Yosemite Valley Floor Hike

Hello from Yosemite! I'm attempting a mobile post here.

Sunday we made the 5 hour drive up, stopping at the Nelder Sequoia grove on the way up.

Yesterday we hiked a counter-clockwise loop along the Valley Floor which ended up being around 14.25 miles of hiking along the Merced River. We went past the crazies who were rock climbing El Capitan. Most of the falls were dry but it is still gorgeous up here.

Today we're off to Mirror Lake, Sentinel Dome, and Taft point.

Races I Could Run

I missed out on a PR-potential half marathon this spring, so I’d like to go for sub 1:54 this fall.  Really, since I’ve been pretty light on racing this year, I’d be ok with running a few races this fall: a couple road halfs for a PR and some fun on trails.

So far this year I’ve run the Bandit 30k, the Great Race of Agoura Hills Chesebro Half Marathon, a July 4th 10k, and a few 3 mile XC races this summer.

Here’s a few I’m considering for the fall:

September 8: Ventura Half Marathon

• Flat.  Cool, by the coast.
• Would be my 2nd of 3 races needed for the Gold Coast Run Series.

October 5: Agoura RAD 10 Miler

• Run starts from Paramount Ranch
• A different distance.
• Last year they gave out pint glasses instead of medals which is a plus in my book.

October 26: Haunted Trails of the Night 10k

• Night time Trail race from Paramount ranch.
• New race put on by a great trail race director.

November 3: Santa Clarita Half Marathon

• Cheap. $59 – minus another 20% through my running group.
• Need to redeem myself on this course after last year.

November 23: Griffith Park Trail Half Marathon

• Hard course, but a fun and well-organized race.
• Ran it last year.
• On the Cons list, it’s pricey.

December 1: High Desert 30k (Ridgecrest)

• Another attempt at a 30k?
• Running friends ran it last year. Quirky homemade “medals.”
• Trail races are just awesome in general.

December 7: Paramount Ranch Trail Half Marathon

• This is the third race in consideration starting from Paramount Ranch. Weird.

December 8: Santa to the Sea Half Marathon

• PR Course from last year
• Would be my 3rd race of the Gold Coast Series, earning me a jacket.
• Mostly flat course, good support, but Point-to-Point is a PITA if you don’t have someone to drop you off at the start.

 

What races are you running this fall?
What are you fall racing goals?

SoCal folks- run any of these before? Any others I should put on my list?

End of July Running + Sierra Pelona Hike

Not sure how this started happening, but this now makes for the second consecutive 2-week cycle where I do a lot during Week 1, then have an easier Week 2.

Week of July 22:
Monday: 6 miles, +391’/avg pace 9:02

Tuesday: Easy 7.26 mi bike ride/12.6 mph

Wednesday: AM: 5.46 mi, +213’/avg pace 9:16
Wednesday PM:  6.73 mi bike/12.5 mph. Tooling around on the new bike.

Thursday: XC Summer Series, Week 3.  3 miles in 24:30 (8:10 pace) + 2.1 mi cool down (10:33 pace)
*There were almost 800 runners this week! I it about :40 seconds faster than Week 1, yet moved back about 130 places.

Friday: 2 mi shakeout run/avg pace 8:27

Saturday: 8.63 mi run/avg pace 8:49

Sunday: 11.77 mi hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. I had previously run this section back in October but wanted to bring Dan back.

^Yep, we came up that ‘Z’ on the far mountain. And the trail you can see on the mountain behind that.

It was warm. Dan hoped we were closer to the top than we actually were.

^To the north. Crispy from May’s Powerhouse Fire

^Firebreak from a fire that happened here 6 years ago.

The amazing pastrami pizza that followed our hike.

Week of July 29
Tuesday: 4.94 miles: 2x1200m in 6:26, 5:48, 4x800m in 3:41, 3:39, 3:41, 3:42

Wednesday: 2.3 mi easy, with 4 sprints in the middle (4x.08 mi in :27, :25, :25, :25)

Friday: 3.25 mi, +327’/avg pace of 9:44

Sunday: 14.14 mi, +761’/avg pace of 9:50.

Olded.

or “How I turned 30.”

My last run as a 29 year old involved waking up at 4:35am on Monday to run 6 miles with some running group people.

 

When I got home I realized what my note to Dan (written in the dark, on paper that had apparently already been used) looked like.

While my dream birthday would involve running-- and preferably trail running-- my actual birthday, last Tuesday, involved working, and starting early.  I treated myself to a lunch time birthday cupcake.  No coffee buttercream frosting, but this one was some kind of mocha/caramel combo.

I worked some more. I took a break for a 35-minute late afternoon bike ride in the sweltering heat and high winds, showered, then worked for a couple more hours.

This arrived on my doorstep

We ordered Thai take-out and thanks to Dan’s handy-work, the contents of that big box later became this:

Looking forward to riding a bike that weighs less than half my current hybrid bike and will allow me to keep up with Dan on his road bike!

Then I called it a night and set my alarm to meet different running friends to run 5ish miles at 5ish the next morning.