Crossing Rivers

Happy Sunday!  Hope your weekend has treated you well.  Yesterday I did a small run with the group, went to the Renaissance Fair with my friend Beth and then shopping at Nordstrom's Annual Sale.  I bought a pair of Uggs.  I'm pretty sure I vowed I never would, but there you have it, I did.  I can't wait to wear them all winter long.  Yes, they are ugly.  But I think my feet will appreciate them. 

And another note, and please take no offense, but I'm not sure why the Renaissance Fair is of interest.  If I were to elaborate, I certaintly would offend, but one need just go here and understand why we have an obesity epidemic in the United States.  Can you say, outdoor mall food court?  Cheesecake on a stick?  I should stop, I'm sure I've offended someone...One more thing, we did see two guys in costume, with one of the dudes' white cheeks on display for the world to see.  OK, so maybe there was a little that was of interest...

I just finished day 6 of 10 days of running in a row.  I'm tired, but not over tired.  And yes, I feel strong.  In fact, yesterday's run while short was my strongest run of the session.  I was so happy to get my running mojo back!  Here's my week:

Monday: Rest (planned)
Tuesday: 6.76 miles (including 2 mile time trial)
Wednesday: 4.10 miles
Thursday: 6.03 miles
Friday: 3.05 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 14.67 miles

Weekly total: 40.67 miles

This morning I tackled part of the Bear Chase Race course.  Oh my.  Part of the running group was meeting up and I decided to start out a little earlier.  That was a good decision.  Apparently, I do not know my right from my left and tacked on an extra 2 miles to my run.  Even so, it was a lot of fun.  I've run parts of this course, and Mt. Carbon didn't seem as hard as it did the first time I did it.  Plus it really is a "baby" mountain.

Kinda weird how the sky is white?  It really was sunny....  Anyhow, after you come down Mt. Carbon, the real fun begins.  Not one.  Not two.  But three river crossings.  Well, creek crossings...Here's the first one:

And crossing #2:

And the last crossing (and the deepest):

These are my first water crossings and they were so much fun!  After these crossings, you are about 7.8 miles into the 12.5 mile loop (if you know your right from your left).  Up until this point, the course is varied crossing open meadows making your way through tree canopies along different creeks, etc.  But after the water crossings, there is 4.7 miles of exposed trail, that is pretty straight and parallel for part of the way to a busy road and irrigation ditch.  This was a hard part of the course for me.  And I'll need to do 2 loops come race day, so I'll need to have some strategies to help get me through this section twice.

Before I sign off, an update of me facing my fears.  Well, I failed in getting into my boss' two seater.  After a few delays due to bad weather, I got cold feet and flew commercial.  And I'm OK with that.  There are better fears out there for me to face! 

Laura