Canyon Meadows Trail Half

When there is a race in my backyard, I can't help but run it. Last weekend there were two. First was the Oakland Running Festival, which is a nice course through Oakland and it's various neighborhoods, much like the one I run for many of my long runs. The second was in one of my favorite places for trail runs, Redwood Regional Park. I probably should have run the ORF, as it would have been a great way to assess my fitness and speed for Boston.

But I do love a good trail run. Plus the Canyon Meadows was less than half the price of the ORF. So, a trail running we will go. Broski came down to join the fun; he really is a glutton for punishment. Especially since the first thing we did was go up a really steep hill.

A while back, I had taken Broski to Redwood to show him my normal running route, and we had started up the same hill and ended up turning around because it was seemingly endless! Well, I learned that it was not literally endless, but it was almost a mile long!

Last year I ran the Cinderella Trail run in the same area. It was fun to look back and remind myself of where I was in the trail racing realm last year at this time. This race was different than the Cinderella though, although several of the trails were the same.

The details: The race started at 8 a.m. The weather was in the low 40s. According to the race director, there were about 400 runners. The distances were 5 miles, half marathon, 30k, marathon and 50k. I wore my new Montrail trail running shoes (my first pair of trail shoes ever).

The course: This was a great course for me because it encompassed many of the trails I regularly run on, plus it added a few that I had never tried before. It went on both the West Ridge and the East Ridge, both of which were part of the Skyline 50. The West Ridge was also on the Cinderella last year. Both trails are in the sun part of the time, and can get hot, but luckily that wasn't an issue this time. The course was a loop course for the half. If you were running the 50k, it was 2 loops of the half plus an additional 5 mile loop.

The pros: *This course wasn't too hilly. I know, you are probably laughing, but for instance, the Cinderella or the Golden Gate races have a about 2500 ft gain,  the Canyon Meadows is only 1500 ft. It makes a difference! *Once again, everyone was very friendly. I love trail runners! In fact, I even got recognized by a blog reader (actually she recognized Broski's shirt from the last race recap)! *There was beer at the end. GOOD beer. *The chip timers are on the race bib. No more shoe chips here (or written down times. Remember that?). *The new trail shoes were good! No blisters, no rubbing! *I got to talk to Broski for two hours. And by this, I mean I talked while he ran alongside me. There is no better listener than one that is stuck with you for two hours!

 Broski + beard / Me + beer

The cons: *The course was short OR everyone's GPS was messed up. Everyone I talked to said their GPS was showing about a mile short. I would like to think I just ran fast, but I am not so sure. However, I was assured several times that the director walks the course with a Rolatape surveyor's wheel. *The finish line snack area was also a bit confusing. It was a mess of half marathoners who were finished as well as marathon and 50k people passing through. If I were running the 50, I would be a bit annoyed by the halfers, who were kind of in the way. *Your shirt color is dependent on your size! We were talking about how maybe next time we should pick a different size, since Broski keeps getting yellow shirts (I have been lucky with pink and blue the last two times).

The race: Like I said, the first mile was uphill, and was about a 500 ft elevation gain. It was hard. Then the course leveled out a bit and got a bit easier. My fastest mile was actually mile two. I must have been really glad that hill was over! Broski and I split up because he went to water the plants and when I went to do the same, I encountered a bunch of poison oak. I would rather hold it then get that again! For the next mile and a half I ran on my own. Then I stopped at a real toilet and Broski caught back up.

The next few miles were varied up and downs and then the second half of the race was mostly downhill. You would think this is a good thing, but if the downhills are really steep, it can actually be harder. Luckily a lot of this race was on fire trails, so there is space to pass people, because going downhill on a single track trail and trying to pass the person in front of you without bumping into them or knocking them over can get pretty hard sometimes.  As you can see, there was a pretty steep downhill around mile 8. The last few miles were the best because they went through the redwoods (the upper ridges are more Eucalyptus) on the Stream Trail and are nice and dark and ferny, which I really like.

The stream trail

We finished in 2:09. Actually I finished in 2:09. Broski was annoyed that his Garmin didn't say 13.1, so he turned around and did a quick out and back to make up the miles. I tried to tell him that with trail races it doesn't matter, but he is determined to get his true half marathon in! So be it.

2:09 / Garmin reading = 12.4 miles / ave 10:03 pace
If it is a true half, the average would be 9:50 pace.

Afterward, we went to brunch, where we ate a mountain of food, and then Broski drove home and passed out on the couch. I know this because Mrs. Broski sent me a photo of him when she got home from work. Maybe I will post it here later. (just kidding!) I guess we wore him out. 

