California Running

Hey team! It is hard to believe how fast summer is going by.. I have been splitting my time between Lake Tahoe and Marin, enjoying the California sun and summer training. Over the past few weeks, I have done some great runs on the Pacific Rim Trail with my dad and his ultra-running friends, training for the 50km race we will be doing in August.

The Rim Trail is a roughly 160 mile loop around Lake Tahoe with amazing views and varied terrain. (Fun fact about Lake Tahoe: if you emptied the lake, California would be covered in a foot of water!)

Yesterday, I joined my dad and three of his friends on a 23mile segment of the trail from Spooner up to Tahoe Meadows.

We ran for 5 1/2hrs mostly above 8,000ft. This was the longest run I have done, and the last hour was pretty painful. It was interesting to feel what parts of my body decided to break down first. My knees decided to rebel after 4 1/2 hours, and after that my mind started wandering away.

Whenever I thought of mentioning how my legs felt like they were falling off, I just thought of the Western State 100mile racers that were currently racing on the Pacific Crest Trail west of Lake Tahoe. I also reminded myself that the four people I was running with were between the ages of 55 and 60, and the only other women who was with us had just started running in April!

Needless to say, I survived... and have never been so happy to see a parking lot trail head in my life! Finishing the run gave me a lot of confidence in knowing I can complete the 50km at the end of the summer which is thankfully not at altitude but runs along the Marin Headlands.

..... More stories from me later!!! Great to hear from you all : ) -Natty