Back to square 2 or 4 maybe?

I always associated this expression to an algebraic form but, according to some web search, it comes from the time people were listening to the radio to follow football (yes, that American sport where you hold the ball in your... hands!) and commentators were using the square 1 term as an image for a team getting back to their goalmouth.

In IT, at least before quantum computing came to disrupt a century of binary physics, we like to think in powers of 2, which is also practical to establish the basic form of an exponential progression. Without having to understand what's in the black box, everybody is familiar with these popular memory sizes such as 32, 64, 128 or 256 GB.

To some extent, there must be a similar application to the effort it takes in running to get to a certain level. I mean, it takes a great deal of effort for some people to qualify for Boston for instance, to shave these last 5 or 10 minutes off a PR. Or for the fastest runners to qualify for the Olympics. Or to run a marathon under 2 hours! Not exponential when you get close to your limit, but asymptotic.

I admit I didn't put much more thought into establishing a reliable formula or general law. But, on my long run on Saturday, I was thinking that I was basically back to square... 1. Especially as I ran into a small group of Stevens Creek Striders, the club I learned so much about trail and ultra running from, back when I joined them in 2003. Back to the source of inspiration!

Yet, it's not quite fair to call that square 1. Indeed, albeit slowly this time, I still managed to run 28.5 miles to the top of Black Mountain again, not something I was able to do 18 years ago! (I ran my first 50K 3 years later, Way Too Cool 2006.) And, even at that slow pace, I may still be running faster than many, so what am I complaining about, I should just be grateful!

Here is the deal: it's not just the hamstring tendon injury which is annoying. Well, every other step is painful so that's annoying for sure! But pain is often part of ultra running. Just that it isn't meant to occur right off the start. For one thing, the injury prevents me from training as hard as I used to. I'm especially staying away from the track for the risk of pulling too strongly on the tendon. In addition, for 5 to 6 months after February 2020 when I could hardly speak and breath, maybe a COVID episode before it was better known, I also had difficulty breathing especially in the first 2 miles, on every training run. Lungs are better but I'm pressure I lost a large part of the 79.8 VO2 max I had when I switched to Masters. But the biggest issue I'm now facing may be mind preparation and strength, including self-confidence, or lack thereof. My ugly daemons...

For that Saturday loop, I ran REI with these Striders, then continued on Stevens Creek Canyon Road all the way up to Black Mountain on Bella Vista trail, then down to Cupertino on Montebello Road, McClellan and Pacifica. The air quality wasn't great, we couldn't even see the cube at the top of Mt Umunhum from Black Mountain!

Beyond that encounter with the Striders, I also ran into Laurent, an ex ILOG and IBM colleague, hiking along the dried out Stevens Creek. Then, going down on Montebello Road, I had a chat with Quicksilver teammate John Burton who was hammering up on his bike. Quite a social experience after all for a solo long run! Here, at the top of Black Mountain, and you can imagine the Ocean behind, under the smog layer...

28.5 hilly miles is something so not quite square 1 maybe, but square 2 or 4. Still hoping my painful persistence to move forward will pay off, eventually. Without being sure that this will be the case, that it is a slam dunk medically speaking, quite the contrary!

On Sunday, I spent a few hours under the kitchen sink to replace an old and broken InSinkErator and an outdated faucet. If you've ever done this type of plumbing job, you know about the stretching and exercise opportunity! ;-) Besides, the temperature got to 90F by the end of the afternoon, outside, so I didn't feel the vibe to go for a run (and I finished the plumbing project by 9 pm anyway).

On Labor Day, I went up to Black Mountain again (who's counting?). The temperature was super nice when I left home at 8am but quickly raised. As I was racing with a couple of bikes on the way up, and passed them, I felt way too hot. There was some nice breeze in the shade, but the air was hot in the sunny areas. Thankfully, there is still water at the faucet at the summit campground! After some hesitation, I went down on the other side of the mountain, on Bella Vista, but did walk all the way back to the top on Indian Creek trail. 1.5 exposed and steep mile at 19 min/mile, ouch! The air quality was a bit better, and the visibility quite great actually, we could see summits around the Bay emerge from layers of either fog or smog. For instance, here is Mt Diablo in the distance, with Stanford in the foreground on the left:

Another slow loop, not counting several stops to cool down in the shade, definitely back to square 2 or 4 on that one. I wasn't quite happy with the 9:11 pace of Saturday, it got worse this Monday with 9:24. Although the second run had more elevation with two climbs to the top of Black Mountain (Garmin gave respectively 5,058 and 5,123 feet, while Strava 3,077 and 3,999; such a wide difference which shows these measures are rather meaningless from a GPS working out of triangulation). Given the elevation of Black Mountain at 2,812', Strava's stats seem more realistic (there are a few up and downs on each course).

