The Ultra-Adventures of a Painfully Normal Girl

Why did I forget my calf sleeves yesterday?! Now I have those little itchy bumps on my legs.

Kind of... I am back in the sense that I finally ran a trail and that I am posting again. I am not back in the sense of being 100% healthy.

Today was my first trail run in a while and my first one on Okinawa. It was a 4+ mile loop early in the morning to beat the heat...hmmmm, or while it was less hot anyway. I was concerned mostly about the humidity, but aside from sweating profusely and drinking more water than I usually do (not that I drink that much to begin with...), it was not a factor.

My limiting factor once again was my damn knee. It was fine until I bombed a few downhills sections. Sigh. I am definitely making an appointment on Monday and won't give up until I find something that works. Acupuncture is on the horizon as an option as well. Ok, enough of the negative.

It felt great to be back on the trails even if I did have to walk part of the course. While the trail was quite overgrown with vegetation, it was not the angry, skin-tearing kind found in Southern California, and it was GREEN! It was also a bit slipperier, which is always good for a laugh when your feet slide out from under you landing you promptly on your backside.

The run was followed by some delicious pancakes. All in all, I say it was a successful morning!

As I sit here and type, the savory bouquet from the herbed and roasting chicken is unceasingly wafting across my olfactory senses. My world revolves around food. My latest listography contains those smell associated with food that speak to my soul. It is in no particular order... they are all equally amazing.

- Sesame oil
- Fresh rosemary in all its earthy, woodsy glory
- Truffle oil
- Dark chocolate as it is being melted into heavy cream to create ganache. The aroma builds exponentially until it bursts into a crescendo of rich, decadent extravagance.
- Bread dough
- Onions and garlic sauteing in butter
- Hot tea (green, white, herbal, mint, jasmine...)

Other random smells not associated with food:
- Roses... as cliche as that may be
- Freesia
- Freshly washed sheets
- Orange blossoms from a roadside orchard
- Vintage cars
- Leather
- Mahgony
- Old books

Feel free to comment and add your own smells!

So I have taken a bit of a break from running. Pain-free runs left so much promise only to be dashed by some pain where the cyst is located. Since it happened while running and since it is on my MCL, I decided to not push this one.

In the meantime, I was inspired while watching Top Gear in all of their "ambitious yet rubbish" gloriousness. I will take this pause in running to write about another passion, and hence the following is a list of my top cars.

1. Subaru WRX STI... I do so love my car
2. Fiat 500 Abarth SS... you can keep your mini coopers
3. Ariel Atom... open-wheeled awesomeness
3. Porsche GT3
4. Ferrari 458 Italia... because it sounds so damn pretty and has some power to match
5. Reliant Robin... because it is absolutely ridiculous

And for all you who are screaming what about the American cars:
1. Ford Fiesta... of course, it would be to strip it down and turn it into a proper rally car
2. Ford F-150 SVT Raptor... if I had to pick a truck

As it turns out, I had to cancel my running plans last Saturday. I had found a trail 5k to celebrate the completion of the couch to 5k program, but the government found me. Instead I was "invited" (= ordered) to attend a muster for the Inactive Reserves. I can only glean from the muster that they wanted to ensure we were still alive and relatively productive members of society. Oh, and to pitch the joys of becoming an active reservist.

No 5k for me and I missed the group run as well. Sigh.

Actually, it turned out better than expected. The area on base that we were summoned to was full of units that, well, like to inflict physical pain... I mean... training upon their Marines. I did a little informational reconnaissance and discovered the gold mine of trails beginning at that very location. Of course, I brought running gear knowing that I would be able to find some trails; I just didn't know how close they would actually be.

I had heard tales of the sadistic Marine Corps training device known as "the Reaper". A hill/mountain of epic infamy as well as epic accomplishment. I was too close to pass up the opportunity to see it and bask in its shadows.

Off I plodded, ignorant to the path that was leading me towards it. I was told that I would be approaching it from the back side, and while the trail would be uphill, it would be more of a rolling uphill. Granted, I am still building up my training and have not been doing serious hill runs, but wow.

Uphill still means uphill and rolling means slow torture because the "up" part keeps going and going and going. The undulations of the trail grew increasingly more severe and I was reduced to hiking with short bits of sloooooow running. Towards the top there were placards with Medal of Honor citations which made me reminisce back to the time when I entered the Marines in all of my motivated glory.

Finally, I found it veering off to the right and heading down. Wait. I think that's it. No. Maybe. Crap. Well, I will continue going up because that is smart, right?! Well, at least I could get a better view. The upward undulations here were of psychotic clown rollercoaster proportions. After clawing my way up a section that gained 100ft of elevation in 0.1 mile. I decided that was enough. It was too steep to run down so I slid down on a rock slide of gravel.  

I should have trusted my instinct in the first place and returned to the almost unassuming Reaper. I was told that is how it gets you. It doesn't look that bad...how bad can it really be?! Luckily, I was under no force but my own and I was standing at the top looking down. Don't get me wrong, it is utterly impressive when you realize just how small things at the bottom actually appear.

Because of the time, I only ventured half way down to appreciate the steepness of the grade; steepness that not even my gamin would register. And then I walked back up. It is a force to be reckoned with for sure.

But now it was time to started heading back. Alright downhilling time! Unfortunately, the previous strain combined with steep downhills that I was not ready for caused Thing #1 to flare up part way down. This forced me to walk the rest of the way back to my car but I had probably ran about 4 miles of the entire journey, which was my goal.

I will head back to those trails when I have trained on more mountains and my knee is ready for the abuse. It was the adventure and inspiration that I so needed. Until next time...

Note: I did not take a picture of the actual Reaper because I felt it almost too sacred.

Up, up, and away...

100 ft in 0.1 mile = wall (not trail)