I ran to my mom's house and back.

This week in our training, our long run took a step backward...I LOVE those weeks! ;0) The past 3 weeks have been 13 miles, 12 miles, and then another 13 miles. In the training's defense I was only supposed to run 7 miles on that first run I just mentioned, but that was the week of the half-marathon at Safari Park.

This week, we just had a 10 mile run! Who knew 10 miles would seem like a short distance!? :0)

Over the past week during our mid-week runs, I got to thinking how fun it would be to switch things up again. Take my outdoor running to a new level. Branch out from the 3 mile loop around my neighborhood. I wanted to run to a destination. The first place I thought of was my mom's house. The path doesn't involve the freeway, and it takes us about 10 minutes in the car to get to her house on Mt. Helix.

I estimated that it was about 10 miles from my house to her house. As I envisioned this run, I figured that once I got to her house, I could chillax...she could pour me a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice and then get some pancake batter on the griddle. We could chat for a few minutes, talk about how great life is, and then she could shuttle me back to my house. Minus running up the side of a mountain, this run sounded wonderful! ;0)

But once I snapped back into reality, I knew I needed to turn my "estimation" into "fact". I drove the distance from my house to my mom's house to track the mileage. No surprise...I was WAY off, LOL!

It turns out that my mom only lives 4.5 miles from my house...which is kind of cool to realize, but it crushes my "dream run". :0(

New plan: Run from my house to her house, literally give her a high-five as I'm passing by, run back to my house, and then do the smaller one mile loop around my neighborhood to equal the 10 miles needed.

This week I had my iTouch charged, and the only head-tripping incident that occurred was getting the GU down. I bought my GU this week at "Big 5", and they didn't have my new best of the worst flavor "Mandarin Orange." Instead they only had the vanilla and tri-berry. I bought them. But I am having the hardest time getting the vanilla down. :0( To empty the packet it takes about 6 good-size gulps. And each gulp equaled gagging. And this week brought with it a belch on two of the gagging incidents...I was SO SURE it was all gonna come back up! But it didn't. Whew. (wiping brow)

I set out at 7:55am. Usually my 3 mile loop starts out with a downhill path, but this week I was going in the opposite direction which meant I was starting out with an uphill run. :0( Within 5 seconds I was already contemplating walking, LOL! But I didn't. After a while I got warmed up, and as I exited my neighborhood, I hit the busy street of Avocado BLVD. I have driven this road every.single.day. for the last 8 years+ and yet running it is totally different than driving it. I never noticed how loooooong the street was...and I'm guessing it felt long, becuase I had also never noticed that this long street is pretty much at a significant incline the entire time. :0( I had psyched myself up for the crazy run up the mountain when I reached that point in my journey, but I hadn't mentally prepared myself for the challenge of Avocado BLVD. I just kept telling myself that "incline" equaled calories burned, and that since I was going to be Kim Kardashian that night, calories burned was in my favor!

I eventually turned on to Fuerte Rd, and met my mountain...



The good news is, it was every bit as difficult as I imagined it would be...but no more than what I had imagined. I was able to conquer it...just one foot in front of the other. Do.not.stop.running. The scariest part was...



I had to bring my "A"-game. There was no room for error. I only had 12 inches in between the white traffic line to my left and the steep rocky ditch to my left. I couldn't allow myself to get lost in my thoughts.

It was a great run, and by the time I made it up to my mom's I felt accomplished. I realize most people don't live just 4.5 miles away from their parent's house, but it was still neat for me to say that "I ran all the way to my mom's house." The cloud cover was intact, but it's still a gorgeous view from Mt. Helix...



When I arrived at my mom's house the reality of our visit was a blend of my 2 previous ideas of what that moment would entail. I definitely wasn't staying for breakfast and a 30 minute chit-chat, but nor did I blow past her on her driveway. I did something I never do on my long runs. I stopped. :0) I went in, had a SHORT 5-10 minute visit, admired the treats that were coming out of her oven (she made these cupcakes!!!...)



...I used the facilities, and then I was off again! Lucky for me, all of the mountains and hills I had to run up on the way to her house, I got to run down on my way home.

This really was a fun experience!