WEDNESDAY WOKE UP GREY

Its early in the morning and I’m feeling kind of beat up, stiff achilles, sore neck, tight calves but I haven’t run since Wednesday and that run was tough going, very slow start and even slower to finish. Woke up early but felt lethargic. Was eager to do my first run on my own home turf since I got back from the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Oahu. Excited I had some new cool gear to work with: my replacement Garmin 50 sports watch sent new in the box with heart rate monitor and foot pod and a pair of brand new Adidas shades with vented lenses and neon green arms. I had some busted up gear to deal with also: my iPod Shuffle a fatality and my CamelBak with no bladder. My ghetto solution was to fill up a 1 liter Calistoga bottle with water and stow it inside the compartment the bladder should reside in and just play my METAL 666 playlist on my iPhone.

I had a time figuring out how to get the foot pod to sync with the Garmin watch. Stomping my foot, jogging up and down the hall of my flat, looking at the battery, all to no avail. It was getting towards noon by then and thought it best I get out the door.

I wasted some good beach days during the heatwave that passed through Sunday and Monday. Sunday I was too jet lagged with a Halloween Hangover to do much shit but take Codeine with Tylenol and drink most of the leftover vodka in my ice box between sport naps. Monday I felt recovered and made major progress with my craziness and hoarding by  getting rid of at least fifty t-shirts and months of old mail that I recycled without looking at. None of it could possibly be relevant this late. Tuesday’s weather featured a cool down and Wednesday woke up grey. I figured even if I couldn’t lay out naked on the beach I’d bring my ‘ukulele to try to call the whales and make pictures of them using the telephoto lens of my manual film camera.

Because I had piddled away most of the morning I stopped at the Taco Bell at Linda Mar for a quick and cheap snack: a soft beef taco and a black taco. Surprised it was sunny and clear in Pacifica but felt a chill nip in the air. Saw an old daddy in a wetsuit paddle surfing close to shore and thought how I really want to paddle surf someday. My allergy to cold moisture makes me hesitant to do so but there are wetsuits and ways to deal with it. I tripped over how I was bouncing all over the Pacific in the past week.

Drove myself up and around Devil’s Slide to the parking lot at the foot of the Bunny Trail.  Only a few cars belonging to the die-hard naturists who will tough it out for the sake of a tan and freedom on a day that is partially cloudy and only in the mid 60*s were parked there. I took a series of self portraits in my Contour to feature my new shades,  got out of the car to stretch minimally then set off on the trail.

Started off feeling awkward, encumbered and out of shape. The trail had been swept clean from the last rain and looked sparkling new. My wires for my headphones were irritating me and I felt unbalanced because of the water bottle sloshing in my Camelbak. Weather started heating up as I was getting warmed up and the marine layer was cut like a shelf above the sea repelled by whatever heat was resonating from the valley. When I got to the switchbacks to take the trail up the hill I stopped to stow my long sleeve shirt and have some water. A poor solution. It felt like it was taking me so long to get up the hill and I realized that some days are gonna feel like this. The important thing is to get it done and no worries, it all evens out in the training.  Good days and bad.

Coming down was a breeze, but I held back and kept the pace steady and controlled. A mile and a half of downhill in half the time it takes to run uphill and I’m all cruise to the Contour.

It stayed warm, so I did hike down to the beach at Grey Whale Cove. There were only a few dudes there and they were all naked. Regulars. I was so happy that the marine layer got pushed back and it was sunny and warm on the beach. I stripped naked, splashed in the shore break just loving being home and on my favorite beach then went back to my spot and brought out my ‘ukulele and remembered a song I wrote about this beach and a boy with brown hair and blue eyes who I was never able to bring here with me. Played it a few times through and by then the marine layer had come to blanket me in coolness and obscure the sun. No whales were forthcoming so I took my ass to Target to get my cheap suburban thrills on.

