Two Carries and a Lacey

This weekend we were invited along on a hike to Kitchen Creek with optional waterfall. We agreed to meet at the Park & Ride at 9am and I was shocked to be the first one there. So was Carrie. But I didn't see her and she didn't see me, and I was just about to take a photo of the park & ride sign in my lot to counter hers when my indisputable proof showed up. Sidian the hiking dog was in the front seat ready to go. I let Carrie know Sidian had showed up and she crossed over to meet us. Jo'l pulled in a couple minutes later and we made a quick stop at Starbucks for coffee and opportunistic bathroom use before we got going. 
For some people who have read this blog for a bit you may have noticed a certain resemblance between my friends. Carrie and Jo'l are in fact related. Everywhere we go I take delight in answering "yes!" along with them when people ask "are you sisters?" just to see the confusion on peoples faces because one of these things is certainly not like the other. So keep that in mind when you imagine this:
The barista came out from behind the counter with breakfast sandwiches in hand and looked over the stickers "Two Carries and a Lacey!"  We burst out laughing as she stared confused at two nearly identical women dressed the same and one who didn't match at all.

 

From there we drove up past Sunrise Highway to Kitchen Creek Road and drove to the trailhead passing snow at lower elevations than I've ever seen. This is a part of the PCT and I was gleeful at the chance to wander through the winter scene and feel the snow crunch under my boots. I swapped back to my Oboz for the day given that they're waterproof and was ready for the cold hike, it proved to be a good decision as the others had some soggy shoes by the time we were done.

Despite all of the snow on the ground I warmed up fast and shed my layers in a hurry. Normally I'm really good about taking my layers off without stopping, but the path was icy, there were rocks under the snow, and there was a cliff on one side. I could see myself trying to remove my puffy jacket without pausing to save a few seconds and tumbling over the side to break a leg 34 days before we're set to leave. Sidian got tired of waiting behind me on the hills pretty quickly and I stepped aside to let anyone left go past while I stuffed my puffy jacket and base layer into my pack. 

I don't know how to convey how special snow is to a San Diegan, we almost never see it and when we do it's all in Julian and Cuyamaca and it's gone in a day or two and full of the entire county rushing to see it. We saw only two other people all day and it was a wonderful stretch after so much time inside between being sick and not being able to hike last weekend. 

We really indulged while we had the opportunity to enjoy it. Please note the way that we're making the most normal and graceful snow angels like regular people. 

On the way back the snow had started to melt along the trail and the crunching feeling beneath my feet had been replaced by very slippery icy mud with a tiny stream starting downhill. Picking my way downhill so that I didn't slip the wrong way and pull my hip out, I started to fall behind again until things evened out. 

After we got back to the car we drove up toward kitchen creek to see the water flowing before heading back to the park & ride. After we picked up all the cars we went for Himalayan food and chatted about making a plan for plan tickets this week. Next week should be 17 miles! 

The Trash Can Plague Strikes Back

Finally, a sunny day in San Diego! It sounds funny when you put it that way, but after weeks of on and off rain when you're used to nothing but sunshine it seems like a long time to go without.
We had packed a serious snack feast since we were missing the snack day celebrations (some of you may know this as the superbowl) and armed with cheese and sunbeams we picked a route.
After discussing that high mileage walks take too long to spend time driving to a destination we left straight from Carries front door and headed toward Chollas Lake making a loop up through Rolando then on toward Lake Murray. I was lagging behind, but there were quite a few hills and it's not unusual for me to fall behind when there's a lot of rise to our walks.

I kept pulling at my pack, feeling like something wasn't right and I needed to adjust it. I had a lot of pain in my shoulder and my feet were getting sore which I thought was just shoes. I tried another pair of the same style in a tamer color.  But nothing seemed to help and my hips were starting to hurt and we were only 5 miles in with 11 left to go. I looked up and saw that Carrie and Jo'l were far ahead of me and I was losing ground fast, but we were on level ground, it made no sense.

When we got to the turnaround point I stopped for water and they both looked at me and immediately came to the conclusion that I had caught the trash can plague. Fever, headache, full body pain, that's it in a nutshell. We  stopped for the snack feast and I picked at it, unable to find an appetite even though everything we brought was peak snacking.

