Mendocino, Mendocino

Where life's such a groove, you blow your mind in the morning*

SD and I have spent the last three days in Mendocino. The coast is rugged and reminds me of the Oregon coast. There's even Scotch Heather in bloom. I went on a couple of morning runs, which were pretty good, if not mind-blowing.

Yesterday's run was a 5 miler around town. Part of that consisted of the Headlands State Park. I actually did two loops to get the necessary mileage. At the top of the hill on the second loop, a woman walker saw me and asked if I hadn't already been around once. She was impressed, but I didn't tell her I was a marathoner.

I was working on running marathon pace, so mile 3-4 was only at marathon pace, but I did some pick-ups before and after that. It was sort of windy too, so I got a good workout.

Today's workout was even better. I went into Fort Bragg and ran 7 miles at tempo pace on a bike path at the ocean's edge. Tempo pace for me was 11 minute miles, and I took very few walking breaks. I'm happy to say that I was on pace for the entire 7 miles! I almost didn't run because it was raining at the start, but I went anyway and the rain stopped about 10 minutes later. I figured running in the rain would be good training for Seattle. :-)

It a challenge to train when I'm on vacation, partly because I don't like to try to find a good route. But when I do find a good route, it makes the vacation more memorable. We're heading to Monterey next, where I'll be doing a 13 mile run on a very familiar course--the Monterey trail from Fisherman's Wharf to Asilomar Beach. Same as the half-marathon, minus that nasty little hill through dowtown Pacific Grove.


*Sir Douglas Quintet groveling to the Teeny Bopper.