Learning to Run on Dirt: Morning Glory, Shooters x2

February 26, 2011

The hype for today revolved around running in the snow. Over the past two days weather persons told us we could see snow as low as 500 feet. I remember Dave Hovde specifically said Friday (paraphrasing) that the cold front coming down would be cold enough for snow at lower elevations, if the precipitation holds on long enough. It didn't. Last time it snowed in the town of San Luis I was flipping burgers at Franks. That was a long (ish) time ago. Anyway, that was the hype.

We, SLO Trail Runners, met at the bottom of Cuesta Grade on Old Stage Coach road for the second consecutive week. The meeting time, 6am, didn't allow for early views of the ridges so if it snowed up on top we wouldn't know it until we got there.

At 6:11am we left. I heavily anticipated a snow run. I even wore pants and a heavier type jacket. The pants I took off and the jacket I should have.

I'll just say it now...I was tired and I had a fairly crappy run. I can make all kinds of excuses. Bottom line is that it started off bad and as the day warmed up and continued moving forward, so did I. Now is when I would typically say, "it wasn't all that bad" and it really didn't finish "that bad" it just never reached the same ease as last week.

I had to hike most of Stage Coach Road. My heart rate and respiration struggled to an even rhythm. Brad felt a little weary of mashin' the hill too fast, recovering from an IT Band issue, so we hike/jogged all the way to the Morning Glory drop in.

No real snow on the grade. I felt sort of disappointed. Dusty took some great photos. On the day, he was the camera guy. If you enlarge the photo you can see some dusting on the hill behind us and some on the ground around us.

photo Dusty Davis, West Cuesta Ridge

This picture does the day justice. It is so beautiful this time of the day, that thinking about being miserable is just a complete waste of time. So, instead of misery, I just felt weak. Dusty's pictures pretty much say it all. So I will just line up this sequence and then let them speak for themselves.

on the way down MG (photo Dusty Davis)

how I felt at the top of Shooters (photo Dusty D)

sarcasm doesn't need words (photo Dusty D)

OK, so that was the run. To this point...then we did it again. I hadn't planned on doing a double on Morning Glory and Shooters. After all, we did this last Saturday and then I went out on Wednesday and did it by myself. Both times felt really good. This time, at this point, was different. I had to do it again. Why, I still can't really figure it out. Mostly because I need time on my feet. I will be running Way Too Cool 50K in a couple weeks and I need to have a decent four hour run with good climbs in it before the 'race' or run. I am not racing except against my 6 hour and 20 minute time I had in 2009. Goal is 5 hours +/- 15 minutes. So this run was important to say the least. I had thought about going back to the car and running later or heading back up Stage Coach Road. Neither of these ideas seemed really feasible, doable or should I just say that I knew as soon as I returned to the car my run was done.

I started running again, slowly and concentrating on keeping an even pace. It worked. Back to Morning Glory. We didn't waste any time and like last week I was given the front. This time I didn't haul ass, this time I tried to keep my feet underneath me and finish the run better than I had started. So we cruised down the mud-fest one more time. The four of us gently made our way to the bottom when 'snap' Brads ankle found a rock that bit back. He 'rolled' it pretty good. He said he was fine and we continued on our way. At the intersection of MG and Shooters I gave it a quick inspection. History: done this lots of times while playing volleyball and basketball competitively. No immediate swelling, noticeable limp or deformity. We briefly discussed it then Thomas advised me to get going so I did. He and Dusty caught up quick and then Thomas got and itch and I guess he had to scratch it. That guy flew up Shooters so fast it was kinda weird. Dusty fell behind Darting Thomas too and pretty soon there were four guys going up Shooter separately at the same time. It was still cold but this time my hands didn't freeze and I kept a better running pace. I guess you could say, the second half of the run was much better than the first. Which is good because I needed something worth writing home about!

At the top we admired the view, tried to figure out which 'sister' sits behind Cuesta College. Which I can now say is Cerro Remauldo, there is also a smaller one that doesn't have a name that sits under Chumash and these line up between Bishops Peak and Hollister. Really when you look at them in a row it is a stunning site. The view is a just reward for trying to run up Shooters. A clear day or not, rain, snow (HA!) mud on yer face, it just doesn't matter. The view makes everything good!

Back to reality. On the way down we ran into Scott Dubrul who was at the beginning of his five hour jaunt around the hills. Sounds like fun. He didn't need a jacket or gloves or even a beenie....hmmm this day had the promise of a snow run. Instead, we were treated to another gorgeous day of cool temps and sunshine. I think we are spoiled...maybe. The trails were in good condition, muddy but good, the weather held up and actually produced more sunshine than anything else...in fact it DID snow in San Luis Obispo, for about 45 seconds, then it turned to freezing rain then rain...then it went away and sunshine took over again. It was kinda cold though, I mean I did have to wear a jacket.

After all was said and done we ran over 18 miles. I am not sure of elevation, my guess is somewhere around 4,000 feet.
Take home, lesson learned, what I now know: Give a run a chance, you never know when it will turn good, even if you have to wait a couple hours. Be a plugger!

Lat week Dusty showed up with some really cool bright red shoes. Light weight and big treads!! Awesome, I like. So I looked into INOV8, the shoe company, and picked up some black ones...toe box too tight. So Friday I went to running warehouse and exchanged them for the Bright Red Ones!!! Honestly, I liked them. I even got to chat with the leading authority on shoes in this area, Erik Dube. Good talk, I learned a lot and it's fun to get to see people outside of running...even if they are at work. The shoes worked really well on muddy decents and didn't seem to move around or break tread when on the street. They fit my foot well, the heal counter didn't slip the toe box is a comfortable height and the construction helped with arch support (or I don't really need it). Anyway, the shoes and jacket and red strip on my shorts earned me 'Most Color Coordinated' on the day. A dubious honor that I will cherish for all time.
Next week easy and then WTC 50K!