The Great Catch Up of 2014.

This has definitely been the slowest start to a blogging year since we started keeping this blog in 2008. What is that about more free time once the babies grow up a bit?????

I'm not really sure what to blame for my blogging absence. I guess we've just been super busy. Seems we've had our share of colds and fevers and there always seems to be something pressing to get done. Oh, and trying to maintain an active blog with photographs on a circa 2008 computer also has something to do with it. When the blog goes silent again, it'll be b/c I've run out of memory for photos on the old machine yet again.

So now we're a full third of the way into 2014 and I have only blogged about NYE. I had so many stories and photos about our visit with Shannon, Kip, Piper and Harry in December and January....but sadly, that seems such a long time ago now. Here are a few of my favorites nonetheless....

We spent alot of time at the beach. So much so that Teia, my sand crab, turned into a water and wave lover! She also discovered that she loved sand tobogganing. That Kip sure was lots of fun! 

Winter Solstice celebration at OB.

And another opportunity to sled in the sand, even if just on a piece of cardboard. 

So good to be together! (maybe we should have stood somewhere other than the kids' arts and crafts display wall!)

Christmas Day.

Move night. 

We spent a wonderful few hours hiking at Mt. Laguna. The kids were amazing, knocking out a 3+ mile hike with no complaints. This was taken near the end and they still had big smiles on their faces!

The girls. 5 weeks apart in age, just like their moms. 

This picture is just so classic: Teia pulling a face, Harry laughing, Piper turned the wrong way and Kai not looking. Doesn't get better than that!

Cuddly, snuggly girls. 

Just to prove Teia really does go in the ocean now. 

So much more to catch up on. We have a beautiful new nephew. Mike & Mom just spent spring break with us. I had another birthday (they seem to be coming fast and furious these days). We took a short trip to Pasadena. And we got a ...... trampoline! The blog is back in action :-)

Happy New Year!

Just like last year, we had so many adventures over the Christmas break and so little time to document them. I will try to get a few posts done, before memory fails me.

This year, for the first time in a loooong while, we went out to celebrate New Year's Eve. Neither Greg nor I are big New Year's people (meaning that going to bed before midnight really doesn't bother us much at all), but despite that, we found ourselves strangely excited as we drove down to our friends' rental near the beach. Funny that we were excited to be heading out for NYs knowing full well that we'd be home by about 8 pm!

We had a little party-get together at Shannon and Kip's place where we were joined by a couple of other families with small children who are good friends of theirs. We started off with a short trip to the beach to catch the sunset that wasn't. The clouds actually rolled in and it was quite misty for probably the only evening the entire time that Shannon and Kip were in town. So we didn't get a spectacular sunset finale to the year 2013. The kids didn't mind. They thought the mist was kinda cool.

Then we went back to the house for our evening of dinner and dancing. Really, we did have a little dance party in the living room. The kids absolutely loved dancing around with the grown ups and really throwing it down. Sometimes their dance moves looked more like running around the perimeter of the furniture as fast as they could, but whatevah, it was dancing.

We cracked open the bubbly (and the children's version) at about 8 pm to celebrate a Halifax NYE. We didn't even watch the ball drop b/c that would have meant staying up for New York and that was just way too much past the kids' bedtimes. The kids really got into the countdown. And seeing as our countdown didn't correspond with any particular time on the clock, no one really knew when to get started until Kai decided he had waited enough and started us off with an assertive "TEN, NINE, EIGHT...." Then it was cheersing and kisses all round and some pretty lousy attempts at auld lang sine. (I vow to learn the words for next year).

The kids made a fantastic sign to welcome 2014 which Harry kindly held up for a photo while I snuggle-posed with my best girls.

Wish I had something really profound to say to start off the New Year but for now, I'll just wish everyone a happy, peaceful 2014 with lots of time with the people you love! 

Christmas Chaos

Greg and I sit, exhausted and sugared up, thinking back on the events of the day: our 7th Christmas day as parents. Last night we reminisced about our first Christmas with two kids, back in 2009. Teia was only 2 months old and Kai was 2. We shook our heads remembering that crazy day as we cooked a turkey and tried to do all the things we wanted to do to celebrate Christmas and were so busy we didn't even sit to exchange gifts until 10 o clock that night. Things have gotten a little bit easier since then.

Our first Christmas gift today was our blessed little angels sleeping until past 7 am. This was really quite a surprise as they've been pretty excited. Teia in particular has been all about Christmas and has been wearing Christmas headgear pretty much all of December.