The verdict?  I would run this race again, although I prefer the Cinderella, because it goes on my favorite trail, the French Trail. I would still run another Coastal race (and will!) but all of them have been short, and I am not certain that they can all be blamed on the Garmin!

As a side note, Broski asked me if, instead of driving to Easter dinner, I wanted to run with him from his house to the in-laws place (17 miles). I think he's got a bit of the crazy in him! Clearly he's been hanging out with me for too long! Or listening to me too much during trails runs.

Have you ever been the catalyst for someone's crazy hobby? What are you doing for Easter?

Currently: March

Current Book - Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls -- I loved The Glass Castle and am so far liking this book, even though it's totally different.

Current Drink - Iced Tea. Instead of having another cup of coffee at work, I have been making a glass of iced tea. I always have plenty of lemons on hand! 

Current Excitement - Boston! It's all happening!

Current fashion trend - Pajamas. When I am not in running clothes or work clothes, I am mostly in my pajamas. 

Current Favorite Blog/Website - This site, and others like it. I am itching to travel! 

Current Garden Item - I have radishes! The other things are still just tiny sprouts, but the radishes are taking off!
 

Current Love - Mangoes. I even eat them at work and that is not a pretty thing.

Current Food - Everything I can get my hands on, as I stated yesterday. 

Current Indulgence - Pirates Booty

Currently Pondering - Why half of my answers are about food. And of course, what I am going to have for dinner tonight. I did a really bad job grocery shopping this weekend, only getting enough to tide me over for a couple days. Not that I don't have a ton of pantry items that I can work from, but I am low on veggies. 

Current Mood - Tired. I didn't sleep well on Sunday night and that, coupled with early mornings for the last...um...well forever, as well as later nights, have made for one tired pup. I have been averaging about 6.5 - 7 hours of sleep lately and that is not enough. 

Current New Find - This popcorn from Trader Joes. In fact, it was so good that my roommate ate it all before I could have more than a handful! 

Current Outfit - Besides pajamas, it's mostly been jeans and tank top/t-shirt 

Current Peeve - On Monday, I went early to spin class so I can get a bike in front of the fan. This lady comes in late and MOVES the fan, so it will blow on her! Luckily the guy next to me, who had also gotten in early for the same reason, has bigger balls than me and he went and moved it back and scolded her. 

 

Current Song - Two Door Cinema Club -- Something Good Can Work

 

 
Current Triumph - Broski's attitude about running. I am not sure if it's actually a "triumph", but he is getting more and more into it. Just watch, before we know it, he will be running circles around me at the next marathon. 

 

Current TV Show - Homeland. I have only seen a couple of them, but so far they are good.

Current Wish-List - More time! The weekends are flying by and actually, the weeks are as well! 

Currently Delaying - Finishing my taxes. I did them but then CA wouldn't let me e-file and so I printed it out but just haven't sent it. I have absolutely no good reason not to do it; I am just lazy. 

What have you been up to lately? What are you delaying? Are there any triumphs in your life?

Will Work For Food

I am excited to say that I got through Hell and high mileage, that is, the high mileage week that was last week. I ended up running 6 days, which isn't ideal, but it included two short 3 - 4 mile lunch time runs, which are a great way to get out of the office and see the gorgeous weather. So those ones don't even count as work.

View on my lunchtime run.

However, Saturday WAS work. 20 miles on an already dehydrated body on a hot day was not the best thing I've ever done, or the smartest. I blame Roger, the 70 year old man who kept filling my wine glass on Friday night. You have to watch out for those old guys; they are sneaky. The more wine he poured, the more I lamented about how I was going to be hurting the next day (as I cheerfully swilled wine from the glass). When I woke up on Saturday not quite feeling 100%, I knew I only had myself to blame (and Roger, of course) so I bucked it up and put on my shoes.

The run was long and hard. The end. Normally afterward, I am Starvin' Marvin, but this time, I was only so, SO thirsty. It carried over into the next day, when I ran a trail race (100% better than Saturday's run! Recap later!) and had brunch afterward but wasn't really that hungry otherwise.

Then Monday rolled around, and the beast reared it's ugly head and screamed, "feed me, Seymour"! This happens quite a lot, where my rest day is also my "eat everything you can put your hands on day". So I thought I would do a quick rundown of what I usually eat on a normal day when I training (actually this list is what I ate on Monday, March 25).

5:45 a.m.: Steel cut oats with banana, sunflower seeds, almond milk, chia seeds, flax and coconut. Coffee.

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.: 2 - 3 cups of coffee

9:30 a.m. (or 10 if I can hold off): Apple, some almonds

11:15 a.m. Salad with apples, grapes, almonds, sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans, quinoa and spinach

Breakfast salad?

