Monday: la jolla shores - an easy splash around the shores hoping to see some leopard sharks or soup fins, or something. alas the water was warm, the beach crowded. after 20 minutes or so in the water, I had more than my fill of crowds, and opted to abort the search for interesting sea creatures.
Tuesday: black mountain carmel mountain loop (5.7 miles 1:01): a painful and slow day, after 4 miles things started to loosen up. Though it never felt physically good, it was emotionally satisfying to be out for the sunrise.
Wednesday: mission trails over south fortuna (6 miles 1:09). similar to yesterdays outing, except with a good bit of climbing and on dirt. I ran across a young rattlesnake that wasn't at all pleased with my intruding on his home. As I approached, he began rattling and started to curl, though opted instead to slide off into the bushes.
as I started to follow the snake into the growth off the trail, I was impressed with how well it blended with the surroundings. I had absolutely no idea where the snake was. At that moment I figured it was best if I removed my self from the overgrowth and got back on the trail before anything else.
I carried on up and over south fortuna, enjoying the sunset from the top before continuing along the route and back to the car.
things felt a lot better today, and I was moving somewhat normal for the last mile or so.
Thursday: Carmel valley ride (25.6 miles 1:37) - its been some time since I was on a bike. It was fun to get out and explore a bit. early on I felt very mechanical and a lack of coordination, this passed after several miles, and I was reminded how much I enjoy being out on the bike. I will have to dust off the bikes once I get back to Juneau and make some time to do a bit of exploring.
Friday: penasquitos from the west (5.3 miles 0:56). Another easy day on the trails. just enjoying being back out and trying to get back into some form of routine.
Saturday: santee lakes (4.25 miles 0:35). a fun flat little jaunt around santee lakes.
the strand (15 miles 2:02). I decided it's time to start putting in some longer runs so opted to head out for another jaunt. initially I was going run about 90 minutes, but was feeling pretty good at the 1 hour mark, so opted to stretch it out a bit while I had some motivation and time.
It was a bit of an effort to keep going, as I was running down the strand, a paved bike/pedestrian path with a fair bit of traffic. when it was all said and done, it was nice to have some decent miles (though primarily flat) under my belt and get going on the day.
Sunday: swim - more time in search of interesting sea creatures. only today was an earlier morning outing with good friends. we swam from the shores out to the 1/2 mile buoy then over to the caves for a little gawking at sea lions and garibaldi.
as to be expected, there were numerous garibaldi around the cave entrance. once in the caves, there were 4 or 5 sealions or perched up on several of the rocks around. we hung out in there for a bit watching them and trying not to disturb them too much. after several minutes, they had enough of us and 1 of the sealions started barking and making a bit of a ruckus.
we decided it was time to head out and work our way back in to shore. it would have been nice to see some sharks, or rays, but today wasn't my day. perhaps next time i'm in town i'll have the fortune of swimming with some of them and seeing them.
Retrospective: my ambition is slowly returning. I am excited to get back to Juneau and spend some hours out in the mountains. i'm kicking around the idea of doing some more longer stuff come September, more for an opportunity to see new places than to race. i'm still not feeling that much of an itch for racing yet. as such i'll continue exploring and enjoying. if things line up, perhaps i'll do a bit of racing, until then it will all be low key and picking things up as they come along.
Summary:
Total Time: 7:22
Running Time: 5:45
Distance: 61.96 miles
TSS: 494
Climbing 4074'
