M.O.R.E.: Running in Circles

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Running in Circles

C and I could not let Marathon Mom run 11 miles by herself this morning, so we all met at Central Park to get our long run out of the way for the week. The high school kids had practice at 7am so we figured we would run 3 loops and then add 2 miles through the park onto that. I have a new respect for the kids when they practice at Central Park and seem to just be endlessly running in circles, it is brutal! Add to that the heat and humidity and it made for a really tough run. My husband showed up later to run a loop himself (he likes to wait till it's nice and hot out) and he made the comment on how long we were out there running. It did take us a long time, because we stopped regularly for water, which we sweated out right away, bathroom breaks (broke my own rule), and chats with the kids coach. It was the heat that killed us today,( my legs felt pretty good), and the monotony of doing the same thing over, and over, again. Marathon Mom had to leave us after about 8 1/2 miles because her son was done running and they are on there way out of town for a nice beach weekend. C, her daughter and I tried to get the last 2 1/2 miles in the best we could, we started out on the course through the dirt once again, but when we passed the dog park, we just couldn't face heading up the service road to the dirt hill, and turned to the left instead, we ran toward the grass soccer fields and straight to the sprinklers, we hit as many as we could and ran the grass perimeter twice. C's daughter said that once around was half a mile, so I am sure we came pretty close to our goal. It was a tough run, but I know we are all glad to be done for the weekend! Next run will be Tues. we will meet at the McDonald's on Decoro and McBean, and I think we decided on 6:30, we were overcome with thoughts of the heat when we made our plans.

4 comments:

marathon mom said...: It was really hard to sit in the long car ride after a long run, especially after rushing off and not stretching well. What a difference a few miles toward the coast makes. It's actually COLD here and I had to put on a jacket to walk around. I hope I can take advantage of this cool weather and finish up the couple of miles I missed. McDonald's Tuesday? Which way do you plan on running? BTW, I never want to see CP again.; July 18, 2009 at 7:50 PM
Patty said...: We were intent on running somewhere we would be in the shade most of the time, but didn't talk about the exact route details. I am assuming we would run toward Copperhll, turn around and come back, hopefully getting in enough mileage, we may need to add some though. It stayed HOT here all day, and I was just exhausted! Totally agree about C. Park, I have never felt so tired and dirty after a run! Have fun and enjoy the COOL.; July 18, 2009 at 9:51 PM
marathon mom said...: I never did get the rest of the miles in, too tired and having too much fun doing other stuff. We rode ATVs today for the first time and had a ton of fun. I never realized that the Pismo ATV area is so huge. We also got to see a whale off the pier. Anyhow back to running, I was more tired after running 8.5 miles at CP than running 10.5 the last week up McBean. I think it was the combination of the heat and also the course. It is a tough course, one that rivals the COC course when comparing racing times. The fact that we ran several circuits of it in the heat is really just crazy. I hope the heat isn't too bad there. It is quite pleasant here in the high 60's. See you Tuesday.; July 19, 2009 at 7:48 PM
Patty said...: There are "excessive heat warnings" that is how hot it is! I think there are even chances of thunderstorms in certain areas so it is humid on top of the heat. It didn't even feel cool when I got up at 6am today. If I were you I'd stay at the beach!; July 20, 2009 at 10:27 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.