OLD TRAILS OLD FRIENDS

I finally have something that is blog worthy! Which really means, trailmomma actually went on a TRAIL RUN!!! It has been some time since I have been out on the dusty trails. In fact, it has been so long that it took me a while last night to find my trail shoes.

It all started Wednesday night after Pigeon and I finished our horrid 8 mile run. Despite feeling terrible, we agreed to meet up again on Saturday at Cavitt Stallman for a 12 mile run. What can I say? Misery loves company?

During the day on Friday, I got in touch with Garmin who was also looking to get some trail miles in this weekend. Little did he know we were planning on meeting at 6:30 am. Our goal was two fold: to beat the heat and to beat the fourth of July holiday traffic. Our plan was pleasantly "foiled" but more on that later.

I was the last to arrive although still on time I might add. We didn't really waste any time. A few quick "hellos" and "how ya been" and off we went. It was so nice to run with old training friends again. Poor Garmin (and Pigeon for that matter), I had not seen or talked to him really since the American River 50 Miler that I pretty much talked his ear off the entire 12 miles. Garmin is an expectant father and so we had lots to catch up on regarding his impending fatherhood. Pigeon was just casually taking up the rear, quiet yet always with a smile on her face.

Always smiling!

With Garmin in the lead, myself and then Pigeon taking up the rear we covered the first 6 miles pretty quickly. So quickly that Garmin and I would have kept going if Pigeon had not yelled to us that we had hit the 6 mile mark. Oops. 

We turned around and headed back only to hit all the Folsom Lake Trail Runners head on who were headed out towards Rattlesnake. 

Along the way we came to a familiar overlook. It is a beautiful spot that overlooks Folsom Lake and I bet every runner that has ever run with a camera has stopped at this location. We stopped but not to take a photo of the view . . . instead I handed Garmin my camera and said "here, go take a photo of that!"

A big ugly vulture!

I was not about to go any where near that thing! It was huge and of course flew away just as Garmin and Pigeon were approaching for a better photo. 

Not long after the ugly bird flew away, a bunch of male runners came up the trail and wanted to know what we were looking at and course to check out the same view. One of them offered to take our photo (as I was trying desperately to get the camera to stay on a rock and set the self timer):

Running friends!

After our impromptu photo session, we continued onward. I had told Vans that I would be home between 9 am and 9:30 am. I didn't foresee that we would have some social stops along the way. I should have known.

First up was Wonder Woman!

She was out for a run looking as strong as ever. Captain Kirk is traveling so she was solo on her run today. We stopped and chatted for quite some time, letting random runners get in front of us on the trail only to have to pass them again later.

We said our goodbyes to Wonder Woman and not 5 minutes later we hear "There's my people!" and running right at us with the biggest smile on his face was Coach Nikon!!! It was so good to see him as I have not seen him either for quite some time. He was out for a four hour trek. Of course we couldn't let him pass without posing for his (now required) JCPenny photo shoot:

I think they both have a future as catalog models!

Coach Nikon has really perfected his poses.

After the catalog shoot we were lucky to have a random stranger running by who I think witnessed these amazing models strutting their stuff. She offered to take a group photo! Score again!

What a good looking group!

Finally Coach Nikon said his goodbyes and was off to chase down Wonder Woman. Garmin, Pigeon and I took off for our final few miles. It was a little hard to start running again after so many pit-stops but they were totally worth it to see Wonder Woman and Coach Nikon again. There would be no other stops along the way.

We finished a little later than expected. The heat was really beginning to say hello. It was only just after 9:00 am and I was pretty warm. Still, it was a great run. My legs felt fantastic. They were strong and not dead like on Wednesday evening and my belly surprisingly was absolutely fine despite a little rendezvous at Concert in the Park last night with Vans and the REI family. I used my new hydration bladder which has a ziploc opening instead of a twisting cap like feature and it worked better than I had expected. 

When I came home, Vans and the Peanut were out on the patio. The Peanut was perfecting her "laying out" posture . .  a pose perhaps she saw her momma do while at the pool in Oregon . . . among other things.

Can you pass the sunscreen please?

Hello? Where is my icy cold beverage?!