Hard, Beautiful Run in Rancho San Antonio Preserve

I am in California this weekend on the tail end of a business trip and for a wedding this afternoon for a good friend of mine. I slept in a bit and then drove from Los Gatos west just past Cupertino and into the foothills of the south bay area. I went to a preserve called Rancho San Antonio which is a beautiful park with many running and hiking trails into the foothills. I would highly recommend a visit if you have some time out there. I talked to Wish and one of my running friends at Sun about the park and was given some recommendations for a good 10 mile run. I chose to go up the mountain on the PGE trail which is the steepest climb on the preserve. It is about 4.25 miles to the top and I started out running, but had to start walking some of the climbs about halfway up. I know I am not in top shape, but don't know if I could have run the whole way in marathon shape. Either way I enjoyed the climb and all of the views of the south bay I was getting. The trail was in really good shape and I passed a lot of walkers, but no runners. I guess that is why they were looking at me like I was crazy. My first 4 mile splits were 9:53, 9:19, 11:31, and 12:37. I finally got to the top and was really tired. According to my Garmin the climb was over 1200 feet. To me it felt like running circles up and down Mt. Bonnell for 4 miles. My 16.9 oz. bottle of water was half gone and I still had about 6 miles to go. Fortunately for me the rest was all down hill. With about 4 miles to go I ran into a guy who joined me for the rest of the way down. We had a great political conversation about Obama and Clinton and it really helped pass the time.

Overall a really fun day and a new running experience for me. I need to revisit this run on one of my return business trips to the bay area.

Stats - 9.75 miles/1:35:11/9:45 pace