Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Isn’t it April?

We had a storm blow through Southern California Sunday night. Rain this time of year isn’t unheard of, but it’s pretty uncommon. Add to that this was a winter storm (almost 2 feet of snow fell in the local mountains) and that made this storm more unusual. To all my friends in the Midwest – watch yourselves the next couple days! There’s a storm coming your way!

I had four miles on the plan, and got out around 5 PM to put them in. The storm had pretty much blown through, leaving a cool blustery day. Running into a cold headwind was not very appealing, so I headed up into the hills for some trail running. I wanted to rerun Sunday’s run in the upper reaches of El Moro.

Running Bommer Ridge-El Moro 4-11-2010

The wind was *howling* over the ridge top, so I was looking forward to dropping into the canyon for a little protection.  But, I got a half mile from the parking lot and ran into the dreaded sign:

“Trails closed due to adverse conditions.”

Now, if there’s one thing that budget strapped politicians ecologically minded public servants do is protect the environment. And the best way to keep trails from getting torn up is to close them under threat of citation for a few days after a good rainstorm. And that threat of citation was enough to keep me off them! I shuffled back to the car and headed on down the hill to see if I wanted to run at Crystal Cove.

After a five minute drive (jeesh – it’s sure a lot farther when I have to run it), I was at the coast, where the winds were howling, the whitecaps were tossing, and my body was warm. I thought about my upcoming goal race (non-existent) and the warmth of the sunlight through the closed windows of my car. I think you can deduct what happened next….

Tonight it’s track time with Cal Coast. I hope the wind isn’t blowing….

7 comments:

  1. wind = fml. Seriously. I probably would've packed up and called it quits as well.

    As for the sub 4.... I think it's a possibility, but i'm not even going to try for it, b/c I don't want to be disappointed in ANY way. Ok, maybe if it comes down to the last 5k and it's in my reach, THEN I'll shoot for it...but not until then. :p

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  2. yes I hate wind too! Hope the weather has straightened out for you! Also I hope the track workout went well!

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  3. i can't say i blame you... some days you just can't get into it. i've, uh, pulled this one on a mild, sunny day :) so don't feel bad. at least it was windy!

    hope you made it to the track today...

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  4. I'm seriously ready for some warmer weather.

    I'm also tired of budget cuts...GAH!

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  5. I admire your running tenacity.
    wind
    rain
    potential wind
    chance of drizzle

    I seize those excuses all too readily :)

    MizFit

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  6. Does wind = hill training?

    Thanks for your supportive comments on my blog. :)

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  7. Man! I totally hear you on the wind. it has been REALLY windy here in PHX this past week too - has been hell on my biking AND my pool!

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