Zombie Running

I've coined a term that describes running when the sun is down and the moon is up; Zombie Running. Actually there's a running store called Zombie Runner. that features a varied selection of items and a nice web page. The actual storefront is in San Louis Obispo, CA I believe. I'll have to pick up a Zombie Runner shirt.

I often enjoy running in the dark. It offers a bit more peace, a bit more quiet, and a bit more of an opportunity to snap an ankle. With the visual landmarks limited Zombie running allows me an easier way to run within myself. Does that make sense? There aren't as many visual cues and this takes some of the pressure off to go fast. It just feels easier. It's me, the ground, and a bubble of light to run in.

Zombie running also provides the zombie with the opportunity to experience more wildlife. During my moonlit ramblings I've come across toad, coyote, owl, deer, mouse, and rabbit. Fortunately I haven't come across bear or cat. Occasionally I'll think too much and imagine a big cat around the next bush. A few loud claps of my hands puts my mind at ease. They are probably more afraid of me. Regardless, I take extra care to not squat down to tie my shoes.

TOAD ON MT WILSON TOLL ROAD (Mt. Wilson Toll Road Toad):


I use two lights while zombie running on trails; one on my head and one around my waist. Originally I used just the high powered one on my head. It was too bright and created a tunnel vision sensation. I had limited peripheral vision in darker spots. I added the second lamp around my waist. The headlamp is pointed further in the distance while the waist lamp is aim at the more immediate trail before me. This is a good combination and disperses enough light to take away the tunnel syndrome.

ZOMBIE APPROACHES:


Tuesday's W/ Morie? No Tuesday w/ Zombie

Great four mile run! Is this for real? I felt fast and smooth on Tuesday night along the trails of the Rose Bowl. This was one of those runs that seems to come along every so ofeten. I was is in a zone...a nice rhythm if you will. When I finished my perscribed mellow Tuesday run felt more like a speed workout. i could feel the lactic acid in my legs and that was nice. I'd like to have this experience more often

Wednesday Zombie Run Henninger Flats via Mt. Wilson Toll Road: 5-6 miles Round Trip 1400 ft elevation gain (powerhike/run)

Gettin' Near Zombie Time on Henninger's:


This is January? How about a bit of Winter weather!? It's been at least 4 years since I've been on this trail and it's changed a bit. Heavy rains of 2005 caused some slides along the trail which have still not been cleared.





On the way down I bumped into a guy wearing a Civil War soldiers cap. His name was Angus and he's from Pennsylvania. He mentioned he goes up there at night to write lyrics and stories. Says it's quiet and he can think. Funny what strangers will tell you. He said he believes he was a soldier in the Civil War in a previous life then proceeds to tell me of his vivid dreams of killing those in gray. He smelled of booze. Interesting guy.

Old Wheel Atop Henninger Flats:


An enjoyable adventure, but not quite sure if I'll train on this trail again for this race. If I do, it will be all the way up to Mt. Wilson for a long 18 miler.

Take #1 - The Moth Scare:


Take #2





Zombie Running (I can see better than what's depicted)


The flats were originally homesteaded by "Captain" William K. Henninger in 1880-81. Much is unknown about "Cap" Henninger except that he was a grizzled veteran of the California Gold Rush days. Henninger was reportedly secretive about his background. Arriving in So Cal in the late 1870's Henniger found this spot that holds his name while searching for minerals in the local mountains. Henninger loved the little flat and eventually built a cabin, cistern and cleared some land for vegetables. Eventually the flat became a "farm in the clouds" as he grew hay, fruit trees, vegetables, and melons. Henninger was described as good natured and full of fun and jokes. Hikers of the day were often entertained with tales of his frontier mining days. Henninger was also reported to be good with his rifle. In later years he was stricken with palsy. Still, it's been said that upon hearing a commotion with his burros he picked up his rifle and dropped a mountain lion 100 yards away. Henninger passed away in March of 1894. His body was carried of the mountain and placed in a San Gabriel churchyard.

In 1895 the Henninger property was sold to The Mt. Wilson Toll Road Company and in 1903 the Flats were leased to the precursor to todays Forest Service for use as an experimental forest nursery. In 1928 Henninger Flats and surrounding slopes were purchased by L.A. County. Currently the area produces 120,000new trees a year. I'm not sure where they fit in, but there's a componenet of LA County Fire that is tied into the area. I'll have to look that up. Today, visitors can camp in the area(actually closed now due to slides in 2005)and enjoy the visitors center.



