Diamond Valley Lake redux
April 26th, 2009, 9:13pm by Jake
About 3 months ago, I entered the Diamond Valley Lake Half Marathon, and hung around to take a lot of photos afterward of the Diamond Valley Lake Marathon. So yesterday I went back to run there again, and this time I decided to run a full loop– advertised as somewhere between 21 & 21.8 miles. I didn’t take any shots yesterday, so I’ll scatter a few photos from January around the post.
So I woke up “bright & early” at 8:30, and “quickly” headed to the door, managing to get out of the house by 9 AM. After one quick stop at the Kwik-E-Mart to buy 3 24-ounce bottles of Gatorade, I was on my way! When I got to the Lake, I paid the $7 for parking and asked if there were any drinking fountains on the trail. Nope! Looks like I’d be lugging my fluids. I had already drank 24 ounces, so I laced up, got my electronics (GPS watch, heart-rate monitor, iPod) ready and I was good to go. I don’t own a fuel belt, so I held one bottle in each hand. I thought it was just annoying, but I would later learn it was more than annoying.
So I began, and almost immediately I took a short dead-end, which tacked on about a quarter-mile to my journey. I knew that would not be helpful in the long run! The weather was not too warm, not too cool, I’d say 60-70 for the whole run, with a light breeze ranging from 5-20mph. The sun was in & out, so overall it was a good, not great, running day. Now, 48 ounces is probably about half of what I would’ve liked to drink on a run that long, but I figured it’d be enough. One thing I decided early on was that since I was running late for Tommy’s 4th birthday party, that I didn’t have the luxury of taking breaks. Normally, I stop 1-2 minutes for water every 2 miles or so, with occasional longer breaks to buy a bottle of Gatorade, stretch or use the restrooms. In contrast, today I never stopped. I would walk for about 1 minute while drinking or consuming GU, and I’d keep my stopwatch running to discourage me from resting too long. This worked for breaks at mile 2, 5, 7.5, 10 & 12.5. At 15, 17 & 19, I needed some rest, so I would walk and drink but stop my watch so I could relax.
I had contemplated carrying my little camera, but I knew there’d be no time to dilly. It was a nice place to run, about 16 miles of trails and 5-6 miles of asphalt road. The scenery was very nice, and you could contemplate some nice landscape photos taken there, but I only saw one very odd thing. I’ll get to that. On the route, I passed a half-dozen bikers in the first 5 miles, then saw basically no one for nearly 10 miles. Then a few more cyclists. I didn’t think anyone else was nuts enough to run around, until I saw one lady. But she was walking. Not only was she walking, she had a rope tied to her waste and she was dragging a tire behind her! Wish I had the camera for that.
Now you can see my route on a map, and if you’re observant you’ll see I went on a completely unnecessary 1/4-mile detour. D’oh! Those extra bits at the start & finish really suck! The run itself was good. A slow & steady 10:14/mile pace, slowing a bit in the end, but never quite crashing. I was dying for water near the finish, and I sucked down 32 ounces within minutes of finishing. You can see all the run details here. Oh, about those Gatorade bottles. I noticed during the run that the back of my neck was getting sore. Which isn’t unheard of. But it kept getting worse & worse. By mile 16, it really hurt. I think by carrying those bottles for so long, it affected my stride and I must have pitched my neck forward. So yeah, last time I’m carrying 48 ounces of fluids in my hands. Live & learn.
Lori chasing Sam