• 4.56 miles
• 59:47
• 13:08 avg. pace
• 971 feet climbed
• 648 calories burned

WAILEA — KIHEI

Sunday morning in Maui, chafing significantly subsided and its about 6am and I am so eager to do a run before the sun comes up.  I really have to give it to the Spa Grande at the Grand Wailea and the Terme Hydrotherapy circuit.  Its known that I love baths, and I suffer from nothing but a shower in this flat.  Imagine my glee when I found that the Spa Grande has not only the traditional bubbly and still hot tubs with cold plunges but also 5 treated baths that affect the body and soul on different levels.  Papaya enzyme, Hawaiian Sea Salt, Limu (Hawaiian Seaweed), Eucalyptus Aromatherapy, and my power bath Moor Mud.  The Moor Mud was really talking to my body in a harmonious language that I was so happy to sit back and listen to.  The mud is purported to ease inflammation, and I was a body full of that; inflamed knee, calf, chafed thigh and even my tongue and throat were inflamed from when I ate a  scalding hot Lau Lau at Helena’s 5 days ago.  I did an hour soak in my favorite baths, had a signature massage in a treatment room and then came back to soak in my power baths.  Hunger finally drove me out of the baths but I really could have stayed all day.

So thinking my training in Hawaii was done I was stoked to get in a run on Maui.  Although I plotted it, I couldn’t do the 10k course of Xterra because the title was going to be earned that day, so I ran from the resort out to Kihei.

Staging for the run I had a few awful surprises.  The North Face T somehow got unbearably stinky in my luggage and slime mold, bacteria or fungus contaminated the bladder of my CamelBak so I had to toss both of them out.  Had two 500ml bottles of water from the hotel, so knew that was good to go and I stowed them in my empty CamelBak along with my iPhone.  Walked down to the lobby all strapped up tri-fetish, not even bothering with the shirt.  Had trouble getting a GPS signal in the lobby, but did so walking down the drive.  Hit the ENSLAVED playlist, its really all I need listen to and is perfect soundtrack for Hawaii, and started my run.

Now is this trail running or road running? I hit portions of established trail and since I’m a trail runner it is always trail running even though I hit significant portions of road.  I exist in civilization so it is inevitable that I tread sidewalk.  No shame in my game. I’m a trail runner, so trail running is what I do regardless of whether it is or has been paved over.  One day it won’t be.

Straightforward, out the driveway of the resort, up Wailea Alanui Drive, cut over to Okalani Drive, and then South Kihei Drive, back the way I came.  It was cool, on the way out I was seeing Xterrans on their mountain bikes with their bib numbers on their uniforms and handlebars on their way to the starting line of their offroad tri World Championships, throwing them shakas and I knew for a second they were wondering why I was running the wrong way.

I had to stop and take a photograph of the sun rising over Haleakala.  The sunrise  looked like a slow nuclear explosion on the summit of the volcano. White hot.  Passed the boat launch were we started our snorkle tour the day before and continued on down glorious Kihei beach parks.  For some reason I started thinking that we were supposed to have breakfast at 8 am, so I turned around at the stoplight and made my way back to the resort.  When I got back, my traveling companion was passed out with the flatscreen blaring, and I couldn’t find the remote to turn it down.  I was on the lanai checking my stats when he woke up to tell me that he had booked us a flight to Honolulu and a room in Waikiki.

So that was the last of my training in the Hawaiian Islands.  I have to tell you that being a trail runner in the San Francisco Bay Area I’m better off.  We have more diversity of trail and a more temperate climate.  The sun was really kicking my ass and people who run in Hawaii know better to do it in the early morning or evening.  I haven’t trained since I got back to the mainland.  I’m ready to though.  One development is that I’m thinking of bailing on the Lake Chabot race because I’m still broke from taking a vacation and the overall turnout for the race is poor.  I can spend the Lake Chabot entry money on the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship and get a new bladder for my CamelBak and focus my training.

• 6.26 miles
• 1:08:15
• 10:54 avg. pace
• 326 feet climbed
• 828 calories burned
• 162.4 lbs.

ACTIVE REST

What’s active rest?  Sitting on my lanai in Maui icing my throbbing chafe  and slathering my inner thigh with Desitin.  Tuning my ‘ukulele and playing it for the pretty girl next to me poolside.  An hour soaking in the treated tubs at the Terme spa, an hour signature massage followed by yet another hour long soak in my power baths.  Going into town and having a happy hour dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  Competing on the Big O Oh Yeah Orange Team Chef Cookoff Challenge and getting to announce our surf and turf presentation all hot and smoky like Barry White.  Going skinny dipping late night on the beach in front of the Grand Wailea and there’s a local guy cruising for a blow job and smoking a cigarette in front of a wooden sign.  Going on an expedition on a high speed ponotoon speedboat and snorkeling behind Molokini Crater and observing the sea caves and formations in a 400 and 600 year old lava flow.  Snorkeling naked at Little Beach at Makena and having a picnic of sushi, fried chicken, poke and cold unfiltered sake under the shade of a resort umbrella.  Going on a little naked hike on a volcano and getting off watching this guy give another guy a blow job in a kiawe (Prosopis pallida) forest.  

