More hiking than running

I have been hiking way more than running lately. The good thing is that they have been long hikes mostly over 9000ft. Any training is good training. I will get motivated to beat feet on the pavement in the morning. It is getting dark here at five so afterwork runs will be by headlamp.
The good thing about the runs I have done lately is that I have spent more time thinking about the things I am grateful in my life. I have a lovely wife whom I adore(and she me), a wonderful daughter, a good job, great people I can call my friends, and an annoying little Boston terrier that likes to hike and run. I stated in my intro that I want to run a 100 mile race. Well, that I am discovering is the easy part. Eat well and train. Simple...It is the other part, "learn a few things along the way" that is sometimes elusive. The lessons aren't always so clear. I am fortunate right now that I am in a good place, not wanting for much. My biggest lesson of late is that I ALWAYS need to have some grattitude for what I have.

Here is a Ginger at 9500ft. The summit of Baden Powell

San G

We went up San Gorgonio mountain on Saturday. What a great hike. We went as a group of four, the other two in our party did not meet up with us in time. There were some missed communications in our meeting spot. I will not leave it to someone else to convey messages again.

It was a little cool when we started but after twenty minutes on the trail we warmed right up. I decided to Bring the D.dog on the trip. I was a little concerned that it would be too much for the little dog, but she proved to be a kick ass little hiker. I was really looking forward to taking my wife on the mountain. I always want to share my love for the outdoors with the one person that means the world to me ( I love my daughter just as much). We took around five hours to reach the summit, spent a few on the top having some lunch, and headed back down.

The trip back down was fun till we started with Shelby's short cuts. I really do not like to hike off trail even if is ok. My knees REALLY do not like the steep pounding and loose footing. My wife's knees are not used to that kind of abuse at all. Needless to say I started to get a little pissed we were taking these routes, but the promise to be finshed earlier had too much appeal for the rest of the group. We made the round trip in eight plus hours, had a great time doing it, and my wife rocks!!!!!

Now she knows how I feel after a marathon................

And for my friends back in Indiana this (tree) is what fall looks like here.

We got new Ink

We got new ink. Some might think it corny, but I don't. My wife and I went out and got matching tats last night. I'm a pretty happy guy and my wife is the love of my life. Not much running for the past week. We are going to go hiking as soon as I stop typing and shower.

Sunday mishap

Oh Man.............
I went to Forrest Falls. What a cute little place. We
could live there!
Anyhow, I stopped at the ranger station and got a
permit (free) to go up to the top. As usual I was
unprepared. I had one water bottle and no food. I was
only going to go until I felt tired or an hour or so.
But my tummy was not happy. The trail I was on was
steep and loose, running was not much of an option. I
got to an area that flattend out and had running
water. I think it is a turn around for most people. I
saw some big leafs that I thought I could use but
decided I was too close to the water so I headed back
down thinking I would just make it to the truck and
the toilets in the parking lot. Tummy
grumbling............ I stopped on a switchback to
look for a place to poop and heard voices and there
were some peeps comming up the trail. I said hi and
scamperd down the way stopping to squeeze my butt
cheecks so no poop would escape. I finally could not
take it anymore and ran off a switchback behind a tree
and dropped my shorts and blew some dookie. Remeber
the big leaf well I did not have them any more.
Nothing but pine needles and ROCKS!!!!!! Ah, but I had
my permit just enough pink paper to take care of
buisness. So I made it to the truck and toilets for
another poop. Pulled the parking ticket off the
windshield and made my way home. Did I forget to
mention I was high on the trail when I rememberd that
my brand new parking permit was still in the glove box . Doh....As I
drove out I saw the ranger that gave me the ticket
showed him my pass and he said no problem won't even
enter it into the log. It was a nice outing not many miles though.
I was still pretty beat up froim the Whitney ascent.