Teia woke first, in bed with us as has been her habit of late. She wanted to know if Santa had arrived, scampered to the living room and returned with the proof: an empty plate of cookies and one piece of nibbled on carrot. Somehow the fat stockings and piles of presents under the tree had escaped her notice. A few minutes later Kai arrived in our room and the excitement level went waaaaay up, particularly since Teia had declared that we'd be opening presents "as a fam-i-ly" which meant she was happy Kai was not going to be keeping her waiting with one of his legendary sleep ins.

We did stockings first and the kids were thrilled to find new jammies stuffed in there and promptly changed into them. 

Then the rip and tear began. Kai was really hoping for a lego airplane set and was reading labels on all the boxes large enough to possibly contain his gift. About 2 gifts in, he was in luck. He immediately opened the box and started to pull out the bags of Lego and began to open those, spewing some of the 658 pieces on the floor. His plan, to build that Lego airplane, right then and there. Somehow we were able to distract him and get him to back to opening gifts. Teia had a strong lead and we were worried she'd be finished about 3 days before Kai, as usual. Luckily she got distracted by the assembly of her My Little Pony palace and Kai was able to make up some ground.

The kids were solidly spoiled as usual by family, friends and Santa. Teia's stuffed animal collection multiplied. Santa brought her a leash and a comfy pet bed and she spent the next hour leashing and dragging her dinosaurs, cats, dogs, seals and anything else with a plush neck that could be leashed around the living room, then putting them down to nap in the comfy little bed. She even tried it out for herself but found she was a little too large. Kai's airplane collection also expanded and he got a good start on his new Magic School bus DVD and book collection. Santa didn't forget mom and dad either, the dear fellow.

It was a summery day in San Diego so we spent a quick hour at the beach. It seemed like just any other day at the beach except for the couple of people surfing in Santa hats and two wahine surfers wearing mu'u mu'us wrapped in tinsel over their wetsuits. And this guy....

Post beach-time we prepped Christmas dinner and then spent a lovely evening with our dear Haligonian friends who are visiting (this refers to people from Halifax, not people suffering from chronic onion breath as the name might otherwise suggest - especially if you spell it Hali-g-onion). There was another mad flurry of gift opening and a delicious dinner that the parents eventually sat down to after begging, threatening, negotiating, and strong arming some dinner into the kids (except for Harry who does a very impressive Fred Flintstone at the dinner table and can really wield a turkey leg - I'm a little disappointed I didn't get a photo of that).

Our children feel entirely differently about dessert though. We served our usual Christmas day dessert fare of chocolate mousse. After polishing off his portion, Kai asked "who wants more dessert?" This was an entirely rhetorical question he was asking himself in the hopes that someone would provide him with another bowl of mousse. The mousse was yummy and served with fresh whipped cream this year instead of canned whipped cream. This was my idea as I'm trying to get as many preservatives out of our diet as possible. Greg loves his whipped cream. Like really loves it. So he wanted to make sure it was perfect and even chilled the mixers and mixing bowl before preparing it. He grumbled about all the effort but I think even he agreed, it tasted better in the end.

Bedtime wasn't without its challenges, not too surprising after such a sugar and excitement filled day. But the kids were pretty tickled with their new alarm clocks that projected pictures and the time onto their ceilings. I asked each of them what was their favorite part of the day. Kai said he liked receiving his Lego airplane best of all. Teia chose her alarm clock, sleeping in bed with Mommy and Daddy and "the fam-i-ly" as her favorite parts of the day. Awwwww.....I love Christmas....now that clean up that awaits us in a week or so, not so much. But we won't think about that quite yet.

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

Little Runners

We have some friends in town: Shannon and Kip and their little ones, Harry & Piper (tho I've petitioned to officially change her name to "Pipes", its way more SoCal).   They're hanging out in San Diego for about a month on sabbatical.  While I always thought sabbaticals were just times for professors (of which Shannon is one) to ponder great things related to their field of study, apparently they're also a time to kick-it LARGE in Sunny San Diego while their hometown of Halifax does its best to single-handedly counter global warming.

(by way of comparison, yesterday, I provided a brief to about 400 surly shipyard workers on why they shouldn't drink & drive while the Sabbaticalites explored tidepools and beaches.  I'm in the wrong business, apparently).