12:00 p.m.: Lentils with rice

1:30 p.m.: Brussel sprouts with sesame oil and salt (lots of salt)

2:30 - 3:30 p.m.: Orange, carrots, celery with hummus, grapes, a mango, pirates booty, nori/seaweed snacks, trail mix (and anything else I have in my secret snack drawer at work), an applesauce

5:30 p.m.: more brussel sprouts, more lentils and rice (I was eating up left overs)

7:30 p.m. Corn chips with homemade "red pepper & hummus salsa", cous-cous salad with asparagus and orange bell peppers

8:30 p.m.: Greek yogurt with honey

In looking over this list, I realize a couple of things. One, I didn't really eat a lot, just a lot of times per day! Also, I didn't eat any meat, which is fairly common for me anyway. Also, the breakfast salad would have been really good with Craisins. Just saying.

Do you ever have days where you just can't stop snacking? What is your weakness / your go-to snack food? Are you hungrier the day of a big activity, the day after or both?

Live it Up Like a Local

I used to travel a lot. If you are a new reader, you probably didn't know that. You were probably wondering why this blog is called Travel Spot. You may have thought it was because I do a lot of foot travel. Well, that is true; I do, but I used to actually go to other countries, backpack on back and hiking boots (or flip flops) at the ready.

It's been been almost two years since I have been out of the country. That is a sad state of affairs.

I have friends that travel sometimes. They stay in 5 star hotels and do package tours and all-inclusive vacations. I am not saying that this is a bad thing; it's just not my style. Okay, sure, I like to put on a fluffy robe and lounge on a king sized white pillow top bed just as much as the rest of them. However, I also like to go to countries and experience them the local way. I like to ride the bus with the chickens and stay in the rattan hut with the mosquito nets. I like to find my own way. For me that is part of the fun.

Albania

When I went to the Himalayas to hike to Everest Base Camp, the fun part was slogging up the mountains (no, really!) with my pack on my back, making my own way up the mountain, without help. When I got to the next place to lay my head, I felt pride and a sense of adventure because I had done it myself. There were times when Mr. Lovely and I were all alone, without another soul around, and we could admire the majestic mountains and the endless peaks without a bunch of fellow tour members. That's how I like it. It may be more work to get there on my own, but in the end, it is totally worth it.

Nepal

I have stayed in a wide variety of accommodations. Sure, sometimes the low end route is pretty crappy. In India, I stayed in a mold infested room with mosquitoes keeping me awake all night, and it was not something I would like to repeat. I see no reason to subject myself to that! But I do like to experience some of the local flavor. Why go to Mexico if you are going to stay in an American hotel and eat American food? You may as well go to Newport Beach or Fort Lauderdale for that. 

India

I realize that everyone travels their own way. But what do you do when you are of one camp and your travel buddy is of another? A friend and I are trying to plan a vacation and she is one of the 5-star-hotel package-tour all-inclusive people. I want to get down and dirty, eat what the locals are eating, how they are eating it and I want to do what the locals do. This is difficult, as I don't want to spend $200+ for a hotel in a country where people make ten dollars a day.  She wants to stay in a place with fluffy robes and pillow top mattresses. She wants to be guided; I want to find my own way.

We are at an impasse. I ask you for help. What do you think we should do?

What camp are you in? Live it up? or Live like a local?

Living In Your Truth

Oscar de la Renta FW13

What does it mean to live in your truth? How do you find your truth in order to live it? So many people ask me how I came to find what I love and my only answer is my unwavering quest for the truth.

I don't know why I love fashion illustration as much as I do, I just know that it is the most fulfilling, genuine expression of myself. I know that even if nobody saw it as having any value, if no one cared to look, I would still need to paint these miraculous little glimpses into the world of fashion. Because to me, what I do, is like breathing. I couldn't live without doing it. Or at the very least, I wouldn't be contributing the best of me to the world around me (and frankly that's just as terrifying).

We can spend so much time getting caught up in the woulda/shoulda/coulda. But at the end of the day, if you are living in your truth, if you are following your heart, then you probably are exactly where you need to be right now.

If I have any regret in my life, it is the time I spent wasting second guessing myself. I've known all along what it was that I wanted to do but I worried too much about what others around me were doing too. Ultimately, fortune favors the bold, and I don't just mean monetarily. You have to be willing to take the risk, make the leap of faith, for a chance at the reward. I'm not sure I've even seen the reward of my risk yet but what I do know is that I'm grateful everyday that I'm living honestly with myself - who I want to be, who I'm meant to be.

