Running Journey

My New Trail

I went on my first "local" trail run today in Sullivan Canyon which is about 4 miles from my house.  There is free limited parking at this trailhead which is lies just behind this intimidating green fence.  The road to get here snakes through the upscale Brentwood area and provides views of the ocean, valleys below and palatial estates.

My run was short.  Only 3 miles.  I've only had one run in the past two weeks and that was my Thanksgiving run that was more of a hike.  I came across a few people walking dogs and a couple mountain bikers but it was otherwise pretty quiet at that time of day.  It was strange being on such a new trail.  New sights.  New sounds.  I was a bit nervous and kept "hearing" things but mostly that was due to very strong Santa Ana winds that started blowing in today.  Peak gusts reached 47 mph in nearby Malibu.

It was a good run.  The trail was a fireroad for about the first .7 miles then narrowed down into a nice single track.  It was relatively flat with a gradual incline.  I climbed 300 feet over 1.5 miles but it was barely noticeable.  I'm sure it gets steeper as the climb is supposed to be around 900 feet by mile 4.  It's definitely a trail I will run again soon.  I can make it loop if I'm up for 10 miles which at this point I don't think I am.  On Saturday I plan to explore some more new trails!

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Most Fit or Least Happy?

According to Self Magazine, Women in Orange County rank as the most fit in the country.  Apparently women in Orange County spend about 1.5 hours per week working out.   39,000 acres of parks, 40 miles of coastline, and 150 miles of bike trails helps contribute to this result.  Where does LA fit into this?  I'm not sure.  But the magazine also did a list of the happiest and least happy city.  Good ole LA led the pack for least happy cities and ranks in the top 5 for highest depression rates.  Geesh.  I moved from the most fit area to the least happiest.  Couldn't this report have come out about 2 weeks ago? ;)

Happy Running (if you are in OC) & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Non-Twin Peaks

So I talked to my ranger contact at the US Forest Service today.  The majority of the Twin Peaks trails are closed until November 2008.  This includes Modjeska Peak which would make it hard to re-route the race and still call it "Twin Peaks".  Also there is no vehicle access on much of the main fireroad which would make supplying aid stations very difficult.   I made the decision to postpone the race.  I'm going to try and get a permit for Nov/Dec of 2008 so that it can still happen next year.  If that doesn't work out I'll have to cancel and plan for 2009.  As it stands now I'm calling it postponed and not canceled.  I'm optimistic that it will be able to happen toward the end of the year.

I guess with the other recent stress in my life this takes a little pressure off in that I won't be putting together a race that was supposed to happen in 2 months.  I am sad though as I was very much looking forward to it and I know many others were as well.

The Forest Service report from the Santiago fire is online if you want to read it.
Some facts from the report:

Cost to suppress the fire: $21,625,000
Total acres burned: 28,476
Date Started: October 21
Date Contained: November 8

My Sidelined 9 Trails

At the last minute I decided I was going to show up at 9 Trails and cheer on some runners as they hit the halfway & turnaround point of mile 17.5.  I need a break of LA and OC based on moving crap and other crap that shall stay off this blog :)  I was going to stay at my new place Friday night and drive up Saturday morning to hang out for a couple hours.  I talked to Wendy Friday and she invited me up to the house she was staying at with her family in SB.  They had dinner planned and I could stay the night.  Sounded like a good little getaway for me so I was in.  I was looking forward to a little well needed soul therapy.

Friday night was fun.  We were joined by E-Rod and his brother and sister-in-law as well as Alexa.  We ate, played games and enjoyed the evening.  I slept in a bit Saturday morning as I didn't want to get to the aid station too early and end up just sitting around all morning.  I did show up about 20 minutes or so before the lead male runner came in.  I don't recall his name.  In fact - I didn't know many of the top 10 runners.  I did take pictures but forgot my digital camera.  Aide from the above photo I took on my cell  phone - the others are on a disposable camera.  I need to get them developed and then figure out who can scan them in for me :)

It was a good time and I saw many familiar faces.  Several OCTR runners were there as well as some non-OCTR running friends I've made over the past year.  Off the top of my head... Wendy, Alexa, E-Rod, Greg, Robo, Scott D, Rocky, George, Fred, EKP, AK, Kirk, and I hope I didn't miss anyone.  You all rocked for running such a tough course!! 

I'm officially moved into my new place as of yesterday.  Thanks to OCTRs Jenn, Michael & Dimitri for helping make that happen!!  I still have to clear some things and do cleanup at my old place.  I'll be on the prowl for some LA area trails in the very near future.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Farewell to and old friend

I went for a "run" yesterday on the 3 mile loop trail behind my place.  It will likely be the last time I run this specific trail for a while and probably ever for this specific loop.  It's no too realistic that I'll drive this far to run just 3 miles :)  I took my camera with to document my beloved trail.  I will miss having this right outside my back door.  Literally.  There will be some great new trails to explore in the LA area but not this close. 