In other better news, I got a reasonably fast 11-mile on Friday, and a couple of runs in Houston's heat during the week, with my first business trip in 18 months! There is that...

One step at a time, one long run at a time, one hill at a time... The beast is still wounded, but not ready to quit the ultra fight yet! So many people are dropping at races around the world, like at Lake Sonoma 100K this weekend, recovering from the pandemic is definitely a global societal issue. And huge health-related one too, both physiologically and psychologically too!

At least, drawing energy from getting out there in nature, helps! When weather and air quality allows at least... Speaking of nature, see these pictures from the top on Montebello Road. Grapes getting ready to be harvested.

A few more years for the new vineyards coming from a land swap with the open space preserve:

As for the ugly hole of Lehigh Quarry, it looks really bad from above!

Take care out there, all!

PS: From Mandie and Robert to Bill, a few Striders on the move!

I was also surprised to see garbage trucks on the road on a Labor Day... A few people got the memo though, bins were ready and all lined-up! ;-)

The week of a runner: a true blog post

A short post tonight, no race report, no pictures, but a come back to the original concept of "blog", a "web log" of my week with a couple of running-related anecdotes (for the ones who didn't know, blog is the contraction or blend of web log, that is diary or a series of ideas, news and comments posted over the web).

Monday. No running, still too much soared from yesterday's great race to run, or even walk without pain... Still hard to believe I got faster on this course and that fast on a 50K despite the hills, and savoring this feeling of accomplishment. I'm usually considering that it's reasonable to lose 1 minute/age year on the marathon distance so I was really glad to be that close to Tom Johnson's course record he set up at 39 (3:32) and his 3:36-performance at 41. Some time spent before going to bed to respond to messages on Facebook related to our Quicksilver race and the recent 3 IronWomen we got in the Striders Club in July at the Vineman (Penny, Peggy and Christina). Way to go gals!

Tuesday. Still quite soared with painful quads going downstairs. Surprise, my Brooks order arrived today including 2 new pairs of the Green Silence! I love this catchy and comfy shoe so much... Got my first pair the month they were released, in February of this year, and have run 700 miles in them since. I owe you (and them!) a dedicated post in this super innovative and eco-friendly shoe from Brooks.

Wednesday. Third day commuting to work this week to make up for all the time I was away in July. Nobody to run with at the office and I enjoyed a slow 7:50 min/mile run at the nearby Alviso Marina Park (7.2 flat miles). Saw many birds including white pelicans and egrets. I even crossed the rail track this time and ventured into the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge where I got attacked by low-flying birds protecting their precious nests. Impressive and scary, it made me think of Hitchcock... In the evening, I registered for the San Jose Half Marathon, the first weekend of October (complimentary entry from Brooks) and to FireTrails 50-mile the following week (thanking the ultra legends Ann Trason and Carl Anderson who still direct this race after more than 10 years in a row). The ultra running season is far from being over...

Thursday. I was looking forward to meeting again with Bob at the track and get Max to join us for some speed training before our half-marathon of August 15 at Donner Pass but no luck, not this time again... First, and that's really a bummer, Max has been injured since we ran a half-marathon together in Paris (inflammation of the outside of his right foot). Not sure how our first race together is going to turn to knowing that he goes for a hike the following week with other Yalees as a way to bond. And, of course, being a Pommier, he selected the most strenuous of the hikes... The second reason I didn't go the track this morning is that I went to bed way too late to work on two presentations, one for work (Friday morning), one for my Toastmasters Club, the Orbiters. My speech was titled "You can do it" and the goal was to inspire the audience. As you can guess, I used some of my running history to illustrate the power of setting incremental goals and getting the appropriate support structure in reaching new goals and heights. And you, blog readers, are part of my support structure!

Friday. Working calls from 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM with a short break to run 10K in the neighborhood. Plus one hour with the surgeon who is going to replace Agnès' hip as the pain has become unbearable again. Despite me running for two... Agnès is postponing the procedure so she can still crew me at Rio Del Lago, what a dedicated supporter!

