The G Running Diary

The Best Day Ever: 3/23/03

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I went to bed Saturday saying, "It's gonna be fun tomorrow." Don and I planned to run with Sarah on Mount Diablo on Sunday, March 16th. It seemed like a good choice considering the bad weather that was passing through the Bay Area over the weekend. We knew Wendell and Aaron would meet us in the morning with Sarah, but didn't know how much of them we would see during the day. Sarah wanted to do a 50K, which would be two loops of a 25K course that she knew.

The weather was looking bad when we started. We were kind of kicking ourselves thinking we should have run the day before when it was drier. Wendell kind of laughed at us, drove us to the gate of the park, since we had met down the road a ways, and the three of us set off. In the first section we encountered mud, the kind of mud that clings to your shoes in clumps. But it was only a short section and soon we were ascending a great single track on Eagle Peak. It was good hill work. I can always use more hill work. The trail forked off to the right, but then we ended up at an intersection that wasn't quite right. It was actually a good thing because we got more hill work by doing an extra little loop.

After going up and over Eagle Peak, we headed toward Juniper campground, where Wendell and Aaron were meeting us. The came a long ways up the fireroads and trail to find us. Aaron is a bright, talkative 7-year-old who seems like he could amuse himself all day out on the trails. He looked as happy as we were hiking and running on Mount Diablo. By the time we got to the minivan, we were soaked through and cold. The weather was not cooperating and I was trying to think of a way to suggest a much shorter run. I wanted to stop right there, but instead I ate a bunch of Pringles and we all proceeded to the summit. It was cold and wet, but we were at the top of a mountain that was currently in a cloud, so maybe it would be not so bad down below. By the time we returned to the car, things had warmed up a bit, and we were warmer from running downhill, so my thoughts of stopping right there had vanished.

Sarah, Don, and I continued our journey, the long way down to Mitchell Canyon. The weather was brighter and the three of us were still talking about all kinds of things. Back at the parking lot, Wendell and Aaron met us with sandwiches! It was an Italian chicken sandwich and it tasted really good. The three of us sat on the fence stuffing our faces. We had chicken noodle soup too. Later I confessed that I was reluctant to take the sandwich because I was thinking (for a moment) of stopping there, which would be 25K. Once I pigged out though, I had to go back for more running.

We went out to do another loop of the same course. This time climbing up seemed harder, but we were taking it slow anyway. None of us felt like we were in peak condition. It was still the start of the running season, really. Wendell and Aaron went up a different route to meet us again. Once we hooked up with them, we could maintain a slower pace, and that was just fine with me. We were all happy about the weather at this point. Wendell told us that Aaron didn't think we'd do a second loop. Aaron had said something like, "Mom says she's going out there again, but she doesn't look like she will." With that, we had to nickname the run "Aaron's Challenge."

I have never seen Mount Diablo in the spring. The two times I have run there were brown months--June and September. At those times all the grass is dry, and the scenery seems kind of just arid east bay stuff. But now, in March, it was absolutely beautiful. The hills were so green they looked like Don had taken a picture and adjusted the color saturation. The grassy hills rolled down into the valleys. The wildflowers were scattered everywhere. The three of us joked about our botanic knowledge. We saw California poppies, and the rest we identify as pink ones, little purple ones, yellow ones, blue ones that maybe look like bluebells. I have no idea. But there was a great variety. With the weather improving during the day, the flowers continued to open up and look even more colorful.

We went to the summit once again, and then our route down after Juniper stuck to the fireroad. Wendell and Aaron took shortcuts when they could, since their pace was a little slow, but Aaron was doing just fine on water, Oreos, and some hot wheels candies. Closer to the end of the fire road, Aaron got back on his bike and was still full of energy, going back and forth around us. I talked with Sarah for a lot of that section. We were all walking, but it was a good long day, so there was no need to rush.

I was sorry when it was all over, but also looked forward to showering and getting dinner. We had been out there all day long, which I just viewed as making the most of things. I certainly took many moments to stop and realize how great it all was. We are lucky.

As an after note, I was sore for two days after. Sitting at the desk for long periods of time made it really hard to get up again. The bad part about being sore at work is that you have to try and hide it, or else people just think that long runs are bad for you! Well, not really, but there are days when I don't want to hear people asking, "Are you sore? Are you limping?" I'd rather just smile to myself about the great weekend I had.