Whitney In A Day

I got a call on Tuesday from my wife's uncle saying that we might be able to get on Mt Whitney on someone else's permit. Lucky for me I had finished my project at work. Since it was only my second week there, I was a little worried about asking for half a day off. It worked out. So I left work on Friday around noon, packed up the truck and drove to Lone Pine. Three and a half hours later I was in Lone Pine. Things got a little crazy for me about now. The plans on meeting the guys with the permit were a little fuzzy not to mention I really was not sure where I was sleeping that night. Needless to say everything worked out. Shelb went back to Lone Pine to sleep in a cozy hotel and Larry and I spent the night sleeping under the stars at the portal. Up at 3:00 to pack, eat, break camp, and hopefully use the restroom before we left. Not so lucky on the bathroom visit. I did not really want to have to use my "wag bag". Great idea, just the thought of having to poop into a plastic bag AND have to pack it out. The packing it out would not have been bad except for the fact that everything in my camelbak was crushed when I left. I need a bigger pack for these longer trips. Once we got started I was on a mission. I wanted to get to the summit and head back down asap. Not that I wanted a record but if you read the last entry I have been neglecting my wife a bit. I was going at a good clip passing people as much as I could. I was using the people ahead of me for motivation to move at a steady pace. I enjoy being on the trails meeting people along the way. Nine times out of ten they are very nice. I knew that the air would get thinner as I went up so the labored breathing was not too bothersome. After about 12,000ft it did not seem to get any harder to breathe. I was trying to conserve my water as I ran out on the way down on my San Gorgonio trip. I had a full 100oz in the camelback and two handhelds with cytomax. I figured one bottle for the way up and one for the way down, sipping on the water intermittently. Well the water in my hose froze so I was relegated to the handhelds. I was a little too conservative on drinking. I did not pee for at least six and a half hrs. Not good. It was a push to keep going to the summit but well worth it. I hit the summit in five and a half hours. I spent about fifteen minutes checking out the view and warming myself in the hut. Then it was time for the descent. I basically ran every section I could. There were many that were much too rocky to risk a broken ankle over. I was about two thirds of the way down when I got really bummed that my lovely wife was at home, a four hour drive away not to mention however long it was going to take me to finish the trip. Well after ten minutes of that I got a good wind and ran some smooth single track enjoying everything the trail had to offer. I made it back to the car in three and a half hours making for a nine hour one day summit of Mt. Whitney. Yipeeeeeeee I got back to the truck ,changed clothes, gave my unused "wag bag" to the rangers to give to someone else, and got the heck out of there. I wanted to see my wife! It was a great day and I'm a little tired.................

Angles Crest

WOW!!!!!
What a night. I told Catra I would pace her the last twenty five miles of the race. Boy howdy was I clueless about pacing when I said I would do it. Not that I regret any of it, it was awesome. I have to thank my wife from the get. She was a sport in the truest sense. She really had no idea what I was asking her to do for me AND women she or I had never met. We hung out all day and evening watching the live feed on the web to judge when we would leave the house. I have to say that when it was getting close to my usual bedtime the thought of leaving the house and driving an hour plus was not really on my list of favorite things to do at that moment.

We got to Chantry flats with no problems. It was cool to see all of the people milling about in the middle of the night in some remote parking area on the side of a hill. As usual, we were early. I just did not think we were THAT early. But after a bit, the aid workers asked if there was someone to pace runner 18? Yes, I'm here I said. Well the hammy radio operators had a closed circuit TV to the previous aid station so I was able to meet Catra via TV. Cool...... Then I got to hang out some more.....
Do they call it pacing because of all the nervous walking I did around the aid station waiting for her to come in. Yes, I was a nervous Nellie. I'm mean come on I was going to pace a hardcore athlete and I am but a mere mortal.

Well she came in, ate some soup and it was on. We had a nice climb in the dark to get to know each other. We passed the mad napper about half way up the climb. I'll get back to him later. It was nothing but up for a while. Frankly I enjoyed it. Once we got to the top the view was spectacular. I hate being in any kind of city, but the lights sure looked cool from the top. We kept going from aid station to aid station, there was not anything out of the ordinary between them. Except when we were being followed by something in the bushes above us...............Never found out what it was.

The mad napper eventually came cruising past us ......Oh yea when we first saw him his pacer was patiently sitting on the side of a switchback with the guy curled over on his side snoozing away. After they passed us, could have been an hour could have been twenty minutes we found the pacer sitting comfortably again this time the guy was face down snoozin away.
Then I realized the first time I saw him was when he came into Chantry flats ate drank, and promptly fell asleep in the chair.

