One week after our whirlwind trip up to run TrailFactor with Brad and Megan, Laura and I got to have yet ANOTHER friend meetup, but this time it was in our ‘hood. Linnea Marie was in town to visit family and we jumped at the opportunity to share one of our most beloved local trails: the Western States course!
We pried ourselves out of bed at 4, pulled ourselves together and headed over to pick her up. When we got there it was my favorite time of day, just when the morning air begins to lighten a little with potential for the day.
We chatted all the way up to Foresthill, where we met another friend who’s training for the big race, as well as a couple more familiar locals shooting for an umpteenth finish at WSER.
We headed out and I immediately felt the deep connection to the mountain which always colors these runs. The air was crisp, the trail was beautiful, and the company was good. What more could you ask for?
It was fun cruising down to the creek crossings and trotting up to Michigan Bluff, then down again and partway up to the water pump. We wanted to at least hit 4,000′ of climb and it looked like that section would have no problem delivering.
The one thing I had forgotten is how long the ascents and descents are. In that area, you can expect to climb for a solid hour at many points in the trail!
Here’s an elevation profile from the run:
All in all, it held about 5,200′ of vertical, awesome training!
At the end of the run we all guzzled ice cold drinks. It was HOT out there!
It was really great to get together for this run. Linnea is a warm person and is extremely interesting to converse with. It was also nice to sort of experience the wonder of running that trail through the fresh eyes of a first timer.
Linnea has since kicked a fair amount of ass, running wise. She ran a 50M race this last weekend, then volunteered for the other runners!
Laura and I are looking forward to this weekend, when we get to head down to San Francisco with a certain saucy ultrarunner and tackle the Marin Ultra Challenge 50 Miler. It looked as if my start date for my new job would fall immediately after the race, which would mean I’d back out and start the new job fresh (lots of climbing, etc). Now, though, it looks more like it’s been pushed back a week. I should be fully recovered by then; these days recovery is going much better and faster. At the very least I’ll crew and pace, while Laura and Megan show the Bay Area what they can do!!!
Run happy and healthy, people.
Kynan
afruitcocktail 