Running Journey

My View from the Sidelines

Today was the Lake Hodges 50K race just north of San Diego and about an hour drive from my house.  I really wanted to run this but I'm not quite ready.   Instead I opted for the cheerleader and spectator route for all the runners - not to mention the 15 entrants from The OCTR.

I arrived around 6:20AM and quickly joined the ranks of those trying desperately to stay warm.  Why does it get so darn cold here at night?  Wasn't it in the 70's yesterday?  No matter.  It would not be long before the sun would come out and start to toast runners with 80+ degree temperatures.

I saw Charlie first (or did I hear him?) and then a few others of the OCTR group.   After looking at the long porta-potty line Kiera made the statement "these are trail runners - why are they all in that line?"  Then she invited me along to a trip to the ladies room with her.  Keira pees a lot.  No really.  I mean a lot.  She pees more times in one run than I pee all day.  And I thought I went a lot! (I do).  Because of all these trips she's rather skilled.  We made our way over to some brush and there was a hill going down that was so steep it would have required a grappling hook to get back up.  Keira went down about 5 feet and had to lean forward to keep from tumbling down.  I was waiting for it - she was going down.  She didn't though - and I was rather impressed at her balance.

The race started late.  I think it was a little bit disorganized at the bag pickup and check in.  There were almost 200 runners so that is partially understandable, but these runners were all registered before race day.  The RD, Kevin, started announcements around 7:10AM and those lasted about 10 minutes.  The runner were off and extremely happy to be soon warming up.  I jumped in my car to de-thaw my toes.

Fast forward about 1 hour and 45 minutes.  I made my way back over to the start/finish area which also was the stopping point after the first 16 miles.  I talked to Kevin a bit who was a little less stressed than he had been in the morning.  Race Directing has its share of stress and usually about 90% of that stress take places up until the runners take off.

The aid station was a little under-staffed initially.  The supplies were good but there was only 1 guy filling bottles.  I took double duty taking my pictures and helping fill bottles. 

Just under 2 hours Akos Konya came running up - but from the wrong direction.  He had missed a tricky turn (one of many from what I understood) and was turned around to go run the correct route.  Just after he turned around the lead male came running in.  Akos followed a couple minutes later.  Behind those two were 5-6 others including members of the San Diego (fast) Rat Pack.  Lead female Michelle Barton (iMichellle) sprinting in looking strong with a group of guys around 2:06.

Runners continued to poor in for the 16 mile turnaround.  They stocked up on water, heed, food, etc.  There seemed to be plenty for them and nothing ran out from what I saw.  There was also plenty of ice as well which came in handy with the days heat.  3 hours+ in to the race you could see the toll 80+ degrees was starting to take on the runners.  There were some drops due to heat and from what I saw at least one near case (or maybe it was) of heat exhaustion.

4 hours was approaching and soon Akos Konya came sprinting in around 3:57.  The guy who had been leading at mile 16 finished a few minutes behind.  I overheard Akos talking about how difficult the first portion of the race was and that the second half was pretty flat.  What was interesting to me about that is that most people took longer to finish the shorter (15 miles) second leg than the longer (16 mile) first leg.  I'm sure the heat was part of that factor as well as tiring from the early hills.  First place female iMichelle came cruising in at 4:26 - her exact same time as Twin Peaks.  I got in some photo ops and hugs with Michelle after her finish.  I'm hoping that the more I hug her and take pictures with her - the more her speed will rub off on me. 

I had a great time hanging out watching people run the race.  I made a trek down the trail at one point and wanted to break out into a sprint but refrained.  The race seemed well put together despite the mass numbers.  I heard people talk of confusing turns but that was about it.  The volunteers were helpful.  The food was good.  They had Chipolte burritos for the volunteers and subway sandwiches for the finishers.  I thought there was going to be an award  ceremony but 6 hours in the race (when I left) it had still not happened.

Congrats to all finishers and go OCTR!!  It was a great day and as always I am thankful to be part of such a great community.  (full 2007 Lakes Hodges 50K picture gallery here)

xoxo
Jessica

My Lack of Talent

Last night was a lot of fun.  Michelle invited me to her daughter's talent show that was filled with kindergarten through second graders strutting their stuff on stage.  It was filled with cuteness, adorableness, talent, costumes, etc.  I don't have kids so it's it's nice to live vicariously through others from time to time :)  Sierra's wildcat group dance was super cute and fun.  Definitely two hours very well spent!!

Good luck to all Lake  Hodges 50K runners tomorrow.  There are 15 runners representing OCTR at the race!  And I will be there to cheer you all on!  Have fun & get dirty,

Jessica

My Krissy Meeting

A few days ago I heard that Krissy Moehl was coming down to Orange County to speak at a local running store.  She's one of my ultra running inspirations so I've been wanting to meet her ever since I first heard about her early last year.  I've heard she is a really nice and cool person too (and she is).  So I passed the news on to my running club and a few of them made it there as well.  It was me, Eric K, Keven & Leon.

Krissy did her talk, Q&A and then went for a run with some newer runners.  I hung out with the OCTR group to wait for her to come back so I could say hi before I went home.  It ended up being just Eric and I that waited until she got back.  We had a good chat about Hardrock, Where's Waldo and Eric and her talked about hiking/running packs from Nathan for a bit.  That was about it.  Her and Michelle (and some others) went for a trail run this morning not too far from me but I couldn't join.  Next
time...

 

The ultra running community is small (we know some of the same people) and there is a bit of a family feel to it which is great.  I think if you are around it long enough you find that with the other "old timers" everyone just about knows everyone else.  You just don't get that in road running, mainly due to the huge numbers of people there. Gotta love that!

Krissy had just finished running 5 miles - I was not running

Happy Running,
Jessica

For Juls...

Koh Larn Island in the Gulf of Thailand:

My Thoughts and prayers are with you and your family!

More Pictures

Wow.  These are awesome.  I had to post some of the pics from the run I didn't do yesterday.  Mostly because with all these runners some of these pictures look like they were taken during a race and not a group training run.

Training run or start of a race?

Line em' up

Rolling hills

Michelle is proving to be as good of a jumper as she is a runner

If you are reading this and living in or near Orange County - what are you waiting for! Come join our group!  If you are not in Orange County hopefully you will come visit some time and join us for a fun Saturday run :)

My Missing Out

Or.. "If you build it they will come".  OC Trail Runners just keeps getting larger and larger.  I'm definitely missing out on some fun by not running - just look at how happy Michelle Barton is in the picture below!  I would say only Michelle could be this happy after just coming up that hill but the truth is we ALL have this much fun when we are out there.    The group picture just shows how much we continue to grow.  Simply amazing!  Also very exciting is that Fleet Feet Laguna Niguel is merging their weekly runs with us in the very near future.  Bringing yet more trail runners together!

My Martini Blues Pics

Here are some pictures from my recent Martini Blues trip for my friend Kayla's Birthday.

Self portrait attempt gone wrong

Jolly  Rancher & Cantaloupe martinis

Georgia Peach & Rain Fall martinis

Mmm.... music & martinis

My Martini Blues

Sometimes when you are sick you need to get out and do something to help you feel better.  The last few days I have done nothing and today I laid in bed basically all day.  I missed my best friends birthday in February while I was in Thailand.  So I told Kayla I wanted to take her out for Martinis.  A favorite of both of ours as you could tell by looking at my Martini party pics from back in January.

I left my house at 6:30PM to sunshine and rain.  An interesting mix for sure.  I opted for the toll road instead of the 5 Freeway which even at that time of day would surely be suffering from traffic congestion.  Especially with the rain.  Through a few drops on the freeways around here and suddenly no one can drive.  I remember all the rain we had the winter I move out here and the newscasters were seriously telling people not to drive if they didn't have to.  For real?  Where I am from you don't even thing about driving in the rain.  I've driven on roads covered in sheets of ice.  I've driven on roads after snowstorms that were not yet fully plowed and had 5 foot high snow drifts in the middle.  I've driven IN snowstorms and at points literally floated across the snow in my car.  Scary stuff.  But a little rain?  Blah...

We went to Martini Blue in Huntington Beach.  A little undiscovered OC hideaway in my opinion.  Aside from a small bar they have 3 separate rooms.  On this particular night there was comedy in one room, acoustic blues in another and acoustic singer/songwriter in another starting at 9PM.  We were there for the martinis and the entertainment was an added benefit as far as we were concerned.

