MILE stones

In training there are milestone days.  Climbing Mission Peak was one of those days for me.  The second milestone was climbing Rose Peak.  Both of those were opportunities for me to take a peak at a portion of the challenge I'm facing in May.  Those days were physically challenging, but more importantly, they were a mental boost.  "I have seen the enemy..."  It was the same kind of psychological advantage I tell my students about when I encourage them to give themselves practice tests and quizzes. 

Yesterday was also a milestone day, but not due to the location.  Yesterday was about the miles.  I have done the Big Sur walk six times.  But I am preparing to do an ultra-marathon without ever having done a marathon.  The Big Sur walk is 21 miles.  A marathon is 26.2.  Yesterday I did my first marathon!  I had planned on 25 miles, but toward the end of the walk I decided I needed to know I could do a marathon.  So I added 1.2 to the distance I had been planning.  It's easy to do with my phone's pedometer app.  It might seem strange, but having the marathon distance under my belt is a real psychological advantage.  I felt a little like a fake training for an ultra-marathon when I had not done a marathon.  No more!  Also, thanks to my phone, I know that I had a total elevation gain of 4200 feet.  That's a lot of hills!  But it's only about half the elevation gain of the Ohlone 50K that I'm training for. 

Below are some pictures of my walk.  I was soaked by rain, pelted by hail, and blown to bits by wind.  Luckily I had stocked the truck with extra clothes and a thermos of sweet, spicy, hot, Good Earth tea!  I took a 15 minute break in the truck at 15 miles.  The break was not nearly as important as the idea that I could!  At mile 10 when I was cold and soggy (it was snowing on Mt. Toro!) I was walking toward my hot tea!  By the time I actually got to the turnoff to the parking lot, the sun was out and I decided to keep walking awhile longer to let the wind dry out my clothes!  I took the long way back to the parking lot and was not so cold and wet when I arrived.  But that tea and the possibility of changing into dry clothes was really compelling at mile 10!

You can't really tell, but there are sheep in the distance.

Ruedy and I had to walk right through the flock while being pelted with hail!

Another hill in the distance at mile 17.  Ugh!

Difficult to see, but the peak in the distance just over the green peak in the middle is Mt. Toro.  It is white with snow!

Another attempt to capture the snow on Mt. Toro.