tossing them to the side as I completed my first challenging race.
Since my last post, I debated even writing another blog post. That race left me pretty beat up physically and mentally. Months ago, when I was feeling super strong and invincible, I signed up for the American River 50 mile race (again). Then Salmon Falls happened and I was left cursing myself for signing up for 50 miles after feeling how I felt after that last 50k.
The monkeys were back. Clearly.
I took a week off from running trying to nurse some aches and pains and I saw my miracle worker Dr. Lau. I didn’t know what to do. How did I think I could run again in four weeks?
The time off was good. I focused on stretching, foam rolling, eating well and catching up on lost sleep. The latter is hard to achieve with two little ones. 🙂
When yesterday came about, Pigeon had wanted us to go run our last long run before AR in the canyons. As much as I love the canyons, those monkeys were telling me I was crazy. We have done this run before (you can read it here) it was hard and it hurt. Yet we needed the hours on our feet and in the back of my head, Â I kept telling myself that the canyons are way harder than AR despite AR being more than twice as long (my brain works in mysterious ways).
Bright and Early
Pigeon and I left town in complete darkness and arrived just as the sun was rising. We parked at Michigan Bluff and got ourselves ready. We both knew it was going to be a warm day but it was pretty chilly to start.
I didn’t know what to pack for fuel. I wanted to test out a bunch of new things so my pack was pretty jammed with all kinds of new to me fuel for the day.
As we were about to embark on the trail, another car arrived and out popped three other runners and a Doberman mix. Of course, another doberman encounter. Luckily, this dog was well trained and did not bother us too much.
Heading down down down
This run starts out with a nice long two mile descent. It is rocky, technical and pretty steep. Dr. Lau’s advice kept ringing in my ears (“Don’t run down hill, save your knees”) but of course did I listen? Not really. I was careful and hesitant. I made sure my foot placement was good and I worked really hard on my form as I was going down, but I didn’t walk.
Of course in typical Trailmomma style, I had to make a quick pit stop not more than two minutes into our run. However, that would be the last of my tummy troubles the entire day.
Once you get to the bottom of that descent, you cross a nice little bridge and then begin a super long four to five mile climb. I had forgotten how much “up” this side of the trail had until I was hands on my knees hiking step after step.
Taking a break to enjoy the views.
The climb seemed to move pretty quickly though because before I knew it, we had reached the fire road section by Deadwood Cemetery. We caught up to the other runners that were out on the trail and had a nice chat with them.
Those runners stopped at the water pump to refill their bottles while Pigeon and I continued on towards Devil’s Thumb. The last time we ran this route, we stopped at the thumb and turned around. Today, we sat there debating back and forth as to whether or not we should climb down Devil’s to the swinging bridge. I’ve climbed Devils a few times. It is not an easy section. I have never run down it however.
My left knee had been only slightly making itself known on those earlier miles but I was afraid that the steepness of Devil’s would send it spiraling into a sea of pain. I took two Advil as a sort of preventative measure and down we went.
Fire Damage
Last year’s massive fire has destroyed quite a bit of this beautiful land. Seeing all the charred tree stumps and branches was very heart breaking. It also however brought a bit of mystery and danger to the scene.
They have started logging the area to clean it up and help with regrowth
Without all the trees to provide shade, this was a very exposed section of trail and the temps were rising.
Nowhere to go but down!
The terrain was also very difficult to run on. Tiny seas of pinecones were everywhere causing you to slip. Rocks, branches and debris were everywhere. I slowed more than a few times to try and prevent myself from tumbling down the trail.
When we made it to the bottom, we were greeted by shade and the brand newly rebuilt Swinging Bridge!
So pretty!
Last year the fire had destroyed half of the bridge making it impossible to pass.
The Swinging Bridge in May 2014
A bunch of trail volunteers and angels did an amazing job rebuilding the bridge.
Beautiful construction
We decided to spend some time here and refuel a bit so I took quite a few photos.