From there I called Sean and sent him a pin on Google Maps so that he could come pick me up. I knew that there was no way I could walk back to Carries place even though it was closer than finishing the entire days miles. I walked with Carrie and Jo'l to the turnoff and they left for Cowles Mountain and I proceeded to go home and sleep for the next 3 days. 

Heated Flow

Everyone knows that San Diego is all about sun, beaches, palm trees, and perfect weather. This week we are not living up to our reputation. While most of the United States suffers through the polar vortex that has wandered off from the pole that it belongs to we have been gleefully sharing beautiful sunsets and lovely days to our social media and our comeuppance has arrived. Hoodies won't save us now, it's raining for multiple days in a row and we have to break out the serious gear because it's in the 50's and for us that's deep winter considering that water is falling from the sky.

We talked it over and after looking at the storm rolling in for 5 (five!!!) days chose the lightest day to walk in San Diego and took today to do something else fitness related up in Orange County. Chris and Sean chose to drive up with us as Jo'l had a list of things that she needed help with in her apartment and if we were only doing a short thing for the day there would be plenty of time left in the day to actually spend time with them for a change. Pearl also made the drive with us, and seemed thrilled when we arrived at Jo'ls place even though she had never been there before. We made it early for once and set off for Jo'ls very fancy gym after she gave Sean & Chris their list and showed them where the snacks that she had set up for them were. Full disclosure: I left my phone at home today, so some of the photos that aren't from people who were there were from Google, all hail. 

We left Jo'ls place and headed to Laguna Niguel to what we knew was a fancy gym, but didn't realize would be a full on mega-gym/cult experience. It's so big that it looks like an industrial church, it has it's own parking structure, there's a concierge, it has spa services. I could go on but to be honest I don't even know what was happening. 

After we got checked in as guests we went upstairs, and Jo'l figured that we had some time before the yoga class that we were there to attend started so she suggested that we warm up on the treadmills for a bit. My treadmill experience includes the one time I did the shoe thing at Roadrunner and two HIIT workouts in the gym at work. Once I figured out how to get the thing going it was pretty easy, and I even managed to get the fake outside feature to work and was soon strolling along a fake lake with many fake dogs. The only problem is that I hadn't planned for this, so while Carrie and Jo'l were going along casually, I was gripping the rail and trying to keep up with my fake dogs while wearing flip flops. Once it was time to go to class I frantically pushed the slow down button and hopped off the treadmill and we wandered over to the yoga room. As we stepped into the waiting area it became clear that some details had been left out, very warm air was drifting out from the room that we were supposed to be going in to but Carrie and I weren't prepared for this at all. I stripped off as many layers as I could and stuffed them into a wooden cubby before grabbing a mat and towel. 

The room was darkened with modern music playing and the people warming up inside were more flexible than I aspire to be. There was a woman folded completely forward with her wrists on the floor, another leaning gracefully sideways with fingertips to toes, and a man doing a headstand. Carrie asked Jo'l something I couldn't head and she confessed that this was the intermediate class. She's fond of adding miles and extra dongles as punishment for our frequent tardiness, and had we been late today our stiff selves would have been in the advanced class. The instructor got started and at first it was familiar and manageable. I had done regular yoga with Erin from Orobouros in San Diego for a while and it felt good to move in familiar ways, but suddenly it was heating up, we were moving faster, and the sweat was pouring from just about everywhere. Even though the lights were dim I found myself face to face with Carrie instead of looking the same way as the rest of the class and things were not flowing as I frantically tried to course correct. By the time we reached shivasana I was drenched and have no idea how I managed to nearly keep up. I can't remember the last time I was that sweaty. As I walked out still trying desperately to look less like Marlon Brando in Apocolyspe Now and more like the slightly dewy women who were walking out and moving on to more gym I wondered if this was a glandular problem that I should have looked into. I heard the instructor say to people walking in "welcome to heated flow" and felt the need to warn them that this was a very misleading title. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Chris and Sean were doing serious battle with Jo'ls sink. It wasn't draining properly and after taking it apart they discovered why. Years of previous tenants left goodies in the pipes and what we have started calling the "hair snake" emerged. It was so gross that Pearl retreated to a far corner and that pyrex bowl will be forever unclean. 

Now that everyone is thoroughly disgusted, let's talk about lunch! We have a favorite restaurant up North and today was a great day to visit given the efforts that everyone exerted. We got to La Columbiana just in time as there was one table left with the patio being closed and a large party with a reservation in the tiny restaurant. It was amazing, like always, and even though we just ate there I can't wait to go back. 

On the way back to the house it was still pouring and we got a flash flood warning, so of course this reminded Jo'l of a great water feature on low ground. When it floods in Dana Point, part of the hillside by the marina becomes a waterfall, cascading down into I don't even know what. But it comes with a slightly seweresque smell and lots of local traffic pulling up to have a look. It was fun to see and we didn't mention the sewage of Dana Point Falls until after we had left the attraction. 

After that detour we headed back to the house for some trip planning; looking at flight options, places to stay in the Dominican Republic, realistic travel dates, and what we're willing to do to save $200 (the answer for 4/5 of the room was not stay in the airport for 2 days). There was judgement from Pearl, outrageous competition for best flights found, and some serious phone envy. All in all we ended on a high note when we stepped back out into the rain to drive home and get ready for Sundays long walk. 

Not Today, Satan!

Have you heard of a HIIT workout? It stands for High Intensity Interval Training and it's supposed to be really good for you. It's also a good way to get really sore muscles in a hurry. The new gym at work is outfitted with the things that you need for this, so I tried one out with a coworker on Thursday thinking that it would be a good in-between thing to do. She said that she was sore, she talked about all of the things that she couldn't do independently because of how sore she was and I laughed. I was about to get mine.
Friday morning I woke up and I was feeling it, but in a good way. I got out of bed, stretched a little, and left for work. I was fine going up the stairs, and everything was normal. By noon I was starting to feel a little worse, a little stiffer every time I got up from my desk, then when I walked down the hall the muscles around my knee just didn't go and I knew I was in trouble. When it was time to go home I started down the stairs and found myself doing a sort of half-controlled crow-hop to keep from barreling down them headfirst. When I got to the bottom I put my hands on my hips and found that I had knots in my lower abdominal muscles. After getting home I went to put something into the fridge and something fell out. Without thinking I squatted down to pick it up, but I couldn't get all the way down, but I couldn't get up either. I laughed, then I cried just a little.

On the menu for this weekend was Mission Trails, which had the promise of The Trails at the end, one of our favorite brunch spots. After taking Pearl for a quick walk around Chollas Lake we were able to lure Sean out to hike with us with the promise of cinnamon roll pancakes and he agreed to meet us at the trailhead. We met in Tierrasanta, and Sean handed my ye olde walking stick, which I haven't used in ages. I had swapped to trekking poles, then to nothing at all ahead of this training, but I needed it today. We all set out with South Fortuna somewhere in view, though none of us were exactly sure which peak it was.

I fell behind very quickly as I was in pain from the moment I woke up, and it wasn't getting better just yet. I was starting to loosen up as we moved along a flat track, or a gentle incline. Suddenly I heard Carrie say "Jo'l you'd better stay out of stick range" and I tried to speed up to see what they were looking at. It turned out to be stairs. Lots of stairs, heading up the mountain in steep, thigh burning ascendance. 

I had caught up to them, and I stared. I then loudly uttered some expletives that I won't repeat here because I have two grandmothers reading this. A woman walking by was surprised, then said "I'm sorry to tell you this, but this last hill was nothing compared to those steps up there" and moved on. Jo'l was giddy with the incline ahead of us, and gleefully flounced up the steps. I did my best not to hit her with the stick, which I have to admit wasn't difficult given that I was moving very slowly and she was quickly bounding up a mountain. 

I huffed, I puffed, I stubbornly refused every time my friends and husband suggested that I crouch down in the shade of a bush along the trail. They made it to the top of the stairs and I slogged my way up after them. Despite Seans declaration that there was a sign at the top and it must be the summit, there was only a sign at the top saying the trail was to the left. Believe it or not I didn't hit him with the stick either. As we went I mentioned that the stairs were a lot like Kwaay Paay, another mountain in the park. It's shorter, but a lot steeper with scrambling at the top. Jo'l excitedly started to suggest that we go there and I shouted her down with "Not today, Satan!" just before we reached the peak.

You would think that snacks would be abbreviated since our mileage was shorter, but mountains are hard so we had great snacks including smoked scallops, chocolate covered blueberries, and sunflower butter cups. Jo'l informed us all that there was paper on the cups after trying to eat hers paper-on, and that got us going again.

At some point it looked like we were headed across the saddle and up to North Fortuna, and we had to remind Jo'l that we had pancakes waiting. That started a sharp turn to some loose dirt and gravel down hill which was a new challenge that brought up stories about how people we know have broken their tailbones and had to sit on inflatable donuts.

Then it was time to go back up hill which was into the nice grassy area, but steep again. Sean chose to run up the hill and those left behind came to the conclusion that he would regret that in the morning.

While I wasn't as tired as I usually am at the end of our walks I was sore in new and interesting places. I had a whole new waddle that was nothing like my usual, and the insides of my thighs were very displeased. When Carrie and Jo'l looked back to ask if I was going up El Cajon Mountain in the morning and saw me doing a full Weekend at Bernies impression there was nothing to do but laugh.

The Trash Can Plague

Last weekend when it was time to start planning we got a reply from Jo'l that didn't bode well: "I feel like a trash can."
Given that the previous weekend we had spent time swapping tea so that we could try all of the flavors, this was somewhat concerning. It was also a bummer because she wasn't up to walking with us Saturday, and feeling like a trash can sounds awful.
After the rain during the week Carrie and I headed out to Rose Canyon to get some miles in and enjoy the first nice day in what felt like a long time. San Diegans are incredibly spoiled when it comes to our sunshine content. Things had dried out pretty well, but there were some good-sized puddles along the way, and one that I was sure one of us was going to end up in.

Rose Canyon is sandwiched between houses up along a hill and the freeway with train tracks situated alongside. The freeway was a constant hum as we went around the water and the day warmed up.

Eventually we left the canyon and ended up back in the neighborhood, and discovered an official notice about crayfish. I don't know how much of an issue this is, or where people are getting a surplus of crayfish to release, but it's enough that they felt the need to ask the general public to stop.

From there we turned around and crossed back across the streams that were full from the recent rains.

The next day Jo'l was recovered enough to make it down to San Diego for a walk around Lake Murray. It's funny how 6 miles suddenly feels short, and leaves you feeling like you have so much of your day left, when 6 months ago it was the long version of the walk and meant that you had less time to do what you needed to get done for the day.

Since we were doing a shorter walk I decided to surprise Carrie and wear my super-fancy 5 finger shoes. She was satisfyingly horrified and couldn't look at them the whole time,  I found it thoroughly enjoyable. 

Since we had all the time in the world after our short jaunt we went for poke. It's been decided that Poke one and 1/2 is the best since they have gluten free sauce for Carrie, fake crab for Jo'l, and ponzu sauce for me. 

I had to cut out early on the post-lunch shopping trip, but it was for a great reason. We had make-up Christmas with Nana since we were all out of state over the holidays and just now had an opportunity to get together for this. 

Once we got home I immediately took another dose of wellness fizz (emergen-c) just in case. I refuse to get the trash can plague. 

That's great! So what are you doing?

When I tell people that I'm going to Portugal so that I can walk every day for weeks they're usually excited, but they have a lot of questions. I took a step back to see it from the outside and put together some answers here.

- Where are you going?
Portugal, then Spain, then the Dominican Republic. In that Order. We'll be walking the Way of St. James via the Portuguese way from Porto to Santiago and if we do well enough we can go on to Finisterre.

- What is The Camino?
Way back in 44AD St. James (one of the 12 apostles) was martyred in Judea, and his body was brought to Spain by many of his followers to be buried at Santiago de Compostela. Since the discovery of his remains in 812AD a steady stream of pilgrims has flowed in from all over to visit the saint and the site of his burial. The Camino, or rather any route to get to Santiago, is a pilgrimage to the cathedral.

- I've seen the Camino on TV/in movies/online but it's in France. Why are you talking about Portugal?
It's true that the Camino Frances is the most popular route, but since the camino is all about ending up at the cathedral to see the dead saint it's really all about walking "a camino" not "the camino" and the way that we're going just happens to be between Portugal and Spain.

- You're carrying a backpack, are you camping the whole way?
No, we are walking between towns and staying in pilgrims hostels called albergues at night. Basic, but not camping. We'll get a bed in a shared room, a shower, and an early start every morning.

