Maria and Elizabeth were already there. It was just after 5am. There is no speed limit when there is no traffic in Los Angeles... until you get pulled over. *knock on wood*
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| Keira's Dirt Divas waking up to get dirty on the trails. Photo compliments of Kasia Gondek |
Maria braided my hair for me, and I cuddled with my trail wife, May, to keep her skinny body warm. Coach Keira showed up to rally us ladies, and as the sun kinda lit up the trails we were off. I tripped and caught myself, and Keira was running right behind and yelled out as I recovered. I felt bad for scaring her, but then I was like "hell yeah, I am running with Keria, this is awesome."
The first 2.5 miles of the backbone trail are single track and rolling. Lots of fun and very runable. We crossed a fireroad I don't remember the name of back onto the backbone trail. I was sucking up words of wisdom from the runners ahead of me. How great, that I can finally kinda run uphill. I told Keira how happy I was to be able to stick with better runners as I powered up some baby hills.
Watching the sun rise over the Santa Monica Mountains is a beautiful and peaceful experience. The heat from the day before radiates below your feet and your face gets warm, things glisten and little bug eyes twinkle at you.
Single track is a trail runner’s heaven. It’s windy rolly path, often with sharp rocks jutting out of the soft dirt, or tree roots sneaking up through the packed soil, or bumpy slipery sandstone making a sandy squishy path. The backbone trail on this particular day was dusty dark brown soil, and there was sagebrush on either side growing into the path, that would rustle as you ran through it. There were a few spots where the single track opened to double track, and I would share a few moments alongside a friend. We crossed a few bridges going over dry creekbeds. It started to warm up as the sun rose.
At mile six we came to Sarah Rudd and her magical water stop. When you’re running 20 miles you just can’t possibly take enough water with you to make it out and back. Our coach K had a water stop at mile 6, which we’d be able to hit twice, once on the way out and again on the way back. I had a 70oz hydration pack still mostly full, and had emptied out my two 22oz handheld bottles, so I topped off, and after thanking Sarah for being out there for us we continued onward. There was a bit of climbing up to the end of the backbone trail. We were almost to mile 9, when Coach K told us to go up the fire road a mile and a half to the gate to turn around.
The fire road was hot and a steep uphill, then a steep downhill to the gate. When I got to the gate my Garmin GPS beeped 10 miles, and I paused in the shade with Maria and Maureen, waiting for Elizabeth and Kathy who showed up like champs. After a cooldown break of a minute or two, and sucking down some honey stickers and saltstick, we made the climb back.
Sarah was at mile 14, and we were mostly feeling pretty good, but we could tell it was well into the 90’s at that point, if not hotter. Most of the single track was exposed so we had no shade but for a few special spots under the trees. When we got to Sarah one of my friends was really not feeling well from the heat, so we told her that it was only going to get worse and that we wanted her to stay and get a ride back to the start. She’s a tough cookie, but when it gets into triple digits it because a safety concern and can be dangerous if you don’t feel fantastic. We ate more, visited with our hero Sarah the provider of sacred water, filled our packs, and continued onward.
Then it got hot. One of my friends got sick, and I was worried about another, so we all decided to slow down and take it easy and keep our heart rates low so no one fainted in the heat. We had 6 miles of heat radiating off the ground and pounding down on us from the sky, with little to no reprieve. We started pouring water on our heads, but it was hot. Lots of sunscreen, but it was melting. We all plopped on our butts twice under a tree and laughed about how it was probably a cool high-80’s where we were cooling off. It got rough out there, but we all stuck together.
When we were about a mile from the car I ran ahead, as two of the girls were sticking together. My darling trial wife May brought me cold water, and I held it up to my heart and neck to cool my blood down, then told her to please take it to the girls behind me. I plopped down with my ladies and one of them put ice down my shirt (which is amazing when you’re hot, as it cools down your heart), Elizabeth brought me my sandals, and people were feeding me watermelon (thanks Kathy and Maria).
Our running trek on the Backbone trail this day was not fast by any means at all, but we cranked out 20 miles ending in extreme heat, without passing out, and only a few people getting sick. I will use this pace as my worst-case scenario. All the women I run with are so amazing and inspiring, and there is no way we could have done that on our own.
Single track is a trail runner’s heaven. It’s windy rolly path, often with sharp rocks jutting out of the soft dirt, or tree roots sneaking up through the packed soil, or bumpy slipery sandstone making a sandy squishy path. The backbone trail on this particular day was dusty dark brown soil, and there was sagebrush on either side growing into the path, that would rustle as you ran through it. There were a few spots where the single track opened to double track, and I would share a few moments alongside a friend. We crossed a few bridges going over dry creekbeds. It started to warm up as the sun rose.
At mile six we came to Sarah Rudd and her magical water stop. When you’re running 20 miles you just can’t possibly take enough water with you to make it out and back. Our coach K had a water stop at mile 6, which we’d be able to hit twice, once on the way out and again on the way back. I had a 70oz hydration pack still mostly full, and had emptied out my two 22oz handheld bottles, so I topped off, and after thanking Sarah for being out there for us we continued onward. There was a bit of climbing up to the end of the backbone trail. We were almost to mile 9, when Coach K told us to go up the fire road a mile and a half to the gate to turn around.
The fire road was hot and a steep uphill, then a steep downhill to the gate. When I got to the gate my Garmin GPS beeped 10 miles, and I paused in the shade with Maria and Maureen, waiting for Elizabeth and Kathy who showed up like champs. After a cooldown break of a minute or two, and sucking down some honey stickers and saltstick, we made the climb back.
Sarah was at mile 14, and we were mostly feeling pretty good, but we could tell it was well into the 90’s at that point, if not hotter. Most of the single track was exposed so we had no shade but for a few special spots under the trees. When we got to Sarah one of my friends was really not feeling well from the heat, so we told her that it was only going to get worse and that we wanted her to stay and get a ride back to the start. She’s a tough cookie, but when it gets into triple digits it because a safety concern and can be dangerous if you don’t feel fantastic. We ate more, visited with our hero Sarah the provider of sacred water, filled our packs, and continued onward.
Then it got hot. One of my friends got sick, and I was worried about another, so we all decided to slow down and take it easy and keep our heart rates low so no one fainted in the heat. We had 6 miles of heat radiating off the ground and pounding down on us from the sky, with little to no reprieve. We started pouring water on our heads, but it was hot. Lots of sunscreen, but it was melting. We all plopped on our butts twice under a tree and laughed about how it was probably a cool high-80’s where we were cooling off. It got rough out there, but we all stuck together.
When we were about a mile from the car I ran ahead, as two of the girls were sticking together. My darling trial wife May brought me cold water, and I held it up to my heart and neck to cool my blood down, then told her to please take it to the girls behind me. I plopped down with my ladies and one of them put ice down my shirt (which is amazing when you’re hot, as it cools down your heart), Elizabeth brought me my sandals, and people were feeding me watermelon (thanks Kathy and Maria).
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| May and I expressing our feelings about the heat |
Our running trek on the Backbone trail this day was not fast by any means at all, but we cranked out 20 miles ending in extreme heat, without passing out, and only a few people getting sick. I will use this pace as my worst-case scenario. All the women I run with are so amazing and inspiring, and there is no way we could have done that on our own.
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