TRAILMOMMA: MY MODELING CAREER

Back in the day, before Vans and before the Peanut, I used to wake up early, as in pitch-black outside early, and run anywhere from 3 to 5 miles before work. Some days, I would even wake up and do hot yoga at a studio downtown. I was in bed early and up early and I loved it. Then, I got married to a Dave Letterman watching late night dinner eating man and gave birth to a nocturnal child. Oh how things have changed.

Yesterday was the first day in my experiment to become pre-work runner yet again. Monday's attempt was a failure as I curled back under the covers. Yesterday however, I woke up at 5:30 (which I realize to some/many is not THAT early) and hit the streets for a 3 mile run. It was the perfect temperature outside and I had the streets to myself. I ran through the very expensive and beautiful Sierra Oaks neighborhood and oogled at all the mansions still with their shades drawn and sprinklers blasting.

My stomach however has not adjusted. My miles were slow and painful which was likely a result of my 9 pm dinner the night before. Salad before a 5:30 am run is not a good idea (in case you were wondering).

Then, later that day I got an email from Pigeon stating she was up for a run. The girl just ran a 50K trail race on Saturday and she was emailing me that she's thinking about doing 6 miles tonight! Yowzers! I was game since Tuesday evening is typically "my day" to run in the trailmomma household.

I met her at Rio Americano again and we were off and running. Immediately I had to pee. I swear I had just gone before I left the house. I guess my effort to drink more water throughout the day is actually paying off. Luckily, the route we take passes at least 3 bathrooms (how convenient right?). So at the first one I stopped and I handed Pigeon my camera (I am trying to run with it as often as possible to increase the entertainment value of my blog).

I tossed it to her and turned to the bathroom when she yelled "quick! give me a pose!"

Cheese! err Cheesey?

The standing joke between myself, Pigeon and Coach Nikon is the forever classic (and hilarious) JC Penny Catalog pose. Does anyone remember those super thick catalogs? Anyway, Coach Nikon and Pigeon have perfected their poses. I, on the other hand, have a lot of work cut out for me.

As I was taking care of "business" in the restroom, Pigeon was having a little fun with my camera. I had commented to her earlier that her race report for Tahoe Rim cracked me up because she had all these self portrait shots of herself pointing at signs. I remarked that whenever I do a self portrait I end up giving myself 5 chins but she has mastered the pointing self portrait. As seen here:

This is a description of the area

This is a little fishy

Of course I had not discovered this until AFTER the run. Classic. As I walked out of the restroom, Pigeon gave me a second chance at redeeming my JC PENNY pose:

Yes I am posing and not just looking at a bird

What was even funnier is that a cyclist had stopped to use the water fountain and she had overheard our conversation and laughed and asked if JC Penny was even still in business! HA Yes, I believe so but the catalog unfortunately is not.

Once I had my camera back I turned it towards the expert and had her show me how it is done:

"Aaaah, I see" says the young grasshopper

After some quality laughs (at our own expense) we were on our way. Pigeon, I could tell was struggling although it was hard to tell whether it was the fact she ran a 50K on Satuday or the fact she had dropped some crazy machinery on her big toe earlier that day or maybe it was the fact she had a crink in her neck and could barely turn her head. That woman is a powerhouse.

When we turned around to head back towards the high school we ran into a peloton. Something you have to remember is that every July, the American River Bike Trail transforms into the Tour de France. While Lance and Levi are cycling their hearts out over seas, all the "wanna be Lances" out there hit the local bike trail, dress up in full on cycle gear and ride in large packs (aka pelotons) at ridiculously fast speeds. It's annoying to say the least as they don't move over if you're running on the shoulder. I tried to take a photo of the pack of Lances but this was all I got:

You can see the last dude's back side to the right of the photo. Obviously they should sign up for the tour they are too fast.

The rest of miles consisted of a little walking and a little running. When I saw the road leading back up to the levee I was overcome with the desire to sprint. I am battling some anger issues and this run and the sprint to the finish seemed like something I needed.

I told Pigeon I'd see her at the top and I just took off. It felt good and when I got to the top, there was Pigeon making her way up.

Overall a decent run, putting me at 9 miles for the day although a combination of walking and running. My experiment continued this morning as I woke up at 5:30 and was out the door. It is getting easier and I really enjoy the morning quiet time out on the street and the way I feel energized when I get to work. I still need to work on eating dinner earlier though.

Vans is finally getting around to editing and working with his photos. The photos from our trip to Crater Lake and Sunriver Oregon are finally done as well as our trip to Napa Valley two weeks ago. The Peanut really enjoyed Napa . . . that's momma's girl!