Mucho mejor! Shannon

Much better............

Yesterday's Quarry Road was a huge success for me and a huge ego boost!  A much needed ego boost.

Me discussing our options on routes and distances to the group

I intended to only do 16-17 miles yesterday, but we ended up doing 19.  Which was OK!  I was feeling good, the weather was perfect, and I never got left behind (well not for very long anyways).  I had plenty of water and plenty of food to keep me going.

Folsom Trail Runners

Fifteen of us started off on the Quarry Road all together, however, Pam and several other ladies had only intended to do 6-7 miles so we left them to head up the Wendell T. Robie trail (part of the Way Too Cool 50k trail).  As it turned out, they too did more than they had planned and did about 9.5 miles - way to go girls!

The girls leaving us.  Pam giving me a pose. :)

The rest of us (8) kept going on the Quarry Trail till we hit Brown's Bar (also apart of the Way Too Cool 50k).  It was truly awesome to be back on these trails.  I had forgotten just how much I really like these trails.  The creek crossings were very low so easily crossed without getting your feet wet and there was no mud on the trails - so nice.

The start of the climb up Brown's Bar

What made this a real treat was that Nancy and Kamran had never been on these trails and they were in total awe.  Their enthusiasm of the trail really rubbed off on me and I had a really good time.

Once we climbed Brown's Bar we connected with the Wendell T. Robie trail heading toward Ball Bearing (the top of).  Nice and easy rolling single track, just awesome.

Once we came out of this area it was time for water refills and we headed over to the ALT area for water.

ALT Water stop

Then started our climb toward Dead Truck.  As we got to the turn for Dead Truck, we realized that we were going to really exceed our 16-17 mile jaunt and decided to not go Dead Truck as that would bump us up to approximately 21 miles, most of us weren't prepared for 21, so we opted to cut down a side trail that would then connect us to the bottom of Dead Truck, still allowing us to cross one of the major creeks we had to cross during Way Too Cool.

The end of the Quarry Road, the start of our return to the cars
Once again, the group patiently waiting for us stragglers

Once we came out of this area we were now at the bottom of Ball Bearing and at the end of the Quarry Road.  Only 5.5 miles to go. I tend to start to struggle at this point.  I have a hard time on fire roads, not sure why, but I just do.  This portion of the Quarry Road isn't all fire road, but most of it is, so I started to walk a lot more during this time and of course, lost my buddies.  But Nancy and Kamran were patiently waiting for me at the last mile and I finished up with Nancy. Thanks Nancy.

All in all just a fabulous run and now I'm feeling better about my upcoming marathon, although, it won't be on these nicely shaded, tree covered trails, but I think I know what I need to do now and will just take it extra easy that day.

Me enjoying ice cold water provided by Jay back at our cars - oh so yummy

Today, Mark and I took a short bike ride in our neighborhood, which allowed us to test our stamina on the New York Creek trail.  We only did 5.9 miles, but Mark says that was a much harder ride than riding around Lake Natoma!  I totally agree.

I didn't take any pics of flowers this time, so this is provided by Kamran
Thanks Kamran, I always need a flower pic from my runs:)

Have a great week.