Saturday. Some catch-up work and a 7 min/mile half-marathon in the neighborhood. Then, in the evening, all the boys were out (Alex is in New York for a 2-week internship by the way) so Agnès and I watched two documentaries on running. The first one called "Running to the Limits" which is mostly about Alex Vera's story transforming himself from not being able to run at all to deciding to qualify for the Olympic Marathon for the UK, that is to run a marathon under 2:20! After 2 years of very hard training including the support of renowned coaches, he ended up running a half-marathon in 1:14 (a few seconds faster than my PR) and running a marathon under 3 hours. Unfortunately, as he was back from training in Ethiopia and benefiting from a great boost from the altitude training, he injured his ankle and couldn't run the London Marathon who was supposed to be his qualifying race. Now, the interesting part is that, while in Ethiopia, he met the same runner I ran into there last December, by luck, Mengsitu Abebe. Not without trouble, Alex got Mengsitu a visa so he could compete in the UK and build his international notoriety. The second documentary was called "Vidéo UTMB 2005: code FINISHER" and about UTMB (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc), a place familiar to both of us that we enjoy so much. I even have more respect for this race, definitely much harder than Western States with much more cumulative elevation in particular. Thinking of teammate Jim who is on his way to Chamonix this month.

Sunday. More catch-up work to prepare for the week in Austin but a great run to the top of Black Mountain (23 miles, 3,000 ft cumulative elevation, 3 hours and 3 minutes). It was reasonably hot and I started conservatively to then push after the Pichettis'. The views at the top of Black Mountain were magnificient, it felt like I was in the air, on my way to landing at SFO, or like I could grab/touch the City, Bay Bridge, Treasure Island, Oakland as they seemed so close. There were clouds over the Ocean but you could still see the sea underneath. And then Mount Diablo and all the summits around the Bay. Sorry, no picture, just words, you have to trust me on this one...

Monday. A quick 6-mile run before getting on the plane to Austin. Probably not much running while being there, but more miles in Tahoe over the coming weekend then. It feels strange that I will be running a "short" half-marathon on Sunday while my next goal is a 100-mile in 5 weeks. I am a generalist...

Well, here are a few notes about my second job, a normal runner week, you can imagine what the first job is like... ;-)

Run Happy and have a great week, all!

Cupertino's Blackberry: a farm in the city

After last week's 100-mile race on the Western States trail, it felt good to stay in town and enjoy a long and festive weekend in Cupertino (for the ones who don't have time to read the text below, feel free to jump to my Picasa album!).

This Saturday morning I joined 20 or so of my fellow club mates of Cupertino's Stevens Creek Striders running club, for our weekly run and group meeting at Stevens Creek Park at 8:30 am. It was an opportunity to thank them for volunteering at Last Chance, the aid station at mile 43 of the Western States Endurance Run. When I served as the Captain of the aid station 5 years ago, we were happy when getting 30 volunteers up there. This year, 50 motivated souls showed up, which provided plenty of very personalized and attentionate support to runners thoughout the day (the station sees about 350 runners from 11:30 am to 5 pm). They were not all from the Striders, but also from our friend clubs: the San Jose Fit, and PARC from Palo Alto. Our President, Peter, will soon post his pictures of last weekend on the website; in the meantime, here is the group one:
On my way back home (15 easy miles this morning), I ran by McClellan Ranch and remembered it was the grand opening of Blackberry Farm today. I made a detour by the renovated place, on the brand new paved trail, and got the program for the rest of the day. Just in time to get a shower and come back for the festivities. I am a big user of the nearby trails so I was happy to take part of this additional dedication, three weeks after the ones down the Stevens Creek, in Mountain View (check the link for my other blog post and photo coverage).

What a nice way for Cupertino to celebrate Independence Day, by inviting all its citizens to such a joyful celebration, including a free (and delicious!) barbeque and drink for all. Before we could get in the long line for the buffet, we listened to several speeches about the history of the area, the background of this renovation project, from the early visionaries to all the people who made it happen. Overall, everybody highlighted the uniqueness of this project and how Cupertino manages to remain connected to its original natural roots. Cupertino has only been established since 1955 and is taking sustainable development very seriously. Like many other inhabitants, I originally picked this city of the Bay Area for its exceptional school district (we initially came for two years, from France, in 1998, and wanted the best public schools for our boys); but this connection to the environment and this social responsibility formed additional reasons for us to settle here (we moved to three places in 11 years, all in Cupertino!).
While I was photgraphing the old ads on the benches, I met a very nice couple who was touched by the historical references to Cupertino's past. They moved to Cupertino 50 years ago, after living in San Francisco then Mountain View. Of course they acknowledged all the changes which happened to this city which grew from a few hundreds to 50,000 people in 50 years, but they were happy to see a nice respect for the past in this project. Like Mark Linder, Director of Parks and Recreation, City of Cupertino, concluded: "I am happy to give you back the Old and New Blackberry Farm!" In addition to selected names who have been instrumental to this project, all the speakers also noted the social responsibility of the Cupertino residents who voted for a "self-tax" to support this project. Way to go Cupertino!

