The JJW Blog

15.2 mile run today, 3 hrs, very slow but a life saver run.  Leaving the offices of my client Adobe today, I felt very discouraged and scared about the challenge of the evening.  On the surface it should of been an easy evening.  I was staying in a nice old hotel in downtown San Jose, had an expense account, with cool comfortable weather.   My plan was to go back to my room, change, and go for a run and this is what I told others what I would do.   My friend Ann Marie, watching my daughter back in K.C. told me “have a nice run”.   No-one knew the challenge it was for me just to get out of my hotel room.  For some reason when I travel I get very depressed and lonely whenever I enter a hotel room and I just want to crawl into my bed, turn on my tv, and eat the room snacks all night.  This is what I had done the 2 nights before in fact and each morning on this trip I have been waking up, very like I have no self control and have been trapped all night.  Back home in Colorado I have been running, biking, hiking and had dropped over 12 pounds, feeling great and training for my big run at Imogene.  On the road I felt fat, out of shape, un-motivated and like everything I had worked had fallen apart.   I had eaten 7 or 8 snacks both the nights before and in my mind it felt like I had gained 5 pounds, was lethargic and couldn’t run a step.  I had gone from a Rocky Mountain high on Sunday (see the pictures below) to a bloated mess in California.

So I came into the room tonight and put on my orange shorts and headed out for a run.  I decided as I was heading out that orange shorts and red nikes are a huge clash so I changed into white and headed out.  My intention was to just get out of the room as quick as possible, get outside and don’t worry about running.  Just get out and go play in the park perhaps, do some stretching, or go play some basketball.

I started running towards the Guadeloupe trail.  I had discovered the trail yesterday on my run and had heard that it went on about 15 miles.   Whenever I get on a trail, I instantly start imagining how long I could stay on it and where it could take me.  I always imagine that it ends in some pristine wilderness somewhere several miles away.   All around San Jose are hills and I have always dreamed of running to them.  As soon as I got on the trail I dreamed of staying on them for 15 or 20 miles and reaching the hills.  I knew this was a bit far fetched.  I only had 1/2 of a water bottle with me.  But on the other hand I had been eating like a mad man for the last 2 days and probably had tons of energy reserves.  However, my legs were tired from the climb on Sunday and running yesterday and I usually took a day off.  But it was flat running at sea-level and I did need some kind of challenge to re-focus myself.   Besides I could refill my water bottle at gas stations.  I decided to try it.   It would be a challenge and a fun evening.   I had my Ipod to listen to, how bad could it be.   I needed to to also learn how to be on my feet for over 15 miles; Imogene Pass Race is 17 miles and will take me over 3 hours for sure, so I need to learn to be on my feet for this long.

I started out following highway 87 (Guadeloupe Parkway) and to my delight found out that I could run along the bike path and cut through several neighborhoods.  San Jose alternates between dingy, rather scary neighborhoods, with Hispanics working on their cars, to “Silicon Valley” neighborhoods with young white kids working on their BMWs.  I tried to keep track of landmarks I passed because I knew I would be running back in the dark.  I lost the bike path a few times but always found it again and kept pressing on.  I didn’t know how far to go, could I really reach the hills?  I decided that since I had 3 48 minute Fresh Air podcasts, I would turn around 1/2 through the second podcast.   With my 20 minute start that gave me a 3+ hour run.   I would check the mileage when I got home.

With about 10 minutes to go until I needed to turn around I felt like I was very far away from my hotel but knew it was simply my inexperience and I probably wasn’t terribly far.  I could see some really pretty hills spotted with brown with out of season eucalyptus trees really close and ran into a neighborhood adjoining them.   My legs were tired but I wasn’t out of breath.  I decided to ask a couple of old ladies if there was any way around the large California homes with fences and into the hills behind them.  ”Oh no, not any easy way” was the reply.  ”So there are no running trails?” I reconfirmed.  They looked at me like I was weird.  I ran on hoping to find a way back behind somebody’s yard and into the hills.  I couldn’t find anything but a cul-de-sac with some mashed down native grass on it. The sun was setting at this point and a beautiful almost full moon was rising above the hills I desparetely wanted to get to. I was about to give up when I thought I saw the entrance to a very small park.  I looked at my watch and I had 20 seconds to go until I had told myself I would turn around if I didn’t find anything.  I race towards the entrance and found a dirt trail leading up the hill!  I pumped my first overjoyed and amazed that my instincts had led me to a real trail.  At the top of the hill were about 5 ladies and a little girl taking a walk.  I talked to one of them and she told me the trees at the top of the hill were red pepper trees.  She asked where I was from and welcomed me to California.  I asked her if the trails we were on went on further into the hills, expecting the answer to no in accordance with what the old ladies had told me earlier.  ”Oh yes, you can follow these 7 miles that way into a state park and several miles that way to a lake”.   That damn old lady, doesn’t even know her own neighborhood, I thought.  ”We are lucky to live here, so close to all of this” the nice lady went on.  I felt a deep peace come over me again as I realized I had found here what I love about Boulder and about all other places where people actually love and respect the natural settings near their homes.  Leaving my burdens and worries behind, I soaked in the scene around me, took one last look at the moon and then tore down the hill back towards home.   The sun set, it was dark but I was happy.  I had 1 1/2 Fresh Air podcasts left, some time left for a little music and a nice run back to my hotel ahead of me.  

Total calories burned:  About 7 or 8 snacks.