Its been great to catch up with them and see the kids bond.  5 days prior to their arrival, Teia had already declared Pipes her new BFF.  (she neglected to inform her former BFF, Ale, so Louise & I foresee a storm a-brewin' in room 20, Kate Sessions Preschool.  Stay tuned).  Pipes also shares Teia's propensity to spontaneously declare herself a different animal/machine/geographic feature every 30min.  First, both T and P are puppies.  Then one is a puppy and the other a cat (they still get along during this phase shift, thankfully).  Then both are cats.  Then one becomes a crocodile and the other a sand dune.  Then the sand dune wallops Harry and chaos ensues.  Meanwhile, the parents inch their way further & further away from the shape-shifting Battle Royale to catch up on old times.   Life is good!

This weekend had planned a fun-run & parade in Pacific Beach.  A one-mile fun run out & back along Garnet Ave (the main bar/taco stand/tattoo parlor strip in PB).  We headed out with great hopes for our younglings to enjoy the run along the strip and sit through a short parade.  Amazingly, things pretty much went to plan!!

Harry & Pipes decided to sit this one out (a wise financial decision, it would turn out) and initially only Teia agreed to sign up.  But one look at his intrepid little sister, suited up and ready to take on the world, and Kai was not about to let himself get one-upped!!

The only downside was the entry fee.  The race advertised $20/person.  No problem, kids races are ALWAYS cheaper.  Sometimes free!  

Except.In.Pacific.Beach.

So $40 later, we lined up at the end of the group, warming up to some dance music.  With a "Ready!  Set!  Go!!" we were off!  And..... kept going!!!   The last running race we had done (on Wolfe Island), we spent the better part of 200m cajoling/pleading/prodding/pushing our little runners along.  The bar was set pretty low for a race that was 8x's longer, so Louise and I already planned to cut the course whenever was convenient.  But as we cruised past 400m with hardly a break in stride for either, we started to wonder: are they going to make it the whole way???
























Yes, yes they are!!  Kai took a short walking break (his first official timed fartlek), but after I broke out the "wings", he found a second wind and screamed home.

T's shorter legs needed just a few more seconds of rest and she rocketed in right after.  Both received their prizes with reserved humility, thanking their parents profusely, the crowds for their support, and their corporate sponsor, Nutella.


We cruised down to the beach then back for the PB parade.  Unfortunately, I spent the majority of it in a sandwich shop called "Which Wich?"   A better name might be "When Wich?" because I was beginning to wonder when the hell I was ever going to get something Louise & I could eat.    The parade was an eclectic blend of marching bands, convertibles with Miss Teen riding onboard, and what I can only guess were 'bandits': local flora & fauna who randomly inserted themselves into the parade and everyone figures "Well, they're probably too stoned to cause trouble and too slow to suddenly run anyone over".  This included a minivan covered with buildings, a motorcycle gang of 60-somethings, and a couple preschools (only the parents were stoned for that one.  I think).

After such a day, we'd normally call it success to simply make it home and crash; T on the couch watching TV, Kai playing with planes, and Louise and I commencing our nightly russian roulette of "What will the kids actually f*#&*ing eat tonight?"  But there were bigger plans afoot:  Teia was having her first dance recital!!  

She has been going to dance class for the last few months, practicing a routine for the Nutcracker.  Specifically, the Dance of the Reeds.  Kai wasn't interested in the opening sister-less acts so we explored the darkened alleyways of a high-school while T & L watched other kids dance.  During T's routine, Kai was the very supportive bigger brother, cheering and clapping his little Peachy sister dance, tap, and twirl like she had parents who could actually dance, tap & twirl (without a white-man's overbite, to boot)!!  She did fantastic, tho her flexibility was called into question when she lined up next to an unfamiliar girl for the 'twirling-pair' portion of the dance.  Instead of grabbing that girl's hands, T grabbed her friend Edie's hands instead, leaving the other girl a little confused as T & Edie spun around longer & faster than anyone else.

 We gave our proud dancer a rose, befitting for a beautiful performance!

All were beyond tired by the time we got home at around 8pm.  A few bowls of cereal, milk & books later and both kids were sound asleep while the proud parents got thru a few more holiday-routines to get ready for the week.  Exhausting but well worth the efforts for all!

Idle in Idyllwild

We escaped the big city this year for Thanksgiving. We thought it would be nice to enjoy some pine trees and cooler weather. So we packed up the mini-van with our Littles, some woolies and even an organic turkey (in a cooler). We didn't exactly escape the Thanksgiving traffic, but we did escape the congestion and same old, same old weather.

