Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

I am in love! The new focus of my desire involves a lot of dirt, a few rocks, steep climbs, and some water crossings. The name of my new amour? Chantry Flats! Now, if that isn’t a name to swoon over, I don’t know what is. I might just have to write a good ol’ Texas Country song to my new love.

This past Sunday, I got a text from one of the local trailrunners, Max, that a few people were going to run Chantry Flats. I recalled from earlier texts that this trail run involved some pretty steep climbs. No thanks, I texted back. But Max was persuasive. He answered every one of my hedging texts with a reasurrance – we will run slow, we can walk the steep parts, etc., etc. – to the point where I really couldn’t say “no” without looking like a total wimp. The reality was, I didn’t want to go. I have a 100 miler next weekend. I need to taper. But, the biggest reason I didn’t want to go: I was scared. You know I have a love/hate relationship with trails. They are so cool, but they’re hard. And I fall down. Alot. Trails intimidate me.

But since moving to California, I have been slowly wooed to the dark side. The trails here are pretty, and for the most part, soft. So, when I do fall down, I don’t usually cause permanent injury. There are no boulders, or cacti, or sand, or snakes. No, in California, there are trees, and flowers, and rivers, oh my!

Now, I know what you are thinking – there are still scary things on the trails in California, like bears and mountain lions. And you are right. But, when I am so distracted by the beauty of the trails, and more importantly, am busy running the trails (which is very hard to do on the trails in Texas), I forget all about the things that might eat me and just have fun.

So, Sunday morning, despite the rain and my nagging fear, I headed off to Chantry Flats. I was more scared than excited, hoping Max would keep his word and we would run slow. When I arrived at the meeting spot at the end of a very pretty neighborhood street, I almost turned around and went home. It was a mountain. A big mountain. That’s the other thing with California trails – they seduce you in by making you think you are going to run in some nice little neighborhood park, and then WHAM! before you know it, you are at 4000 feet with no cell coverage and signs warning you about 3000 feet sheer drops and bears. Helllllllooooooo! At least in Texas you have to drive out of civilization before you hit a trail – you KNOW what you are getting yourself into.

Max

But, after we were at the trail head, there was no backing out. I had to put on a brave face and run. And thank goodness I did! It was one of the most amazing runs I have ever done. The entire “loop” (I’m putting it in quotes because I have no idea which direction we were going and it sure didn’t feel like a loop to me) was about 9 miles. I think the total climb was about 3000 feet. Because of the rain, all the streams were very high, so after a few vain attempts to stay dry, we said “forget it”, and just forded across.

There were parts of the run, where I have to admit, I was pretty scared. It was very wet and slick, and I had to really scramble to get over certain passes without losing my nerve. The drops were sheer, and the mountain was shrouded in fog, so you could fall before realizing you had misstepped. I only had one serious slip, but it was enough to put the fear in me!

When it was all said and done, I was soaked and jubillant! I loved the run! Max was super patient with me, making sure I didn’t feel bad about being scared. I promised him next time I would “man up” and run with more confidence. In fact, I can’t wait to get back from my 100 so that I can head up to Chantry Flats again. I am ready to face my fears, and my love, again!

Happy Running!

Tagged as: Running, Trail Running, Trails, Training