Good luck Rock n' Rollers!

As I sit here writing, the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon is in full swing! The runners should be enjoying the heavy and deep marine layer today. In fact, it's drizzling outside here as I write. That bodes well for some of by blogging buddies running today (Chic Runner, Magazine Smiles, Rookie on the Run, I Love Steaks, On Your Left). Also, a bunch of my Tweeps, and a bunch of others from Runner's World Forums are running. Best of luck to all of you! I'm hoping that I have a ton of race reports to read this coming week!

Speaking of a deep marine layer - I used that to my full benefit yesterday to put in the 13 miles on my plan. I slept in a little and got out the door late, but with May Gray in full swing, I was pretty sure the sun was not going to be making an appearance until Noon at the earliest. I headed up the San Diego Creek trail at a slow comfortable pace.

In my search for new trails and routes, I figured something out last week. The San Diego Creek trail that I run on a regular basis is actually a route used by a couple of organized trail systems. One is the San Diego Creek trail, which I usually follow. This trail provides a 20 mile round trip through Irvine from our Saturday morning start point at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach.

I found out this week though, the Mountains to the Sea Trail uses some of the same route. This trail splits away from the San Diego Creek trail six miles from my start point and heads north into the hills. According to the trail's description, there's an additional 16 miles of trail (one way) from where it leaves the San Diego Creek trail. Yesterday, I poked my head up that trail by going about three quarters a mile on it. Looks like I will have something new to check out as my runs get longer over the next few weeks!
Final stats for yesterday - 13 miles at a nice easy pace of 10:27 with an average heart rate of 75% of max. On the schedule for today - 4 recovery miles.

P.S. - My running buddy Charlie Prokop (remember him from my last half marathon?) just passed the 21 mile point in 2:22. That's a 6:49 pace. Wow! A fifty something year old running at that pace. Makes me tired just thinking about it!