Catra had a little sleep issue took about two minutes to get over that. She had some stomach issues. Gave her some ginger chews, she got over that. She did not stop moving. I was really impressed that somebody could be that upbeat after seventy five miles. I was fresh so I would run a head and snap photos when I could. What a good time! Watching the sun come up was really nice. I don't think the weather could have been better. Not cold, and just warm enough. I was wide awake the entire time, nary a yawn throughout the night. As far as the race went, it was great to hang out with a racer of that caliber. I was able to learn some valuable lessons on Saturday night and most of Sunday morning. I must say that was a total blast. I think my next foray will be as a runner in a 50miler.

Oh, and the mad napper. He came in to finish about ten minute behind Catra. Good Job to all

And it truly was my pleasure

Last minute run

I unexpectedly had to bring my wife some dinner at her work. It has been a crazy week for the both of us. I would have rather sat down an had a nice evening picnic with her but since I am pacing an uber ultra runner this weekend I thought it best for me to get out and pound some dirt. Man was it worth it......... I have been having trouble with my camelbak rubbing my lower back raw. So I needed to find a way to keep it in place. The little one inch strap that comes on it is fine for bike riding not good for running. I have a fuel belt that sits nicely on the hips but the bottles area small and a pain to use. Hmmmmmm....
So being Magaiver like I went to the garage pulled out an old mtn. bike helmet, removed the chin strap and adjusting buckles slapped them together and bam!. I am happy to say .......... It worked like a charm

Saturdays Run

AHHHHH..........
Did the Saturday morning hustle to the peak of Baden Powell along the PCT. Next week a few hundred people will be partaking in the AC100. Today I was dropped off a few miles before the parking area at the base of the trail. It added an extra four miles to the outing. Running along the PCT on the "other side" was really nice. Amazing how different the trails are from on ridge to another. I can't wait till spring when all the flowers are blooming on that trail. It will be spectacular. We ran to the base of Baden and ten it was mostly a Powerhike to the top. I ran when it flattened out maybe 10 to 20 yards at a time, but still kept a good pace. I should have eaten a bit more. Was feelin a bit flat. Split a Cliff bar at the top and headed down. Took me a bit to get pumped for the run down ,it wasn't long before we were at a nice steady jog to the bottom. All in all a great day to be on the mountain.

Oooh it's warm

This is one of the main trails that mountain bikers use out in Loma Linda. Got off my butt for an hour run in the hills today. I was only going out for an hour so I could make it home to shower and get ready for an appointment. Got home to find the app. had been cancelled. Shit..... I would have rather made a day trip to the mountains. Oh well.... It was a little warm at 8:00am. I have been running with my camelbak lately and I let it bounce around a bit and got some nice "rug" burns on my lower back. Don't mind them on my knees...... ;-) So I'm giving my back a break and running with two handhelds. I could get by with one but I want to get used to using two. I do not want to run out again next time I head up San G. I figure two bottles and a full bladder should get me through.

Here's the deal

Was not to motivated today to go out and run first thing. I was feeling rather squishy this morning for some reason and did want to hit the trails after I dropped my wife at work. This poses a problem for me. How ? Well I need a game plan in the am or before I go to bed. My job has not started yet so I am getting really lazy with my time. Plus I'm getting a little bored with the thought of running in the local hills. It's fine once I get my lazy ass out there, just getting there sometimes is a problem for me. I will load a pic just cuz it makes a blog interesting Mmmmmmmmmm.................. Pie, who doesn't love pie

Friday........

Who says you cant get a good work out when you find one of these a few miles out? I went out for a good exploration run today. I am running a couple of hours a pop in the local hills linking different trails together. I am pretty sure I can string a bunch of the trails into a three hour run with out having to run the same trails twice.

Off Day

I chose not to go out today. Knee hurts a bit so I like to rest it. The good news is that I'm going to pace Dirt Diva during the AC100 in a few weeks. I'm stoked! It will be cool to run with somebody at that level. I will use the experience to get my ass motivated to run my own 100. I'm thinking of a 50 in February. Since I did not run today I will use throw in a pic of my dog.
I like to use snow pictures when I'm hot

Catch up entry

Oh yea,
Once again I have been neglecting my blog. I am happy to say that is mostly due to the fact that I have been spending more time running than I had been over the last month.

