Day 4 - Olema to Inverness

We had to dig deep today. Right off the bat, we had a 1350 foot climb that our legs were in no condition to conquer. Mark ran the whole thing in rock star fashion.

The terrain was a combination of everything we've seen so far. We were supposed to do 12 miles today; we did 14.7. Go figure. Mapping isn't a perfect science as I've mentioned before :>). Once again, Mark waited until we were done to tell me this. I was grateful for this.

Before I get to pictures and comments about the day, I thought I'd give some statistics that Map Guy gave me regarding our trip. You data heads will love this; I did:

Day 1 - 12.2 miles, 2:24 moving time, 3084' total elevation gain.
Day 2 - 14.0 miles, 2:41 moving time, 2750' total elevation gain, max elevation of 2557'.
Day 3 - 16.2 miles, 2:46 moving time, 1354' total eleveation gain, 3163' total descent.
Day 4 - 14.7 miles, 2:46 moving time, 2647' gain, 2750' total descent.
Day 1 -4 . . . 57.1 miles, 9835' total elevation gain, 2 sore knees (not Erin's), and 3 blisters (2 Erin's).

We started today in Olema. Our first milestone would be Mt. Whittenberg, then Reyes Hill, and then would be mostly downhill to Inverness.



This is just outside Olema at the Visitor's Center. Off we go.




From left to right:

We can see "it" (the climb) coming toward us.
Two shots of me suffering up the climb. The scenary is nice though, right?
The final push.
Here we are after the climb. He snapped my picture before I got to compose myself. I look as bad as my legs feel, whereas he looks like he's fresh as a daisy.



At this point, Map Guy says, "I'm going the additional .2 miles to the top of Mt. Whittenberg because I want to summit. You can hang here if you want." I'm thinking "Of course you do and no I'm not hanging". I say, "Sure, I'll go with you". We agree to walk it.


This was a cool shot on our way up the summit.





And then, this is the Summit. I think a little chuckle might have escaped my lips at this point. We both agreed it might not have been worth the extra effort (It wasn't, but we had to go . . . mk).




After our anti-climactic summit, we head downwards and then up some again toward Reyes Hill. Best we can figure, this meant going up again and in this case, into the fog.

The larger pic is on our way up.







The two side shots were part of some government station of sorts. We couldn't figure out what these were. It felt very "other planet like" though.


Mark on the final descent.


Us very glad about this fact (and we finally came across someone who could take a picture of both of us).


Map Guy doing his best work.


Our trip down would lead us to the town of Inverness. It is a one horse town with very friendly folks.
A picture of Inverness (I wasn't kidding).

Mark and I posing at the official sign which marks our "doneness". Of course I have to "stick the landing".

And our very favorite person of the day; Elizabeth who as a fellow hiker and runner was more than willing to give us a lift back to Olema.



What a great trip. Somehow we got it all done injury-free for which we are extremely grateful. We're glad to be done running, but we feel like super heros and are more than slightly refreshed and ready to head home and conquer the world. We are grateful to our friends and family for caring for our little people in our absense. Early reports sound like they've had a great time.

Day 3 - Mtn Home Inn to Olema Inn

Today was Day 3 and although the sun wasn't shining as brightly, it was still warm and expected to be flat to downhill running. This will be critical as tomorrow it's back to the hills.

Our route today could be divided into 3 parts:

1. Coastal Trail (long ridge with all the grass above the coast)
2. Forested part of Bolinas Ridge Trail
3. Grassy part of Bolinas Ridge Trail.

This is at the start of the Coastal Trail.









Shortly thereafter, one of Mark.










Runner's World Guy (RWG) did 9 miles on Day 3. We did 16 miles which means we're either much cooler, dumber, or I need to get a new Map Guy. Today was the only day which required a cab ride to the trail head for it would have been far to long otherwise. So, how did we end up with 16 instead of 9 miles? I wasn't sure. If you know Map Guy, you know he is a man of accuracy and precision. And he totally knows his way around a GPS. That said, last night when he was finalizing our route for today like nights prior, I recall mention of something about maps having different mileage estimates and so he was never exactly sure which one would be more right. "Ok, I said. Let's just get close to RWG's mileage without going so far over like we did on Day 1 and 2". I swear he mumbled in agreement while his head bobbed up and down. But, my bad; I should have known he was up to something.