For lunch, I joined Patrick Kwok whom I know from Church (Saint Joseph of Cupertino) and assembly member, Paul Fong. I told them about my love of the trails and thanked them for their critical support of these renovation projects. (Patrick Kwok on the left in this picture and Paul Fong in the background.)
In addition to offering the food, the City had contracted a great band, The Groove Kings (www.groovekingsband.com), who covered a variety of songs and got quite a few people moving, in the shade of the huge trees.
I stopped by the booths of the few partner associations which provide invaluable support to the restoration and maintenance of the Stevens Creek and the associated trail which I enjoy so much for training.

1. Of course the Friends of the Stevens Creek Trail, whom I covered in my June post (and please consider joining me for their Trailblazer 5 or 10K run the last weekend of September);
2. The City of Cupertino working on the Stevens Creek Restoration Park Project, with a short term goal of continuing the trail down to Stevens Creek Boulevard (after that it will take 4 cities and a lot of financial suport to find a solution to connect the trail to the existing Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View: Cupertino, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, Mountain View);
3. The Cupertino Historical Society and Museum;
4. The SPCWC (Stevens and Permanente Creeks Watershed Council) who is actively looking to recruit volunteers to conduct its water quality monitoring, habitat restoration, macroinvertebrate study and streamkeepers programs.

I am so grateful to benefit from such an ecosystem, right in my backyard, and thankful to all the volunteers who dedicate their time to not only maintain the delicate balance with the surrounding habitat, but make the extra effort to actually restore it to its original state, as much as it is possible in this urbanized environment. Like Bob Power, Executive Director of the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, said: "rare are the cities which, like Cupertino, have the chance to still have water running through its original creeks." The original settlers who stopped by the area and gave their name to the creeks and today's main roads would certainly be astonished at how the city is now developed but, if they would visit the renovated Blackberry Farm, they would not be completely lost. We can all be proud of that, the ability to find the right balance between a most advanced economical environment and our past natural and agriculture roots: the bridge between the Valley of Heart's Delight and the Silicon Valley...
Although no details were provided in the speeches, I'm sure the Rotary club of Cupertino played a strong role in making this restoration project possible, providing financial support and engaging the community, starting with children. As usual (my father has been a Rotarian has is life in France), discretion but efficiency!

Tonight I'm going to a party organized by a Strider, another Cupertino resident, whose house oversees all the Bay so we can look at all the fireworks at once! Enjoy the rest of your celebration of Independence Day (or your weekend for the non American readers)!

Again, see my Picasa photo album for more pictures of today's celebration but, in the meantime, here is a quick overview of the celebration.

Cupertino Mayor, Hon. Orrin Mahoney, giving a nice address covering both the Independence Day and the Grand Blackberry Farm Re-Opening. I thought he did a very nice job of giving credit to previous City officials. I am always concerned about politics having short term views and it is nice to see such multi-term projects coming to light, another nice demonstration of social responsibility!When you enter the farm, you will go through a small plaza around the wind mill, with half dozen wood benches. Each has two copies of old ads for local fruits produces on its sides. Unlike the famous French Fries and French Vanilla, among many other irrelevant uses of the French adjective, maybe these prunes were actually from France originally! ;-)
The Stevens Creek running through Blackberry Farm:
The Chefs of the day, serving hundreds of Cupertino residents:
Let's rock'n roll!
A long line for the BBQ, but the food was worth the wait!

My Stevens Creek ultra marathon

I spent this Saturday morning immersed in the spirit of our local Stevens Creek. With several connections to that name, actually:

1. Stevens Creek, the creek;
2. Stevens Creek County Park;
3. Stevens Creek Reservoir;
4. Stevens Creek Striders, my Cupertino running club;
5. Stevens Creek Trail;
6. The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail;
7. Stevens Creek Wildlife Corridor;
8. Stevens Creek Tidal Marsh Trail;
9. Stevens Creek Hetch-Hetchy Trails;
10. The Stevens & Permanente Creeks Watershed Council (and their blog)
11. Stevens Creek Boulevard;
12. And Stevens Canyon Road.
    