Good news and bad news.
Good news is that since my wife has a kick ass job and I am one of the few Americans that have health insurance. It had been a few years since I was covered. So, I went to the doctor to get checked out for the hell of it and I am in pretty darn good shape. The only hitch is the beginning of arthitus in my left knee. I have been suffering knee pain for the last few years and I thought it was just my body rebelling against the higher mileage I wanted to run (and basically it is). Looks like I have a great doc. I told him that I had no intentions of stopping running because of some stupid knee pain and he said it wouldn't be a problem as long as I stayed off the road. SWEEEEEEEEET......... I hate running on the road.

We have been hiking up Baden Powell out of Wrightwood. It is so nice to get out of the smog and into some elevation. It is a nice hike and a fun run down. I guess people are training for the AC100 right now. I wish I had the poop to go for it. Although, last Monday I threw caution to the wind and got a day permit for San Gorgonio Mountain.

San Gorgonio
I woke up Monday morning with and itch I had to scratch. That itch was along run, an adventure. So, as my wife got ready for work I half-assed my running kit together and made ready for an all day run. I said good bye to my wife and rolled down the road to the unknown. I got to the ranger station at around 8:15 got my permit to be on the mountain and the permit to park my truck. As the ladies were telling me of all the trails I could run I did not pay attention to the trail they put on my permit. OH Well. They gave me some fact sheets and news letters and I was off...... Only a half hour up the mountain to the parking area and I would be off. After twentyfive minutes I thought something was amiss Hmmmmmmm. So I pulled over...going through all of the papers the nice ladies gave me I could not find my parking permit. Down the mountain I go back to the ranger station. lo and behold it had fallen out of the F*cking pile of papers the nice ladies at the ranger station gave me. BACK UP THE MOUNTAIN I go. Good thing gas is so cheap right now or I would have been pissed. Did I mention I drive a fullsize pick up.

I was in great spirits to be up in the mountains to foolishly head out into the unkown all by myself. Man do I love being stupid. Pull on my trail shoes , strap on my camelbak, (even used sunscreen on my nose and ears) and I'm off. I would love to say that I was in a nice steady run from the truck to the summit,but a liar I'm not. A knuklehead maybe, but not a liar. Anyhow I'm off at a mix of steady jogging and power walking. I stopped a few time to snap some photo's and eat a little along the way. Since I lost over an hour driving back to get my parking permit I was on a tight time schedule. I would have to reach the summit in three hours or turn around and go back to the truck. It was pretty much a great assent. I kept an eye on my watch the whole time. As It got close to the three our cut off I started to get discouraged that I was not going to make the summit. I decided to switch over to my clock instead of the stopwatch I had been using and it was only 12:45 that meant I still had 15 minutes to reach the summit. Whoopee..... I went for it. I came around the bend and I probably had 500 yards the summit. I was able to break into a comfortable run. I hit the summit in 3:09. I was happy with that. Met some folks up there took turns taking photos for each other, had a snack, back down I go........


The run down was fairly uneventful until.........I got to a break in the trail and lost the damn thing. I'm not one to lose trails easy, I'm pretty good at finding my way. But, was somewhere new and walking in circles. Not fun....Went back up to where I lost the trail and found it again. Whew.....I was cruising along fairly well, I had to slow down at times because the trail was too rocky to run. I was paying attention to the fact that I was alone. I was hydrating along the way not wanting to cramp up. Guess who did not bring enough water..... Doh' I ran into a pack of scouts heading out on a backpacking trip. When one of the scouts asked me"how far did you get?" I proudly replied "to the top". Now after that I felt it would have been awkward to ask for some water. " Dumbass can make it to the top but doesn't bring enough water" I felt I had to suck it up and make it back to the truck. It was a long trip not having anymore water,live and learn. I made the return trip to the truck in 2:12. Not a minute to soon cuz I was wrecked. Luckily I keep a rather large first aid kit in the truck stocked with water and a lovely can of peaches. Who cares that they were piss warm. Those peaches were damn good.....

All in all I made it to my wifes work with plenty of time to spare. I came home to find that it was a 23mile round trip from 6600' to 11500'. Not bad for a day off

Lazy..................

