Sunrise over Holy Jim

This morning, I woke up at 3:30 a.m! I know that's really early--or late--depending on your perspective. Every time my alarm goes off that early to go run, my mind immediately bypasses the grogginess and starts thinking of many excuses that I could send my running friends via text message as to why I will DNS.

"All my running clothes are dirty."
"I forgot it was Saturday and started getting ready for work instead."
"I've decided to retire from trail running."
"It's more fun to be a couch potato."
"I think I might be pregnant."
"I need to taper for the 5K tomorrow."
"Pete always brings an attitude, and I don't like it."

It's obvious I'm a horrible liar, so I got out of bed and got ready to go. I met up with Pete, Natasha, Sid, and Cyrus and we carpooled to Rancho Santa Margarita. Our route was up Holy Jim, across the Main Divide, and then down West Horsetheif, for a total of 14 miles. I did this run once before last June with Michael V. and Beiyi, but we included the run to the top of Santiago Peak for a total of 20 miles. It's a beautiful run, with lots of hill climbing, so once I actually got out of bed, I was looking forward to it. Here is a picture from the run in June, with me wearing my Garmin Forerunner 305, showing where I am, and Santiago Peak, which is where I am going. My mom asked me what a Garmin is, so here is a pic. It's kinda blurry, but it shows I've been running for 43 minutes 54 seconds, heart rate is 125, ran 3.01 miles (Santiago peak is 8 miles from the start) and an elevation of 3162 feet.
This morning, we started the run at 5:40 with headlamps, since it was still dark. We kept the headlamps on until about 6:30 when the sun started to extend it's rays over the hills. I stopped and took a few pictures with my Blackberry. I like the way these pictures turned out!

I enjoyed the run, except that I rolled my ankle 4 times! That was so frustrating. The good news is that it is not swollen. The other good news is I can build strength and better balance in my ankle by doing certain exercises and running in the sand barefoot. So at least I can do something about it. It's just going to take some time for my ankle to get strong again. After the 4th ankle roll, I practically tiptoed down West Horsetheif. I was very nervous about falling. That trail has a lot of unfriendly rocks! Despite the weak ankle, I was so glad I got out of bed to run with my friends. It was a good way to start my weekend, and now I'm going to go take a nap!

Making a comeback!

So it's been 8 weeks since I sprained my ankle. I completely avoided running until about 2 weeks ago. I tried to stay in shape by doing lots of spin classes and lifting weights. I started out with an easy, flat 4 mile run on the bike path along the beach. I was pleased to find that I was in no pain. A couple days later, I ran in the Disneyland 5K, which I signed up for a while back. I took it really easy, wearing an ankle brace. That race was a lot of fun, too!
I did another 4 mile run last week, and then a 5.5 mile trail run at Whiting Ranch on Saturday. The trail run was like the real test, because of the uneven terrain. My ankle felt great the entire run! The rest of me. . . well, that's another story. I felt so out of shape going up and down those hills! I kept thinking about how just two months ago I liked to run no less than 16-24 miles every Saturday. And 1.38 miles into Saturday's run, I looked down at my Garmin wondering if I should turn back! Despite the fact that I struggled a bit with that run, it felt so good to be out on the trails and to be with my running friends again! I missed everybody!
Today I came home from work and ran 8 miles on pavement with no ankle brace, and felt great the entire time! I think I had a big smile on my face the entire last mile because I could tell my ankle is much stronger now. Even though I really have to be careful and ease back into it, I can't wait to get back to my long-distance trail running!