The half-marathon and JT weekend that almost killed me.

My friends warned me about getting older. This weekend, it finally hit me that I am just not as young as I used to be.
Saturday morning, Heather and I woke up at 5 am for our half-marathon up in Agoura Hills. It was the Dole Great Race and we both had a great run and both really liked the terrain!

Running on mostly trails is much more exciting than pounding pavement for 2+ hours!

We spent the rest of the day getting Heather's car fixed (a missing bolt makes a big difference!). We met up with Eva in Pasadena, then we headed out to Joshua Tree National Park for the night.

The park really is a great place though as we found, very cold at night. Maybe more like EXTREMELY cold. We powered through the night bundled up in clothes and our mummie bags.

The next morning, Heather took off early to head back to Tempe, AZ and Eva and I, with the tall Jumbo Rocks around us, lazily took our time packing and chilled around the camp. Around noon, we eventually got everything together and cleaned up and headed out to the south end of the park for a 7.4 mile roundtrip hike to the Lost Palms Oasis.


It was a choice time of year to go and we were fortunate enough to have picked the perfect weekend. The flowers were out and in full bloom!

The hike was easy and flat and I'd say temps were in the low 80's. It was my first outing in the sun since last summer. The day felt like normal...

Eva and I left the rest of the group to hurry back to the car to get back home. I was taking care of Brett's dog, JonJon, and I needed to get back to LA to feed the little guy. We rushed back through the trail, and not stretching or doing anything to tend to our worked muscles, we jumped in the car and took off for the 2 hour ride back home...sitting in our lactic acid.

(This is the part where I realize I am just not as young as I used to be.)

In the past, I could easily pull off an adventure-filled weekend and not sweat it the next day at work. This time, I realized that it was all catching up with me. On Monday, I was barely alive. I went to work, but was hardly present. I walked with a hobble and my words came out in short, quiet breaths of forced air.

I am sad that I just can't pack it in like I used to. Say it isn't so!