M.O.R.E.: 10 Again

Sunday, July 12, 2009

10 Again

For Patty and C it was another 10 miler. They weren't too happy to find out that they only needed to do 9 miles last week. Oops! We met with our marathon group out of Granary Square again and headed north to Copperhill. At our water stop, we asked the trainer where we turn around and when he described it at first, Patty's jaw just fell and the look on her face was shock. I guess she misunderstood and thought it was a different, much harder route. The hardest part was just before the turn around when we made a right at Copperhill and ran uphill for about a mile with a 122 foot elevation gain. I guess it's good practice for mile 23 of our marathon where there is a significant incline of 150 feet. It was actually quite pleasant and 90% of the time we were in the shade. We even stopped in at McD's for a bathroom break and some fresh ice water for our bottles. The only annoying thing about this route is all the lights that we have to stop at. It's really hard to get going at mile 8 or 9 when you have to stop and wait for a light. I wonder if it wouldn't have been better if we just ran cross the bridge at Bridgeport and got onto the bike trail so that we wouldn't have to stop so much at the lights? It probably wouldn't have been as shadier. All in all, we all did great, especiall C's daughter who ran with the "faster" group. Afterwards we all enjoyed our coffee and our protein loaded breakfast sandwiches. Couldn't get any better than that.

On a side note, Patty's brother asked that we post our maps of the longer runs. Today we weren't given any, but I'm so glad I figured out how to transfer the image from my Garmin software to the blog. I just hope I can still remember how I did it for next time :0

4 comments:

Patty said...: Good job with the map, that is why you are the one with the Garmin! 10 somehow felt easier today, and I know it had to do with the course, it was very pleasant for most of the run. I did panic a bit when he was telling us to go to Tupelo Ridge and turn around, Tupelo Ridge opens up on Seco and on Copperhill, and my first thought was that we would have to take Copperhill to Seco, take Seco to Tupelo and THEN turn around! It was a traumatic thought at the time, but I realized my mistake and all was good. It was nice to have more runners out with us today, especially a few more that ran in our vicinity. It makes it easier to suffer if you have company!; July 12, 2009 at 4:46 PM
marathon mom said...: As I was driving home after our coffee this morning right along where we just ran, I realized that I couldn't even remember crossing Magic Mtn Parkway. I guess you just get so focused on finishing that everything else is a blur, sort of like tunnel vision or driving on auto pilot.; July 12, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Patty said...: I was thinking the same thing after the first half of the run. I knew we had run past the mall, Target and crossed the bridge that I hate crossing, but I couldn't remember doing it. I felt like the first half went by fast, and with the nice shade we had, was relatively painless. The way back hurt a bit and I remember it a lot more clearly!; July 12, 2009 at 7:09 PM
marathon mom said...: It did seem as though we did have more runners out today. What I also noticed is that the marathon group actually has a higher ratio of women participants compared to men. Maybe it was just that day, or maybe all the faster men were all up front and left before we finished, but even at coffee afterwardds there seemed to be more women. Just an interesting observation.; July 13, 2009 at 7:25 AM

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Favorite Trails

South Fork 3.1: Start from dirt parking lot on Magic Mtn Pkway and run to the loop at Wiley Bridge and return the same way.

Tesoro 3.25: Start in Albertson parking lot and take sidewalk/trail until it ends and then enter the water tower road to the top two towers where the ends. Return the same way.

Chesebrough 3.25/4.60: From Chesebrough Park, N. to Copperhill, So. on Bike Trail, turn around at Decoro, back up trail to power lines to bridge at park. Turn around at Heritage will give you 4.6 miles.

Chesebrough 3.5: Chesebrough Park down to McBean, south to Northpark Dr., the paseo trailhead. Take the paseo to Helmers and back. Very hilly.

Bridgeport 4.0: Fairly flat, run toward Lowes and under Bouquet bridge to RiverPark community until you reach the closed gates and return. For a hilly run, go north into Helmers and run up the paseo switchbacks into Northpark where the paseo ends and return the same way.

Chesebrough 4.0: N. to Copperhill to west side of river trail, run S. on Bike Trail past Decoro bridge, across Decoro to the east side of river trail, up back to power lines trail, back to park.

Chesebrough 4.0: From park down power line trail to Heritage Park and back same way.

Bridgeport 4.0: From School, cross McBean via bridge or street and head into industrial center on Ave. Scott Bridge and enter bike trail going south toward the train bridge. Turn around at train bridge and return same way or cross the bridge and head toward Peet's after crossing train bridge and back onto the Lowes Trail.

Heritage 4.0: From park, run up bike trail to Decoro, over McBean Bridge into Helmers, and into Bridgeport through lake trail back to park. Can be done in reverse. Moderately hilly.

Chesebrough 4.25: Chesebrough north to Copperhill, left to Albertson side of bike trail. Run south on trail to Decoro and cross over bridge and head north all the way to Copperhill on east side of river trail and back to the park the same way as started.

Cheese/Decoro/Helmers 4.25: From the park, down dirt trail to bike path, south to Decoro. Leave bike path at Decoro and cross paseo bridge at McBean. Stay on paseo up hill towards Helmers. Run up water tower trail once then continue on to switchbacks and paseos back to park.

Heritage/Bridgeport 3.3: Heritage Park south to McBean Bridge @ Panera. Cross and head toward Lowes bike trail and head east toward Bridgeport Park. Halfway mark is at park bathroom, head back by entering trail along the lake and back onto the bridge.

Lowes 4.25: Lowe's parking lot to McBean, cross the bridge and to South Fork. At Valencia Bridge, enter trail behind Hart Baseball diamonds. Continue on trail to Bouquet and across the bridge on the east side and back under the bridge again towards Lowes.

Peet's & Decoro 5.2: Peet's Coffee to train bridge path; to Decoro and across bridge; back down McBean side of bike trail back to Peete's.

Peet's & Wiley 6.0: Start at Peet's Coffee and head east toward South Fork trail and past the Wiley Bridge. Keep running another 200 yards to where the trail forks left and right. Turn back same way.

Peet's & Copperhill 6.0: From Peet's to bike trail heading north to Copperhill and back.

Albertson 7.0: From the Albertson parking lot on Copperhill, enter the westside bike trail and head south until the train bridge. Return the same way.

Peet's 8.5: Run to Copperhill on east side of river trail and return via train bridge on other side.

Lowes 10: Start in the Lowes parking lot. Enter the bike trail heading west. At McBean, cross the bridge and head east toward SouthFork trail. Continue on trail until you come to the Wiley bridge and head back the same way.

McBean 14: This route can be done from anywhere along the trail route. Starting from McDonald's across the post office, run to the end of the South Fork trail and return the same way, cross the McBean bridge and run on the Lowes trail until you hit Bridgeport Elementary and then cross Newhall Ranch via the bridge or street and run back towards McBean. Continue north on McBean until you hit Copperhill. At Copperhill, cross McBean and enter San Francisquito bike trail and run south on the trail until you are back at McDonalds.