16 wasn't the number I had in mind exactly. But I am not Map Guy. After we were all done, I asked, "how far?", knowing it had to be at least 14. "16", says Map Guy. "Wow! How cool are we? Who would've thought?" And I let it go; chocking it up to the story I was fed last night.

We made it to the Olema Inn, I'd taken a long shower when the truth came out; RWG took a longer cab ride and started at the Bolinas Ridge Trail. Map Guy wanted to run the Coastal Trail but didn't want to mention this last night. Chicken! I will say this - it was a great run today. The Coastal Trail was worth the extra strain. But, keep in mind that it was relatively flat to downhill, I am post-run, showered, fed and curled up under some rad bedding as I write. And despite the line of bull I swallowed last night, I wouldn't leave home without Map Guy for about 100 reasons. After 20 years, he knows that I'm more of a "do now, deal later kind of gal" and figured he'd hedge his bets. Smart move. 16 miles! We'd planned on 42 TOTAL; not over 3 days. Feeling like a rock star!

Three shots from Forested part of Bolinas Ridge Trail.

Me going in, Mark somewhere in the middle and me coming out.






The last section was the Grassy part of the Bolinas Ridge Trail.


Me with a nice cow, because we just had to. Nan will say the cow is walking away because I do not smell so good. Well, he didn't either.







The Olema Inn is in sight. I think I'll sprint to the finish! NOT. But, you can't tell with a still, can you? Thank God we arrived.








Day 4 destination. Sometimes when traveling just the two of you, you must be creative when trying to both be in a picture.

Happy Trails.......

Day 2 - Muir Beach to Mtn. Home Inn

The start of Day 2. Looks innocent enough, right? Well, as you might imagine, the legs moved a little slower today. And the hills were much harder.







We started at Muir Beach and went through Muir Woods National Monument (a stand of Coastal Redwoods). They actually charged us to "enter Muir Woods". Mark was aghast when the guy at the entrance stopped us and said, "you go through those gates, you pay". So, pay we did because we had a course to run. $10 total. I think Mark's still mad because it came up again at dinner with a scowl.








Here we look like a couple of sightseeing tourists posing inside a giant redwood. In reviewing the pictures from today, I noticed more than a fair share were taken inside the woods.

I'm not sure if we were trying to get out money's worth or were simply trying to postpone the inevitable - that our legs would soon be on fire as we climbed the 1600 feet out of the woods. I don't think our legs have ever burned like that before. But "words" were only exchanged once all day and it following much climbing. Grace is good.





Here I am suffering up the climb out of the woods.











As we ran along today, we came up with "The 10 Things to Keep in Mind When Trail Running" long distances:

1. King sized beds are good.
2. Lactic Acid is not good.
3. Poison Oak is not good.
4. Technu is good (at least so far).
   
5. Map Guy (aka GPS Guy) is good to have along. He's also really cute.
6. What goes up, must come down and the opposite is also true. When heading for a peak, if you go up, you must do everything you can to stay there because if the trail wants to wander downward, you have get back up there somehow. You might also glare at Map Guy.
   
7. Don't call Map Guy an a@$hole. It's just not nice even if he deserves it.
8. Twittering at mile 12 of 14 makes Map Guy very irritable. If you're going to stop to Twitter, do it early in the day.
9. Post-run hamburgers are good.
10. The ice bath will be worth it tomorrow. Brrrr.

The view close to the top. I should note here, that I thought this was our top for today. But, in fact Mark "had to summit", so off we went another 200 feet to the East Peak. I'm sure Peter, Jenny, Dave and Heike, et al understand this need. And it was worth it.






Mark at THE EAST PEAK. Picture was taken from the below the Fire Lookout here. San Quentin and West/East Marin Islands in the background.









This is the path on the way back down. We ended up 1000 feet above the Mountain Home Inn, so down we went. Lots of rocks and slow going. But, down and slow were both appreciated at this point.











Mecca. Back at the Mountain Home Inn 15. No, the irony of Handicap Parking sign was not lost on me.