That’s active rest!

DIAMOND HEAD CRATER

Woke up Thursday morning at the Kahala in Waialae and watched the sunrise over Koko Head from the lanai of my suite. Observed the dolphins in their man made lagoon swimming within their confines, 9 stories down. Landscaped palms on the perimeter of the beach and resort were black against the waking dawn and their fronds swayed loftily in the breeze. To the west was a volcano, brown slopes turning pink in the haze of a morning glow yet a tunnel blasted into its cliff face sucked the light into its black maw and for the life of me I couldn’t recall its place name.

My traveling companion was still in bed tucked well into the comfort of the hotel’s Frenette linens, roughly asleep. I began my pre-run preparations, getting the ice for the CamelBak and filling it with a liter of Fiji water. I started with a shower but opted for the bath then used and reused the electronic Japanese toilet with the warm spray and under the rim blow dryer. Had trouble with the high tech capuccino maker. Munched on the doughy portion of a char shiu I bought the night before at the 7-11 in Makiki but the pink barbequed pork filling was too congealed to be palatable. By then Michael had got out of bed and was nice enough to help me out and make me an espresso while I programmed a Heavy Metal playlist on my iPhone. My iPod Shuffle had its last gasp at Ka’ena.

I wore my Saucony’s and my Adidas shorts with the 1.5″ inseam. North Face T and a new pair of black Adidas running glasses with electric neon green arms and vented lenses to prevent fogging. Left my visor at mom’s but then I was good to go. Was getting worried now about having a late start and asked Michael if I was ok. He said, “of course you are.” I was a little beat up and intimidated by the Hawaiian sun, but I didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity to run into the crater of Diamond Head. Took the elevator 9 floors down and walked through the Kahala’s grand lobby. Continued down the front drive and to the main entrance where I sat on a low wall of mortared lava boulders, stripped off my shirt and stowed it, started my playlist and my GPS. Hotel employees checking into work were kind enough to wish me a good morning.

I started my run which I estimated would be around 6 miles. The route is pretty basic, straight up Kahala Avenue and cut North to the crater. I was pleased to run on the well watered short lawns of the multimillion dollar estates under the shade of their palm trees, bouganvillea and plumeria. Landscape contractors were in some driveways of these properties, topless and hauling out equipment from the flatbeds of their pickups. Just a hint of weed was aloft on the drift of an ocean breeze. Felt really strong and happy and found my legs. Got the tingly sensation that is sheer pleasure from a good run. I was worried about the ascent but it turned out to be gradual. After the second mile I realized that I was starting to descend down towards Waikiki and had passed the scenic overlook on the pali. I stopped to figure out how I missed my turn to the crater and at the light house I took a piss in the bushes. I should have turned at Fort Ruger Park to connect to Diamond Head Road to get inside the crater so I backtracked and made the correct turn.

There were quite a number of joggers out, and I was happy to note that I was passing a few. From the pali it was just a mile to the entrance to the crater and I realized that the black maw I was looking at this morning when the sun was rising was the tunnel entrance into Diamond Head Crater. Diamond Head is so iconic I didn’t recognize it from the backside. Up a short trail, I realized that the park had an entrance fee, but it was a good thing I had a $50 bill in my CamelBak if need be I could get into the park. So through that blasted tunnel and into the crater itself. The fee entrance was only a dollar but I saw no need to go past the check point. I got a park brochure and took some photos at a bus-stop. I was feeling really strong, really dynamic, and I knew that I had just participated in a Polynesian pasttime that stretches to antiquity: run up a volcano as fast as you can then run back down. Coming back down the volcano was all I need do and I still had a nice supply of water.  Sweating loads, I’m beginning to experience chafe. I’m feeling good but I’m getting caught in the sun so on the way back to the resort I try to stay in the shadows on the manicured lawns and under the shade of the landscaped trees of the multi-million dollar estates that grace the beachfront of beautiful Kahala.

