Feb 20 – Mulholland Fireroad, Topanga

Feb 20. 20.06 miles, 2668 feet ascent, Mulholland Fireroad, Topanga. Woke up this morning and there was snow in the mountains. Thought about it…and then opted for trusty Topanga instead. Good run. Cold, and windy in spots. 2 loops along the Mulholland fireroad from the Nike missile thing to I’m not exactly sure where, except that I pick it up in the middle; Nike missile and I’m-not-exactly-sure-where are the end points.

First stop at the Nike Missile whatever-it-is (I guess once upon a time they had missiles there, or made them, or something), and a guy approached me. He was out to run 50K today. Next week, or maybe two weeks from now, he is running a 100K. He’s run a few 100 milers. He had a Human Propulsion Hydration pack. He said all the pros use them. He looked at my jacket and asked me if I was cold. He said I need to run more, and that will take care of the cold business. He was wearing brand new road shoes. He was slightly mentally challenged, I think is the proper way of saying it nowadays. He said he’d been running a lot today and was tired. The implication was that he wanted to stop, but couldn’t, ’cause he wasn’t done yet, and so he was going to soldier on, happily. It looked as though he’d made a decision to be happy no matter what. Maybe it’s simpler that way. It seems like a good strategy. There’s a lot to be said for simplicity.

I have a bad habit of winging it when I do these runs. This is probably not a good idea. Today I ate a banana before the run and had a single Hammer Gel at the mid point. That’s not really adequate nutrition for a 4 hour, 20 mile, 2,668-feet-of-climbing run. Grabbing whatever’s in my bag and sticking it in my pocket is not really the way to go. More planning is probably called for. That or having more stuff laying around to stick in my pockets.

I was tired when I was done. And hungry.