Bay to Bliss Tahoe Trail Run

It was an early morning for me as Abbey and I headed up to Tahoe for a race- one that we'd been drooling over since we read Gretchen's blog post of this event last year. Seriously, check out her pictures (I decided not to run with my camera, and she's a WAY better photographer than I am anyway). I ran just over 7 miles in my new Vibrams at the Bay to Bliss Emerald Bay Trail Run- I am determined to keep running and be healthy, and so far these shoes have proven their worth! Yes I developed some gnarly blisters, but my knee and back were in great shape after the race- and that's exactly what I was hoping for with this new "barefoot" technique. I'll take blisters any day over a pain-filled knee! It was a beautiful cool morning for a run (temp. in the 50s), with a steep downhill jog to the start line. Which we soon discovered was the first hill of the race. As the race director was giving us the countdown, the wind whipped up in a flurry of pine needles exactly one minute until go time. It settled back down again with 15 seconds to start, and then the rain picked up instead. A light, but cold drizzle that kept us cool on that climb. Looking out to our right a dazzling sight met our eyes- we could see a double rainbow through the trees, with its end touching the lake. Only 2 minutes in and already I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera! But ultimately I think it was best to leave it behind as I had to watch the trail extra carefully for rocks and roots since there wasn't much between my feet and the dirt. Even though I held back on the speed, I felt super agile with my extra grippy and flexible soles and found myself leaping up onto rocks and bouncing over fallen tree trunks. The first half hour passed in a blink of greenery and sparkling water below me, and then the trail became hilly again with steep stone steps to navigate. But by the hour mark, the pads of my forefoot (feet) were feeling very sensitive and every every pebble was making itself known to me. This might not have been the best idea to double the distance I've run in these shoes all in one go, especially only 2 weeks after I got them, but I knew how much my knee would be hurting if I wore my regular running shoes. I took a deep breath and ignored my feet and enjoyed the twists and turns of the trail, the rocky outcroppings and the ever present turquoise bay to my right. I finished in 1:23, (8th in my age group) and didn't stop at the finish line on the beach but stripped off my shoes (saw the blisters! no wonder I was feeling every pebble!) and headed into the blissfully cool lake. Abbey finished in 1:09 and placed 3rd in her age group and scored a sweet medal- her first for an age group win! We lazed in the sand waiting for awards and the shuttle back to her Jeep, and I felt for the life of me that I was on a tropical island beach soaking up the sun. This is definitely a race I want to add to my list of yearly runs. And hopefully by next year I'll have gotten used to running "barefoot"!

Thank you Abbey for driving, and for the miles and miles of comforting, funny and stress-relieving conversation- I needed that as much as I needed this gorgeous run after an extra long work week!

Virtual Race: Global Warming, My Ass! 6.66 Mile Run

This morning I met my co-worker Abbey and a few of her running team mates in Carson City for a nice trail run up Ash Canyon. It was a beautiful sunny morning, if a little brisk with the wind blowing, but once we got going it was absolutely perfect weather for a run. I'm sorry to say that I'm not at the top of my game right now because of off and on lower back pain. Not sure what I did this time, but I'm working on the moves my physical therapist got me started on. I'm feeling pretty good, but because of my lack of quality trail runs lately I found myself getting winded pretty quickly on the uphill half of our run (which felt more like 2/3). It was a beautiful trail and I'd like to get another go at it, but maybe at a slower pace. Abbey and her team put in so many miles in these hills I swear they are part Bighorn Mountain Sheep!

I had a goal in mind: I signed up for a virtual race called "Global Warming, My Ass!" which is a 6.66 mile run any way we wanted to complete it before March 16th. I thought today would be a good day to knock this one off. However, it's a good thing that the host of this race isn't choosing prizes to give out to the winners because that's not a category I'd fall into with my slow-poke pace of an hour and a half. Yes, I did a lot of walking. But first things first. Here is a pic of us getting started: (Abbey is on the far right waving me forward- I'm the one in green)

The pavement only lasted for a few minutes and then we started in on the uphill. What a fantastic view of the mountains! And the sky was super blue today, which contrasted even more sharply with the white clouds floating overhead.

Here's a typical shot of Abbey's hair, wildly swinging in tempo with her pace. I don't know how she runs with her hair down- that would drive me batty.

As I mentioned earlier, I got winded pretty quickly on our uphill climb and the group had to wait for me several times. Here they are in their (unpanting) glory:

Here I am coming up the hill, in last place, with the valley below me~

And following Abbey- looks like she's giving me the skinny of the trail and its history...

And a glorious photo of the valley below us, and soooo much sky!

I learned that it is mandatory to "fly airplanes" around the hairpin turns going back down hill (here I was able to keep up! :)

And the rest of the group following suit~

Fellow TLD (Team Library Dork) runner Turi also made the trek down to Carson for this wonderful trail run, even if he already completed his 6.66 mile run (with a MUCH faster time). He also is going to run this 6.66 mile distance 6.66 times. Overkill or just super enthusiastic? He never does anything half-assed. :) Nice profile pic here~

And a photo op of Abbey, me and Turi:

And one final watercolor photo of my braided hair, just for fun~

Thanks to Abbey and her running team for including me in your Sunday run! And also to Razz for hosting the virtual run!

