Last Saturday, I met with the Coyotes for the second time. It’s been a few weeks since my last run with them, but there’s been big events like the San Diego 100 ultramarathon last week, and other 50k’s. This time, we meet up by Topanga Canyon Blvd at 7:30am. I almost overslept and didn’t arrive until a few minutes before 8, when we planned to start running. Oops! Coach Jimmy went over the routes, which was a simple out and back for the 2.5 hour and unders, but became more complicated for the longer distances. I planned to do about 2ish, so it wasn’t a problem for me.
From the meeting spot to the Backbone trailhead, was about a mile, so we walked single file along Topanga Canyon Blvd to the start. Coach warned us of poison ivy along the course, which was plentiful, especially in the beginning. The first half was majority uphill, with maybe some light rollers in between. It eventually became single track trails with lush greenery.
For the most part, I ran with a new friend, Rachel, who is also taking it easy like myself, but coming back from a long injury. Sweet! No pressure! Everyone else seemed pretty fast, so we let everyone else go while we just chatted it up to make the run fun and perceived quick. There was also this one teammate, David, who finished the 100 ultra last weekend, and he “took it easy” this week. Yeah right, his “slow & easy” pace was wayyyyy faster than our fastest.
By the time we got tot the top, everything looked familiar to me. Wait a minute! It was the top of Stunt Rd, a popular spot for cyclists, car clubs, and motorcyclists. I remember doing a bike ride up this road last summer, training for Ironman Canada, and boy it was tough! And we ran it?! It was pretty challenging though, but in good company, it wasn’t actually that bad. There was also Krispy Kreme waiting for us at the top (I didn’t eat it though).
The rest of the run was downhill, so it was even more enjoyable! Met another teammate, Steph, who was also very fast, but we were able to get a conversation about work life, commutes, and baby seals in. Towards the end, I also met another Coyote, Jenna, who is fairly new to the team, but has a lot of good race plans towards the end of the year.
As you can see, it was nice and overcast. A little chilly, but I say perfect running weather! 8.5 miles in about 2 hours. All in all, another successful Coyotes run and looking forward to more!
