Trail Run Fun

I had a great run yesterday, and a very different experience from usual.  Tom and I went "off the hill" down to warmer weather and no snow in Auburn.  We met up with our friend D for an afternoon of activity.  We met up at Grizzly House Trailhead, preparing to set out along the Foresthill Divide trail, which D knew but was a brand new place for me and Tom.  

The first order of business was checking out each other's outfits, for the "theme" of the day was to dress in the most obnoxious gear we had.  The photo is a little less than stunning (must start carrying my camera -- not the phone -- if I'm going to continue with this blogging business), but D and I certainly are.  She is completely mismatched in some kind of swirly top, a *bolero* for crying out loud, and what looked like pajama bottoms, topped off with funky socks.  I've gone all Euro, and have some nasty color combinations of yellow, orange and pink.  Tom had mismatched gloves, and that's it.

So we got all geared up . . . Tom and D were on their mt bikes, and I was on my feet.  The whole journey was really fantastic, through groves and groves of live oaks, and constant elevation changes.  I thought Tom and D were just going to go ahead, and we'd meet up again at the end, but they waited for me on various parts of the trail, which made it really cool for me (are they around this corner?  here?  there?  the next?), who is so used to just running alone.  I'd stop, have a gel or a water and a laugh, then we'd all be off again.  Another lousy photo, but you can see them bombing along the trail ahead of me.

Anyhow, there was lots of elevation changes and some fancy footwork (but I only fell 3 times!  No blood, even!), and that wonderful Garmin just kept track of everything!  1828 feet of elevation gain over 10.2 miles.  It was challenging for me, but I surprised myself by running almost all of it.  I took a few walking steps here and there along the steepest of climbs, but mostly ran it -- if very slowly.  This is about 3/4 into it, and here I am red-faced and sweaty, starting to get a little tired.
All in all, it was a great run and I felt good after it was finished -- no gimping pain or back problems or muscle soreness at all.  I think I'm starting to get used to these long distances.  I want to do a 15 miler sometime soon.

10.2 miles, 14:00 pace