Heroically I run up the roadway of the resort and sprint up its driveway to dissemble on a bench near the parking valet. A resort employee offered me a bottle of water, but I declined telling him I still had some in my pack. Stopped my GPS and sent my data to RunKeeper. Went into to the lobby and to my delight saw they had put out chilled pineapple water sweetened with vanilla. Thought I would take some pictures of the dolphins, but was just too covered in sweat and all I wanted was a bath upstairs. I heard Michael’s voice as the elevator doors were shutting so I commanded them open  and ran to the lower level  to catch him . He was with Stewart, the hotel executive, finishing up their site tour. Michael said I looked tore up, but hot and Stewart was impressed by my run and offered to send up breakfast.  I asked for Ahi poke, rice and a fried egg. It was delivered shortly after my shower and I had room service set it up on the lanai.  It was so good I had a hard time getting past the perfectly cooked rice and it was the freshest poke I ever had in this lifetime.

• 7.45 miles
• 1:18:49
• 10:35 avg. pace
• 599 feet climbed
• 1,000 calories burned

KA’ENA POINT

I had been planning on doing this run since I knew I was going to Hawaii to visit my family who live on the island of Oahu, and I knew it would be challenging because I’ve been out to Ka’ena Point before but had never gone around it to the windward side of the island. Ka’ena Point is the westernmost tip of Oahu in the Hawaiian Island Archipeligo and a Natural Area Reserve for native plants and endangered species including the Hawaiian Monk Seal and the Laysan Albatross.  Ka’ena translates into English as “the heat” and is the name of Pele’s brother/cousin and it is truly the hottest, most exposed part of the island– like a desert on the edge of the sea. I made sure I was wel hydrated l the night before and had plenty of water for the run.  I went through 2.5 litres but still survived the 13.86 mile adventure run.

I dropped my mom of at her work in Campbell Industrial Park and drove down Farrington Highway on the Leeward side blasting ENSLAVED over my iPhone FM transmitter through my mom’s Corolla’s stereo.  Just past the encampments on the beach, stopped at the 7-11 in Nanakuli to pick up some snacks for the trek: a pack of roasted ika, 2 regular musubi and the deluxe musubi with egg for breakfast.  It felt so good to be cruising on the island again.  My family live here and I spent most of my summers on Oahu since I was 5 years old and consider it a second home.  Black Metal and Death Metal make the perfect sound track for the islands of Hawai’i; its not all little grass shacks and hula girls and cocktails with pineapple and paper umbrella garnishes– Hawai’i has a dark antiquity which resonates with me more so than does the kitschy tiki culture that it is often represented by.

Further down Farrington Highway towards Ka’ena and past an even rougher and more squalid beach and roadside encampent at Ke’au beach park.  Here people are living out of their broken down cars  under canopies of tarps and in some instances even constructing those little grass shacks that viewed in reality, give an ironic and haunting timbre to the song with the same name.  Then I’m entering Ka’ena Point State Natural Area Reserve and am excited.  The sun is still behind the mountains at 8am but ascending fast and I already know that I’m going to get into a little trouble being so exposed, but the trail looks so tasty and tantalizing that nothing could possibly dissuade me from running my plotted course.

Mom recommended that I park her Corolla by the lifeguard stand because cars that park at the trail head are always getting broken into. I staged from the trunk and stretched out in the shade cast by the car stowing my musubi and extra bottle of water I iced the night in the main storage compartment and attached my keys to the clip there. My very unecessary shirt I tied in the elastic on the outside of my CamelBak and my iPhone went in the top zipper pocket, a plastic produce bag protecting it from moisture in case of a rogue wave, falling in the water or a hydration unit failure.  Feeling set, I shouldered my pack a little surprised and confused at how heavy it was realizing this was another unexpected element that was going to add a higher degree of challenge to this run.  I estimated the weight to be about 20 pounds and thought, well by the end of the run it should be significantly lighter to carry.