Thursday - 4 miles South Rose Bowl Trails. Thought I was tired, but all turned out well once I started moving. Sometimes the toughest part is just getting out the door.

Friday = REST for big weekend mileage.

Zombie Trails To Ya

Log #5

1/20/09 - (6 miles) Coming back from illness / felt strong
1/21/09 - (5 miles) felt good
1/22/09 - (4 miles) South side / (Easy on the peppers for lunch!...Never again!)
1/24/09 - (14 miles) Trouble sleeping - Coaching and running with the TEAM. RAIN
towards the end. Rain was great! Team did great!
1/25/09 - (12 miles) Trouble sleeping - Slept in. Wanted to meet TNT Alum group (AM)
but too tired. Ran on my own. / South Side to the roosters, back and
up to the 210 and a bit beyond. Back to Lot K

ECHO!!!.................................echo!

1-21-09 – 5 Miles / Echo Mountain



The phone rang at 5:30 AM and I decided to take Wednesday’s training up into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. I got the call to fill in for a teacher at Highland Oaks Elementary. Wednesday, I was a 4th grade teacher. Highland Oaks is in Arcadia up on Santa Anita Blvd. It’s close to Sierra Madre and The Old Mount Wilson Trail so I planned on running up to First Water after work.



The kids were great. I usually work w/ middle schoolers or high school age students so this was something a bit refreshing. I shake my head a bit at the technology that’s in some of these classrooms these days. They had a microphone for the teacher , big screen monitor, something they call a document camera, some kind of funky pen to outline stuff on the screen ala John Madden and a few other assorted electronics. This is 4th grade…Ramona The Brave, Crayons, California History…an occasional “accident” in the pants. There are some universities that don’t have this kind of technology. Towards the end of the day the kids had a section on robotics. The kids construct robots then use software to program their robots to perform certain movements. Times have changed some since I was in 4th grade, however it’s good to see kids still enjoy a good story read to them. Today's Story was a Christmas tale called The Silver Package. Work was enjoyable today. I tried the microphone very temporarily but I felt ridiculous using it. Too much like a game show host…. "Johnny Smith, come on down! It's time for you to share!"

Work ended and since I was close to Sierra Madre I figured I’d head to The Old Mount Wilson Trail. Turns out that trail is closed (for now) during the week due to trail repair. Since that was the case I traveled a bit West to the top of Lake Avenue in Pasadena and the Sam Merrill Trail to Echo Mountain.

The trail is named after the man who tended it for years. During the 1940s Sam Merrill was a familiar sight along the trail to Echo Mountain. Several times a week he would rise early, grab his tools and work all day long on the pathway. Merrill vastly improved the trail that had long since overgrown. In 1948, while on the trail, Merrill lent a hand and helped the Forest Service put out a brush fire. Perhaps he overexerted himself. Merrill died in his sleep a few days later at the age of 80.

BELOW: Looking Westward from the Sam Merrill Trail. Las Flores Canyon and Cobb Estates

Echo lies in the foothills and was once the site of two hotels along the Mount Lowe Railway. Passengers would arrive at Rubio Canyon via the Red Car, hop on The Great Cable Incline and arrive at the Echo Mountain Hotel. There, they were rewarded with beautiful views of the basin below and could spend there time hiking, lounging, playing tennis on the tennis courts, cutting the rug in the dancehall, or visiting the little zoo.

Below: Echo Mountain then:

Below: Echo now from approximately the same vantage point:


If patrons wanted a more alpine experience they could continue further on the route via rail to the Mt. Lowe Hotel. All structures of the Mount Lowe Railway have long since been reclaimed by mother nature. Financial and natural disaster proved too much for these two unique Southern California landmarks. Mt Lowe Railway 1893-1936.

