M.O.R.E.: Girl Power!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Girl Power!

We met early this morning to try and beat the heat, but we lost! Marathon Mom, Marisol, C and I set out at 6:45 from Lowe's to see how close to 10 miles we could run. I spent a wonderful day at the beach yesterday, and enjoyed the cooler weather a little too much, getting a bad sunburn. The combination of being worn out from the sun, and the fact that I skipped my morning coffee, made me feel like my legs were just empty this morning. I was dragging before we hit the S. Fork trail, and had to stop and walk a bit before we got to the M. Mountain Pkwy underpass. I had already decided that I would turn around after the water fountain, but so had the rest of the group. We managed to get in 6.5 miles, and I don't even want to guess what the pace was. Since Marisol was with us, I feel like the pace going out was a little quicker than usual, but Marathon Mom was the only one who seemed to have anything left on the way back.

We sat inside a cool Starbucks and had our coffee (I was shaking by then), and talked a bit to other SCR's who seemed to be just as affected by the heat. When we started out this morning there was a girl who was new to the SCR's and she thought we were the whole group. We tried to politely tell her that we were SCR's, but didn't run with them because we were so slow, we liked to start before them. I think we were all feeling a little guilty for not inviting her to join us, but then at the S. Fork Trail, we saw her fly by, leading the whole group of SCR's, men and all! Another girl on a bike was so impressed by our little group of women, running and chatting that she shouted "Girl Power" to us as she passed by. I don't know how much "power" I had today, (I am trying to forget the actual run), but I did enjoy all the new chatter we had, because of the extra friends!

3 comments:

marathon mom said...: It was nice to have some extra conversation along for the run today. On a normal day, I would have felt badly about not finishing the entire 10 miles, but not today. I think part of being a good runner is knowing what your limits are. I also felt like our pace going out was a little fast. I'm pretty sure we finished our 6.5 miles in under one hour which means our pace was pretty good in this heat, about 9.23. You know when we ran by that lady that shouted something to us, I thought she said "white power!" because so many of us were wearing white. I'm glad your stomach held out, even if meant no coffee. Next time make sure you GU up with caffeine.; July 17, 2010 at 6:29 PM
Patty said...: I felt like we were running fast on the way out, and I just had to catch my breath. I didn't feel bad about turning around when we did, it just wasn't my day. I am surprised we kept our pace what it was considering I felt like I wasn't even moving during the last two miles. I think we need a hot weather route for days like today, one with a little more shade! It was nice to have all the conversation going today, it made it easier for me, to hang in there.; July 17, 2010 at 10:11 PM
marathon mom said...: I know what you mean about a different route on hot days. I didn't think about running up to Copperhill until Paola mentioned it. When you mentioned the train bridge, it just didn't sound appealing because there's no shade on that side. I totally forgot about the McBean route. I like doing an out and back just in case one of us isn't feeling it and with the train bridge, we would have been committed to doing the whole loop. It would be interesting to see how far that is, but only on a cooler day.; July 17, 2010 at 10:27 PM

Post a Comment

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.