Baldy

I woke up at 4:40 this morning. It was very dark. I sat outside drinking coffee. The air was still warm from yesterday. The sky was clear – lots of stars. At 5 o’clock I started driving to Mt baldy – 47 miles away. It was nice to drive on nearly empty freeways and look at the mountains silhouetted against the stars. There was a really bright planet rising in the east. For a long time I thought it was a plane on approach for landing, but finally realized it was totally natural.

The Mt Baldy run was a pretty tough eight miles to the top. Luckily, the temperature way up there was way cooler. The highs down in town have been around 100 degrees; the high at the top of Baldy was probably about seventy – practically freezing.

I had never been on this particular route to the top, so I really had no idea of what to expect. I started out nice and slow and pretty much kept it that way the whole way up. I had to walk more than I anticipated. I wanted to keep running, but there were a lot of sections of the trail where I just couldn’t push any harder than walking pace without wanting to puke or have a heart attack.

My time is going to sound very slow and pathetic. I finished in just under two hours (Finish Time: 1:54.49. 217th place out of 493. 25th place in division (male 30-34)) But, that’s about what I was hoping for. I wanted to finish in under 2-hours and in the top half of the field.

So, I was pretty happy with the result, but I was even more happy that I actually made it out to the race. Even as of last night I wasn’t sure if I was going to run. My head was all caught up in the heat and the early hour and the hydration and all the things that could be a problem or go wrong. So, I was happy that I was able to get out of my own way and just let Jonah run.

Last Week:
Run: 21 = 7+7+7 …(ytd: 724)
Bike: 0 (what?) …(ytd: 1922)
Burrito: 0 (so sad?)
Beer: 1
Car: 116 (eegh!)