The blues room was our first choice and we prompted drooled over the 48 different martinis on the menu.  How do you pick?  We'll have to come back at least 7 more times based on the 6 different martinis we had between the two of us.  The music was quite enjoyable and so were the martinis.  The crowd was sparse.  Me and Kayla in a both and one table of people who I think knew the musicians.  The singer joked at one point that he was  blowing it for me and Kayla who were obviously Sony Record producers who had come to check out the show.  After his break, and several martinis later we went over to the singer/songwriter room and enjoyed live music from a couple different musicians.  We began to wonder at one point just what kind of place we were in.  After ordering drinks in this room the server came by and said "The Man will be bringing your drinks out soon".  Holy crap.  "The Man" was there?  And he was brining our drinks??

The Man wasn't quite what I expected and his name is actually Dan.  Though he did respond to being greeted as "The Man" when he first brought our drinks.

It was a great night.  Good drinks.  Good music.  A venue with lots of character and options. Almost forgot I was sick for a bit (the healing power of martinis).  Definitely worth a visit if you are near Huntington Beach.  I know Kayla and I will be back.  We have 42 more martinis to sample!  I don't feel too much worse for the wear today but I do hate being sick.  Who doesn't?  Part of my recipe for my cure is to get a couple hours by the pool today.  I need to feel better for tomorrow night.  Nattie and I are planning a trip down to San Diego to see Anya Marina and grab some dinner.

Get your run on,
Jessica

My Options Would have Been...

I started running trails almost 2 years ago now.  I think I started in May 2005.  When I began a trail running group in 2006 and Twin Peaks this year my intentions were to bring trail runners together and to introduce people to trails.  I never expected the race and the group to blow up like they have and present so many options to me and other local trail/ultra runners.  My groups now has runs scheduled pretty much every day of the week and sometimes 2 runs.  This weekend we have several runs to choose from with 20+ people spread throughout and some of them super-human ultra runners  (a few of whom have graced the cover of Ultra Running or taken top honors in several trail and utlra race).  Who said Orange County is not a place for trail/ultra running?  Okay, maybe no one said that, but when I came here there were no trail running groups OR trail races, so by appearance you could make some assumptions.  I'm glad Baz has since come back to OC with his mountain trail run series, San Juan 50K and Saddleback Trail Marathon.

I can't run this weekend but if I could here are what my options would have been:

- 34 mile nighttime trail run starting at 6PM and in the mountains.  With a possible aid station around mile 9 and 18.  Also an option to only run 18 for those needing shorter miles
- 20ish miles Saturday morning in El Moro at 6:30AM with some people running shorter 10-12 routes (and some taking a later 8AM start) and most of this run overlooks the pacific on what should be a beautiful and clear day

On top of that I got sick today.  I've been fighting if off all week.  If today is the worst of it I think I'll live ;)  But I do have plans to go out with a friend for martinis at a place called Martini Blues.  I do intend to keep those plans so I might just curl up in bed the next few days and would have missed those amazing run options anyway.  Well truth be told I'd run anyway if being sick were my only issue.  :)

Be sure to read Charlie's full, long, and funny recap of the group St. Patrick's day run last weekend.  Also the slide show is worth a look.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Flying Dream

I have frequently had flying dreams but not for quite some time.  In the past when I had dreams that I was flying it was through shear determination and flapping my arms, etc.  And I must say I was pretty good at it :)  This Flying Dream FAQ says there are many meanings for flying dreams.  This page offers some explanation.

So last night I had a pretty amazing flying dream again but it was different this time.  I was not flapping my arms which apparently means:

Floating just above the ground by flapping your hands or arms or peddling your feet is an indication that you have lots of determination and that no matter how hard it gets, you feel you will succeed if you stay on course.  This dream is an indication that relief from any setbacks is imminent.

And last night I dreamed that I was just flying freely with no arm flapping or anything.  Sort of like superman I guess you could say.  I woke up in the middle because I had to go to the bathroom.  Apparently flying make
you have to pee.  Sort of like running ;)  Flying freely means:

Freely flying as high or as low as you wish using your arms or feet for direction,  often with the ability to do acrobatics in the air is an indication that you feel really good about something in your life.  You are likely very proud of an achievement at work or at home, and life is good.

Hmm... I like it.  They both fit my life very well.  I do feel very good about my life at the moment despite that fact that I'm not running.  I guess if I can't run - I can fly.   Maybe I need to go back to sleep! :)

Happy Dreaming,
Jessica