Kokanee Salmon Trail Half Marathon

This is my 4th half marathon this year (+ one at the beginning of February, one at the end of April, and one last month), but only my second ever trail half (I ran a very slow Fall Colors half with Turi last October). As it turns out, the kokanee salmon this race is named for are actually landlocked and as many as 50,000 fish swim up Taylor Creek for spawning. There were debates in the car as to where the salmon were coming from. I didn't get to see them, however, because of the blizzard we were driving through after the race. Yes, there was snow. But the skies cleared up just for the race, which gave us a fairy wonderland to run through, with the breeze blowing a sparkling dusting of crystallized snow as we passed under the branches of the great pines and redwoods. And this was not just any race: the entire Team Library Dork (Chris, Turi, Dave and I) made it for a reunion run after training as a full group only once this season. AND we were joined by fellow runners (and honorary members) Sarah (who is trying to qualify for Boston in her Biz Johnson Marathon next weekend!), my co-worker at the Carson City Library Abbey (running her first race- a half marathon! Yay Abbey!), and the infamous Gretchen who won the women's Lake Tahoe Marathon just a week ago in 80 degree weather! Thanks SO much for joining us Gretchen, even though you're still getting over the flu! Wouldn't have been the same without'cha. :) And front and center, our leader Hannah Banana. We'd follow her anywhere. From left to right: Gretchen, Dave, Turi, me, Chris, Abbey and Sarah.

Here is pre-race warm up shot:

And some of the best lookin' runners out there! (Excepting that dorky hat on my head, of course).

And Turi and I just before they started us off:

The race started at 9:00, which was good because it gave everyone time to get there in the snow. We started out on a bit of an incline, and I used this as a good excuse to warm up and go slow. Abbey and I ran together chatting back and forth as (my) breath allowed, and soon we found ourselves in a pack thinning out according to pace surrounded by the glory of the morning (thanks Turi for this photo!).

The time and first few miles flew quickly by, and after 45 minutes Abbey reminded me that it was time for a PowerGel. I thought it would be a good idea to walk for a brief minute because they are so thick and need water to get down. That turned out probably not to be the best idea, because my legs decided that they wanted to walk after that, and I lost Abbey around mile 5 or 6. I walked up a really big hill, but jammed back down, and got into a steady pace for the next few miles. Between miles 9 and 11, I started to get really tired, and realized that all the short training sessions on my treadmill with an occasional 7-8 mile trail run on the weekend was not sufficient training for the (granted, not huge) hills or distance of this race. I had a bit of a down moment at mile 11 because I was upset at myself for walking so much- I even forgot to enjoy the scenery because I was watching the trail and my feet. However at mile 12 I told myself to snap out of it- only one mile left, and it turned out to be all downhill. I powered through and ran a good hard last mile, and even passed a few people I'd been playing leap-frog with (I passed them when I ran, they passed me back when I walked- does that say something about my pace or what?). You can see how tired I am at the finish:

I came in last in our group (Abbey kicked my rear by about 10-15 minutes, and again, it was her first race! You rock Abbey!) But a finish is a finish! Dave even tricked me into drinking a sip of his icky beer (I guess it's called Ten Fidy) because I thought it was a Rock Star and could have used the boost. (Thanks again Turi for the photo!)

Here we are sitting around stretching and shivering waiting for awards. Hannah was dancing for us, and her grandma and uncle and mama Abby joined in the fun.

Dave ran the 5k and placed 3rd in his age group! He was awarded a bottle of local wine, complete with a hand painted Kokanee salmon- very cool and unique prize.

While we waited another hour and a half for Chris and Sarah to collect their winnings, they popped open a few bottles for those of us still standing around, and we warmed up a bit with wine in a Gatorade cup. Classic!

Standing and waiting for the sun to come back out, I caught sight of this peak through the trees- make you feel cold just looking at it? Worth it to click on this photo to enlarge it~

Finally they compiled the results for the half, and of course Chris won! Here he is collecting his salmon. Too bad more people didn't stick around to collect their winnings- there were a LOT of bottles and salmon left over, and they weren't just giving them away, as Gretchen and I found out. :) You had to earn those babies!

After a quick consensus, we decided that we weren't ready to part company as a group yet (although Abbey had to head back to her camp to pack up) and headed to The Brewery in South Lake for some excellent pizza (and a $10 glass of wine for me- my thanks to Abby-Chris's wife Abby, not Abbey who works with me- I've turned into a bit of a wine snob, and the inexpensive stuff I used to enjoy doesn't satisfy anymore). The only picture I got was of Turi making laughing at something that cutie-pie Hannah said:

It was a wonderful day spent with friends, and I was glad to be able to run, and partake in food and drink with them! Isn't that part of it- enjoying what we earn? I most certainly did! Thanks everyone for sharing this day with me~ :)

Hiking Mount Rose

This morning I finally got a chance to go for my yearly hike/run up to Mt. Rose summit, and fellow Carson City librarian Abbey came with me to share the morning beauty. It was the perfect morning- we got up to the trail head by 6:45 a.m. just as the sun was lighting up the trail, and we started on a brisk pace to warm up chatting happily. Here is our first view of the lake:

And a view of the canyon as it started to warm up with the sun:

I love this waterfall! I love the shapes of the rocks, all blocked and rectangular that split the water in a dozen different streams on its way to the stream below.

This next picture is from the back (west) side of Mt. Rose, of one of the 4 lakes I don't know the name of, just peeking over the next hill. :)

Abbey and I at the summit! (with Tahoe in the background)

And Pirate too! (This pic came out well, didn't it? Best close up I've ever taken of him!)

Finally, a nice easy-paced run finds us back at the beginning of the trail, showing 10.6 miles round trip. Thanks Abbey for sharing this beautiful day with me!