Our 2+ hour drive took us from sea level to 6000 feet and from chaparral to pine trees. It is cool to watch the landscape transform so much over such a short distance. By mountain town standards there isn't too much to do in Idyllwild with no ski hill, but there are plenty of hiking trails in the San Jacinto mountains, cute restaurants and shops, and an amazing playground.

This was the kids' favorite hang out at 6000 feet. The concrete slab in front of the playground made for hours of scootering. The kids favorite game (when they weren't pretending to be planes from the disney movie) was catch Daddy. At least Greg got in some altitude training. 

On our one rainy day we tried out a paint your own pottery studio where Teia painted a puppy and Kai created a plane on a plate :-)  They were such focused little artists. 

We also let the kids drink way too much hot chocolate. I guess we got carried away with the novelty of the cold weather. 

We did a little hiking where Greg found some snacks along the trail.

Our Thanksgiving dinner turned out pretty well, all things considered. We baked our pumpkin pie for twice as long as normal and peeled the butternut squash with a cheese shredder; but kitchen challenges aside, it was still yummy. And the kids actually ate turkey yet again. But first of all they subjected us to the usual refrain of "I don't like that, and that, and that....." Holiday meals for them consist of a little turkey, fizzy juice (aka apple cider), pumpkin pie, whipped cream and peanut butter on toast. 

Because Idyllwild is such a cute little town, we had to do some window shopping. It quickly turned into real shopping when Teia the Determined absolutely had to have a pair of fuzzy slippers. We agreed, thinking that we'd be able to pick some up for $10. Apparently not in Idyllwild. The only two pair we could find were $30 and that was after checking out just about every store. Greg declared Kai "husband material" as he patiently followed little sis and Mommy in and out of every store. She did end up with a very nice pair of slippers. 

Probably the most remarkable part of our weekend was Kai and Teia sleeping in the same bed. Our little cabin had 2 bedrooms, each with a queen bed. We decided to give the kid co-sleeping thing a try, fully expecting 3 nights of musical beds. We were pleasantly surprised. Each night we'd listen to some chatting and some giggling and then nothing...the sweet sound of babes asleep. Each morning we'd hear the same, chatting and giggling and then little feet walking around the cabin. It seems we solved the problem of the Teia alarm clock - put her in bed with her brother. Unfortunately, then he loses out on his beauty sleep. So now that we're home she is back in her own bed, sleeping solo, and we're back to enjoying our 4 year old human alarm clock. 

Traveling with kids is never relaxing. I read somewhere that you should never refer to a trip with children as a "vacation." It is always just a "trip." Agreed on that one but there is something refreshing and rejuvenating regardless about "getting away from it all." 

 

Ragnar Vail Lake Women's CHAMPS!!!

I admit I was really unsure about this whole trail relay race thing but it ended up being a blast and - the icing on the cupcake - we won the open women's division! Don't underestimate a bunch of cougars!!!!

In case you can't read the back of our shirts, it says "hot on your trail" and Rarr. It was simple but effective. 

Here's the whole team (almost, Brandi wandered off somewhere), and our campsite pre-race and pre-rain.

And yes, we got rain. If you can believe it. It never rains here but of course it did the night we had to run in the dark and sleep outside. I didn't mind though, it cold have been worse and added to the adventure for an adventure-starved mama! 

So the adventure really began before we left San Diego, trying to pack a whole lotta gear in our Element. The way things worked out the San Diego contingent of our team ending up bringing most of the gear and met the Orange County contingent at the race. Seemed like a good idea until we saw the parking lot shuttles:

So we piled on in a mad race against everyone else to get "seats" while simultaneously trying to load air mattresses, camping gear, coolers, bags and even a table. Thankfully some fellow runners were gracious and helpful and piled gear on top of us and helped us hang on so it didn't fall off on the bumpy ride. This photo, incidentially, was not taken by me but by one of our less-heavily-laden OC teammates. I'm still laughing a little that I expected an actual coach style bus. 

The race works by everyone running 3 legs in the same order: green, yellow and red - and we cycled through them. I ran the yellow leg first (supposed to be 7.4 miles but was shortened to about 6.2 by race organizers) at about 5 pm. Then I ran the red leg (supposed to 3.4 miles but was closer to 3.7 b/c I got a bit lost in the dark) at midnight. My last leg was the green leg (3.9 miles) at 7 am. 

Probably the biggest challenge of the race was keeping the stomach happy for the entire duration, while still eating enough to maintain energy. Everyone on the team was keen to avoid "GI meltdown," something probably only experienced by distance runners and people with nasty viruses. Somehow we were all okay. The closest we came was one teammate with a blood sugar crisis but there were plenty of sugar-packed energy gels, chews, blocks and beans around so that was easily resolved. 

