Monday, September 10, 2007

Aarrrgghhh!!! Down time...

The last 3 weeks have been frustrating for me running-wise. I have gotten sick twice, one nasty headache, and lots of other stuff to get in the way of regular running. Right now, I have the second bug - a nice little sore throat that has scuttled any plans for a regular running week this week.

I haven't been sick in about a year-and-a-half. And now, within 3 weeks, I get sick twice. What the hell is this all about. It's not like I have been hanging with a bunch of germ-infested kids, or running around nekkid in sub-freezing weather. Just going about normal day-to-day stuff and all-of-a-sudden WHAM-O, I just won the sickie lottery. And I didn't even buy a ticket.

I have gotten in only 6 runs over the last three weeks. I typically run 4-5 days a week depending on long runs and other stuff. And I'm running my first ultra this Sunday - Pacific Coast Trail Runs' Boulder Creek 50k. I was hoping to get some good runs in this week to prepare, and get back on a normal running schedule. Well, not this week - hopefully I can get at least one more run in later on.

On the plus side, the few runs I did manage over the past three weeks have been fairly good ones. I ran Fall Creek again, and again set a new PR for the big loop course I run there. And, my run/hike up in the Trinity Alps was really nice. It turned out to be a great weekend to camp, though it was a little hot during the days; the evenings around the campfire just couldn't be beat for all-around comfort - t-shirt weather until 10pm! I did one run while up there, to the Upper and Lower Canyon Creek Lakes.

That was a fun run/hike. I didn't time it, and to the best I have been able to guess, it was somewhere between 16 - 18 miles. Not sure what the elevation profile looks like - I'll have to get the map program out later to see if I can figure that out. It's times like these that I really wish I could find my GPS receiver. It would be great to be able to have the route and elevation data from it for running.

I took my time going up, stopping a few times to take a few pics, check out some areas along the trail (I had ulterior motives for being up in the area, mainly scouting for possible future hunting and fishing trips). While there are some nice areas for fishing, I think it's a little to popular with hikers to be good or safe for hunting.

Here is a shot of me at Lower Canyon Creek Lake:



There are lots of good trails up in this area of California. If you like to camp, fish, hike, backpack, hunt, or mountain bike - you may want to pay a visit to the Trinity Alps or the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. I love that whole area and have done a lot of camping there over the years. And in case you needed additional motivation, it is home to Big Foot! From the looks of the plaster cast of Bigfoot's footprint, it seems as though Bigfoot is a proponent of barefoot running. Hmmmm...

2 comments:

Adelyn said...

just think of the last 3 weeks as a good taper :) That's a great shot of you! Such a beautiful backdrop.

Look forward to hopefully meeting you at the start this weekend!

Are you excited? :D

Andy B. said...

Hi Addy,

I would be a lot more excited if I weren't sick! I'm bummed a little, cause if this doesn't clear up in a day or so, I may not run. Don't want to make things worse and be out a week just for a run. We'll see.

No matter, I'll be up there Sunday as Lori is running the 17k and I want to be there for her. And I am looking forward to hopefully meeting you, too. And your dad.

Your running lately has been really impressive, and Sunday should be a good training run for your DC 50 coming up. Hooray for you!

Have a great rest of the week, and see you at Big Basin.