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MB to Cemetary and Back

April 27, 2019 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 60 / fake cold --> 80?

Comments:
We slept alright. Packed up quick on Mosquito Ridge road and drove the three miles up to FH. Parked on Church St and got ready.

It went quick. Right at 5, they were off! I was nervous and excited, but excited and feeling good for my own run!

Meet BGD and Nick in FH then drove to MB, parking the van on Chicken Hawk. We didn't quite get out on time: 6:05 instead of 5:45, which actually made a big difference.

Beautiful morning with daylight already!

We were off. I wasn't too stiff starting out, but I could feel the hip on the initial descent. I went out front, as BGD and Nick were going pretty darn slow. However, I stopped to stretch and massage out my hip and let them by, then easily caught back up again.

The descent was prrrretty slow, but still enjoyable. However I noted that I was favoring my left leg a bit, as my right quad was feeling a lot of load. I worked hard to correct that.

Took near :30 to get down! Yeesh! And -- as it became the theme of the day -- everyone thought we were racers.

After a quick pee stop, I told the guys that we should try to jog some of the climb to get up and down before the racers, but they demurred, so I just gave it a push on my own. Not too hard, but I ran about 95% of the climb.

It was great. Not easy, but pretty similar to the long grind bike rides I'd been doing. I stopped a few times, mostly to dodge then chop down outrageous poison oak branches sticking out into the trail!

Ran all the way to the top, passing Dan Barger, then connecting with Matt Keyes at the turnaround. About :50 (with all the stops) for the climb, which seemed pretty slow.

From there, I hauled pretty good on the descent. I might've made it halfway down before leaders appeared. I'd step off each time. Right near the bottom, where the trail turns steep, were the women, and I was pleasantly surprised to see CA in about 5th place, looking and feeling great! So cool!

It's almost tradition to grind the return to MB, especially at the end of a run, so I'd give it a little push today. Once at the bridge, and beginning the climb, with the front runners long gone, I began to run into the mid-back. Lots of runners, lots of side-stepping. However, I still pushed pretty hard. It was tough to run up the side hill.

The higher up I got, the more annoying, since:

* everyone thought I was the leader
* there was ZERO way of effectively communicating that I was NOT (they were too anaerobic to have any cognitive function understand the words "I AM NOT RACING")

As such, many folks stopped for me. I just did my best to blow past 'em.

Finally, after ten-minute creek, I was past most of the major bolus and could run pretty well. Whew -- that final push (after the switches) always surprises me with its length!

Got into town and up and over the driveways (stopping right at Carol's so they wouldn't f-ing think the leader was in"). Split: 35:xx. Solid! I thought I was faster, but oh well.

Solid run. Run time was 2:28.

Post-run:
* waited at the AS for Jake and Nick to come in. Chatted with John Trent, some other Reno folks, and a lot with Katie Grossman (who I'd see most of the day)
* Jake and Nick came in, and went. Good to (sort of) run with them - glad they came!
* waited for CA. She was still 5th or 6th, but was now complaining of knee pain. Uh oh. But still positive and in good spirits.

Rest-rest of the day:
* met up with Ford Smith in FH. GOOD hang-out time with him. Cool to see how much he's matured (mostly!) in the four years of college, since his WSER run
* saw CA at FH, then hiked down to the river
* waited a long time. She came, she cried, she dropped. Too bad. Longer story, but generally the right decision
* hiked back to Driver's then showered back in FH. Had a legal beer with Ford....then we drove home! It was too hot to van camp, so we made it to Ashland by about 10ish!

Good experience for us both. Not quite there yet, but a good builder.