j-lyn's corner

Double jogger, slow. Did 4, stopped at the park, then ran the last one home. Felt awful and achy, hoped I got the kinks out.

The idea of a night time 50k struck out of necessity with my husband and I's never ending travel plans. I got Jun to commit, which surprisingly isn't all that hard. I used a combination of blackmail and bribery, but it turns out it neither was necessary. Mental note made. I figured I could try to ask around and see if more people would hop in, and interest was minimal, but Dorsismus ended up coming out too.

But first there was lots of fear and anxiety-- what if they back out? What if I don't get to do this? What if these are snow clouds and everyone is a "fair weather friend?" Despite Jun trying to reassure me that he was coming several times, I had a good bout of anxiety. I soothed that battle just a bit by promising myself I could run laps at Dimple Dell or liberty park. Yes, I'd be willing to run at liberty park in snow/rain through the middle of the night for 6 hours to get my miles, although I hope it'd never come to that. 

We met at 9pm and I fed everone cookies to cheer the mood. We did a 12.36 out and back on the BST, with a vert gain of over 4500. We passed some freaky people, and the boys were pretty sleepy. There was a time or two we were all sitting down on the trail (me massaging my ITB with a rock), then we realized we were sitting on the ground.... on got up and got moving again.

I think I chatted the boys ears off, Dorsimus was smart and dropped behind because I always try to keep up front. So the Jun was stuck listening to me talk talk talk despite his hints about how nice it is to be in your own head. I have mild insomnia and sometimes I get really excited to be out late at night.

I could sense the feeling of.... we hit the cars and we're done. I tried to counteract this by describing the feast that awaited us at Denny's (4 miles roundtrip). We got to the cars, and the boys consented it would be a great idea to drive to Denny's. I am stubborn and refused, hoping to convince them to run there. I failed. It was ok though, Tuesday I had a full day of work and then a drive to Mesquite (and we didn't leave SAndy til 7pm). So instead we all went home, I ate leftover pizza, cleaned up the kids who wet the bed, changed sheets, put the boys in their bed in pajamas, did the dishes, then got my husband off the couch into bed. Then I work up 3 hours later (c'mon body! you had 2 more hours on the alarm clock! stupid insomnia!) so I reluctantly got up.

Glad I have friends who did crazy things like run late at night and put up with me. There's some good people here. 

12 miles 1,100 vert 9:16 pace.

First thing after returning to my roots in Upland, CA was to hit the 99cent store. They have TONS of fresh producs (cantelopes, bags of avocados, 10lb bags of potatoes, big things of fresh local romaine.... all for a buck!) so I loaded up on the produce for while I'm here. Then I changed into my running clothes and took off. I was nervouse about starting a run at 1:30pm in SoCal, but rain clouds blew in, and with the clouds and wind.... ah, 65 never felt so good. Funny thing, everyone I passed was in sweats+coats+hoods! lol.

Ran up an old dirt path that's lined with trees that goes up the middle of a 4-8 lane road through the center of town. Then I cut across some suburbia, fought the temptation to pluck all of the apricots, lemons, and oranges I saw all over, and made onto a trail I found on google maps. Cucamonga trail.... more like Cucamonga wash! the trail went up an old wash and meandered around and was really rocky, technical, and exhausting. The wind kept going and I could hear the rain in the foothills above me so I headed back.

I felt pretty trashed after and was mad at myself for not taking walking breaks. I did stop to snap a picture on the trail on Euclid (ye olde bridle path) because it is so sentimental for me, which I'll add when I'm home. 

Tried to recover since it sounds like tomorrow my 20 miler will include running up (tough probably not summiting thank goodness) one of the local peaks. We'll have to see how the stiff ITB handles that much climbing.

5 miles-- hmmm.... well, it drizzled, rained, my period started, and I went to the bathroom next to the paved running path (it's fenced between a major road and the suburbs). High class and not a lot of fun but I got it done. Here's to a quick recovery.... cuz tomorrow is early and long! 

Long run with Buddy Jones, a CA La Sportiva pro.

 Here's some tips for running with an elite athlete:

1. Don't.

2. Bobble your headlamp when the look back to make sure you're upright. It makes it look like you're running.

3. Try not to feel like a sissy when you eat and drink and they do so minimally.

4. When you finish off your 4000+ vert with 7 miles of rollers, pretend like a 9min pace isn't hard. Pretend really hard.

5. Take their advice about how to suck less. Usually worth it.

Oh, and there were so many ticks on our legs that it looked like mud splatters. What a lovely day. 

Ran on a horse path for recovery. Didn't bring water. Wanted to hug the church handing out water bottles after 6 miles. Chug chug chug.