Nothing do now but hele’ on as the Hawaiians say, and start the course.  Running down the side of the road past Yokohama Beach to the trailhead feeling a little spry and confident, yet the sun and the weight of my snacks and water was worrying me.  Picked up the trailhead and started on.  I could see the automated light beacon at the point from the start of the trail and it really didn’t look to far away and in reality its exactly 3 miles from the life guard tower.  The trail twists along a rocky lava coast and is inaccesible by vehicle.  The trail is rutted out into mounds by rainfall and runoff and pebbled with hard lava stones so that pretty much every time I landed I was landing on a bump and grinding my foot on a loose rock.  It was after 9am now and the sun was up doing its sun thing, attempting to dessicate anything containing moisture, especially interlopers like myself.  At about mile 2.5 I came to the part of the trail where I had to scramble to connect to the other side, its a plank jammed into the lava rock cliff face  with some old untrusty rope attached helter skelter to it resembling more of a trap than a crossing aid.  I know because the last time I hiked this trail years ago, I grappled the rope and it twisted out causing me to fall off the cliff.  It was a short drop, just about 6 feet and gave me some ego bruising so naturally,  I took it cautiously this time.

A short distance from this pass the trail starts to get sandy and is cordoned off to protect the nesting sites of the endangered birds and  protect native flora.  Adjacent to the beacon is the foundation of an abandoned cement structure, probably that of an old lighthouse.  I wanted to keep going on with my run and finish with a respectable time, but the point here was just to beautiful to not photograph.  I took off my still heavy pack and rested it in the ‘Ilima (Sida fallax) and got out the phone to take pictures of the sites there.  Got caught up by two local hikers of mixed sex and chatted with them a bit and continued down the trail to the Mokuleia side.

Now I’m heading east on the trail headed towards the Dillingham Airfield which is my goal and turn around point.  This is the Mokuleia side of the Natural Area Reserve and I am familiar with this side of the island because I frequent the beach where nude sunbathers go. That beach is further down the highway.  The trail on this part is hard core and heavily rutted with even more stones.  A rusted but polished heavy iron gate bars vehicles from entering part of the reserve I just exited and set amongst a huge lava wall constructed of rough boulders impossible to hike around.  Signs are posted forbidding dogs because they kill the seabirds. Photographs of piled up avian carcasses on both the island of Kaui and on the reserve itself graphically depict this.  Running on these mounds was like being a giant running over the ridges of mountains, but the mixed terrain really started to wear on my feet and legs. I was actually relieved when the trail closed out and had asphalt blacktop on the side of the road to run on all the way to Dillingham Airfield.

I could see a prop driven plane landing just ahead so I knew the airfield was close.  I passed the YMCA Camp Erdman and new I was almost there and soon I was coming upon the East Gate for the Airfield.  Kept on going and thought I would run inside a little bit and come back and cross the street so I would be facing the direction of traffic on the return.

Ran on the side of the road to return and the sun directly overhead was getting the better part of me.  Back on to the grounds of the State Park on my return and I  realized I ran out of water in my hydration unit.  I was getting a major chafe from my CamelBak and reaching around to my right upper hip where it was irritating me found that I had blistered there and there was no way to adjust my gear so as to not to rub me raw.  I decided to lighten the load further and ate a musubi and a banana I had stowed in the pump pocket.  Drank a little of the bottled half litre that was still cold.  Realized I had made an error and should have loaded up on water at the rest stop in the airfield, but since I had been drinking the whole time knew I didn’t run a risk of dehydration and knew how hot it got that I would make it back.  My Shuffle was shorting out and after doing a searching inventory realized I was just way to distracted by everything and I needed to center and focus.  I put the tunes away, adjusted my pack as best as I could and allowed myself to run for a short bit and walk in between.  I figured it made no sense to go all out and overheat.  My legs weren’t tired.  I did have the stamina, it was that the stones on the trail and the relentless bumps begin to tally up and wear me out.  Lava moguls is the best way to describe these and again, every step was crunching a rock.  The intensity of the sunlight continued to increase and I just had to take things incrementally: get to the next electricity pole, just make it around the next bend, one bump, two bump, grind grind grind.  Walk it out, and run.  Before I approached the turn around that would put me back on the leeward side I made a deal with myself I would just run until the next parked car.  I also had the sense of how Beauty is a glamour cast upon Treachery and although she allowed me to flirt on her edges made sure I knew she is Queen and I am powerless to not yield.  I guess what I was going through as what runners describe as “survival mode,”  I know I’m gonna finish, but I know it ain’t gonna be pretty.  Some days are just gonna be like this.

