A change is as good as a rest...

Just for a change I headed out to Satwiwa for a change of scenery. The cloud was low and it looked like a perfect day. 15 minutes drive and I was at the trailhead. No real plan just a follow your nose run for 10 miles or so. I saddled up and headed off.

This is the location of the XTerra Boney Mountain HM that I ran earlier in the year, so I thought it would be fun (fun in the broadest sense of the word!) to try some of the course in reverse.

Going the correct way is pretty tough, although I think that’s because the distance is short so you tend to go out too fast…well that and the fact that the first mile or so is flat out downhill! By the time you reach to high point at mile 9 you're pretty spent and you tend to fall down the other side which this way round I was going up.

I picked up the trail and was over taken by some other runners who I let go on ahead into the low cloud while I stripped of a layer, despite the low cloud and cool starting temperatures running uphill is enough to warm anyone up fast and the cloud was lifting revealing clear blue skies and a big glowing orb! The group ahead turned off and I continued upwards. I was hoping that there would actually be enough of an uphill to give me 5 miles allowing me to cruise on the way back down but it topped out around 3 miles, it was here that I found another trail; “Fossil” and decided a change of course was in order, this trail took me up a series of switchbacks and I topped out above the cloud. Contouring around the hillside; the view; had there been one would have been spectacular but the cloud below me was thick and obscured everything except a few hilltops! Another half mile and I was on the downswing, oh well. I hit a signpost and choose the longest trail distance that would give me mileage in hand. Cruising down the backside I rejoined the main trail that forms part of the Boney Mountain Trail and opens up wide views over Big Sycamore Canyon.

This trail forms part of the Backbone Trail which runs the 69 miles from Point Mugu in the North to Pacific Palisades in the south and is the longest run on my training schedule for AC100, which I have nearly finished. I hit the five mile mark, about faced and started on the upward return leg. As is always the case the return distance and time flew by and I managed to miss a turning but this had me running through a wheat(?) field and cut me short by a quarter mile but whatev’, before I knew it I was back at the car!

Only 10 more days of downtime till training starts…eek!

Garmin Fail! I did not reset and restarted later on...so runner Fail really! The first 10 miles are correct and the rest is just rubbish…oh well!



Here’s a quick slideshow of the photos.