I am so bad about keeping up my blog. Since I do not sit a t a computer durring my work day, sitting down to write is not high on my list of things to do with my free time. I have been running though. I found some good trails in Loma Linda down the road from where I live. I have not crossed paths with any rattle snakes yet, But I'm always looking.

Road Trip

Well..........
I did it 2100 miles in four days. What a pain in the Butt! Literally. I got a cramp in one of my cheek's that really got my attention. The first day was 14 hrs. behind the wheel. Damn that was long. Second day 10 , third day 3,fourth day 6.
We broke it up so we could relax in Flagstaff. Which was a great idea. We were able to go hiking for a couple of hours which helped to loosen up the body after being crapmed up in the truck for a couple of days. Then off to a nice meal. Very much needed after eating nasty road food. We arrived in Redlands mid afternoon Sunday and have been waiting for our furniture since. I got a call and it should be here first thing tomorrow morning. What a relief. I have run twice since being in town. Yesterday and today man is it hot, but nice and dry! Not nearly as uncomfortable as the midwest. We will see what happens next in our new town!

Moving Day

We are packing up the last few items today. The movers will come and load the truck at some point today and we will leave Thursday moring. So I will post next week from our new home in California.

Hot Hot Hot

Went for an early road run this moring. Trying to beat the heat. Running in the Midwest is like putting a treadmill in your bathroom while running the shower full blast steaming up the place. Tech fabric? Forget it. They don't dry fast enough (or at all) to have any cooling effect. The weatherman said he saw a firework shoot up in to the sky " and get stuck". I'm just babbling as the movers are packing our stuff and I seem to be getting in the way. Here is a pic of what we are leaving. I posted the winter pic beacuse I'm thinking cool thoughts. Plus it's the nicest picture we have.

Running in the Heat

Went for 14/15 miles not really sure on the trail length. Met up with some friends for a very hot and humid run in the woods loops of a 7 or 7.5mile trail. I am trying to upload an image to make this blog a little more interesting.

Saturday Run

I have been remiss in posting. My upcoming move has changed my schedule. I have really slacked off on running. It is easy to do when your schedule changes. We were supposed to move last week, but the movers botched that up. You would think I took the extra time to run, I didn't. I really need a race in the distance to keep me motivated. I have been able to get some nice runs in with my friends here in Bloomington. I will miss running with them. I am heading out for 14 miles in a few hours probably my last group run here. It will be fun.

Sunday's Run

Went for an early run on Sunday morning. Ran the upcoming 1/2 marathon course. Could not have asked for better weather. It is so nice to run in the woods in the spring time in the Midwest. That will be one of the things I miss. Californians have no idea what season are really like. I know I didn't till I moved out here. Due to the early start I have time to come home and shower eat lunch and watch a movie before I headed out to my buddy's house to shoot the breeze about life and go for a couple hour ride on his horses. Life does not get much better than that! Two trips to the woods in a day.

Sunday Morning

Has been a few weeks since I posted. We have been busy , my wife just graduated from graduate school with two masters in three years. We have been looking at new places to live as she is now a librarian. We will be moving in a few weeks to southern California. I do not know what that will hold for us but I'm looking forward to it. This will be a short post I am leaving for training run. I'll continue later.

Wednesday

Went to work and the city had torn up the street right in front of the house I am working on. Bummer.....Had to take the day off. I was leaving early anyway to take my wife to the airport as the job search continues. I should have squeezed a run in but I took the dog swimming instead, she was happy. But, all in all a great day!

Day One

Today was a great day! Woke up sober and will hopefully go to sleep the same in an hour or so. Had a good day at work was able to get out and run a few miles in lovely 75 degree weather. I am a little worried I run my Boston a little too hard. She will be two next month and nobody told her she was not supposed to be a trail runner. It is amazing to watch that 20lb. mutt flash through the woods. It is great to have a running partner that is always ready. As this is my first entry in my new blog I will keep it short and hopefully interesting.

My goals........
1. Move in the next three months, where ? I don't know. Wife is getting a new job we just don't where.

2. Run a 50 miler when and where depends on #1

3. Be happy, depends on me

4.Learn....... anything good or bad

5.Be open