By the time I reach the Point again, I know I only have about 3 miles left to get back to the car.  I’m torn up now, but somehow still loving it.  I know that the first time I run a course the time is always going to be slow and I started too late and running in the hottest part of the day.  I know that I’ll make it back to the Corolla, so I’m not feeling failure, its all win and a cold beer is waiting for me in the cooler in the trunk.  I make a deal with myself that I will run until I reach the first parked car meaning I’m back in civilization.  The last 4 miles I’m doing 20 minute splits and I know its wrecking my time, and I’m also kind of feeling that, yes I’m not prepared for a half marathon, but i’m just about right at my limits for a 9 mile race.  I come to the crossing with the plank and rope and realize that there is a lava cave just there and in my imagination reconstruct the flow.  Peer inside and felt the spooky vibe.  Ancient/contemporary Hawaiians called Ka’ena point aLeina Kauhane (Soul’s Leap), a place where the spirits of the dead jump off of Earth into the underworld or “sea of eternity” called Po; by no means a Christian figuring of Hell, but where all of our ancestral spirits or ‘aumakua (helpful or not) reside when they pass.  In the beginning of my run I was feeling little tingles, chicken skin, that felt like love of my sport but also a tweaking from an ethereal or spiritual presence.  I run to connect to these feelings and I run in places of power.  I do this to connect with the dolphins.  I do this in love.

• 13.86 miles
• 3:28:22
• 15:02 avg. pace
• 1,209 feet climbed
• 1,780 calories burned

THE TIME AND THE COURSE

Got Oscar out on the trail to complete his initiatory course this morning.  Woke up late, a little bit of a time crunch but Oscar was willing so we were good to go.  Early morning muffled fog, low visibility and still.  Told Oscar we had to run this course fast to stay on schedule and he went pretty much all out, I had to keep up with him while he set the pace.  Glad we got this in as it is my last run before going to Hawaii and I hope my training goes well there.  Found out that the XTERRA World Championships are being held down the street from our resort on Maui, so I’ll run the 10k trail portion on Friday and hopefully get to rub shoulders, or better, with some world class endurance athletes.

Coaching Oscar has been great for my training; I find myself tapering without being annoyed by it.  I’m still over the map trying to figure out what I should do, but I think its just best to let the time and the course reveal itself to me with what is available and get it done.  Next week on Oahu and Maui I need to put together about 18 miles according to my tapering configuration.  When I return I’ll continue with Oscar on the Lands End Trail.  I’m comfortable that I’ll be prepared for the 9 mile around Lake Chabot on Sunday 8 November but don’t know if it will make sense to go out and attempt the course before the actual race.

• 2.65 miles
• 27:09
• 10.16 avg. pace
• 429 feet climbed
• 362 calories burned
• 156.8 lbs.

BARE MINIMUM

It was balmy and tropical yesterday after Tuesday’s torrential and cleansing storm so I ran in the bare minimum: shorts, shoes and socks.  Of course I had my other tri-borg gear on: visor, lenses and hydration unit with a stowed gps.  Reversed the Presidio Loop again to see how I was dealing with the over use strain in the knee and really just gauge my time and blow off some steam.

Looks like I ran this course really fast on 2 October 2009 with an overall pace of 10:44 but the next day I ran it again in pain and with worn out shoes and did a 12:27 minute pace.  Although I felt good yesterday my overall pace was 12:30, slower than when I did it in pain.  I can only figure that stopping to take pictures slowed me down and that gets figured into the pace, it was a nice run anyway.

So I start at the Golf Club and run my way down to Tennessee Hollow where I ditch the shirt after getting heated up.  I kicked up a downed stick which scratched the back of my calf but didn’t draw blood.  I started out with some Salon Pas stuck to my knees where it was sore, but they wouldn’t stick for the sunscreen and sweat.  Thinking next time out I’ll try sport tape.  No incidents, I was hoping that it would be alot muddier but I guess the earth is so dry it just sucked up all 7 inches of the rain.  On Crissy Field got passed by a high school football team running laps and up past the Historic Battery, I just had to stop to take photographs because the Bridge and the Bay looked stunning.  Continuing on, I’m almost done.  So familiar with the bluffs part of the trail, its pretty much cruise.

On top of Immigration Point I saw the waves breaking off Point Bonita were so huge and I stopped to observe, then its past the Wine Bunker down the home stretch, all good.

I have to note the fragrance of a fresh trail after a rain.  Maybe it was all the downed trees getting chainsawed, or just the scent of them drying out to punk, but it smelled like pine incense on the trail, earthy and delightful and very buddha.