Below: Looking East at the top of the Great Cable Incline

Below: Atop the stairs looking down the Great Incline:

Below: The last remnant of the Great Incline Section. An old cablewheel

Tennis anyone? May I have this dance? Foundations of dancehall and courts. Now a picnic area

Bits of old hardware, pottery and glass from the hotel: A

hundred-year-old nail against the sky:




Running up the Sam Merrill Trail. Actually a combo of running and fast power hiking. Made good time to the top and then got a good quad workout with the downhill return:

Thanks for the Holes

I was unable to procure substitute work for the day so I was able to watch the inaguration festivities ushering President Obama into the Oval Office. While I did not vote for President Obama I want nothing more for him to do a great job, help unite our country and lead us out of our current situation. When the National Anthem was sung at the ceremony my Dad popped into my thoughts. I thought of my Dad and how he would be interested in this event. My Dad was a man who loved our country's founding principles and who actually got out there and worked for ideals and people he believed in. A constant throughout my Dad's life was his dedication to the ideals he held dear. After he retired he worked on two campaigns to unseed longtime incumbent (R)Congressman David Drier and put in local businessman Sonny Sardo. I recall reading some of his letters to David Drier. While respectful and mostly polite, my Dad did not mince words when it came to his beliefs.

It's been awhile since we lost him, yet strangely there are times where I just don't know where to put his death. The trite old saying is true; time does heal, however things will never be the same. There is a bittersweet memory of Dad that lingers and he pops into my thoughts out of nowhere. I see a can of potato soup at the market and there he is. Potato soup was one of his specialties. That was so good...especially on a cold night.

There are times where I still shake my head and ask "what happened"?

From apathy to anger, the first year or so after he passed brought with it a bunch of emotions. Some of those emotions I'm just starting to identify. That time was a kind of "hanging on". Autopilot was often the name of the game. The notion that my Dad and our family was cheated has been replaced with the acceptance that death is a part of life and as trite as it sounds, we must make our best effort to appreciate the simple things, quiet all the BS around us and demonstrate our appreciation to those we love and care about.

We weren't cheated. We are blessed.

My Dad was a good father. I could go on and on, but quite simply he made holes for me and got me out of quite a few self-made holes......

My enjoyment of the dirt and mountain trails must be in my genes. When I was about 3-4 years old, my Dad noticed that I enjoyed playing around the dug up landscaping of our home in Sierra Madre. What kid doesn't like the dirt? I asked and he dug me my very own hole. Hours of entertainment! Like most good fathers he did his share of pulling me out of holes and various foibles.

Thanks Pop. We love you always!


From left to right, up to down:

Helping at Uncle Roy's house. Dad doing summer yard work, The original hole, Off to Montessori School w/ my older brother Erick...nice pants, A boy and his very own hole #2


Oh, I had a very enjoyable run tonight. I ran 6 miles up into the Hahamonga Watershed and felt strong and sickenss free. It was fun.

Obamacon me

A little break in the routine:

Obama yourself

Have some fun

Training Log 4b

Despite being sick this last week I was still able to make some headway with my training. I accomplished both goals of setting up a weight training program and roughly scheduling time to go train on the LD50 course.

A week of feeling sick, crappy and depressed ended yesterday with a four mile run on the trails south of the Rose Bowl. I'm almost back to 100%. Time to get back aboard the training train. It felt good. I love running and am grateful that I'm able to get out there sweat and move.

Running fills me with optimism and hope.

Speaking of optimism and hope, on January 18th India's largest marathon took place. Nine weeks after one of the country's most fierce and dehumanizing terror attacks the Mumbai Marathon brought together tens of thousands of participants.

Ethiopian Haille Kebebush crossed the finish line first for the women in 2:34:08 while Kenneth Mugura from Kenya broke the course record for the men in 2:11:51,

Millions of rupees were raised for charity as runners came together to go 26.2. Fear cannot rule the day.

All aboard!

Training Log 4a (Patience, Go W/ The Flow)

Friday 1/16/09

I awoke Monday morning feeling under the weather and it stayed that way well into Wednesday. Symptoms included head congestion, fever like symptoms without much of a change in body temp (body ache, night sweats), and lethargy.

My best guess is contributing factors include:
-increased mileage combined with insufficient quality sleep
-the shift from cooler temps to unseasonably warm weather.
-the unknown…………

99% of the time obstacles will be part of the game when training for endurance events. That’s pretty much a given. The trick is how you deal with the obstacle once it presents itself. Will it be defeating or will one be creative and get through, around, over or under the obstacle. Sounds kind of like Basic Living 101.