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They had a rope tied across the river in the above photo and we had to cross by wading through. It was pretty awesome.
Still the same rules though – Some how 5 runners = 3 horses? #coremathMe on the bridge
But today, we were able to use the bridge and after some fueling decided it was time to start the dreaded climb up Devils’ Thumb.
This is where the trail continues up on the other side
As were making our way across the bridge, Pigeon told me I should take a photo of the waterfall. I never even realized there was a waterfall here before. I pulled out my camera and took a photo of it and I have to say, it was one of my favorites from the day.
So GREEN!
The climb back up Devil’s Thumb consists of 36 switchbacks. THIRTY-SIX!!!???? It isn’t easy and it can be quite demeaning.
As I was climbing my right knee and lower back decided to say hello and by hello I mean “what the hell are you doing?!” I tried not to focus on it. One foot in front of the other. Climb.
Pigeon as always, was pretty silent on this climb. I tend to go in spurts of chatting and then conserving energy.
I don’t know exactly how long it took, but we finally reached the top. Normally we stop at the top but Pigeon locked her sights on those earlier runners who were running back towards the pump and started running. Okay, I guess we’re running. 🙂
We passed the runners again as they stopped at the water pump. As it turns out, they had a friend meet them with a truck full of aid-station fuel. They offered us coke and brownies and a ton of other things, but we passed and continued on.
As we were running we heard the sounds of dirt bikes and sure enough, just like the last time, two guys riding dirt bikes on the same trail we were running, passed us. Luckily we had more room this time to jump to the side.
I was internally dreading the next section. The four/five mile descent down El Dorado Canyon. This section is steep and fairly runnable making it tough on a bum knee.
I settled in behind Pigeon and tried going easy. Watching my form. Watching my steps. It surprised me that my left knee, the knee giving me trouble at Salmon Falls was fine and instead my right knee was the one barking at me. It didn’t matter if I was running down or up, it hurt but it let me continue. It didn’t stop me, yet.
At some point during this decent, Pigeon had to peel off and make her own pit-stop. I decided to play it smart and walk ahead. Walk the downs. Not run.
Before I knew it, I was a the bottom of the canyon. It seemed to have flown by this time. Pigeon had caught up and we started our climb back up to Michigan Bluff. Normally we stop at the bottom and refuel but it was pretty crowded with some hikers so instead, we climbed.
Some how I think it is more than a two mile climb up because it is never ending.
A mini break to fuel
One foot in front of the other again. Climb. Repeat. At some point, I took the lead. I was focused. I could feel the finish, or a least I thought I could. Every time I thought we’d reached the top, I was mistaken.
Oh well, climb and climb again. At one point, decided to wait for Pigeon to catch up, just to check on her. I am kind of glad I did. She asked me where we were mileage wise which is always a red flag for her. She knows her distances pretty well. I asked her how she was doing and she told me her pack was empty. She had no water.
This is a constant joke between us. Pigeon has run out of water quite a few times on some of our runs and since I am a camel and always have more than enough, I usually give her mine. I had my whole 10 ounce bottle completely untouched so I poured it into her pack. We laughed and continued on. I knew that near the top of this climb, the sun would be out and we would be totally exposed which is not a good thing when it was a warm as it was outside. Water was a necessity on this climb.
I just powered on. Despite the pain searing through my knee at times, I felt okay. I felt that I was able to climb. A few times I even ran a bit to break it up and release the pressure in my low back. I had juice in the tank so to speak, which helped me fling those monkeys off my back about AR50.
It was on this climb back out that I thought again about that book. I had some how distanced myself from Pigeon and was just climbing and thinking – one foot in front of the other. If I could climb and handle this day and these canyons, why couldn’t I handle AR50 in two weeks? I have the strength. The race may not turn out what I had originally hoped when I initially signed up, but I know I can do it. The monkeys were being thrown. I was hiking and tossing those monkeys off my back and bringing myself back to a place of positive thinking. A place I have been missing lately.
