Another long hot run!! Shannon

Last Saturday (6-6-10) Pam needed to do 22 miles, and as her fellow Trail Turtle/Training Buddy I am obligated to be out there with her :).  Of course, after the Western States training run the previous weekend, I wasn't looking forward to another long run, in the heat.  But, I will never let my Turtle pal down.

A large group of us (FTRs) met up at the Auburn Dam Overlook (ADO) and headed down toward the river.

It was a beautiful day.

We started early to try to beat some of the heat.

The views heading down to the river are just awesome.  I did take it easy going DOWN as I didn't want to over do it like I did early on the previous weekend.

Here's Pam still happy!

We came across a lot of wildlife this day.  We first saw a deer crossing the road, which is no biggie around here, but then she ran back across.  We figured she couldn't get through where she wanted to go.  But as we got closer we discovered that the reason she had to go back was because of her baby.  Her baby was having trouble getting down the steep hill to the road and WE were too close.  So she ran back up the hill and baby turned around to go back up with momma.  Pam tried to get a pic, but all she got was the top of momma's head.

However, our wildlife adventures didn't end there.

We then came across this lizard who appeared to be injured, so we moved him off the trail, hopefully he was able to recooperate and move on.

Then we came across this little fella.  It's a baby, but still very dangerous.

Then we got to Avery Park and discovered the pond is filled with turtles.  What an awesome sight. 

I decided that since there were 4 of us sticking together, that I wouldn't run the full 22 miles.  I'd do 20.  When we got to Rattlesnake Bar, Mary and I stopped and walked while Pam & Kumi continued on.  I was feeling really good and I didn't want to push it.  It was really starting to heat up.

When Pam and Kumi came back we headed back toward ADO.

Still feeling good, but Pam was not.  The heat was getting to her.

Then at mile 15 it hit me like a ton of lead.  I got really nauseaus.

I don't know why.  HEAT! That's the only thing I can think of.

So I struggled, Pam struggled, Mary had no issues and Kumi couldn't take out slow pace anymore and jetted out of there.

When we got close to the bottom of our climb back to ADO I decided to try a ginger candy.  I had heard they work for nausea.  I thought, what can it hurt.  If nothing else, it might help me throw up and then I'd feel better.  Well within 15 minutes of sucking on the candy, my nausea had gone away.  OMG!  I wish I had dared to try the candy the weekend prior.

IT WORKS!

Ginger!

As we climbed up, I looked up Cardiac hill as this is where I will have to go when I do the Sierra Endurance Marathon in September.

Ya, I'm not looking forward to it.

I also, decided that I don't care for this portion of the trails (ADO to Rat Bar).  It's too open, not enough tree cover.  And this is where I'll be smack dab in the middle of the day during that Marathon.  YIKES.

So that's it in a nutshell - last week's run.

This weekend I'm hitting the links instead of the trails.  I'm playing in the Ladies Invitational (golf) up at Cold Springs in Placerville.

Pam, on the other hand, is doing the Tahoe Rim Trail Training Run (26 miles in the altitude).  I've told her she's REQUIRED to do a blog update on Tuesday (her day off) about her experience.

So look for her post and I'll post as well about my tournament.

Have a great weekend.

Stay dirty!