Well, I didn’t write a journal entry yesterday. That’s OK, because so little happened yesterday that I don’t even remember what happened. Sad.
The theme of the day was “laziness.” I slept in. Without a weekly Saturday morning group long run, this has become more common.
Sleeping in means I don’t get a morning run or workout in. I also don’t get an afternoon run or workout in, because it gets hot (or at least now it does). By the end of the day, I think: I’ll run tomorrow morning.
This was compounded yesterday because I was going to do “something big” today. I was also going to play more boardgames or Jackbox with Yao, Jennie, John, Janita, and others in the evening.
But finally, it got too hard not to go outside. An easy bike ride to Treasure Island would do trick! (I can go on bike rides again now because my new spare inner tubes and patch kit have arrived.)
Instead of ending up at Treasure Island, though I ended up in Jack London Square. I suck at navigating on the bike.
Still fun though. I think the last time I visited Jack London Square was literally last spring. Might check Google Maps Timeline later.
By the time I got home, the sun was setting, game night had been postponed (Jennie couldn’t make it, and she was the one bringing Jackbox), and I was strangely ready to sleep early. I’ll wake up early to prepare for my “big run” tomorrow, I thought.
A late start. With all the sleep I’ve been getting, I thought I was going to wake up early. In the end, that didn’t happen. I pretty much got out of bed around 8:30am (meaning I had already lost some 2.5 hours of daylight already), got ready to start my 26.5-mile trek to Mount Diablo by 9am, then discovered mold in my Hydrapaks around 9:15am.
I can’t be too surprised, since I think the last time I used them was for my FKT almost two months ago (!!!) and don’t think I cleaned them afterward. They smelled reallllly bad.
I was going to need all the water I could get today since my run would be self-supported. (Actually, little did I know I’d actually need more water than I could get today!) So I got down to clean. By the time I was done, the sun was already high in the sky.
I knew that my route today started in familiar territory. First, Claremont Canyon. Then de Laveaga Trail (though I haven’t taken it in months, since my first time with Jenny). The space between the end of that trail though, in Orinda, and the start of Mount Diablo Ave, in Walnut Creek (which I ran for the first time a couple months ago for the FKT), would all be new.
As soon as I started climbing Claremont, though, I knew that today was going to be a slow day. I just didn’t have it.
But that was OK. Today was going to be a long, slow day. Better save myself for later, I thought. (I mean, I was still thinking of running out and back, for over 52 miles and around 8000ft of vert.)
Things picked up a bit by the time I got to my first rest stop — the Orinda Safeway — where I stopped to get some Naked juice to refill my bottles.
This didn’t last too long.
By the time I passed through Lafayette into Walnut Creek, the sun was high in the sky. I had checked the weather for Berkeley before starting. But I didn’t to do the same for the inland (I checked later; it was about 80 in the afternoon.) I was really sweating.
Finally, I arrived at Shell Ridge. I still had reception, surprisingly, and hopped on the weekly 4PM LMJS Racing Team zoom.
Earlier, I had messaged them telling them I’d probably be out of reception. Now they asked me where I was. I was heading up Diablo, I told them. “If you get in trouble…” Jeanine said.
I got in trouble pretty soon after that. When I hopped on the call, I had only run about 20.5 miles. I had originally expected to be on the summit by the time the call happened. Now, with at least 3200 ft of climbing to go, I knew it’d probably make it to the summit just before sunset. This, I could do. But in my hubris, I hadn’t brought a headlamp along. Descending Mount Diablo at night without light was an unpleasant prospect (not to mention possibly running another 27-ish miles back home in the dark too).
I had also underestimated how much water/fluid I needed, especially without support (there’s no potable water on Diablo). My pee was getting increasingly yellower.
As I passed from Shell Ridge into the Diablo Foothills, I knew that my next chance at getting reception was probably on Burma Road. If I didn’t have reception there, the next areas for reception was probably either at the North Gate into Diablo (by road), or closer to the summit.
Fortunately, I did have reception at Burma, and I texted Chris. Even though Jeanine (and later Ruth) had offered to possibly pick me up, I was more comfortable with Chris coming because, well, in the off chance I have SARS-CoV-2, Chris is much likelier to brush it off.
Like a true friend, he immediately agreed. I also started heading down North Gate Road toward the gate; I wasn’t sure if the gate was even open for him to enter. (This turned out to be a good decision; the gate really was closed.)
Later, he told me that when he heard where I was, during the Zoom call, he had thought that my timing was off. He didn’t think I was going to make it to the top, then be able to run all the way home (unless I was planning to get home super late — I didn’t mention the embarrassing fact that I didn’t bring my headlamp). During the call, fellow runners were concerned about the heat and where I was getting water, Chris included. But because I’ve done shit like this before, no one was going to say that I couldn’t do it (I mean, I could’ve, but it would’ve been VERY unpleasant — Chris bailed me out just as I was started to feel that unpleasantness/discomfort starting to really kick in.)
When I got home, I was ready to join at least one of two board game events: one that had been postponed from yesterday, and another that’s regularly scheduled for Sunday. To my disappointment, both had been canceled for various reasons. Sad!
But that’s OK. A lot happened today.
Trails/Roads Taken
- Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve: Stonewall-Panoramic.
- Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve: Skyline Ridge Fire Trail.
- Siesta Valley Recreation Area (EBMUD): Scotts Peak Trailhead to Skyline Trail to de Laveaga Trail, to Camino Pablo.
- Rest Stop #1: Orinda Safeway.
- Orinda: St. Stephens Trail (paved, alongside Hwy 24), from Moraga Way to Hidden Valley Road.
- Lafayette: Mount Diablo Blvd from Acalantes Rd to Howe Homestead Park, with Rest Stop #2: Walnut Creek, along the way.
- Elected not to enter Howe Homestead into Shell Ridge Open Space this time. Instead I took Walnut Blvd to Rockspring Place, toward a trailhead close to the “Briones to Mount Diablo Regional Trail.”
- Burma Rd Trail to Mt. Diablo HG/PG LZ (aka the 1000-foot Hanggliding/Paragliding Landing Zone).
- Mt. Diablo HG/PG LZ to Mt. Diablo North Gate.
Some Photos
