M.O.R.E.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Beastly Weather!

I'm too tired to write about our experience today. I will comment later or perhaps one of my friends will instead. Right now my body feels like jello. 9.5 miles round trip, 3800 ft. elevation, approximately 2700 ft. elevation gain from start.

(Left, us after our run. Right, standing at the top of the Beast next to radio towers)

Friday, December 12, 2008

Jingle Bell Jog

Last night we ran the annual Jingle Bell Jog with the SCRs. It was quite a big group and as always, it was nice to see some old familiar faces. I was commenting during our run how amazing it was to see the spirit of Christmas lit up throughout so many homes even in the midst of our country's economic downturn. I feel conflicted in seeing so much waste in electricity when we are supposed to be "greener", but I think the holidays are a good exception. In the end with all the stops, it was one of the eastiest 4.25 miles we've done and probably the slowest.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Guilt

I'm feeling guilty about not running yesterday, but I really didn't know how everything was going to all fit in one day. I have to keep in mind that running should be a form of relaxation and not an added stress in my life, so if it has to be left off my list of things to do for a day or two, I guess that's okay. Today is not looking any better between ortho appointments and soccer games. What did I do with all of my time before I had kids?

Monday, December 8, 2008

Nap Time?

I'm having one of those days. I am so glad we are not running tonight because I am so tired. I remember the days when my children were little and I looked forward to their nap time. I'm glad those days are over because I just remember feeling physically exhausted all of the time. However, I am feeling like I could use a nap myself, but there just isn't time. There's homework to see to, shopping to do, dinner to make, laundry to fold, carpool to pick up, a house to clean, and gifts to wrap. Yes, the holidays are indeed here. It's amazaing that we are still able to get a run in here and there! See you at Heritage tomorrow.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Half a Beast

I guess you can say that we conquered half a beast today. Patty's foot held up okay and the course was not too bad considering the recent fire and rain. There were a lot of rocks in the way, which Patty was quite phobic about and who can blame her. It was a nice day to run the Beast and we're hoping we have similar conditions next weekend when we run for the SCV Food Pantry Fundraiser. C and I were commenting on how quickly the half way point comes up the more you run the trail, but it still doesn't seem to get any easier. As the daily quote says, "It only hurts up to a point" and then you basically go numb. I think it's only 4.5 miles to the gate and back. I'm not sure how well we'll do next week when we go the full 10 miles, but like we said, we can always walk.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

It Is Just a Bruise

The fear of not being able to run for any length of time sent me to the doctor first thing this morning to have my foot checked out. The top of my foot has a nice bruise and my second and third toes look like they are leaning away from eachother. Since it hurts quite a bit to put weight on my foot, I was afraid that I may have broken a bone. The doctor said that it was a bad bruise and the rock caused a hematoma that was pushing my toes apart. He was nice enough not to tell me that they are a bit chubby and funny looking to begin with, but that is the truth. I am not supposed to run for 2 weeks, but I am sure that is just a conservative guideline. I will try and stay off of it for this weekend but like I told the doctor, I am a fast healer so who knows. I have my sights set on "The Beast" so cross your fingers for me. I am sure you won't let me get out of it by using the old stepping on a rock trick!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Never a Dull Moment

When all of us ladies are running together there is never a dull moment, especially when Mary is with us. She has the funniest stories, and it's usually at her expense. Bless her! She shared her Thanksgiving food poisoning story with us and although it sounded horrific, she was still able to laugh about it. Then C shared with the group her story of what happened when she returned from Indiana and it made us all angry and sad at the same time. Then when Patty stepped on a rock and hurt her foot , there was concern of how bad it might be. We're not sure if her toe is broken. Then there is me with my runner's acid reflux. I've been reading that it's actually a common condition for runners, but they're not really sure why. I think running on the rolling hills of C.O.C. was in some ways a reflection of the emotions we were all feeling tonight.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Street Lights

Patty and I ran last night from Pavillions to Newhall Ranch Road on the bike path and down towards the train bridge on Magic Mtn. Parkway. We ended up with just over 4 miles at a 9.1 pace. It really didn't feel like we were moving that fast, but I guess we were trying to beat the dark. We would have been done earlier, but we spent a good amount of time pondering where to go once we hit Newhall Ranch Road. We stopped several times trying to decide whether it was better trying to run illegally cross the street (not a good idea at rush hour), or run another 100 yards down the street and cross at the light. I'm not sure what it is about stop lights, but I try to avoid them. I think it's the fact that you have to wait for the light to change and then run across the street as people in cars wait while watching you run across. In the end, we ran to the light and crossed. Had we just done that in the first place, we probably would have been done before it became dark!

Monday, December 1, 2008

It's Not Going to be Pretty!

I was sitting in my car the other day listening to an awesome song by "James Morrison" and it occurred to me that it summed up my feelings during the recent half marathon I ran with my friends!
I asked, then pleaded, then bribed my youngest son, (he is of the You Tube generation) to set the lovely pictures that my husband took as we were finishing to the portion of the song that I thought fit perfectly. As you can see we ran with all we had that day, and there wasn't too much left at the end. In fact I apparantly ran with my eyes closed for quite some time. I hope you all enjoy these pictures and that the memories that they bring back are not too painful. I left out the pictures of my son Steven because he didn't look like he ran nearly as hard as we did and because he is not a "Mom Out Running Everywhere". I did however love the fact that he was there to share it with me and my friends and in the process ran a pretty awesome race. I just wanted to share this with my friends and say once again, GOOD JOB GIRLS, you get me through when I feel just like I look in these pictures! And a special thanks to my son, Josh who did a pretty awesome job on this video! I am implementing a ban on cameras at all future races unless we have hair and makeup waiting right before we finish, although that would really affect our times so forget it. No Cameras!

Ahhh!!! The Holidays are Here!!!

Well Its official, the holidays are here and so are the hectic days and nights. While I was away at my son's soccer tournament this weekend, I kept thinking about all the things I had to do before the holidays. The list seems endless and so do the gifts, but I'm not going to take it all so seriously. So to start the holidays off on a fun and cheerful note, I elfed myself and my friends. Check out the link below. Its good for a laugh.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/WrAzkMQ5fEFJAn4Q

Not only can they run, but my friends can also dance really well. Who knew!

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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.