today i was perusing my training journal (from l.a.) and it just made me smile. i love that i was able to run all over the place for this marathon...
in november, i was up in redding for thanksgiving where i ran a 10K with my cousins. so much fun, but sooo cold! we ran along the sacramento river on a trail i've walked and hiked hundreds of times with my family. i've seen those banks flooded and lapping onto the trail itself with the river ferociously roaring by, and i've walked it in the summer when the sun burns down and dries up everything into a crisp (as my mom would say.) lots of memories...
right before christmas, in an attempt to get in a 18-miler before i flew out to idaho (where i knew i would not be running an 18-miler, ha!), i ran out in chino hills along a road dotted with track homes and christmas lights. that was surreal since that entire area was such a cow town when i was growing up down here. granted, it still is, but...anyway, it was so quiet that night as i ran...the houses were all lit up, giant absurd-looking snow globes sat in front yards, and a possum tottered like a tight-rope walker on a backyard fence. my favorite moment was as i was heading back, a hawk flew high in the sky above me and called out in his beautiful voice. amazing!
in january, we were up in monterey for a girls' weekend (which was a wonderful, amazing, have-to-go-back kind of trip) and because it was still marathon training time, i pulled myself out of bed to run along the coast up there. okay, so i didn't exactly pull myself out of bed since emma was up laughing and squealing at 5:30. thank you, emma! she was such a sweet wakeup call. :) that run was like a dream--it was so cold i couldn't feel my legs for the first hour and a half. granted, i was dressed like a silly southern californian in my shorts, but still...anyway, that run took me down the hill from our hotel along the wharf to cannery row. i love john steinbeck's words so much that being there--actually running past those ancient dilapidated buildings--filled me. i passed so many walkers and runners that morning--there seems to be a culture there where everyone gets up early to breathe in the moist, salty air. or maybe that's a angelino's interpretation. i could not get over how crisp and clean and pure the air was...the most amazing part of that run came next, though. monterey generously created trails that border the entire peninsula. i ran on a one-track trail amidst iceplant with the cobalt sea to my right. it was absolutely breathtaking...in the end i came back to the hotel, hopped over some ice on the sidewalk (i think it was 16 degrees or something with the wind chill!!! good grief!!) and walked into our warm hotel room. my sisters had brought up hot water and 2 oatmeal packets before going to breakfast with the munchkin...mmm, it's the simple things, isn't it?