I think many of us initially go towards the realm of defeat or the negative when disappointments some our way. There have been times this past week where I went there. “How am I going to ‘catch up’? What IF this lingers awhile?”. For whatever reason (my birth order, genetics, my parents made me wear corduroy, etc) I have the natural tendency to be a worry wart. I get sick, I can’t train, I worry….that’s the natural order of things. I recognize that, sometimes sit with it for awhile, then make an effort to move past it and be creative. It’s tough work that takes practice and constant self reminders. It would be nice to master. Sometimes it takes a friend to snap me out of it.

Today, feeling what I thought was 90%, I ventured out to go on as easy 4 miler. Sometimes a bit of exercise knocks the rest of the sickness crud out. As I set about my warm up I asked myself “what is the purpose of this run”? “The purpose of this run”, I told myself, “is to go with the flow, go by feel and move a bit”.

I took off at a slow pace and within a mile realized that today was not the day to push. My legs were heavy, my head was still a bit cloudy, and my breathing was more labored than it should be. I stopped and walked the remainder of my course.

I’ll play the weekend out by ear. I still feel pretty good and am on the tail end of whatever this bug is. Worrying about being sick will not get me well. Going with the flow, good rest, and being patient and relaxed will. I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Training Log #3

Still ramping up my weekend mileage and surprised with how good I'm feeling. These weekend miles are relatively tame for what I'll encounter in a month. I'm keeping it simple by focusing on one training at a time. Other than continuing to hit the trails my goals for the upcoming training week are:

A) Develop a weight training program specific to my ultra goal....and do it! I used to regularly lift weights, but that became monotonous. I'd rather take it outside. I can't see myself getting into the gym more than twice a week. I may start with one day a week and build up to two. I'm training to run a long way so my focus will be on the running.

B) Outline my weekend training locations. So far I've been hitting the local trails and getting mileage in with the Team in Training group I work with. I want to get in some training on the actual Leona Divide course to become familiar with the terrain and environment. I'll also make use the many choices that sit in my backyard...The San Gabriel mountains.

1/6/09 - 4 Miles PM
1/8/09 - 5 Miles PM
1/9/09 - 4 Miles PM

1/10/09 - 12 miles AM This was an interesting run. The night before I had trouble getting to sleep. Once the sandman paid me a visit I slept for an hour and a half until awakened by a dream of being buried alive in a mudslide. Pleasant stuff. I wonder what that's all about?I was planning on getting in my miles with the TEAM, however wide awake I decided to get in my run early. I arrived at the Rose Bowl at 5AM, put a headlamp around my waist and one on my head and proceeded to make my way up the Arroyo Seco. I skipped my normal turnoff onto the trail and proceeded to stick to the streets of Altadena. It felt good to run on the pavement for a change and just zone out without worry of rocks and roots. Near JPL I caught a service road that took me into the canyon and up to Elmer Smith Bridge. Once there I turned around and stuck to trails for my return trip. I was surprised with how good I felt considering the lack of sleep. My only concern was the gas I was experiencing throughout. On my return trip I became familiar with the ancient saying that goes....."He who eats spicy Indian food the night before a long run will be followed by quacking duck long run" 10/11/09 PM

1/11/09 PM Ran from Switzers to JPL (Arropy Seco) = 12 miles. Mostly downhill and a lot of dancing around rocks. A beautiful course, but I don't think I'll do this route again. I'm beat tired and my legs are hammered. Thankfully Monday is a rest day.

Training Log #2

Another week of good training to report. Knock on wood that the injuries stay away and I remain healthy. It feels really good to be working towards a running goal again. It's been awhile!

12/30/08 - 5 Miles, Felt great. So good in fact I took a spill on the trail. Fortunatly only my pride was injured!

1/31/08 - 4 Miles, A bit tired.

1/1/09 - 10 Miles, 5AM Rose Parade Run. This has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. Five years ago Sean (Team in Training Alumni) started a small group that meets early New years Morning and runs the Rose Parade route. We start at the end of the route, run the route to the floats, view the floats and return. The total course is about 10 miles. Afterwards the group heads over to a local diner for breakfast. Over the past five years the group has grown to about 25-30 runners.It's nice to meet up with friends old and new alike. Felt surprisingly good durning the run.

Step Back Weekend (build, build, recover....repeat)
1/3/09 - 8 Miles slow with the TEAM

1/4/09 - 6 Miles

Rose Bowl Run Pictures



La Canada Float (Winner, Animation)



Rose Float Dogs

Welcome 2009

The Healing Game