Chris and I headed over to breakfast while Liza hit the hotel pool for a little aqua jogging. The Driftwood Café is one of my favorite places to eat, and their breakfast (my favorite meal anyway) is fantastic. After breakfast, we headed to the pool to heckle Liza a bit, but she was nowhere to be found. It turns out the pool was too shallow for her to jog in, but she managed to find a local recreation center where she could jog. Chris decided to sit out the day’s run to rest his back, so I dropped Liza off at the Rec and headed to Spooner Lake, the start of my next race, the Tahoe Rim Trail 100. I wasn’t sure where the race began, so I just hit any trail I could find. As it turns out, I ended up running the first 5 miles and last 2 of each loop of the race course (the race comprised of 2x 50 mile loops). I only turned around because the snow became much too deep (for a guy who lives in Texas) to run in. As I was making the 2 mile loop around Spooner Lake, I noticed something swimming in the middle of the lake. Since I had already seen some ducks on the lake, I assumed that is what was in the middle of the lake. Upon further inspection, I saw that it wasn’t a duck, but instead a black bear swimming for shore! I was excited to see it, especially since I was running the other way. As soon as I got to the car I called Liza to tell her about the bear and see if she needed a ride home from the rec center. As I was talking to her, I turned around to see another bear less than 20 feet away. I quickly hopped in my car and took several pictures. I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and tell everyone what I had seen.
After a quick shower, Liza, Chris, and myself piled into my car for the 2 hours drive to Fleet Feet in Sacramento, where Liza was going to be on a panel of elite runners, joining the likes of Geoff Roes, Killian Jornet, and moderator Tim Twietmeyer. Liza is so humble that one wouldn’t know she is an elite runner, one of the best female ultra distance runners in the U.S. She graciously allowed Chris and myself to tag along to the event, where we joined 100 other people eager to hear what these star runners had to say. In case anyone was wondering, there are apparently multiple Fleet Feet locations in the greater Sacramento area. Unfortunately for us, we had showed up at the wrong one. Liza quickly realized our error and furiously searched for directions to the OTHER location. We arrived right on time and proceeded to snack on some finger foods (which Chris did not approve of). Liza, Geoff, and Killian fielded questions from Tim and people in the audience, then stuck around for another hour signing autographs. We had a great time, and Liza was awesome! After the event, we grabbed some real food and headed back over the mountain to Tahoe. We needed to get a few hours sleep, as Chris and I planned to bag a long run the next morning that would take the bulk of our day.
Day 15 (Lake Tahoe)
Chris and I dropped Liza off at the rec center again (apparently she made friends with a water aerobics class) and then headed to D.L. Bliss State Park. While Chris and I were visiting the Wildlife Center the previous day, a ranger had recommended this park (and the Rubicon Trail) as a good place for us to log some big miles. I had planned on putting in 30+ miles, while Chris wanted to log 20-25.
We parked (first ones there) and immediately started to climb up the forested trail. After about a mile, we were treated to beautiful views of the crystal blue waters of Lake Tahoe, with snow-covered mountains serving as a backdrop. Almost instantly we started a gradual descent down to the lake itself, running the next several miles with Lake Tahoe beside us. We ran through the visitor center, across the beach (literally) and up to the point at Emerald Bay. The views along the way exceeded my expectations, and we had our fair share of elevation change as well. Though not really “mountainous”, this trail was certainly not flat. We hit the point, turned around, and bombed back down to the visitor center, where we re-filled our water bottles and packs. Instead of heading back to the car, we turned left and climbed the steep ascent that led to the trailhead for Upper Eagle Falls, where we were met by a throng of people hoping to catch a close up glimpse of the falls. Since you could park a car at the trailhead (and not have to hike/climb the steep trail up), this was a very popular spot. The trail turned from nice, wooded singletrack, to rocky exposed nastiness. The falls themselves were great, and Eagle Lake was better than the falls. Chris and I tried to find another lake, but we soon had to turn around when we lost the trail in all the snow. Back down to the shores of Lake Tahoe, rolling hills, climb up, and bomb down to the car. This gave us 21 miles, and Chris decided to use caution with his hip and call it a day. I quickly re-fueled and headed back out before I had time to change my mind. My plan was to do the full out and back, giving me 34 for the day. As I neared the climb up to the Upper Eagle Falls Trailhead, the temptation was just too great. I ended up making 2 round trips up and back, adding both extra mileage and extra elevation change. I ran to the point at Emerald Bay, turned around, and headed back towards the car. I think I did my best running on this stretch, as I had my iPod on and the tunes carried me home. MY legs felt good, the weather was perfect, and I had logged over 37 miles on the day. Overall, I was very pleased. One thing Chris remarked during the run was that I should add a new stat to my blog totals – girls in bikini tops. Unlike the trails I ran on in Colorado, the trails near Lake Tahoe were more accessible, lower in elevation, and provided access to a warm beach. Thus, the crowd tended to be on the younger (college age) side. Chris and I noticed quite a few girls in bikini tops on the trail (and none of them was Liza!).
We drove back to the hotel, showered, and headed next door with Liza for some pizza and beer (root beer for Chris). Sleep came easily that night (especially since Chris was sleeping on the floor to help his back), and I went to bed dreaming of the great day we had on the trails.
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