My initial goal was to attend two dedications of new sections of the Stevens Creek trail this morning: the Moffett Boulevard Overcrossing and the El Camino Real to Sleeper Avenue. I ended up by running 31.2 miles (50K), from Cupertino to the Stevens Creek Reservoir, down to the Palo Alto Baylands, trough Shoreline Park in Mountain View and running through Los Altos and Sunnyvale. 4 hours and 15 minutes of running over 5 hours.
Most of my runs are now on trails so I usually don't use the street mode option in SportsTrack, but, since this run was more "suburban" than usual, here it is:
I hope you too enjoy these extensions of the trail. From Sleeper Avenue in Mountain View, you can know walk, run or bike as far as Byxbee Park near the Palo Alto Airport and Golf without crossing a road! The City of Mountain View and its partners have really done their part of the job to link the Cupertino hills to the Bay. Unfortunately, it now comes down to three cities, Los Altos, Sunnyvale and Cupertino to resolve political imbroglios to find the way to finish this wildlife corridor.

In the meantime, please consider supporting the Friends of the Stevens Creek Trail association, and join us at the TrailBlazer 10K or 5K race at the end of September (Sunday September 27, 2009). This is a great race (or walk), with ample parking and easy logistic (you start and finish at the Microsoft parking lot), for a good cause and with great company. I won the 10K race a few years ago, then PR'ed in 2007 getting just under 34 minutes; I look forward to running it again this year, between a few other ultra marathon races I have scheduled for the remaining of the season.

By the way, that was my own improvised version of a "Stevens Creek 50K", but the official one will be hold in September (9/12), directed by Steve Patt.

Here are some pictures taken along the way of my morning run. You can find more of them in my Picasa album.

I first ran from home to the main parking of Stevens Creek County Park, where our club, the Stevens Creek Striders meet every Saturday morning at 8:30 am, for a run in the hills before gathering for breakfast at Hobbie's.
From the Stevens Creek Reservoir, I then ran down to the new start of the Stevens Creek Trail, at the crossing of Sleeper Avenue and Franklin Avenue. On my way, I passed the last open field in Mountain View, a farm which is going to soon be likely transformed into a large housing development.
I was convinced that the dedication at Sleeper Avenue was at 10 am, and 11:30 for the Moffett Boulevard overcrossing, but it was the other way so I sprinted down the trail to arrive just in time for the ribbon cutting (after missing the speeches though).
After crossing the bridge for the first time with the rest of the 100+ attendees to the ceremony, I continued my run on this trail which I ran thousands of miles on, since I moved in the Bay Area in 1998. I did not have enough time to make it quite to Palo Alto's Byxbee Park, but far enough to see the pelicans who are back already at Shoreline and in the Baylands.
On the way back, I mused and stopped to observe an egret fishing:
I had run 24 miles when I arrived at Sleeper Avenue for the second time, and in time to hear the end of Mr. Patrick Kwok's speech (Santa Clara Valley Water District) and see the unveiling of the commemorative plaques by the Mountain View City Council:
On my way back to Cupertino I passed by my company, on Fremont (unfortunately, we are moving away from the trail to the IBM site on North First Street, in October):
Then over 85 on the old overpass between Belleville/The Dalles and Bernardo:
Then over 280 on the brand new overpass at Mary Avenue:
As you can see, a lot has been done in the area for bicycles and pedestrians, let's be grateful to our city representatives and... lobby for more so the Stevens Creek Trail can connect the Bay to our precious and well preserved South Bay and Mid peninsula hills and Santa Cruz Mountains.

In the meantime, let's thank some of major stake holders in getting the "Trail Ends" sign... "Further, Faster" (the name of my blog...): the City of Mountain View, Bay Area Quality Management District, California Natural Resources Agency, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, and Intuit, Inc.

Clambake: a cool Striders' event

Sunday, September 16. I was excited to join my club mates, from the Stevens Creek Striders, for this annual event combining running, potentially ultra running, and social gathering for a picnic around the traditional clam chowder, hence the name of the event. I was excited first because I had been in France for 2 weeks without the opportunity to run on trails. But, secondly and more importantly, because, with all these travels and races, I have less opportunity to meet with my club mates and friends.