Ah... love this view.  It's where trail starts to dip into the canyon

In the canyon now

One of my favorite turns on the trail

A river runs through it.  This is the trail crossing over Trabuco Creek

Looking up Trabuco Creek

Second creek crossing

Lovely Trabuco Creek

Here's an appropriate video from Michelle Branch that has a double meaning in my life at the moment. 

Remember to enjoy what you have while you have it!  Whether that be your trails, running routes, or people and places in your life.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Missed Race

I was supposed to run the Santa Monica Mountains 18K on Sunday morning.  The plan was to stay at my new place that is only about 20 minutes from the start of the race.  That would have been nice.  Friday I came down with a bladder infection.  Got pretty sick Friday night and was throwing up.  Saturday was not much better and I had a fever of 102-103 all day.  When it hit 104 I made my way into the ER (thanks Kayla!)  I was there for 5 hours.  My infection had spread from my bladder to my kidney.  No fun.  They pumped me full of IV fluids and gave me anti-biotics and pain medicine.  They took really good care of me and I started feeling a little better.  They told me I was VERY dehydrated so just getting the fluids (and pain medicine :) helped a lot!  I got home around midnight and there was no chance of even stopping by the race.  It's been 10 days since I've run now and I'm still trying to get over this infection.  I was out of work today and may be tomorrow as well.  Hopefully I'll be running by the weekend.

I really missed out, not just on the running but seeing some good friends which would have been great right about now.  But I did get some nice emails and phone calls in response to me not being there.  So thanks for those of you who did that.  It was much appreciated! :)

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My 100?

So... there are 1,351 names on the lottery list for Western States.  This is for only about 200 slots!  I'm considering hosting the HJ100 race on the same weekend as an alternative to all those who can't get in.  The only concern with that is the competition that would create for volunteers and pacers.  I'm 100% sure there are enough runners for both races but not sure about the other logistics...  Then again... most volunteers for races like this are local aren't they?  Wouldn't most WS volunteers be from Northern California and HJ100 volunteers be from SoCal?

What do you all think??

My New Zip Code...

90025.  West LA.  The lease is now officially signed!!  Here is a map of where I am soon moving too.  The rough area of my place is in the red circle.  You can see to the left only a few miles away - many great trails to run :)  Click on the map for a larger version.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My Lack of a real update

So.. It's REALLY hard to run when you are trying to move.  I had sort of considered the option of running last night when I got home but felt I needed to do some packing instead.  I'm moving half my stuff on Saturday and want to make sure that at least half my stuff is packed!  I did get a lot accomplished.  I was going to run on Thursday but now I may have a conflict that day.  Tomorrow night I have a work dinner at 6PM.  It's quite possible my ONLY run this week is going to be my 18K on Sunday.  Yikes.  Well at least that is better than nothing.  I am planning on running half of SB9T next weekend as well.  Hopefully in December I can get back to putting in some more miles once the move settles down a little bit.

Not much else to report.  Maybe I'll have something this afternoon.  It's hard to write something on a running blog when you are not running!

Twin Peaks is in 2.5 months so things will start picking up for that.  Time to start finalizing some sponsors and oh crap.  I need to get back to Miki on the logo.  Ah.. moving....

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

My New Turf

Yes... after 3 years living in Orange County and running on the beautiful trails here... tomorrow I will be signing a lease and getting keys to a lovely new place in West LA.  I'll post more on that tomorrow.  Or perhaps on Wednesday.

This past weekend I did not run at all.  Zero miles. I logged only 14 miles for last week.  I'm not sure this week will fare much better though I do have an 11 mile trail race on Sunday not so far from my new place.  I have lots of packing to do.  Cleaning.  Organizing.  Moving.  I may not even  hit 100 miles this month.  But hey... sometimes life gets in the way temporarily from running.

I did "sort of" do a running activity this weekend.  We had an OCTR party Saturday night that was attended by about 15 people.  It was a good time that involved a little drinking, some talk about running, Twister and Scene It.  Ohh.. there is nothing like watching a bunch of runners play Twister - especially some of whom were tired and recovering from running a very tough trail marathon that very  morning.

Fire Aftermath:
Saturday afternoon Anna and drove around near Whiting Ranch, Santiago Trail, Modjeska canyon, etc.   I saw the aftermath of the fire up close for the first time in broad daylight.  It was a very eerie scene.  Charred gray ground everywhere.  Seeing Whiting completely decimated was very sad.  Same goes for the Santiago Trail.  We drove by houses that were nothing more than a pile of burnt timber.  Some houses were surrounded by scorched ground but completely untouched.  It was a surreal feeling.  We saw people out at Tucker doing clean up.  Tucker was unaffected as was at least the first couple hundred yards of Harding Truck Trail.  It was sort of a somber drive.  Yet the area is so beautiful and filled with scenery that even  in the fire aftermath there is still beauty to be seen.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica