Trail Running Dictionary

Runs On Dirt has a new feature called Tom's Trail Running Terms. It's just below the OCTR logo on the right.

I've taken ordinary words and phrases and given them new meanings only a trail runner could appreciate. I hope you like them. There will be a new definition every day, so check back often.

El Moro Canyon Pictures

Yuppie 911

Personal locator beacons like this are potential lifesavers, but I think it ought to cost you at least $1000 every time you use it. Here's why.

Meadows Trail - pwnd!

A blue heron taking a stroll in Aliso Canyon

I was tired of babying my sprained ankle and avoiding all the climbs I could. This morning I decided to break out of the canyon and go with Lauren to Top of the World. "Which way do you want to go up?" I asked as we reached the junction with Wood Canyon. "Anyway but that way", she said, motioning down Aliso Canyon. Why any way but that way? Turns out neither of us had ever run all the way up Meadows without stopping or walking, so that's exactly what we resolved to do.

Meadows Trail starts at mile 2 and ends at mile 3

Lauren about halfway up Meadows - running!

Well, we both made it to the top in fine shape, with no walking or stopping. The slow and steady approach worked like magic.

Afterward, a short, steep section on pavement

Cool! new stairs on the worst part of this trail

Back down in Wood Canyon

One of 2 deer spotted by Lauren

Stats: Overcast and breezy, 11.6 miles with 1427 ft. of elevation gain, 1 blue heron, 2 deer.

Whiting Ranch and Red Rock Cliffs

This run went up Borrego Canyon to the top of Red Rock Canyon, then back down to Mustard Road, up Mustard to Four Corners, down Cactus Hill, Sleepy Hollow and Serrano Cow Trail. Throw in a missed turn and a little bit of backtracking (which I am famous for!) and it came out to just over 8.5 miles. The highlight of the run for me was definitely Red Rock Cliffs.





The picture above was taken using the camera timer with the camera precariously balanced. I guess 10 seconds wasn't enough time for me to get in position AND regain my own balance.



My left ankle is still a little sore from a recent sprain, but it felt pretty good on this run, partly due to new shoes with some actual cushioning!

3 Runners Die in Detroit Marathon

This is hard to believe, and weather was probably not a factor.

Emerald Canyon

I had been wanting to explore Emerald Canyon for some time, so I promised myself I would run there once my sprained ankle healed and was up to the task. Today was the day, a bright, clear morning, but already feeling a bit warm at 7 AM. I set off with fellow OCTR member Lauren from the trail head at the end of Ridge Park for what I estimated would be about 9 miles to Emerald falls and back. I didn't have any illusions about the waterfall, as I suspected it would be dry even though we did have some rain this week. We warmed up on Bommer Ridge, then turned down El Moro Ridge and caught the Old Emerald Falls Trail, a single track that drops down into Emerald Canyon. By the time we reached the lush vegetation of the canyon bottom at around 3 miles, the temperature had fallen by at least 10 degrees. Nice!

Emerald Canyon turned out to be my favorite kind of trail - shady, cool, narrow single track through big trees. The Sycamores and Live Oaks seemed particularly tall, and the trail was padded with leaf litter in many places. It's the kind of trail where you can see only a short distance ahead, and where you might expect to run into a deer as you round a bend.


I think the reason Emerald Canyon has that secluded quality is because there is no access from the bottom. It's "landlocked" as they say, so it can't be part of a loop, and as a result most people don't venture too far down. Fine with me - I enjoyed the quiet solitude.


We reached the falls at 4.3 miles. Judging from the width of the exposed rock where the creek bed cuts across the trail at the head of the falls, I could visualize quite a flow under the right conditions. Those conditions would either be a torrential downpour or a week's worth of persistent showers. I could almost hear the roar!



Might as well go all the way to Laguna Beach as long as we came this far, right? The trail below the falls appeared to be even less travelled, and it was a very pleasant 1/2 mile trek until we came to an ugly fence and a locked gate at what looked like it might be a tennis club.

We took a break, had a snack and then started back the way we came. If you toss out a few steep sections near the falls, the run back up the canyon is pretty easy until you get to the intersection of Old Emerald Trail (on the right) and Old Emerald Falls Trail (on the left).

Old Emerald climbs NE to Bommer Ridge

Old Emerald Falls climbs N to El Moro Ridge

We stayed on Emerald Canyon which takes you straight up the ridge and back out into the sun. The climb is pretty steep for a while, but sort of levels out after that and is pretty runnable all the way to Bommer Ridge. There is a nice single track that runs along alongside Bommer, but I decided to stay on the fire road instead because I thought it would be smoother and easier on my ankle, which was beginning to feel a little sore. We finished up with 9.8 miles in a little over 2 hours. Satellite image with GPS track by SportTracks.

