Like the canyon

I was planning a very easy day or a rest day, then my phone buzzed with a text from Oreo (Nic) goating me into a Ben Lomond run.  Columbus Day, and the guy works at a bank. Me, I was sitting at my desk trying to plan out a hectic week, but maybe I could pull off disappearing for most of  the afternoon. 

A little aftern 12:00 and we were on our way up the warm south facing switchbacks.  I started to question bringing my jacket, the trail was dry, but I warned Nic that it would get muddy for a bit in a mile or two. 

Two miles later we were staggering around trying to tight rope walk a single motorcycle track that had cut a path through the snow and mud. It was cold. The wind was ripping.  I put on my jacket, then my gloves. My feet were numb from the icy river of melt water running down the tire rut I was trying to walk in.  I was bit$#*ing to myself about how bad it sucked.  Oreo, he was like a kid on Halloween, excited about every turn in the trail. Having a blast. The guy is a die hard, not single complaint the whole trip, while it seemed like every other sentence out of my mouth contained some explative about the conditions, which got worse and worse the higher we went. 

Eventually we were booting straight up a nice snowfield, b-lining for the peak.  We tossed a rock on Kasey's carin.  Nic led the way up the final rocky ridge to the top, let out a big whooop on the peak, snapped a few pics and we were off  for the long descent back.

The upper snowfield  made for some fun post hole running on the way down, and soon we were staggering along the snow/mud/rut that was a nice trail only days before.  I was running like a druken lunatic, stumbling and flailing.  Oreo just cruised along, laughing once in a while when I slipped into a knee deep ice puddle or went careening around trying to stay on my feet.  

All in all, I have never been up there in such tough conditons.  Nic was a beast, poweirng through with not a single gripe. Super gald he asked me along on that adventure.  Oreo said somehting about these being the kind of runs you remeber and he was totally right, I would say that it was one of the best trips up BL of the year, and one I will never forget.

Easy 4, should have been an easy 0. 

Another very easy 4.  Felt better than Wednesday, but not great.  ART this afternoon, worked on left quad, ITB, seems to have loosend things up a bit. Feel pk on the flats and up, downhill...well, not so good.

Very enjoyable 24 miles on the bike.  Perfect weather, not hardly a breeze.  Rode on the flats and mostly just spun to keep pressure off my hip/ITB.  Some guy came flying by me on a TT bike.  I was going 24 miles per hour and the guy came by like I was standing still. It took a few seconds for the competetive juices to kick in (I had no chance) but I kicked it up a bit and kept the gap even for about 5 miles.  Had to ride 27-28 to keep even, crazy.  Though I think I suprised him that I was still there when he sat up to take a corner. He looked back saw me, put the hammer down and was GoNe!

24.8 miles, 21.3 average. Knee and hip felt fine.   

ITBS test run.  Ran the same route as two weeks ago when I first noticed symptoms.  Everything good for the first 12 miles, even with some minor downhill. Other than dragging hard, I flet good going up Malan's.  Noticed some tighness and minor pain on the descent. Some knee pain after then run.  Hip is more sore than the knee. Giving the test a B-, not as much pain and tighness as two weeks ago, but not great either. Probably gonna take next week off from running. Fun.

14 miles, 3500 vert.