Such beauty!
When I reached the top I felt whole again. I felt like my old self. Sure my knee was screaming at me but I felt like my inner-self had been reset.
Waiting for Pigeon to crest that hot hot trail
When Pigeon arrived, we made our way back to the car and tried our best to remove all the poison oak that may or may not have been all over our legs. It was pretty nasty out there.
Overall, we had run 19.5 miles or so with 7,583 feet of elevation. That’s a lot. Our first canyon run of the season was behind us. This isn’t an easy run at all but it definitely is one of my favorites.
When I arrived home I got word that Vans had a daddy day like no other!
HOME-DEPOT!
The girls’ faces look exactly like mine when I have to go to Home Depot with Vans. 🙂
Overall, it was a great day. We had spent more than 6 hours on the trail. That’s a long time but it was the time I needed to get my confidence back.
Now I taper. Now I work on the aches and pains. Foam rolling. Eating well and hopefully trying to get better sleep. AR50 will be what it will be but I know a lot of what makes a race a great race, is where your head is on race day. For me, I am going to ride this positive train for the next two weeks.
With Miners Revenge behind me, it is time to get back into building miles again so that I can be ready to pace Pigeon at the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 Miler in July. Last week was a hard week for me. I took a couple of classes at Diane’s that made me so incredibly sore, running last week was a struggle. I did manage some hill repeats one night although it wasn’t a pretty sight.
When Pigeon reached out to me to plan our Saturday run, I was a little nervous. She gave me some options but she really wanted to get some time on her feet in the canyons which involves a lot of climbing (both up and down). My shaky tired legs were a bit nervous.
The drive to Michigan Bluff takes about an hour. Pigeon was pretty good at getting us there without too much trouble. After we parked and started to get ready, we noticed that it was pretty darn cold outside. Her temperature gauge in the car had said 40 degrees! We knew it would warm up but boy it was a chilly start to our run.
Right near the parking area (really just in front of some people’s houses) is a monument dedicated to the Western States Trail and Michigan Bluff’s role as a big aid-station in that race.
Pigeon is looking for the belt buckle that was built into the monument.There it is!
We weren’t alone when we arrived. There was a group of about 15 boys (teenagers?) who were also unloading their cars. They didn’t look like runners to us at all and so we assumed they were hiking. We never fully figured how who they were or what they were doing but they were pretty funny to run past on our way down into the canyon as they were cheering for us and wishing us a great day.
However, not one mile into our run I had a little malfunction with my Ultimate Direction Jenny Vesta pack. I love this vest/hydration pack more than anything but this is the second or third time I have had this same malfunction. My hair is on the longer side and when I braid it down my back, the braid inevitably gets caught in the pack zipper! So we are starting our run and all of a sudden I can’t lift my head! It is tilted back and totally caught in the zipper. I yell out to Pigeon that I need her help. She stops.
Me: “My hair is caught, can you get it out please?”
Pigeon, “We are not even 1 mile into our run and you are having wardrobe issues? Wait. It’s stuck in that thingy! How did you did you do this? I can’t get it out! It’s stuck in the loopy-d-loop thing!”
Me: “Don’t mess up my hair! Don’t undo my braid!”
Pigeon: “I have to! I can’t get it out!”
We were laughing so hard. I never take myself seriously and clearly our runs always have some element of fun to them.
Such a beautiful day
However, things would change a bit a little further into our run. The first 2.5 miles are a pretty deep descent and Pigeon is loving long descents lately. Me? I like them but I can honestly say they are not my strong suit. I’d rather run up a climb than run down a hill. I know, odd.
Pigeon took off down the descent and soon I lost her yellow jersey from my line of vision. Normally this is how we roll. She goes on ahead and I just take up the rear doing my thing, taking photos, whatever. However there is something about Michigan Bluff and the canyons that had me a bit spooked on this run.
