Trails Lately

My Western States post ended with a plan to hit the trails during the week, and so far it's been fantastic. It's actually quite easy to drive to a park after work, but for some reason I just hadn't been doing it. It feels great to be back to the trails and to test my climbing abilities after so many months of babying the hip on boring flat roads.

I've discovered that Rancho San Antonio is a convenient place to meet Kevin after work because we can both drive there pretty easily. It generally isn't my favorite park because it's so popular and crowded, but it's free, convenient, and of course has great trails. It also has a ton of wildlife in the evening; we've seen many deer, quail, turkeys, rabbits, and squirrels, all of which are entertain me when I'm running by.

Sophia and I ran at Arastradero Preserve one evening, a nice park near Palo Alto. Parking there is rough due to the small lot, but we managed to find spots. Although it's not a very large park in general, there is a nice 6ish mile loop around the outside and you could easily run the trails in the middle to add distance. Views from the top include the Stanford Dish and foothills all around.

Evening sun at the bottom of Arastradero.

On Thursday I climbed part of Mission Peak in Fremont; I wish I'd have taken my phone for the photos. The views on that climb were fantastic and I felt like I could see all of South Bay. I climbed for about 2.25 miles, not all the way up, because traffic craziness made me late to meet the group and I turned around when I ran into them. Another day I'll go back and go all the way up. I can tell the steep climb will be worth it. This is another really crowded park, but the nearby street parking helps a lot.

Kevin's family was visiting over the July 4th holiday and we took them to Sanborn County Park for a short hike. I'd never been to this park before and was pleasantly surprised with the scenery; tree cover and very large trees are my thing. This is definitely one we need to go explore on a run one day.

 Deer at Sanborn.

Kev and his parents hiking in Sanborn.

Now to my very favorite park in the area, Huddart Park located in Woodside. I absolutely love running here, again because of the big trees, tree cover, and gorgeous (mostly single track) trails. We've run it the last two weekends; I can't get enough. Trails in this park generally follow an up-up-up and then down-down-down route, so the climbs are long and pretty tough. The beginning sustained climb of our normal route is around 3.5 miles, then we have some easy rollers, and it ends with a fun downhill. 

Yesterday's elevation map.

 Fourth of July trail run.

 Sophia on the Skyline Trail.

 Kevin descending Chinquapin Trail.

Chinquapin Trail Bridge.

The last couple weeks have included upwards of 4000 feet of climbing. When I started back I could tell my hill legs and lungs just weren't there anymore, but I'm feeling stronger and they will be soon. I'm really looking forward to the trail running to be had in Bend, Oregon, this August too. More trail running, please! 

Except that at times the klutz in me comes out. Like this lovely fall near a picnic area in Huddart, oops. Scraped up knee, elbow, hand, and shoulder thanks to a little rolling action. One week later...this one still kinda hurts. 

Adding more red to the white and blue of my July 4th outfit.

Don't worry, I'm ok now. Happy running!

Have you ever had a running fall?