A thought on those new Saucony Pro Grid Trail Guide; don’t like.  One reviewer said it feels like 2″x4″s on the feet and he’s right.  Very stiff, not flexible and like a little to large, I feel my feet sliding around in the shoe and they don’t feel secure.  Believe it or not, I’m going to exchange them for a road running shoe, anything, but the fit sucks.

• 5.88 miles
• 1:13:29
• 12:30 avg. pace
• 610 feet climbed
• 764 calories burned

RUN BEFORE THE STORM

Today was just about getting my training done and I was interested in doing a course that was the aggregate number of miles I had been running with Oscar.  Putting that together and wanting to do it close to home and because of my volunteer gig I thought that doing the Golden Gate Park with the added element of running past the Cliff House and down the steps from Sutro Heights Park would keep me close to schedule. Got up at 7:30 am and put myself together, counting down the hours and just reckoning I would make it to my volunteer gig at the National Park right on time by 12.  Got to the trail about 9 and was pleased to find parking right by the Japanese Tea Garden.

Earlier today I thought I’d reverse the course, but really that trail along Lincoln is a pretty intense uphill and because of my time constraints I wanted to hit what was familiar.  Smooth going, then along the promenade at Ocean Beach was rather enjoying the scene with the surfers getting ready or getting pounded in the 2 foot surf.  Red tide like I saw before.  A bleeding ocean.  Bombing it like its most familiar, checking in a little torn up with injuries but wanting to get this long run done and stay on schedule and run before the storm that is due to hit the City within hours.

• 1:22:24
• 7.26 miles
• 11:21 avg. pace
• 579 feet climbed
• 963 calories burned

KINESTHETIC AND MNEMONIC SENSE OF TRAIL

Got Oscar back out on the trail today.  Trying to keep it interesting so I thought I’d reverse the course and start from Immigration Point and run out to and back from the Presidio Golf Club.  Woke up groggy on the couch around 7:30 discomfitted but still eager to do.  Called Oscar who just woke and told him I’d be there in about an hour cos I knew I needed an extra cup of French Roast.  After I got out the shower and geared up, most of the sloughiness had rinsed away and I’m in my ride cruising to Church and 15th Street to pick up my BFW for a morning trail run.

Called Oscar on the phone when I got to his flat, parked in a driveway in front and he said he’d be right down.  Across the street a priest got out of a car driven by someone else and genuflected 3 times before entering the Russian Church.  A beautiful chapel, I got out and shot it, trying to get the whole thing in perspective but my angle only cropped it.  The church was painted a sea foam green and had windows of dark stained glass.  If I were to go to a church, I think I’d love listening to a sermon in Russian.  I’m not a Catholic, I’m a new age pagan atheist witch so I have room for and am appreciative of all ceremony and ritual as long as they don’t spread hate or invoke black magic. My love for vodka confirms that I’m Russian.  That’s no secret.  I’d go there.

Oscar came down and got in the car so we headed out to the Presidio.

Nice to talk to a buddy on the ride to the trail.  I can tell he’s getting alot out of it.  So many weekend warriors out, I almost ran a red light cruising a jogger coming down Market Street.  The Nike Women’s Marathon is next Sunday here in the City, and the number of lady athletes running about is an indicator of a really good turn out.

October chill has settled in town.  There isn’t a wind but its Alaska cold–to a Californian.  Warmed up a bit and hit the trail after Oscar finished his cigarette.  This trail is more challenging if started this way running it from West to East and it showed.  It was kicking Oscar’s ass a little bit.  I observed he had to walk it out a little more than usual.

Again I let Oscar set the pace and I also let him blaze the trail so he could develop his kinesthetic and mnemonic sense of trail on his own.  Feeling the mutual burnout of a trice run trail, even in reverse, I prepared in advance a few rewards.  I told him next time we would run this trail with our iTunes and I had a cocounut water juice box chilled and ready for the both of us at completion of the course.

Oscar wants to get me in the gym, and since he is experienced at bodybuilding I think I’ve got a good ally.  I’m conceited about gyms, just as I am about road running.  I don’t really want to go there.  My pros tell me I’m hurt from lack of cross training and I concur.  I think as we fall and it rains it will be a time to focus on more cross training.  Summer is over and I can feel the crisp frigidity of the onset of the Fall/Winter collection of good excuses to not go on trail.  My back up plan is aquatics and weight training, but hope I can delay that until I get through my next two races and get some gear that will protect me from harsh environment when the weather becomes inclement.