- Is your husband going?
No, he's going to be staying home with the cats while we walk, so this trip will just be me, Carrie, and Jo'l. Once we're done we'll fly out to the Dominican Republic to meet Sean and Chris for a few days of recovery. The beach and some sun might do us some good.

- How long will it take you?
If we make our goals every day and don't need to take any breaks we should be able to go from Porto to Santiago in about 2 weeks, and Finisterre in another few days.

- How far are you walking every day?
It depends. We have a plan laid out for where we're stopping, so days will be anywhere from 11 miles to 25.

How far are you walking total?
Porto to Santiago will be about 156 miles, Santiago to Finesterre will be another 48 miles. So we're looking at 204 miles total in 3 weeks time.

Why are you doing this?
All three of us have different reasons, but the short answer would be because we can. This isn't the first camino for Carrie, and I'm sure it won't be her last. Jo'l is not one to step down from a challenge, and it's easy to see why this would appeal to her. For me it's because I didn't think I could, and because I didn't know if I would be able to, but also because I know that I won't be able to in the future and it's important to me to do everything that I can while I'm still in a place where I can push myself. Because it's part of seeing the world, and it's big, and it's beautiful.

In the doghouse

After taking time off yesterday we decided to make up for the abbreviated training weekend by adding a mile today then skipping straight to 17 miles next weekend.
The morning started off great when we were ready to leave from Chris & Carries and I ducked into the bathroom only to walk out 60 seconds later and find that the lights were off, the dog barriers were on the furniture, and I was locked in the house with Pearl. Thanks everyone!
After surprising everybody by walking outside, we took a HubCab and got dropped off just South of the Silvestrand and started on our way. Almost immediately I felt like my backpack was damp, and we stopped so that I could check it out. As soon as I opened my pack water poured out of the bottom and it became clear that the call was coming from inside the house. I dug around and discovered that the cap to my water bladder wasn't on right, and that about a liter and a half of water had leaked out into my bag. It was part two of Why is everything so wet: even wetter.

After pouring that out we moved on toward Coronado and downtown San Diego passing the base on the ocean side and the bay on the other. 

The first four miles flew by, and it felt like we were going to have a quick day ahead of us. We reached Coronado and after walking along one side of the island and under the bridge we stopped in Glorietta Park for the halfway snack. We were joined by 4 of the most ridiculous ducks I have ever met, and were charmed by them as they circled our table, got into it with some seagulls, and chased berries falling from the tree above us. 

Todays cheese: Syrah soaked Toscana from Trader Joe's. 

After snacking we went just under a mile to check out the schedule for the ferry and grab coffee to sip on as we wandered along the bayfront and up the other side of the island. The coffee cart at the ferry landing was good, and there was live flamenco music while we waited. We were still making good time as we set off again, even after the extra long break we took at a real table. 

After going another mile or two we stopped in another park to sip the rest of our coffee and have the chocolate that we brought. Our good time was slipping away at this point, and we moved on walking along the ocean side of Coronado. 

We passed the Hotel Del Coronado which is both storied and historical. It's been in operation since 1888 and has been in film, tv, books, and songs. 

We were just short of where we needed to be when we got back around to the ferry landing, but we decided to take the ferry that had just docked instead of making our miles and chancing having to wait an hour for the next one. 

One ferry ride later we were at the Broadway Pier and the sun was starting to go down. We walked by the Star of India and the other ships of the Maritime Museum, and watched a cruse ship docked at the pier set out while we were passing. 

We wandered uphill a little (Jo'l was thrilled) toward Little Italy and waited at Mona Lisa for our HubCab back to Carrie's place. 

At the end of the day I didn't have any serious pain until we were past the 13 mile mark, that's a huge improvement, even over last week. My feet aren't hurting, and I have minimal swelling, which I know will likely change once we're doing this daily, but for now it's a huge win and I'll take it. I think that my new ugly shoes are working out, and disappointed as I am that I don't get to wear the cute, trendy walking shoes that are out there, it feels good not the be one giant, miserable, waddling blister. I'm sore as I write this, but I walked 16 miles and I didn't fall behind. Well, except for that time when I stopped to take a picture and they didn't notice and just left me there, but what can you expect of friends who lock you in the house with the dog?