Taking the lead

It ocurred to me that running with a partner is like dancing and one person has to lead or you'll end up stepping on each other's feet. I prefer to lead since most of my fellow runners seem to either run too fast, or too slow for my taste or at an uneven pace. I can run mile splits within a second of each other on flat courses. Of course if you're going to lead you better know where you're going so I try to map my trail runs out in advance so I don't get my friends lost.

Solvang Half Marathon

Solvang is my kind of town. Yes, I know you're thinking what's a guy gonna like about a little dinky town with a bunch of curio shops. Well how's about 5 bakeries within 5 minutes walk of the finish line. Now you're talking danish.The expo consisted of registration, t-shirt pickup and two vendor booths, one for a new kind of herbal water from Austria and another for wine tasting.
Meredith and I ate at Pea Soup Anderson's on Saturday night before the race. It was the first time we'd eaten at this classic restaurant and the food was good and the atmosphere brought back memories of small town life from Long Island.

I had the bright idea or so it seemed at the time to run the four miles from my hotel in Buellton into Solvang to pick up the pre-race bus to the start in order to let Meredith sleep in and keep the car so she could drive into town at nine and meet me at the finish. What I hadn't figured out was that it would be pitch black at five a.m. when I left the hotel. I ran the first mile on the sidewalk then I had to switch to the shoulder. I enjoyed the warm up and I was serenaded by roosters and peacocks along the way but it was a little scary to run on the shoulder in the pitch black.

I arrived in town in time to grab a huge coffee cake at one of the aforementioned bakeries and then hopped on one of the last busses to the start. For a race we had a very laid back crowd. Just about everyone I spotted was there for the scenery, nary a club jersey to be seen amidst the hordes of ambling pre-race runners.

The weather was 50 ish and cloudy perfect for running and I ran the race as a training run keeping my heart rate below 135 the whole way for a time of 2:05. The first 5 miles were flat to rolling until we hit the one significant climb called cork screw hill at mile 6 and the last 5 miles were all downhill including some quad burning decents.

All in all it was a well organized race and good time. Post race they had some wine tasting but I opted to head back to my hotel for a shower and I caught the end of the continental breakfast before the 11am checkout.

WTRS 21k

What a beautiful day we had on Saturday. I ended up running and mostly talking the whole race to Eric L. of OCTR. We drove up together with three other OCTR crew members, Skip at the wheel and Nattie and Bei. The other three race together as well. I'm a bit sore today after the run, even though we didn't race and we walked most of the uphill and some of the downhill. We stopped for a picture and Doug was kind enough to stop and frame us for posterity. I wore my IT band strap as a precautionary measure to ward off the IT devil I sometimes struggle with on runs with major downhill sections.

Shoreline Finishers

Yours truly along with Linda and Tonson after the race. Look at those beautiful medals.

Midweek update

It felt so good to be back on the trails. I led some of the OCTR group on a run at Aliso Woods up Cholla and down Rock-it on Saturday. This Saturday I'm running the final race in the Winter Trail Series up at Blue Jay. My running is slowly coming around as I ease my mileage back up. Last week I ran 27 and this week will be high 30's. I also signed up for the La Jolla Half on April 22 and the Santa Barbara Half which is actually in Solvang on May 13.

Trail run this Saturday

I'm looking forward to my first trail run since mid December. I stayed off the trials while I was getting ready for Shoreline and recovering and my first trail run will be this Saterday at Aliso Woods with OCTR. Those kooks wanted to start at 6:30 but I convinced them to hold back until 7:30.

Twenty One

For my oldest daughter on her recent birthday.

Twenty One

On this day that you turn twenty plus one
A third of your life under California sun
My wish for you is a life free of toil
With love in abundance in a home filled with joy

Chorus

When feelings get hurt
And we fall out of touch
Remember we still love
Our daughters very much

The lessons I’ve learned are many from you
How to take on a challenge and see a job through
To look at myself and try not to place fault
Every dish tastes just fine if you add enough salt

Bridge

Will it all turn out fine
Or all be for naught
I can’t read your mind
To get at your thoughts

They say time is a teacher who makes us wait to know
Its lesson is in the stillness after a strong wind has blown
And they say time can heal wounds from the past
And the future is coming, it’s coming on fast

Chorus

When feelings get hurt
And we fall out of touch
Remember we still love
Our daughters very much


JsR 2-20-07