The 100 Mile Club

03/14/2012

1 Comment

 
So I got this crazy idea for my 2012 New Years Resolution that I should try and run 100 miles a month, for 12 months. Therefore running 1200 miles in the year 2012… What the heck was I thinking? To show the loyal devotion of my running partners, Lori and Julie, they decided to do it with me. It really could have gone either way, they could’ve looked at me and told me how dumb I was, but no, they jumped on board.

January: month one. I failed, they succeeded.

Nice friends, stealing my New Years resolution and doing it better than me. Lori hit 116, Julie hit 111 and I was at 75. I can blame the flu for ruining one whole weekend of running, and another head cold for 2 more days (excuses make me feel so much better about failing at something), but needless to say I failed. Haha. Better luck next month. 

So here we are February, month two. Lori hit 100 on February 24th. Five whole days before the end of the month. She really is a showoff.
Picture
Lori, Julie and I on a February run at the Cascades, taken at mile 5 of 8.5
And she has five kids, teaches power yoga, regular yoga, spinning, and an abs class. Hence the word showoff. Really, though, she is my hero and I want to be like her when I grow up. 

We decided to do a road run for Lori's 100 mile domination instead of trail for the sake of our schedules, and it was a 7 mile out and back from Jackson Street to the PAWS Animal Shelter. And we must’ve had our Wheaties for breakfast because we started out at what felt like a dead sprint. Once we got to Cemetery Hill we were put in check and settled into a slightly slower pace. I must say trail running has its perks, but so does the road. 

Here's why road running rocks:

1. You run way faster because there are people everywhere.

2. Honks and waves from people is like taking an electrolyte gel pack because it’s instant motivation. Especially when they are your friends, as they become the crazy honkers and yellers that verge on the edge of causing car accidents. I love Quincy.
3. You don’t have to worry about tripping and falling on rocks, sticks or imaginary whatevers that trip you. Which by now you might realize I am very good at. And I did it again on a trail run Saturday 2/25.

4. Your chances of getting eaten by a mountain lion are a lot slimmer. And if you do, I would hope someone would stop and help. 

Julie and I hit our 100th mile on February 29th, talk about cutting it close. Thank you leap year! So now that I’ve bragged aboutLori I will brag on Julie, she has three kids and is our little speed demon. She leads us on most of your runs and that skinny little girl can boogie. She claims that she is not fast. That means she is either humble or in total denial.

We started running together close to a year ago and I can honestly say we have logged close to 1,000 miles together since July 2010. We discovered trail running together and that was like having a light bulb go off. We were hooked.

Twas a beautiful autumn afternoon at the Bucks Creek Trail in October and right as we finished the run (and we were on cloud 9 million) we ran into Lori. The rest is history.  Lori is our distance girl, always pushing to run further and Julie makes sure we stay fast and I just follow them like a lost puppy.

As for hitting our 100 miles, it was snowing. Not light, fluffy flakes but the heavy, icy flakes that were pelting us in the eyes. As we ran the 1st 20 feet, we decided that this was dumb, but decided to continue on, as it was better than a treadmill.

I still would argue that decision, ha! I think people thought we were a little crazy. I concur.

We did a nice little road run, up around Nugget Lane and to the top of Cemetary Hill and back to the gym for our abs class taught by Lori.

Of course, after nearly one year of pretty consistent running, I injured myself at mile 101. Hello Alanis Morrisette, here’s a new line for your song “Isn’t it Ironic?” Right before we got to the gym I felt a pop in my lower leg that stopped me dead in the middle of a stride and I hobbled to the gym, in the snow, pissed off.

Please oh, please, let this heal quickly as I may go insane without my running to ground me.

