It had rained all night and, as an encouragement as I was getting ready to leave for a long run on Saturday morning, Agnès told me: "Are you really sure you want to go run in the rain?" Certainly, that was not by pure pleasure but, after a busy week and in preparation for the upcoming American River 50-mile in 3 weeks, I had planned on logging quite a few miles this weekend, rain or shine. To make the climb to Black Mountain less boring in the rain than the usual 10 miles on the asphalt, I decided to use the REI trail to cross the Stevens Creek Park. I met three Striders on the way and, as the rain was pouring when I reached the extremity of the reservoir, I decided to get on Stevens Creek Canyon Road. My feet were already soaked when I crossed the creek, at the end of the road and entrance of the park and I started getting really cold just 10 miles in my run. I decided to continue, albeit alternating slow jog with walking the up hills. I was carrying two bottles but had hard time keeping them in my freezing hands. The trail was like a running creek itself, with huge puddles here and there, so there was no way my feet were going to dry. As much as I like taking pictures to share views with you, I was glad not to have my camera with me in such wet conditions. I had initially thought to take Bella Vista trail to make a 28-mile loop but I was shivering so much that I took the direct route up to Black Mountain, walking. At the camp ground, I stayed for 15 minutes in the restroom (no, nobody was waiting outside, the whole place was deserted given the nasty conditions), shaking my hands and arms to get the blood flowing, blowing air in my hands to warm my fingers and hopping to warm my feet and legs. All that while shivering like it was below freezing. The wind was blowing hard outside and I finally decided to leave this shelter to call home from the pay phone which is conveniently located there. I was glad to get a tone and, with some difficulty with the shivering, keyed in the toll-free number that I'm carrying with me for my long solo runs in case. Well, it asked for a code that I had no clue about, so I'd better update my emergency "kit" with a complete number and code that works. I felt so cold that I hesitated calling 911 but felt that this was too much over the top, and that I will find a way to call home as soon as I'll get on Montebello Road. My feet were numbed and I felt my jog very awkward as I could barely control the position of my feet on the trail, but moving was getting the blood flowing and the 15-minute rest in the dry shelter had helped a little. The wind was so high that there were times I jogged in place, not moving forward. Thankfully, the weather got better when I hit the road. I stopped at the first houses, ringed a bell but nobody came to the door. I asked the mailman who was just passing by but he said that he had no cell phone with him. I continued running down the road and stopped at Ridge Vineyards. There were a dozen people tasting wine there and, after several attempts, one of the employees managed to get Agnès' cell phone to ask for a pick up. Phew! While she was on her way, I continued for 2 more miles and actually felt much better. I got in the car with 20.6 miles on my GPS, and would have had difficulty completing the last 7 miles, so I'm glad she picked up the phone. What a way to celebrate the last day of winter...! That reminded me the nasty conditions of Miwok 2009, in May... (see Miwok 09: is it May yet?)
This Sunday, I stayed in the neighborhood for 22 flat miles, in a lighter rain. At least I didn't have to cross creeks or puddles so my feet remained dry. Overall, this concludes a 70-mile week (Tuesday-Sunday), with a mix of a few fast miles but mostly slow ones to recover from Way Too Cool and a nagging pain in my right calf. This gets me up to 63 miles/week average for the first 11 weeks of 2011.
And, to conclude this short post without pictures, two more anecdotes. The first one is an interesting video on YouTube about the crewing experience at Western States. Apart from separating green M&M's for good luck, something I had not thought of, the rest is quite accurate (yes, I still whine too, sorry about that...). Hopefully the divorce story is completely made up though...
I also attended a webinar (aka web seminar) organized by the USA Track&Field association to educate us, Masters, on new anti-doping regulations. The thing which surprised me the most is that there is not an agreement at the world level on which drugs are banned or not, countries manage different lists. And I can't resist in mentioning too that you are inspected while peeing, see the illustration below for yourself! Serious stuff... ;-)
The regulations aren't really for our ultra competitions yet, since there isn't much money at stake if any, but for the upcoming World Masters this summer. Visit the US Anti-Doping Agency website for more information.
.jpg )
No comments:
Post a Comment