I had a great trip in San Jose with my family. The flight from Raleigh to San Jose (via Denver) was meh. I felt bad most of the trip and we didn't change plans in Denver so there was little scenery change for near eight hours. Adjusting to West Coast time was iffy that first day. But Lura took David and I to a Mexican grocery store where ate some tacos. Most of that first evening was pretty laid back, with Lida and her boyfriend arriving and then eating some really good pizza.
Thanksgiving I took an easy run with my sister's beautiful dog, Raleigh. A very good running partner. Most of the day was spent getting the diner ready, with a bird that took a bit longer than usual. By the time everything was ready, we were ALL ready too. Turkey, sweet potato casserole, kale, pumpkin pie, pecan chocolate bars. YUM.
Friday was a relaxed day in San Francisco. My dad wanted to run across of the Golden Gate Bridge and I had no problem with that! We were looking forward to going to this beautiful park called Muir Woods. But it's so popular, there was a shuttle bus to get there, and that had probably a 45 min line. We were all starving, so we found a seafood place in nearby Sausalito. Good, but nothing out-of-this-world.
Saturday and Sunday were mainly uneventful, those I got to run in Almadean Quicksilver Park. Loads of fun for me of course. San Jose is in the valley, so my runs til then were pancake flat. However, getting out of the valley and on to these mountains was fantastic. A mining community in a previous life, there were lots of steep, rolling hills. The trails were pretty well-groomed. Overall I would compare the technicality to Crabtree MTB trails, and the steepness to Uwharrie. Whereas I had planned 3 hrs, figuring about 20 miles, I only got in ~15. Sunday, the whole family went, with some hiking, and me running again. That in of itself was unique: going later in the day at ~11:00, which was almost 2:00 for me.
Overall I loved. A lot of times I'm less than excited to be engrossed in family time; I love them, but I just like to be doing my own thing. But, I always end up glad, and grateful to be with them. As an epilogue, my older sister's two Manchester Terriers are now residing with my brother and I. They'll be with us for about two more weeks, and then may be again later in 2014.
I still haven't planned out my training for Umstead in April. Both the Carrboro Fat Ass 50k and the Holiday Lake 50k are on Saturdays when my EMT class meets. So at the moment I don't have any longer tune-up races planned. And I just don't know what I'm wanting; definitely low key; not sure about the distance. I did sign up for a short trail race in January; the Little River Trail Run at 10 miles. Last year I skipped it because I wanted to stay focused on Umstead. But I'm thinking I can tack on some earlier miles, and use the race to work on some speed: something I may need, even for a 100.
Not much running to talk about here until I get some plan written down. Though I'm running like it's a build week, I'm not too anal about hitting speeds or distances.
Soundtrack:
"All of the Memories" by The Classic Crime
"Pompeii" by Bastille
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