This morning my two Boys (my two white Standard Poodles) and me went to Mentryville for our version of the World Wide Festival of Races “Kick the Couch 5K”. It was a beautiful Southern California Fall day clear, cool (54-57f 12-14c), with very little wind. Being a trail runner I designed a trail race for my World Festival of Races “Kick the Couch 5K”. As trail races in the local Southern California mountains go Mentryville only has 330 ft of elevation gain, while not “flat and fast”, the gains are very modest compared to some I have done have elevation gains of 500 ft per mile. Mentryville is a State Park on Governor Schwarzenegger’s hit list to close. The first commercially successful oil well is located in the Park. My run started at the parking for the ghost town of Mentryville and continued up Pico Canyon past Johnson Park to Well number 4 Pico Canyon were I turned around.
I hit the trail hard and my Garmin said I was keeping a good pace on the uphill and a spectacular pace on the downhill. My uphill speed was in the 10:00 minute per mile to about 15:00 minute per mile and my downhill speed was 10:00 minute per mile or faster sometimes even a sub 8:00 minute per mile pace. I had hoped for a sub 30:00 minute finish but that did not happen today maybe if it were a flat course, or on pavement, or a flat course on pavement, maybe more runners would buoyed me along to faster finish, maybe crowds along the side lines would have lifted my spirits and I would have picked-up the pace but, I was on my own with my two dogs who sometimes were pulling in the wrong direction. Not a PR (Personal Record) but a very scenic run on a perfect Southern California Fall day.