Here's Why I Live in Southern California

Well, since there's no pain in my hip, I can get back to training! Yea! And, for a first day back, the weather was absolutely drop dead gorgeous! I had read a blog from Jean in the morning about the weather in Minnesota. I have to count my blessings! I thought I would provide a little tour of one of my running spots here in Southern California for all you snowed in people across the country (by the way, we set a temperature record here in L.A. yesterday - 88*). Note: despite the pictures, the weather was not *perfect* for running - here in Orange County there was a stiff 10 mph headwind (with higher gusts) blowing offshore,meaning there was a lot of running with crosswinds.


Here is the temperature at 4:30 in the afternoon when I arrived at the beach to start my run:


My run was an out and back at Crystal Cove State Park. I ran on the top of the bluff overlooking the ocean:





Milkshake anyone?

I went down a trail to the beach and ran a mile or so on the sand:




Eventually I had to climb back onto the bluff and finish my run:


This is why I live in Southern California! (By the way - all the photos are on my Flickr site here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennsphotos2007/sets/72157612471510073/).

On another note, I set my training schedule for the next few weeks. I've lost some of my fitness over the past month that I couldn't run. So, I'm going to pass on San Diego Rock N Roll. I'll plan on picking up the Long Beach Marathon in October. My goal race will be a Half Marathon on May 3rd. I'll start my training plan for that 12 weeks prior, or the week of February 9th. In the interim, I'll put in some 4 mile easy runs Mondays and Wednesdays, 6 miles on Tuesday and Thursdays, and 12 milers on Saturday. I finish the week with a 4 mile recovery run on Sundays for a total of 36 a week as I rebuild my base.

Finally, a little birthday cake for everyone on me! I turned 52 yesterday! Another Yea!