Local Runners Missing Since Sunday Are Found!

Long distances, rugged terrain, high temperatures, we've all been there, right? But do we realize how close we sometimes come to getting into trouble? I suppose that what happened to these two very experienced ultra-runners could happen to any of us. Thank God it turned out well this time.

Read the article and the update

Too Much Time Thinking

Today marks one week without running. Instead of going on a long run, I mostly sat around. Oh, and I did some thinking, mainly about ways to keep cooler while running. One of my better ideas was to hydrate with ice instead of water.

My calculations show that eating ice can cool you 20% more than drinking the same weight of warm water. The benefit is even greater (much greater) in high humidity, so I will definitely try this when I start running again.

Oh, and you don't have to worry about mountain lion attacks any more. My experiments prove one thing very conclusively:

If you are threatened by a mountain lion, you can just distract it with a laser pointer while you make your escape.

I came across this picture...

...and suddenly realized how chopsticks were invented.

Can't wait to hit the trail again!

Pass the ice!

I figured the run would take about 3 hours. Turns out I can limp it in 3 and a half.

Starting at the Lower Hot Springs trail head, San Juan Trail begins with 10 tight switchbacks. On the third one, I fell down, skinning my right knee and elbow. Great! On the fourth one, I rolled my left ankle when I misstepped a deep rut. This can't be happening! I waited for the string of expletives to stop echoing through the canyon, then took a few steps, then began running again. It hurt, but was starting to feel better, so I decided to keep going to Cocktail Rock, ultimately covering 13 miles with 2365 ft. of elevation gain. My friends Sheila, Kelly and Dave kept asking me how I was doing, and my answers went from "Not too bad" at the beginning to "Not good" toward the end.

On the bright side, I didn't run out of water, step on any snakes, and I wasn't mowed down by speeding mountain bikers. The company was caring and the scenery was gorgeous. A good day.

Back home to ice and re-hydrate


------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday Update:

Even though I've been icing, taking ibuprofen and keeping it elevated, my ankle was much bigger this morning. I really missed my ritual 5 mile recovery run today.

Maple Springs - Main Divide - Silverado Motorway

Getting up at 4:00 AM is highly unusual for me, but today was going to be a long, hard run and we wanted to beat the heat. For some reason, I wanted toast with Swiss cheese for breakfast, then topped it off with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After meeting up with fellow OCTR members Lauren, Kelly, Larry, Daniel and David, Lauren drove us all to the end of Silverado Canyon where we started up Maple Springs Road in twilight just after 6:00 AM.

The first 3 miles of Maple Springs Road is paved, then it becomes dirt (yay!). The climbing lasts for 7 miles, but it is mostly runnable, with the average grade somewhere around 7%. In the picture on the right, you can see the trail zig-zagging back and forth. The ridge in the background is the Main Divide. Silverado Canyon is down in the valley between Maple Springs Road and the Main Divide. We came up Maple Springs, circled left around to the current viewpoint, and continued around CCW on the distant trail atop Main Divide.

These 2 pictures are courtesy of Larry. The first one looks like it was taken on Main Divide shortly after passing Bedford Road. Bedford meets Main Divide at the top of the frame, just on the other side of the ridge, and drops down into Riverside County south of Corona. You can see some of us on the road below.

Here we are on Main Divide. There is a downward trend from Maple Springs to the Motorway, and it looks pretty flat from a distance. Dream on! Anyone familiar with ridge trails will not be surprised when I tell you there are some pretty steep climbs along the way. I was glad we were going north and not south because there would have been significantly more climbing.

After passing Bedford Peak, we finally reached the top of the final hill of the day. Here is a rattlesnake's view of our group at the top of Silverado Motorway. From here, the trail is single track which plunges nearly 2000 ft. down the side of the mountain in just 3 miles. There are a lot of loose rocks so you have to pay attention to stay upright, especially near the bottom when your legs become tired from the constant braking.

This was our elevation profile. Nasty! The total cumulative elevation gain was 4,068 ft. Distance was 16.4 miles. I brought 100 oz. of water and drank every drop. As always, I had a blast. Thanks for the great company, you guys!

My Slow Week

"But Tom, how is that different from your normal week?"

Well, it's different because this week I simply ran at a comfortable pace. I did not push myself to go faster like I usually do. I followed the plan, but the best part is that I truly enjoyed all my running this week, especially yesterday at Chino Hills SP and today at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary.

Here's the background on this story: I was tired of having minor injuries that constantly re-locate themselves according to some mysterious pattern like musical chairs (left knee > left hip > right foot > left IT band > right shoulder > lower back > right hamstring, etc.). Typically, there was no pain while I was actually running, but I could sure feel pain the rest of the time.

