Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

I hadn't decided on my running plans for the day when I woke up this morning, but after looking out the window I decided that Corner Canyon was my best option if I wanted to run trails. It's nice to stay as close to civilization as possible when the weather looks like it could get nasty.

I ran up Hog Hollow, down Ghost Falls, and up Clark's. There was some harsh wind on the initial climb, and some treacherous patches of ice on all of the descents, but it was a good run on the balance. I didn't see a single person until I topped out on Clark's and found two hikers looking at the map. I don't think I've ever seen those trails so empty.

Today was my second run in the MT110s. I'll need more time in them before I can pass final judgment, but so far I'd say that despite a few flaws, they're easily the best trail shoes I've ever worn. Thanks to these and the Minimus Road, it looks like I won't be jumping on the Altra bandwagon anytime soon. My apologies to the local brand.

PM: I went out for a late 1.6 miles, just to see if I can get back in the habit of the occasional double. I ran short because I was tired and sore. I ran 1.6 instead of 1.5 because I like seeing round numbers for my mileage.

Four miles on the treadmill at the gym, mostly easy, with one at 6:30.

Three miles at the gym. The middle one was at 14:00 (finishing faster) on the 15% grade. The miles on either end were pretty mellow. 

Great Clippers game tonight. Those guys are on a tear. 

It goes without saying that I was on the treadmill again tonight. It felt pretty good to run on the incline last night, so I decided to do it again today. I ran two miles at about 15:00 on the 15 percent grade, with an easy mile on either end to warm up and cool down. I'll take it pretty easy tomorrow, because Fridays are my days with the least time, and with any luck I'll be on the trails on Saturday. Even if that means slogging through a foot of snow. 

One very easy mile just to keep the legs moving.

Grades came out today, and surprisingly (given everything going on last semester) they didn't suck. In fact, they in terms of GPA they were my best yet, although I did lose one place in the class ranking. I'm still pretty pleased with the results, so I'll celebrate with a long run tomorrow. 

As of today, I'm 0 for 2 on Crockett's canals loop. 

My first attempt was about two years ago--you can read about it here.  

Anyways, I decided yesterday to celebrate grades from last semester with a long run. Jun had mentioned that he was looking to go long, so I asked him if he was interested in joining me. He was, so we made plans to meet at the start near Camp Williams at 6:30. Since weather was a concern, we decided we would each look out the window at our houses before we left. If either of us saw something troubling, we agreed to call the other person and abort the mission.

So of course, when Jun told me it was windy and rainy at his house this morning, we abandoned the plan and decided to meet at the start anyway. When we got there, the wind was blowing in our favor, and the only precipitation was a light drizzle, so we decided to have a go at it.

Someone built a fence across the canal road right at the beginning, so we had to crawl under it, but other than that there were no obstructions along the route. And I should mention that this really is a unique route--essentially, it's a dirt road through farmland that happens to be right in the middle of a city. Along the way, we saw horses, geese, donkeys, and even a herd of bison (including a very large albino). If I hadn't been expecting rain, I would have brought a camera.

Anyways, we set into a mellow pace and arrived at the turnaround with no problem (other than my taking about 6 pee breaks in the first hour). After a quick stop at Maverick we headed south, and the weather quickly joined us. The wind and the rain picked up dramatically, and soon we were soaked to the core. 

I actually felt much better than I usually do under similar circumstances, and I think I would have been fine all the way back to the car. But just because I could didn't mean I wanted to, so when I started to notice that Jun was looking like he was in bad shape I let him know that I wouldn't be offended if we bailed early, and then I reminded him continually. Eventually he succumbed to the power of suggestion, and we retreated to the shelter of a Napa Auto Parts on 12300 south and called for a ride. 

It's a great route--one of these days I'll make it through the whole thing.