CALLING SIGNAL

Today Pigeon, Garmin and myself met up at Cavitt Junior High around 6:30 am for what we agreed on was going to be a 14 mile trail run. I pulled into a pretty empty parking lot. The only other car in the lot was Garmin's. Wow, this was early. I felt like I had a night of partying behind me but sadly, I didn't, I was just plain old tired. Garmin also looked like he was a bit groggy himself.

We both hopped out of our cars and immediately started applying the "pre" poison oak cream. Basically this stuff is supposed to help us ward off any poison oak that we may brush while we're out there running. Oddly, this cream also turns my legs white, as in "someone forgot to rub in the lotion" white. It's a funny sight but it is still way better than having poison oak!

Pigeon showed up not much later and soon we were ready to run. I am still impressed and amazed Pigeon was ready to hit the trails after her 50K in Tahoe last weekend. She was going to take it mile by mile today and see how her body was doing. She's one tough cookie. If I had run a 50K last weekend, I'd still be on the couch with my chips, salsa and margarita!

Off we went with Garmin leading the way, myself in the middle and Pigeon pulling up the caboose. We heard a lot of "scurrying" in the woods but nothing to show for it. Garmin was picturing rattlesnakes, I was picturing wild angry birds and I think Pigeon might have been thinking they were vicious coyotes or something. None of us were right. Squirrels. Had to be squirrels.

We played hopscotch with a couple of guy runners for a bit. They would stop and let us take the lead and then eventually pass us and then repeat all over again. Other than that, the trail was pretty empty minus 5 billion piles of horse poop all over the place!

We finally came to the clearing with the "amazing" view I had spoken about a few weeks ago. Not surprisingly, the two guys that we had been jockeying position with earlier had stopped here and were taking in the views as well. I immediately pulled out my camera and called to Garmin "JC Penny pose GO!"

Then a quick turn to Pigeon "Give me JC Penny now!"

Pigeon of course grabbed my camera from me and told ME to pose. Little did she know I've been perfecting my catalog poses!

Of course the three of us are doing this impromptu modeling session in front of the male runners we had caught up to at the overlook. I decided to see if they had "the skills" and told them to pose:

 Not too shabby for beginners no?

They may have thought we were nuts but they were still pretty nice. The one on the left is doing the Rio Del Lago 100 in September and the guy on the right is doing the Sierra Nevada Double late September. 

After our little session and some chit chat we were on our way. The guys turned around and headed back and we kept going deciding that it definitely felt like a 14 mile kind of day. When the 6 mile mark came we did a brief check in with each other "all good?" "yup" "should we go one more" "yup" and off we went. 

I have not ventured past the 6 mile mark since AR50 in April. I had forgotten about the vertical climbs and the weird footing that was ahead. I felt fine though and just kept running. Garmin and I were deep in conversation about babies, housing and all that boring adult stuff. The weather was great as it was not that warm just yet.

When we hit 7 miles, our turn around spot, and waited for Pigeon to catch up. She was fighting some inner battles today and was occasionally lagging behind us. I decided that our group needs a "calling signal" to indicate to each other that someone is "okay" just behind taking their time. 

I started doing my "ca-caw ca-caw" sound . . . which is more like a sick bird noise and all I hear is laughter coming from some where back in the woods. Pigeon was obviously doing just fine. I however, am still trying to find that perfect calling signal.

At the turn out we had another photo shoot. This time, I made them pose as doubles. 

My inner director of photography persona came flying out and I declared that the above picture was "pathetic" and that we needed to do it again. Sometimes it pays to really work your models!

Now THAT is a classic catalog pose. I swear these two have a whole other career waiting for them out there!

After the photos we turned around and headed back towards the cars. Seven miles running in always feels so much better than seven miles running back. Still, I felt pretty good and had no real complaints. Garmin and I continued our discussion on the housing market and the economy (heavy stuff). 

About 2.5 miles from the finish we decided to stop since we had not seen or heard from Pigeon in a while. I tried my calling signal "ca-caw ca-caw" and instead summoned a wild turkey. Not good. 

Eventually Pigeon came trotting up the trail with a smile and a "you don't have to wait for me" comment but she knows we will anyways. Together again we took off. 

The two miles back down towards Cavitt on that fire road used to be the bane of my existence. I detested it more than anything. Now a days, I am finding it isn't so bad. I like the rolling hills because it really gives me much more of a workout than just running on the bike trail. 

Garmin and I made it back to the cars and immediately put on our "after" poison oak cream. I swear, we're a walking/running advertisement for the stuff. Not soon after Pigeon came in. We were done. 14 miles total on a beautiful Saturday morning. 

When I arrived home the Peanut and Vans were just chilling outside. Their morning had been pretty uneventful. The Peanut was rather cranky as she had had a night of fun at her friend Baby REI's house the night before. Complete with slip and slide, a wading pool and a play structure for her and her friends!

Special thanks to Scrapbook for the pirated photo!