You're probably wondering what any of this has to do with anything, maybe even specifically the look I painted for this post. Trust me, there is a connection ;) Oscar de la Renta, who happens to be one of my all time favorite designers, really took a risk this past season when he partnered with the dishonored John Galliano for his FW13 collection.

Oscar has a label with a tremendous amount of credibility. Taking Galliano under his wing, after he was very publicly ousted from Dior, could have been very damaging to his brand (fashion can be unforgiving after all). But instead of fearing the risk, he embraced an undeniable talent, and delivered one of the most evolved and breathtaking collections of his career. Living in his truth resulted in a beautifully transcendent expression of design and self.

I'm certainly not advocating taking lofty risks with your life, but more like walking away from what you know for the chance of something greater. Living an unfulfilled life to me seems like a much scarier fate.

Anyway my loves, I would be so interested to hear your thoughts on the topic of living in your truth. What does it mean to you? Wishing you an amazing week ahead.

Much love
Meag xx

Panic Station

Today I had one of those "oh s**t" moments, where I thought that the Boston Marathon was next weekend and I was worried that I hadn't even picked out my throwaway sweatshirt yet. I also haven't ordered another pouch for my running belt (my current one is falling apart). I thought, "darn it, now I am going to have to pay for two day shipping on Amazon".

Then I realized, not only is the marathon not next weekend, it's not even the weekend after that OR the one after that. It's three weeks and three days away. Cue the panic.

I like to plan ahead. I lay out all my clothes and things a week beforehand and check them off my list (literally). Then I check to make sure I did not miss anything on the list. Then I check my bag again. I have found that this saves me running around at the last minute wondering what I have forgotten. It also saves me forgetting things like my toothbrush or my contacts. I hate feeling unprepared. I hate it. I feel a lot better when I have a nice tidy list and everything is all checked off.

However, I have this feeling that I am forgetting something, that I will forget something, or that I haven't trained enough (cue the laughter from all my non running work friends who think I am crazy when I run 6 miles even!). I know, its the taper madness, but really? I am not even done with my high mileage week yet! However, this week does mark the end of the high mileage. This week is my highest yet, and then comes the dreaded taper.

What will I do with myself when I am not running for several dozen  hours a week? Maybe I will take up the harp, or actually read a book this month. Probably I will spend more time at the gym, and by the time taper is over, my arms will look like this. You know, since I am supposed to be resting my legs.

source

**title inspired by this song

Is anyone you know running the Boston Marathon? Are you running the Boston Marathon? 

When you are leaving for a trip, do you pack beforehand? Have you ever felt like you are unprepared for something even when you were actually ready?

Happy Trails

Happy Spring everyone! I mentioned last week about how one of the things I love is trail running and what better time to do it than in the springtime? It is different than road running though. Instead of trying to go fast, you slow down a bit, take in the fresh air and look at the trees. It's out in nature and the surface is more giving and you can hear birds and see four legged creatures (and no legged creatures). There are three things that I like to remember when I am trail running that keep me going and remind me what it's all about. 

Home sweet home

Eat: This has a few different meanings. First of all, it's important to eat more during a trail run than a regular one. I am still working on this one myself, but it's important to get in more calories than you normally would. For a typical trail run, I tend to eat about twice as often as I do when I am on a road run. Second, when I am racing, I stop all of the aid stations and take the time to eat a few handfuls of food, instead of trying to do all my fueling while on the run. However, if you are running a race, check to see what the race will have in the way of food, because what you have trained with may not be available. And we all know that you don't want to try something for the first time during a race, especially if it's an Ultra!

Some suggested foods that work for me: potatoes and salt, gummy bears, any and all fruit, baby food / applesauce, honey stinger chews / waffles, chocolate raspberry roctane.

Fern run

Drink: Every time I get to an uphill, I slow down (or walk) and drink. Even when I am only running a few miles, I always carry water with me. Of course, in the woods, there is the added bonus of being able to use the bushes whenever you want, without having to worry about needing a port-a-potty (PS, when I did my last 50k, I did not use the bathroom once!), so drink up! I also finally broke down and got a hydration vest a few weeks ago and I am loving it!

Suggested drinks: I usually only use water, but sometimes I also use Nuun when I feel I need a bit of an extra boost.

Coastal Run

Be Merry: Talk to other people. When you stop at the aid stations during a race, talk to the volunteers. Look at the trees. Stop to take pictures. Trail running is fun! It's hiking at a bit of a quicker pace. You are not really in a hurry, so slow down and enjoy the scenery. 

Through the eucalyptus.

Do you hike or trail run? What is your favorite thing about being on the trails? What is your favorite trial snack?