faster with age

     10 easy miles at 8:11 AP

    Left for California. Spent the night in Ely

     Camped in the white mountains. We went on a 4.2 mile hike through the ancient forest of bristle cone pines and saw some of the  the oldest trees in the world including the oldest [called Methusela] at 4700 yrs old. At the end of the hike it was just getting dark and I hadn't had time to run so I had my wife leave me to run the 5.5 miles back to camp. I started at over 10,100' elevation and climbed for 3/4 of a mile then dropped almost 2,000 feet over the next 3+ miles followed by a rolling slight net uphill last mile. I haven't run down anything that steep in a while and tried to take it easy but it made my hips a bit sore and my quads were burning afterward. 7:43 AP.

     We traveled over to Yosemite and went through Mammoth Lakes on the way. I was hoping to glimps Ryan and Meb and the boys out on a training run with no such luck. Probably the wrong time of day. We set up camp in Yosemite and got in some nice hikes and sight seeing. It's a gorgeous place. We saw 2 bears.

     Got up about 5:30 and went on a run from camp on a trail. about a mile in I saw something dark move of the side of the trail into some trees. I figured it must have been a bear but I didn't get much of a look. When I got down to where I had seen it. Sure enough it was a dark brown colored bear right off the side of the road. It went over a big log and ran off quickly into the woods. I saw a bear on a bike ride in Pennsylvania but this was a first while running. After 4 miles I wanted to do a tempo run. Everything was quite hilly. I guess I'm just not used to trying to run fast on the hills. I had a real struggle keeping a decent pace. My miles were anywhere from 6:38 to 8:05 on a mile that included a .6 climb of about 300 ft. My overall ave for 6 miles was only 7:16 but felt more like 6:40 pace. Overall pace for all 11 miles was 7:43.

     We got in a couple more nice hikes.

     After another night in Yosemite, I left on another early run from the campground. I didn't see any bears this morning but after stepping off the side of the trail to do some morning business I heard something crashing through the woods toward me. I then saw a doe come running right by me. I was wondering what spooked her because I was sure there were no people out there. I hadn't seen a sole on the trail either day I had run here. Then a coyote came running by in hot persuit. I have seen this happen before but I don't think a coyote could take down a healthy adult deer. I ran 8 miles total and just took it real easy. My legs felt trashed from the day before. Especially my hamstrings.

     Still in Yosemite we got up early, packed up camp, and headed for Sequoia Nat Park. We got in some more hiking and saw the largest tree in the world and 6 more bears including a sow with 3 cubs while we were out on a hike just before dark. We made sure she knew we were there but she ignored us and wandered down about 80 yards from us and started tearing apart an old log. We got some great pictures and my wife and son got a great adrenaline rush as neither of them had ever seen a bear out in the woods like that. The others we saw on the trip were all from the road. 

     Never found time for a run