My plan said "9 miles pace." That meant I was going to need to figure out how to slow down and keep it slow. I have 9 more weeks left on the trails around home and I'm getting tired of the same scenery day in day out. Time to do something different.
I headed up the road about 20 minutes to Peters Canyon Regional Park in Tustin. The park is located in the foothills of Northeastern Orange County. The trail I was going to run is actually part of the same trail network that I run down by home:
The first catch is there was no parking at the southern terminus of the park. I started about a mile south in a community park, where the trail looks like most in Orange County:
About a mile later, I finally entered the park proper:
It hadn't escaped me that I had been moving uphill for a while now. I was slowly climbing through coastal sage:
I crested a hill and Peters Canyon reservoir laid out in front of me. This reservoir is a leftover from the days that agriculture ruled the land here in Orange County. These days it serves as flood control, protecting the homes below from the infrequent storms that hit the region:
Speaking of storms - remember the storm I was talking about? You can see from the pictures that the skies were threatening. My hope was to get out and finish before the rains started. In fact, just as I entered the park, this stuff from the sky started hitting my hat. Two miles later, the skies were spitting, but it was warm out so I continued on the path around the reservoir:
Two and a quarter miles later, I reached my turnaround point. The foothills of Orange County were laid out in front of me as I reached the high point of my journey. I impressed myself. Despite the uphill push, wet conditions and unsure footing that comes with trails, I was still managing an 11:15 pace!
By now though, the skies were no longer spitting, but was doling out a steady rain. I quaffed a couple Endurolytes, a Hammer Gel (Green Apple - yum!) and started back to the car. The trail was turning slippery, so I was more deliberate with my footing:
I was making good time as I headed down the hill. I was eager to get back because it had stopped raining steadily, and had turned into a downpour! Those aren't orbs in this picture - they are raindrops that were caught in the camera's flash!
Luckily I brought a change of clothes! Yes - I'm an Eagle Scout. Be prepared!
That was dry when I started an hour and a half earlier!
To wrap up - this was a *great* adventure. I pulled up a little short on mileage - 8.7 instead of 9, but I was happy with my 11:00 pace on my first real trail run. I will definitely be doing more of this!
That also put a wrap on week 9. Final stats for the week - 36.7 miles running, 8.5 miles rowing. Nine down, nine to go!
