This past weekend whooshed past at lightning speed leaving my house in a state of disaster. My body and mind are in a similar state.
20K Trail Run
On Saturday morning, I completed a tough 20K trail run in the hills of Oakland. The run was one of many trail runs put on my Pacific Coast Trail Run (PCTR). Saturday’s, Sequoia Trail Run took runners through the beautiful Joaquin Miller Park to Redwood Regional Park. Traveling through the redwoods, there was plenty of scenery to occupy the mind. I found, however, that I needed to stay completely focused on the course as it was full of loose rocks, raised tree roots, and even a fallen tree branch to hop over. And it was tough in a big way. I walked many of the up hill sections and some of the downhill portions as well. Factoring in an unknown helping of steep hills, I had set a time goal beforehand to break 2:30 and finished in 2:29:05!
My legs are still reminding me was an awesome challenge this run was. I ascend the stairs in my home on all fours, and have been making the descents by scooting down on my butt. The dogs have found this most interesting.
Running Blog Family Reunion
My big event for Sunday was a get-together with Brit and Mia. Thanks to the BlogHer Conference in San Francisco, Brit and her husband Scott were in the Bay Area for a visit. Thankfully, Brit felt that her trip would not be complete without a reunion with Mia and me. After many emails, we met at Gordon Biersh for dinner and a whole lot of laughs on so many topics – running being only one of the many.
As usual, I am forever amazed at the relationships that can be built across the blogging community. You would have thought that we’d known each other since childhood. Scott fit right into the mix, and seemed suspiciously informed on the contents of the many blogs out in the blogosphere. It turns out that he once had a blog himself which could possibly be revived in the coming weeks. *hint* I know for a fact that he has at least one story that you will not want to miss (especially if you are a triathlete).
Since our meet ups have amounted to only once a year, it was no surprise that we didn’t want to say good-bye. We were out in the patio area for a total of five hours. Even our server went home before us.
By the way, if you are wondering if we may have been talking about YOU, the answer is yes. We talked about EVERYBODY!.
Of course, when I hobbled off to the bathroom, they even talked about me.
Go Figure.
Yea! Mia, Brit and Juls in one pic!
How very cool the blog world is. If there no blogs, you would never have met.
I’m lovin’ it. :)
Is there a story to the hats? I mean, you live in CA, how cold could it be?!?
I’m glad you had such an awesome trail run – I’ve fallen in love with them. Hope you enjoy many more!
It’s nice to see multiple smiles :-) Awesome trail run too!!
Congratulations on breaking 2:30!!!
I think you just sort of know that everything is going to be just fine when you get together with bloggers you follow. It sounds like you all had a wonderful time!
You looked great, Juls, none the worse for wear by Sunday! And thanks for hanging out. It was TOO FUN. I miss you already. :)
And, for backofpack, I made the hats. And they are such good friends that they wore them!
Of course we wore them. They are darling. Something to look forward to when winter rolls around.
Nice race, super fun meet up. How cool is the blog world to allow the chance to meet some super people. I’ve never been disappointed by a blog-meet-up.
For those who don’t know..California is freezing!! it’s like some secret where they pretend it’s all sunny but really it’s like 50 degrees below zero all the time! We had to buy clothes while we were there! Also the airport in San Francisco? ON AN ICEBERG!!
thanks for hobbling out to meet us for dinner juls it meant a lot to me.
Hey Juls,
Just wanted to let you know that I’m lurking your blog.:)
Thanks for your encouragement. Really. I’m considering taking your advice. I already have a rough draft. It is hard to find time to finish it off, though, as most of my free time is spent whipping myself in the corner while slapping my forehead and chanting, “Stoopid, Stoopid, Stoopid!”
I love those hats too, especially the pretty red one! Glad you life inspirational writers were able to hang out together in the flesh!
That is so funny, every time I get together with bloggers we talk about the blogs we read. Go figure. :>)