My self-prescribed 3 weeks of therapy has centered around the "less is more" philosophy, cutting back on one element of running each week to give everything a chance to heal at the same time. Would it work? The first week, I cut out some hills. The second week, some distance. In this third and final week, I cut my pace.

Combined with ice, stretching and ibuprofen, I'm happy to report that my 3 week plan was very successful. At this moment I don't have any pain anywhere, which is such a nice feeling.

Happy running to all!

Do You Come Here Often?

For two Saturdays in a row now I have driven to Chino Hills State Park for a nice, easy run on rolling hills. The loop I run (which I learned from Jessica) is just under 7 miles with just under 900 ft. of elevation gain. The single track trails have great names - how can you resist taking a trail called "Easy Street" or especially "Bovinian Delight"?

This was going to be an easy run on not-so-technical trails so I wore my minimal shoes, New Balance 790. They are super light and have virtually no cushioning (think racing flats for the trail). I have been having some right heel pain lately, so I thought that fine-tuning my running mechanics might be in order. If you are running incorrectly, these shoes will let you know it immediately!

I warmed up on Easy Street, stopping near the bottom at the secret spot for my ritual potty break (I won't tell you where it is, because then everyone will want to use it). Soon I was running into the early morning sun on Telegraph Canyon alone as could be. Cool. Then on one of the small climbs, "whoosh!", a high school kid in a red shirt pounded by me so fast that it startled me. I took a look behind to see if there were any more coming. There weren't. For the next mile or so I felt old and slow, but I kept my pace. I didn't see anyone else except a couple guys on mountain bikes, who labored past me on another climb.

When I got to Four Corners I took a short break and ate a GU. The mountain bikers were sitting there, and one of them said to me, "Wow, you had a pretty strong pace going when we passed you!". The "old and slow" feeling suddenly vanished and I said "Thanks!" as I started up Bovinian Delight. About a third of the way to the ridge, I saw another tarantula.

It seemed to be pretty active, so I held my hand out to it, though I'm not sure what I'd have done if it had walked onto my hand!

At the intersection with South Ridge I paused for this picture. In the distance you can see a layer of smoke from the fires in LA County.

The air was clear where I was, with no hint of smoke at all. A woman on a mountain bike pulled up and stopped. "Do you run here every week?" she asked. Then I recognized her from last Saturday, when she had asked me to take a picture of her group at the exact same spot. The others in her group were quite a ways behind, because I was at least a half mile down South Ridge before I saw them.

About a mile further, on a nice downhill, I saw a couple of guys from the Trail Headz working their way up the hill toward me. I recognized one of them but didn't remember his name, so I just said "I recognize you!" without stopping. He said, "You're Tom, right?" They were both in white shirts and white hats in anticipation of a hot sun, as they were probably just starting their run. I was just finishing mine, shirtless with a bandana around my head, and completely out of water.

As I got back to the car, I noticed that my feet, legs and back felt better than they had at any time this week, with 25 miles so far. There was no soreness or tightness anywhere, which is a great feeling, no dout due to the easy running on fine trails today!

99

That's what my car thermometer read as I was driving to this afternoon's run in Crystal Cove SP. Though it was hot, the humidity was low and there was a good breeze. It would not be so bad for running, I thought. As I was parking the car, I spied a plume of smoke on the eastern horizon - another fire.

Sue from the Trail Headz pulled up and I invited her to join us. Then Sheila and Kelly showed up, and as we walked to the trail head, we saw Larry running up the hill toward us. He had come early to get in a few more miles. The five of us started down Bommer Ridge at 5 PM, looking to run only about 5 miles because of the heat.

We followed Fenceline single track to the end, then in the interest of making our mileage, I had the bright idea of adding a side trail called "Elevator". How bad could it be? Well, at first it dropped steeply down, then it got really steep, and believe it or not, it got much steeper at the end. Fear-for-your-life steep. Butt-scooting steep. The road back up wasn't so bad, either, except that everyone but Larry had to walk it. Luckily we all made it back to Bommer Ridge in one piece, though I'm not sure if Sue will ever run with me again!

On the way back we took Fenceline again. Larry made some comment about eating lots of salt, and that's when I noticed the front of his black shirt was white with dried salt. Damn! It didn't feel that hot, I guess it was the low humidity. Anyway, we ended up with 4.4 miles after an hour in the sun. Larry had 10 miles, Sue went back out for a few more miles, Sheila and Kelly went home, and I hit the road, too.

There was a lot of traffic on the 405, and my legs felt like they had a few more miles in them, so I took the Shady Canyon exit and ran 3 more miles at Quail Hill. It was starting to cool off a little by then, and the gently rolling hills made for a very enjoyable run. So I ended up with a little over 7 miles in the heat today.

Here's what my black hat looked like when I got home (and it wasn't even completely dry yet).

Pass the salt, please.