• 2.66 miles
• 30:56
• 11:38 avg. pace
• 241 feet climbed
• 335 calories burned
• 155 lbs.

CHASE AND PACE

I got my BFW (Best Friend at Work), Oscar back on the trails today and it felt good!  Really surprised and happy that he was willing to get up at 6 in the morning to be on the trail at 7.  The deal was I had to get him home by 8:30 am so he would time to get ready for work and I did.  I’m a good coach.

Got my  coffee at Starbucks, cos its the only option before 7 am and mildly disappointed with it, but I know what I’m getting from there and picked up Oscar just after 7:30.  We talked about our quarterly evaluations, his went well as did mine, but I was told I had an attitude, which honestly I can’t dispute and which I defended because what I was thrown under the bus for by my colleagues, or at least the instances sited where me not sugar coating it when people borrowed my tools without asking, or have borrowed them so much they felt that they owned them.  I have a pretty direct and proffessional approach which can hurt peoples feelings, but it was the way I was trained and if I were to candy coat a direct statement, it would sound even bitchier, coming from me.  At least it cleared the air.  At least I now know people talk shit.  So I have to be aware of boundaries, realize that there is some competition, and edit before I speak, and keep the best punchlines to myself.  Whatever.

Oscar doesn’t have a problem with me and appreciates my directness, or attitude, which is why he is my BFW.  I’m taking him through my original training program that I started this spring which is 4 trails, 4 times each with an incremental gain of 10% distance each new trail.  After showing Oscar the cool way to tie his shoes so they don’t come unlaced on the trail we did the Presidio Golf Course and Club to Immigration Point like we did before.  Coaching Oscar, I notice I’m developing a technique which I’ll call “Chase and Pace.”  What I do is fall behind my subject and let them establish the pace and push them when I feel like they have more to give and allow them to slow when they gave it.  Its difficult to describe how awesome I feel about my sport when I saw Oscar enjoying the trails.  I could tell he felt comfortable because his pace was really good at about 10.5 minute splits.  Seeing he had warmed up, I pushed him to accelerate on the slight downhill grade behind Amatury Loop.  He ran real strong up hill on the back trail behind Washington and let him know he could walk it out as we approached Compton.  I explained to him one of the misconceptions about running and that is that one need to run continuously the whole time.  Not the truth.  Its about the distance and however long it takes to get there is secondary.  Point to point, just finishing is killing it.

Coming around to Washington after passing the Wine Bunker I pointed out to Oscar the prominence of Lands End and explained that after we ran this one trail twice more, we’d continue on over there for a plus 3 mile out and back.  Coming to Immigration Point I pointed out the Marin Headlands across the strait and explained how I run to the summit over there.  Its crazy, now when I see mountains and ridges I’m amazed I’m scaling them and running them.  From one ridge I see another miles away and can see the miles of trail I ran on top.  Hard to imagine a better place to be a trail runner than in the Bay Area.  There are just so many options and so much preserved open space.  I love it.

Past the picnic table and up the short flight of stairs, let Oscar know that there is a gnarly set of stairs on the Lands End Trail before remembering that, oops, there is another one in Sutro Heights Park.  Told Oscar to stay off the road and stick to the trail as much as possible because road running and trail running are two different sports.  Down hill again on trail behind Washington showed Oscar how to Glide and Fly down hill focusing on getting air in the stride.  Was pleased with how these new Saucony Pro Grid Trail performed, but like the boy with good smelling hair at Fleet Feet told me, yes my right arch is a little flatter and I could feel it rubbing on the insole.  Coming out of that, only a mile to go to the Contour and was smooth.  Oscar had to rest it out a bit, but then sprinted to the dumpster and he did really well.

Got him dropped off at 8:31.  A good coach keeps his athletes on schedule.

As far as me, I feel  really great about coaching because I learn more about my sport and technique by demonstrating.  Its a proven pedagogic fact that we learn more by teaching and I could see that manifesting.  The slower pace and the shorter distance allows me to not only refine my technique but also take care of my overuse injuries from running crazy mileage without control.  At the end of the run, we were sweating, had a good workout and could feel the pump.

• 2.65 miles
• 28:10
• 10:37 avg. pace
• 286 feet climbed
• 348 calories burned
• 154.6 lbs.