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Weekend Running


A relatively big week of running (55 miles), capped off by two fantastic weekend runs with friends.

Saturday, I was up before 4am to meet Jimmy and Lukas for a 14 mile run on the Malibu Creek trail race course. The race is in a few weeks and Jimmy was leading a group training run later in the morning. He had to go out and pre-mark the course with chalk, so Lukas and I joined him.


It’s a really challenging course with some pretty sick climbs and one long quad-killing descent. Officially, it’s about 3,200 feet over the 14 miles! The course is also beautiful, with varied terrain (single track, woods, fire roads, rocky mountaintops) and great views in all directions.


The craziest thing about the run was that after finishing the first loop, Jimmy and Lukas went back out to hit it again. Massive props to them. The race doesn’t fit into my schedule this year, but I’d definitely consider it for the future. It’s actually the same course as the Bulldog 25k/50k in August (the 50k is two loops – crazytown), but that’s the weekend before Angeles Crest, so that’s not happening this year either!


One nice thing about starting a run at 5:30, is that even a 2.5 hour run is done by 8! That left me plenty of time to meet Loren and Charlie for a delicious breakfast in Los Feliz, take the boys to the dog park and get in a nice, long nap!


The plan was to back Saturday’s run up with a longer one on Sunday and hopefully get in close to 35 miles for the weekend. I met Billy, Jimmy, Colin, Kristin, Nina and Dana at 9 (thank goodness for sleeping in!) in Palos Verdes to run a loop that Colin and Kristin had mapped out.

(photo from Billy)
We ended up with right around 20 miles (34 miles for the weekend), on a fun course all over Palos Verdes, with all kinds of different running surfaces and some fun climbs and descents.

(photo from Billy)

And again, beautiful views:

(photo from Billy)

We had a great, long “brunch” (is that what a call a meal that lasts from 1 until 4?) in Redondo Beach, refueling and talking – mostly running, of course!

You can read Billy’s excellent blog post about the run here.

It’s still strange to me that I’ve gone from someone who trained almost entirely on my own to doing a majority of my long training with someone else or a group. I’ve found some fantastic people to train with and it makes otherwise ridiculous things, like six hours of weekend running so much more manageable and enjoyable! And to think, my training is mostly done with people I’ve only met within the last year and this weekend’s runs were with people I’d never even heard of just a few months ago! Thanks all!

Run – Apr 10
Distance: 14 miles
Time: 2:35
Course: Malibu Creek
Conditions: 5:30am start, sun and clouds, 50’s
Total climbing: 3,284 feet
Notes: With Jimmy and Lukas

Run – Apr 11
Distance: 20miles
Time: 3:27
Course: Palos Verde
Conditions: Overcast, high 50’s
Notes: With Colin, Kristin, Billy, Jimmy, Nina and Dana

One thought on “Weekend Running”

  1. Billy Burger says:
    April 12, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    Great weekend of running Josh and great hanging out on Sunday. The good company definitely made the time go by faster.

    Reply

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