We also had these lovely composting commodes to contend with, as the race organizers were trying to promote sustainability:

I don't know how much it cost to put these in but they were so worth it. There were 24 hr attendants just waiting for runners to hang the "service needed" sign on the door. They smelled like cedar and at night the attendants lit them up with candles. It was a surprisingly pleasant portapotty experience. And that's important when you have so many people going potty so many times! 

I have done 24 hr events on mountain bikes but I have never gone trail running in the dark. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Here's my race synopsis:

Yellow Loop: I started out as the sun was setting at 5 pm. I left the race village and took a trail that lead me to the other side of the lake. It was really beautiful running in the twilight and looking back at the lights of the "village." If it hadn't been a race, I would have stopped for a photo. To be honest the other reason I didn't stop was that I hadn't seen another racer or volunteer since I passed by the lake and I was pretty darned spooked. Once I finally saw a shadowy shape in front of me I checked my GPS and it read 2 miles. I had run 2 miles in the dark without seeing another soul. Turns out I only saw 4 other runners total during that loop so I had to get used to feeling alone in the dark with whatever wild critters might have been out there....and hungry.... And my body wasn't really feeling like running. Probably because I'd been down with a cold and wasn't quite over it so there was a battle b/tw my mind and body for the first 30 minutes of that run. But actually I think that helped me from panicking about my isolation on the dark trail. Thankfully at about the 3 mile mark my body started to wake up and I started to feel a bit more like running. The final half of the loop felt more fun as I enjoyed the weird feeling of running underwater. The trail was sandy so there was a fine dust in the air, made more impenetrable by my headlight. I couldn't see where I was putting my feet so every step was a bit of an adventure. Others must have been experiencing the same thing b/c as I passed the fourth and last person I was to see on the trail, she twisted her ankle and filled the night air with expletives. Lucky for her we had just passed the only volunteer on the far side of the trail so she'd be taken care of. I ended up taking my headlamp off and carrying it in my hand which seemed to work a bit better. I took it home into the transition tent where I couldn't find our next runner. We lost a few minutes as I tried to track her down. She had her head in her computer up at the Cougar Den, trying to get caught up on work and had to book it to get down to the start/finish on time. Darn Professors! 

Green Loop: I got to run this loop in the rain at midnight. The race organizers had a big screen where each team was posted as the runner crossed the last quarter mile to the finish. It was powered by people riding bikes (sustainability points). At one point during the night it went out so they had to wake people up and get them on the bikes again. (Not really, but it did go out). It was still going as things weren't that quiet yet at midnight so I stood in the rain staring at the screen and waiting for Team Cougars. It wasn't raining too hard but enough that it looked like snow in my headlamp. I kept reaching out to touch it, just to make sure it wasn't. The green loop had already been talked up in camp b/c it started with a ridiculously steep and long climb. I hadn't bothered to warm up b/c I knew I'd be walking most of it and I was. After that climb it was a really great trail and I wished I could have run it in the daytime. It had twisty and tight single track and plenty of ridge running where I'm sure the views were amazing. I saw more runners on this trail b/c it was shorter and I could see headlamps from the high points. This was reassuring b/c this trail felt more "cougar-ish" than the others. Maybe it was the single track and the bushes tight to both sides. At one point the trail started to close in on both sides of me and I started to wonder where the heck I was going. Straight up again; I actually had to scramble to get up top of a spine where I looked down once and not again as I got vertigo from looking down into the misty dark. Up on that spine I saw no one for long enough to think I'd gone the wrong way. I kept thinking there was no way the race organizers would want people up here in the dark. Then  I saw a tiny green trail marker. I guess they did want people up on a skinny spine in the dark. These race organizers were making a point that their race was serious. I was impressed. My body felt good and I loved, loved the green loop, despite getting disoriented in the dark and getting a little off course in the last quarter mile if you can believe it. 

I had the hours of 1 am until 7 am after this to eat, hydrate, clean up, potty, sleep, get up, clean up, eat breakfast, potty, hydrate and get ready to run again. I managed maybe an hour of sleep, not that I expected much more. But at least I rested and was out of the rain for awhile. I figure it rained from about midnight until 3 or 4 am. 

