8+8=18???

Today Pigeon and I met up with Coach Nikon for our Saturday long run. We decided to follow the Folsom Lake Trail Runner's idea of starting from Twin Rocks. Apparently, Coach Nikon, Pigeon and myself are all very punctual people because we got there way earlier than we had all agreed to and thus decided to start our run early. Coach Nikon had to be home at certain time for a family event and I promised Vans I wouldn't be out all day.

Pigeon and I had agreed upon 18 miles. Some how, in my tired sleepy brain, I had convinced myself that 8 miles plus 8 miles, equaled 18 miles. So I was a chipper little runner just watching the miles tick off on my garmin only to realize when we hit 8 that, no we were not turning around. We had one more mile to go. I am the product of the New Jersey public school system but really, I can't even blame that, I am just terrible at numbers and math. Yes I do know that 8+8=16. I am not a complete moron but I was tired and obviously not thinking clearly.

 It was so nice to run with Coach Nikon again. He has been off running in the Grand Canyon recently so jump on over to his blog to see some awesome photos.

At the trailhead. Gorgeous day.

The weather was absolutely perfect for our run today. We started just before 7 am because it warms up rather quickly and much of this run is not shaded. 

We stopped to notice how high the water was in Folsom Lake. None of us has seen it that high in a long time. Honestly, I am glad we stopped. My legs felt completely dead the first 10 minutes of our run and continued to alternate between dead and fine every 10 minutes or so. Eventually the cobwebs went away and I fell into a nice pace. They "made" me lead on the way out and apparently that made me the Poison Oak blocker. There was TONS of oak out there and much of the trail was overgrown compared to when we ran it during AR50. More on that later. 

As we were running along the trail just chit chatting away we came across a little furry friend!

Hello Mr. Bunny!

This little guy ran in front of me for quite a few feet. Unfortunately, I think he was injured. However, while I was off talking to the cute little fuzzy bunny and snapping his photograph, Pigeon was thinking "mm, that looks like Mountain Lion lunch." There have been mountain lions spotted out here in the past. Whoops.

When we reached Rattlesnake Coach Nikon told us he needed to head back. Pigeon and I noticed we were only about a half mile from our turnaround and decided to it stick out. We said our goodbyes and off we went. 

On our return however is where the "fun" started. We were getting tired, the sun was definitely shining down on us and things were heating up. I had taken a GU at the turnaround and then quickly remembered I had SCaps in my pack. Sweet. One of those really made me better almost instantly. You forget how draining running in the sun can really be. 

Coach Nikon gave me grief earlier in our run because I apparently do not know my way around these trails despite having run them numerous times already. Whenever we'd hit a fork he'd tell me which way to go but not without a little comment. So of course on our return trip, we took a wrong turn. 

um, I don't remember seeing that gate before?

We quickly realized our mistake and laughed that Coach Nikon will probably give us grief later. Then, with Pigeon in the lead we were just zooming down the trail when all of a sudden I saw her jump about 100 feet in the air. She almost shoved me into a bush at the same time.

She is practically hyperventilating here

I didn't take a picture of it, but we came across a dead squirrel right in the middle of the trail. Pigeon didn't realize it was dead and maybe she thought it was going to jump up and get her I don't know but a fit full of laughter followed this photo. It definitely wasn't there on our way out so who knows what happened. RIP little squirrel. 

While we were running through the overgrown trails and bobbing and weaving through Poison Oak, I noticed that my legs were apparently having an allergic reaction to something, most likely the grass we were running through.

icky red blotches

GROSS!

Apparently this trailmomma has some sensitive skin. We all were itchy when we were running because that grass was just everywhere.

goofy trailmomma and the icky grass

After passing five horses and one mountain biker we finally reached our car. It was here that we ran into a couple of trail turtles. 

Pam and Shannon

Pam and Shannon had just finished their 12 mile run when we reached the trailhead. I always enjoy seeing them out there. They are the sweetest, nicest trail runners and they are always smiling!

So Pigeon and I survived. We ran 18 miles total and felt pretty good. Pigeon is battling an ankle sprain of sorts and hopefully is reading this post while icing her bum ankle. 

The Peanut and Vans however had a father/daughter adventure of their own. The Peanut had her very first taste of a West Coast fast food chain icon: 

Mmm, a corn dog from . . . 

Wienerschnitzel! (ick)

She also apparently swiped Van's Diet Coke when he wasn't looking and took a swig. I believe Vans said, "ICK! GROSS!" came out of her mouth! Also while I was gone, they apparently lost my indoor cat Jack outside and spent over an hour trying to find him. He's home now. Safe and sound. 

How do they do that?!