Granted, not more than two months ago Robert “Bob” Root was lost for two days and then ultimately found on this same trail!!! Also, Facebook has been inundated lately with bear and mountain lion sightings all throughout Auburn and other areas. I am petrified of seeing either on the trail (more so the mountain lion).
So of course it was absolutely natural for my mind to go to dark dark places when I was running solo down these long descents where the trail was narrow, foggy and totally in the middle of no where. Sure Pigeon would be waiting at various turns or cross sections, but within moments she’d take off again and I would be mentally picturing in my head some gruesome scene played out around every corner. I know, I know, not smart but that is the way my brain works. I had my cell phone in my pack but of course I had it turned off and all I could think about was “if I get eaten, my phone isn’t ‘on’ so they can’t track my phone!” I need to stop reading scary books the night before I go on these trail runs. Clearly.
A blurry Pigeon waiting for me at the bridge.
Did I share any of these thoughts with Pigeon? Did I tell her how petrified I was? Did I tell her that my heart rate was spiking not because of the physical activity but because I was totally imagining some vampire meets the hunger games scenario in my head? Nah. Instead I would just run my little heart out so that I could get as close to her as possible.
Soon we were climbing which is a good thing because then I was close to her! We were hiking our way up the trail when I heard something off in the distance. Pigeon turns and looks at me and I am smiling.
Pigeon: “What? Why are you smiling?”
Me: “Nothing. Nothing at all. I didn’t hear that gun shot did you?”
Pigeon: “Nope. I didn’t hear those gun shots either.”
Granted, they sounded miles away and it sounded very much like target practice. Â Whatever, some sick twisted part of me was thankful for the gun shots as I was hoping it would scare away any four legged creatures that might come eat me.
She has no idea of the thoughts going through my head…
We continued climbing, up and up we would go, switch back after switch back. There was no one on the trail. It was quiet except for a few birds and the lizards darting through the leaves.
The sun would come and go all day long
Eventually we made it to Deadwood Canyon. I remembered this section of the trail from 2010 although it looked a lot different.
Deadwood Cemetery
So of course the curious side of me gets going: “Why is it called Deadwood Cemetery? Is it a real cemetery? What does it mean?” Pigeon has no clue but luckily there are some state park educational billboard things out there to ease inquiring minds (like mine).
Gold Rush!
These little bits of history were kind of neat. They also calmed me down a bit because if there are state park info boards like this out there, that means we were closer to possible civilization!
The Pump!
The water pump in the above photo was our destination but we had not quite achieved the mileage we wanted so we decided to keep going. As we were running away from the water pump I saw 3 girls running in our direction.
I MAY have been a bit overly excited to see people on the trail that I MAY have squealed “PEOPLE!! PEOPLE!! HI PEOPLE!” Pigeon was pretty mortified but then again, she had no idea WHY I was so overly excited to see these three strangers.
We chatted briefly with them but the time had come for me to come clean with Pigeon and I shared with her how terrified I was earlier on our run. She was shocked and had no clue and couldn’t understand why I would be so frightened. I have a very over active imagination and sometimes it gets the best of me. 🙂
Soon however we had reached our destination, Devil’s Thumb. I have been out at “the thumb” a few times. Once as a volunteer for Western States and then again in 2010 when Pigeon and I ran up and through it. I have to say, I was shocked by what is now left of Devil’s Thumb.
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Charred.There is the thumb though!
Pigeon and I took a few moments to wander around and look at all the damage. It truly was heart breaking to see this area just burned almost beyond recognition!
We gathered ourselves together and decided to turn around. Neither one of us wanted to go down to the bottom of Devil’s Thumb only to go back up (the climb is brutal and we’ll be doing it in about 2 weeks anyway).
Our run back was good. Pigeon stayed with me for most of it. We ran into those teenagers again who said hi. The first section of the trail however, involved a large descent and would end with a large climb (the reverse of what we ran out).
