Squaw Valley

I've definitely been feeling unmotivated the last few weeks. Two weekends ago, I went on a hard, difficult 12 miler, and for the next week, limped a bit due to my bad leg. I've suddenly remembered that teaching really makes my leg act up (something about the 6-8 hours of standing a day), and now it suddently makes sense why running was going better over the summer (no teaching). Needless to say, those marathon dreams seem far away now. I'll admit, I've had a bit of a pity party for myself - almost 3 years since my leg first started hurting, and, even now, I'm still feeling it. Nothing to do, though - though I have thought about trying for a new doctor again, but I just don't have much hope left.

I did have a nice run tuesday, only 3 miles, and it left my leg pretty uncomfortable, but not too bad. I also had a lovely "run" with Ed in Berkeley on Saturday, which was lots of fun - I love revisiting trails from college :). I even ran into Dave!

So, it's not all bad. Just in an adjustment period. Hopefully I'll be able to start running a bit more soon.

For now, here are some beautiful pictures from our Tahoe trip, when my dad, Ed and I hiked up at Squaw Valley.

Fun in Tahoe

Summer has flown by, and now it's ending has arrived. With the start of work officially Tuesday, I know my time is going to be seriously limited, so I've decided that the "Wedding recaps" aren't really necessary. It already seems like a long time ago, and I don't know that anyone besides me really wants and/or needs to see the many many more photos. I'm ready to go back to posting about running in beautiful places :). 

To kick off the return to writing about running, I wanted to recap our trip to Tahoe last week. Ed and I joined the rest of my family (save my brother in law, who had to work) to vacation near Tahoe City. While Ed had to work for much of it, we were still able to take some time to hit the trails together. 

Our first full day, I needed to run 7 miles (Ed needed 15, I think), so we decided to do mine together on the Tahoe Rim Trail. We parked in a lot by the Truckee river and headed off. Almost immediately, we were heading uphill and I recalled that I actually suck at dealing with altitude. We (and by we, I mean I) were immediately slowed to a walk, while I gasped for breath. 

Luckily, our efforts were soon rewarded with amazing views. 

Luckily it got a bit flatter after about 1/2 a mile, and we were able to run just a little bit. We were having to be careful picking up our feet, as it was pretty rocky, but it was worth it. I'll admit I felt pretty guilty making Ed go so slowly, but I was having a quite difficult time breathing in the thinner air (I think I had a touch of something as well). 

After about 2 miles, we turned around and headed back, since Ed wanted to check out the TRT in the other direction. 

Back at the viewpoint, we took a moment to take in the scenery one more time. 

Back at the river, we headed out the other direction another mile, and again, I was suffering as the flat turned to uphill. I couldn't bear to make Ed go so slow for that much longer, so I "released" him and ran an estimated extra mile to hit my total of 7. 

I got to enjoy a quiet mile along the bike path, taking in the river view.