Until next time, I'll be sitting impatiently while waiting to heal…
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Bruce (our loyal doggy running partner), Lori and Julie headed down Cemetary Hill at mile 5.5 of 7.
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Julie and I in front of the Courthouse, mile 6.5 of 7. Lovin the spring time weather!
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Cascades Loop Trail

02/21/2012

7 Comments

 
I am here to tell you about this amazing little mountain town of Quincy that I live, work, play and run in. I am a runner.  Well at least I think I am a runner until I go online and read about these people that run 100 miles a week and then I feel like such a wannabe. I usually run between 20-30 miles a week, preferably all on trail, but sometimes it’s the road and that works too.

One of my favorite trail runs is the Cascades loop that's about 8 miles (depending on where you start from). I ran this loop on 2/4/2012 and of course my imapmyrun app didn’t save the workout because of some techincal glitch. But if you have a fancy smart phone and are a runner, this app is amazing.  

The app records your run, mapping the route, elevation change, pace and time. You can check out the website, www.MapMyRun.com and you can search for runs...anywhere in the world. Make sure when you're searching for runs in Quincy, that you click the "GPS Tracks" button to get all of them. I circled it in the image to the right so you can see it.
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Cascades Loop Trail starting from Chandler Rd

There were 7 of us girls romping in the woods with 2 dogs. One of the dogs was a tad bit outta shape and I was worried he might keel over. His name is Tank…enough said.  But we all made it, no injuries, and only 3 of the girls got lost on a detour that actually ended up right at the finish. Thank you GPS! 

Sticking together and knowing where you are when running out in the woods is a good idea as it is easy to get lost on all those Southpark trails. Not to mention we are in mountain lion country and they like to eat big things. Like people. My trusty pink pepper spray is my safety blanket (that will probably not do anything at all when I am attacked by a mountain lion from behind). Oh and I carry a whistle, that will really scare them off, haha. (For the record, no one has ever been killed in Plumas County by a mountain lion.)

So this run starts out mainly flat for the first 2.5 miles, which you run along Spanish Creek passing over 2 bridges along the Cascades Waterfalls. It is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. As I have learned as a trail runner, if you want to look at the scenery STOP and look. If you look while running you will trip and fall. I have the scars to prove it. Watch your step through here as there are some sketchy spots that have about a 30 foot fall into the raging river. Be careful.  
After the first 2.5 miles, you hit the lovely ‘switchback’ (This is a good place to turn around for a nice 5 mile out and back).  It’s a doozie of a hill and I walk it. I think you would pretty much have to be superman, or really dumb, to run up it. It is hardcore. But then once you get to the top it’s a nice 1 mile descent. I love running down hills, I feel SO fast! When we are running downhill that's when we really start talking about all the runs we are going to do, like the Prison Hill Half Marathon. But when we are running uphill we say how hard and stupid running is and that Prison Hill sounds like a dumb idea. You see the battle here? 
 
You will start to see quite a few turn options on trails, and let me tell you there are so many out there and they are beautiful, fun and hilly. I’m sure they all have names, but my running partners and I have named them for ourselves, Pretty View, Manzanita, Cutoff, Monument Hill, Dead Car and Big Tree T.... I recently ran into a
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Julie and Lori - my running peeps - at the start of the Cascades Trail
mountain biker and found out most of those names can be compiled into one trail called Five Peaks, good to know! If you are feeling like you want an adventure start trying them out, its fun to explore new trails and see where you end up. Again, keeping in mind where you are so you don’t end up lost in the woods at dinner time.  
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One of the great views from the trail
Any who, after the nice 1 mile descent, you take a right at the first ‘T’ you come to, where there is a big tree with a pink trail marker ribbon on it. That right leads you up a gradual hill for another mile. Stay on the main road, as there are more trail options. Stay left past the big puddle which will take you to the Dead Car. An actual old beater car randomly placed in the woods, that always creeps me out. Stay going uphill, until you cross a road and come to a big 'T', turn left. Then it’s the downhill stretch back to the Old Keddie highway and your car. Hallelujah!  

Throughout this entire trail there are some great views. I always have to stop, take it in and appreciate where I live. I am thankful that I can run, and get to run in such a beautiful area.    

Until next time, gone runnin....
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