We were set to start from Saratoga Gap at 7am. Slower runners started at 6:30. The morning run is made of two options: first Saratoga Gap to Big Basin headquarters, then from Big Basin down to the Pacific Ocean, at Wadell Beach. You can see the full program, online, on our club's website.

Last year, I was preparing for my first 50-miler, the Dick Collins' Fire Trails, so not only did I run those two legs, but I also added a night run from home to Saratoga Gap, 12 miles, including the hilly ascent on highway 9.

The first leg is given for 18 miles but my Garmin 205 indicated 15.3 miles, without loosing the signal like the 201 was before. So I'd say 15.5 max.

That Sunday, Agnès and Alex were wolunteering at the Cupertino Fall festival. Clambake requires some logistic, bringing a dish to share for the potluck at the beach, and the ride back home. The family not being able to join this year, at the last minute, I decided to "just" go down to Big Basin and run back to the car at Saratoga Gap, a perfect training 50K.

The start was actually quite chilly as you can see, our small group in the fog:

Wasn't getting much better for the first pit stop at the crossing of highway 9:

However, less than 3 miles from the start, what a fun and nice suprise to find this aid station, unmanned and anonymous, yet so well stocked. Penny talks about the "Clambake Angel", saying that is quite a thoughtful person, especially as the date of the event changes from year to year, so he or she needs to check the website to make sure this is the right weekend. I'm not sure how many years this tradition have been up but, last year, when our group found the table, we couldn't believe it was for us, we thought it was for another event or race, so we didn't dare to help ourselves. This year, the angel went a step beyond, adding a sign mentioning the "clambakers." A bit like "dude, that's for you guys!" So, although we now know this is for the clambakers indeed, the mystery still remains: an insider, an ex-member, someone who lives around, an actual angel, ...???

Oh well, looking at the much detailed and visual account of this event, including the picnic, by Robin, one picture caption says: "Mike's food table", so maybe the angel is one of the several Mikes we have in the club...

Shortly after, at mile 6, we found our real and official aid station crew: Pat, Elvira and Peggy. Needless to say, Peggy had rather run with us but has been injured since her Western States. From this aid station, I took off, met the aid station crew at China Grade, then at the Big Basin headquarters, after making a short stop at the finish line of the Bib Basin Redwoods runs from PCTR (Pacific Coast Trail Runs), to salute Wendell and Sarah.

The aid station crew at the headquarters:

After refilling my bottles, I was then back on the same trail, passing some of the PCTR 50K runners, and crossing the other club members, making their way to the headquarters. I've run the uphill to Saratoga Gap twice during the local "Fat Ass 50K", the first week of January, always struggling. Although the weather was much nicer than in January, I struggled again while trying to do a negative split (going faster on the way back). Things got even worse as I got stung by a yellow jacket, twice, at the elbow. Ouch! I'm somehow allergic and it took three days before my arm came back to normal after being so swelled and painful. One of my colleagues at work told me I should run with a bit of vinegar which should take care of this if applied immediately. Especially in the summer when yellow jackets get pretty nasty. I'll keep that in mind, it's a good tip indeed.

Just after passing the place of the mysterious aid station, now gone, 5 hours later, I had the surprise and pleasure to see a coyote. Although he looked at me while I was coming in his direction, I was not fast enough to take a picture before he disappeared in the woods. After running so many miles at Rancho San Antonio Park on the Coyote Ridge trail, I finally saw one!

One mile to go (crossing of Hwy 9) and, in the background, the great view we missed 5 1/2 hours earlier:

Anyway, I managed to come back to Saratoga Gap, 3 minutes faster than our way to Big Basin. With a big pain in the front of my lower left leg, pain which I interpreted as a weird soreness for three days, before realizing it was actually a bad shin splints. Damned! At least, it's good I was not up for Rio del Lago (a 100-miler of the Pacific Association Grand Prix), the following week, as you can only get points for one 100-miler, the same year, and I got my 132 points in June. So not missing any big event, we'll see if I run the Trailblazer 10K next week. A race which I won twice already and particularly like for the support it brings to a trail I've trained on so much over the past 9 years, to and around the Mountain View Shoreline Park. At least I signed up for it, and will be there as Greg will run the 5K.

Again, this Clambake event is fun, as well as all the activities of our club so, if you live in the Cupertino area, I invite you to join us: the club, now (it's very cheap) and Clambake, next year!