Pigeon stayed a little closer to me on some of the downhills. Maybe she didn’t want me to be afraid or maybe she just was taking it easy but at one point, she stopped dead in her tracks which scared the living day lights out of me. Now normally my brain would just think “did she see a mountain lion?” but instead, I had heard what she heard … a motorcycle!
What?! We are on some random single track trail in the middle of no where and it sounded as if there was a highway near by! Nope, barreling around the corner was a guy on a dirt bike.
Blurry but you get the idea
Luckily, there just happened to be a big rock off to the side that could fit the both of us while the motorcycle dude passed. He also shared with us that there was another guy behind him so we stayed put on our rock. Thank goodness for that rock! It totally saved us from either getting run over by the bikes or worse, getting poison oak by jumping into the bush.
our loving rock
We continued pounding the downhills with Pigeon moving quite a bit faster than myself. We did see a lot of people though on our return trip which was more reassuring. However, my IT band started to yell again a bit at about mile 13.
With the sun peaking out behind various clouds, our return trip was gorgeous. I had to stop to take a few photos (or maybe it was to rest my IT … maybe both?).
So pretty!The last bridge!
Once we got to that bridge, we helped a couple of hikers find their way and then it was a LONG 2.5 mile climb out of that canyon to the car. Pigeon managed to get ahead of me on a few of the switch backs and tried to be “funny” by dropping a rock down from above so that I would freak out. It ALMOST worked but I was onto her. 🙂
We paused a few times to say hi to a few runners along the way and then it was just climb climb climb. Once again, Pigeon stopped, only this time she screamed like a girl (and I say that in the nicest way possible). I grabbed my vital organs (my heart and chest area) and yelled “what!? what!?”
She pauses, ” a lizard!!!”
She screamed because of a lizard. Okay, I may scream because someone’s random dog (off leash) creeps up behind me or because some venomous turkey is on the trail, but she screamed for a lizard!? Okay, maybe this lizard was larger than normal and she almost stepped on it.
Blurry photo compliments of Pigeon
We laughed our butts off for a bit on that one and then continued on our way. Soon enough, I was D-O-N-E with this 2.5 up hill climb. I wanted to move so I started running. I ran various stretches of the uphill with Pigeon kind of giggling behind me at my attempts.
She had run 15 miles on Thursday and had some tired legs under her so she was content to work herself up that climb with a solid power hike. Me? I am barely in the shape that she is and I wanted to run to add an extra workout to the day (um, I had mega sore quads this week which I attribute to all the downhill but still, a reminder of what we conquered).
Overall it was a great day. I struggled with some highs and lows. My motivation is on the low side since finishing some of my key races but I want to keep my fitness levels on the up and up because:
1. It feels amazing to be able to go out and run the canyons on a few days notice;
2. I have a Western States Training run in 2 weeks (that is 30 plus miles); and
3. I have to pace Pigeon anywhere between 20 and 30 miles for Tahoe Rim Trail in July and I want to be ready.
This run also gave me a chance to try some new fueling and experiment more with running with my heart rate strap but secured a little tighter.
My favorite part of the run was all the laughter. Pigeon and I generally have a fun time on the trails and I always know she’d never leave me or risk my safety. I was out of my element a bit but it was also a little invigorating! Not saying I’d go out and run that route solo like a few of the other runners we saw (no thank you) but it does make me feel good inside and out.
Once again my recovery was nonexistent. My body was quite sore come Monday and I didn’t really rest much at all. Stretching MUST become my new best friend otherwise, I think my running days may be numbered. I see Dr. Lau this week and I am sure he will tell me the same thing.
This coming weekend I have a 10 mile race that I am not so sure how to tackle. Part of me wants to run hard and gauge my fitness level, part of me wants to run it easy so my body can fully recover and part of me wants to run with TiggerT who is also doing the race and would be somewhere in between. I have never been on the course before so really I am going into it with no real expectations. I just want to run.
Just so long as the course elevation looks nothing like it did last Saturday!
Oh you know, just 6,000 feet of climbing and descendingElevation!
