Tuesday, January 13, 2009

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!

8 comments:

  1. Wow, I am soooo jealous! I lived in southern california in college, but I never explored places to run besides my immediate neighborhood when I was there. After seeing your photos, I regret not going down to the beach more to run. Its warmer there then here. Our high was about 70 yesterday! Good luck with your training for the May 3rd half marathon!

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  2. Great blog and happy belated birthday. From the pics, that looks like the perfect run to me! Fantastic.

    Btw, the same day you are planning to run your Half, I am running in my first 10k ever (on May 3rd). Happy training! Thanks for stopping by my blog and I look forward to reading your blog.

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  3. Great Pics, Glenn. I'm not so jealous of the temp(it was in the 70s here today), but the bluffs are gorgeous. Florida has beaches, but no bluffs.

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  4. Hope you had a great birthday! Looks like you had a great post-birthday run.

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  5. Yeah, our weather is pretty much the exact opposite of what I am seeing in your pictures. My neighborhood is going to see -22 degrees tonight (actual air temps, NOT including wind chill!). I can see why you like SoCal!

    Happy belated birthday as well, Glenn!

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  6. happy belated birthday!! love the pics here and from the weekend race too. go eat a belated birthday in-and-out burger for me! i'm so jealous of your warmer temps and gorgeous running routes.

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