Red Loop: I started out at 7 am with no headlamp!!! Yay! This was the "black diamond" of the trails, or so we'd been told. Not the longest but the most challenging. My teammate had told me I was going to love it and my other teammate couldn't contain her excitement at being finished so I was in a good headspace as I headed out, sleep or not. Truth be told, I was just excited to run with vision. It was stormy and grey but at least it was light. As promised there was lots of climbing, including a sidewinding goat trail to the highest point. But there was also lots of mountain bike style downhill. My favorite. I was ripping down the trail with a guy on my heels. I offered him a chance to pass, which he declined telling me he liked my pace. I hate it when that happens b/c somehow I feel pressure to go a little bit faster. Last time that happened to me was at a mountain bike poker race last year where I nearly flew off the side of the mountain b/c a few guys wanted to "follow my pace." Talk about riding at my limit. Needless to say, I was relieved when we finally got to the bottom of the descent to see a huge climb in front of us. I'd knew he'd leave me in the dust and I could slow down a little before I puked. Many climbs later I made it to the finish line for the 3rd and last time. I felt good and pushed hard on that last leg. Something that never happens to me in running races. 

Having run a few half marathons, I have to say that 13+ miles are easier to run in 3 parts. I actually felt like I got stronger each leg which was an entire surprise to me. The race was a physical and mental breakthrough, learning that I could do more than I thought I could. 

And we won. How crazy is that? The secret of our success? Consistency. Apparently we all found it easier than we thought to run 3X in about 14 hrs b/c no one slowed down and we all ran really similar times, like within minutes of each other, for each leg. Our overall time was just under 20.5 hours. 

Okay, I've blabbed enough. Here are some photos of the adventure:

The Champs, post-adventure. See that second cougar from the right wearing ears? She actually knocked a piece off this vehicle while trying to climb on it. I think she'd already had too many mimosas!

A Ragnar tradition is to have the entire team run through the finish line with the last runner. So here we all accompany Brandi as she charges the finish for the win! I might have been a bit tired by this point, you see I'm not exactly charging. 

Here's our headquarters after all the rain. 

Here are some of us during some of the wetter parts of the day.

Almost finished!

Mimosa time!!

And this is just a cool photo.

Truly the most dangerous part of the event was the hour long drive home with no sleep. Thankfully I had teammates to keep me awake. We waited til we got home to crash hard. It was an EPIC event and we'll be back next year. Love this stuff!

Lost in the Lagunas

Well, we weren't exactly lost...but we easily could have been. That is how good my trail-blazing skills are. Get ready for it......this post is....not.....about.the.kids. Wow, eh? It means I actually went out and had a mom's adventure.

So I've been talked into this event called Ragnar. It is pretty big here in Southern California and akin to the Banff to Jasper relay back home (or Jasper to Banff, I've been gone so long I can't remember!) My running buddy is a die-hard Ragnarian (as folks who run Ragnar are affectionally referred to). Every time she'd mention me joining her team I'd kind of growl at her and she'd back off. Then Ragnar came out with the trail version. And she knew it was time to move in for the kill. I agreed.

So the way this thing works is 8 people run 3 different legs in about a 24 hr period. So its kinda like 24 Hrs of Adrenalin which is an awesome event, involving mountain bikes to increase its awesomeness. I was lured in by the idea of trail running with a team until I realized it would mean that I'd have to run 3 times in less than 24 hours. Its a good week if I manage 3 runs in a 7-day week. What was I thinking? Is there an internet acronym for that....WWIT??? So almost 15 miles, spread across 3 runs. At least one of them in the dark.

We went out to pre-run the longest leg of the race: 7.4 miles. The terrain is desert-ish, scrubby, chaparral-ish, hilly, rocky, exposed: essentially not my ideal trail conditions. And full of mountain lions. Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating but they are out there and these kind of trails just look like mountain lions, being all beige and everything. So now I don't know what to fear more: the sleeplessness, the running, or the carnivores prowling in the dark.

Back to being lost in the Lagunas (where mountain lions also live). Half of our running team (aptly named Team Cougar), headed out last weekend for the last long run of our "training" program. I'm using that term loosely as all we had time to do was up our distance real quick and manage one day of a two-fer run (7 miles in the morning, 4 in the evening).

So this morning in the Lagunas was the pinnacle of our little training cramfest. We planned 12 miles at ~6000 feet elevation. Only problem was,  I was in charge of choosing the trail and the GPS. So about 3.5 hours after leaving the car we made it back with the GPS reading 16.4 miles. Oops. Good thing I'm not Team Captain.

But what an EPIC run. We had beautiful weather and stunning scenery. I'm a little shadowy here but the photo is all about the scenery.