The run up to the dam is easy enough, gaining about 800 ft in 4.5 miles. I averaged a 9 min mile up to the dam, which is great considering the grade. At the top I had two concerns, the first one being getting across the dam as it is fenced off and has No Trespassing signs posted. I knew the signs were only there to protect a weather tower on top of the dam, so I skirted around the fence along a cliff line and quickly ran across the dam and back onto public land. The next big concern was making my way along the cliffline on the southeast part of the reservoir. All of my research on Google Earth and the internet showed that it cliffs out for about 200 ft. What I really found out was that there was a perfect ledge to run along and a steep scree slope down to the water; very passable. From there I would run along sandy beaches to the south end and around up to a dirt road. The dirt road lasted about 2 miles, then I hit pavement. I took a wrong turn, instead of heading up to the main road I ended up going down to the boat launch and picnic site. I didn't care though because I got to run some single-track along the lake, then took a trail back up to what I would hope be the road. It took me to the main campgrouned instead which took me to the road. It added about a mile to my run, which I loved. The distance between my wrong turn and where I came back to the road was about 1 tenth of a mile. Ha.
From there it was pavement for the rest of the run. Fortunately, there was a four wheeler track along the side of the road for about two miles, which was nice. Then it was just a blazing 4.5 back down to camp. I felt great the whole time. I've learned a lot about how many calories I need to take in per hour during a run and when and how much salt to take. Because I'm becoming more aware of these things I'm able to run better, stronger, faster, and farther with lower impact. I really hope it pays off come my Sapper Joe race.
Here are some climbing photos from the weekend and a video I made during the run. Sorry, the video is horrible.
2 comments:
Your thoughtful monologue at the end was most inspiring. I can't believe you went from running just a few miles at a time to regularly running 15-20 in such a short time.
Cool post craig, including the video. I've only climbed in Joes valley once, and it was totally awesome. Have wanted to go back for years.
Be careful with those no trespassing areas...you can take it from me that its better to honor the boundaries since I now have a trespassing charge and a court date. I'm sure you don't have to worry about being as stupid as me though and running away from the Rangers who are doing their best to protect certain areas.
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