I turned in both my term papers and got A’s on them both. I still have one final to take online. I will probably take it tomorrow.
I have been running a lot still. Last week I ran 48 miles. It was the most miles I have ever run in one week. This week I will end up running 38 miles… it is supposed to be an easy week. But 38 miles was my highest mileage ever just a couple weeks ago. My long run today was supposed to be ten miles. If it was supposed to be an easy ten miles, I blew it. I went out for what I thought would be a moderate ten miler but it ended up being a hard 12 miler. I under estimated the distance and the steepness of one hill that climbs 600′ in .8 miles and no, there aren’t any switch backs. It’s like friggin stairs!
Seems like I have been running a lot with Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run runners lately. The trails I have been running lately are all either part of the the Western States Trail or they tie directly into the Western States trail. So alot of these 100 mile runners are out there logging mileage on the trail. Some of them have driven for hours in order to do familiarization runs. It’s kind of luxurious to live ten miles from one of the worlds premire running trail systems!
Interestingly, there seem to be a disproportionate number of “past Marines” engaging in long trail runs. Last week I ran with a guy who was in during the 70’s that I just met at the trailhead and the same thing happened this week, and it was a different guy!
I wish I had some pictures to post. Erin got me a little digital camera for Christmas but I can’t seem to get it to work reliably when I am out on the trail and it is 35 degrees. Today I took a little grocery store box camera, and I took a few pictures, but they will have to be developed. I got a new phone with a two megapixel camera, but I don’t know how to get the picts from the camera to my computer yet ( I think the friggin phone company makes you buy software!), plus there is something less than pure about carrying a phone on a trail run.
I got freaked out running alone this week because there have been some mountain lion sightings in the region lately, and an attack on a Bay Area trail last week. I actually saw my first mountain lion since moving up here a couple weeks ago. It was dead beside Highway 49 in the early morning. So I figured out a hasty jingle bell that I tied on the outside on my running pack…. keys. They made plenty of noise!
OK. That’s enough for now. I have lost six pounds since January first!
Here’s a photo for ya! We don’t catch the smart ones!
