Did you know there are glaciers in California? Real glaciers…IN California. I didn’t. And it didn’t really dawn on me the significance of it until today as I packed to go find one. I’m not going to Alaska or Antarctica…I’m going to the Sierras, just a few hours away. Makes me wonder what other surprises our lovely state has hidden in plain sight! or at least a few miles off trail….THEN in plain sight!
One of the things I love about running are all the sights we see along the way. Sights that on a normal day we might miss. The roads we drive on, zipping along in our cars, without a second thought to the way the sunlight peeks through the oak trees in the morning or how the trees we’ve grown accustomed to have started to bear fruit. (Have you seen the peach tree growing in Templeton Park???) The views we see from running shoes are so unique and offer a perspective that’s hard to find anywhere else.
If you’ve run with me, you’ve probably seen me whip out my phone (at usually the most inopportune times) to take a picture. Most of my shots are blurry, crooked or obscured by a thumb or finger, and I actually have quite a few of the inside of my pocket, but some of them come together, even if it’s impossible to capture the feeling in that moment. There is a distinctness to each run. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes not, but typically unexpected and unanticipated. An eagle up close on the ranch, a cat that ran up to Nicole and I like he knew us, the wood bridge that spanned a little creek on our run this morning. Such fun little nuances that make this area so special!
This month, we’ll head down to Avila Beach on August 21st to run on the Bob Jones Trail. Not only is this a great place to run, but the last half of the trail is part of the City to the Sea Half Marathon Course. It’ll also give us a chance to run the biggest hill of the race. Yay!! Hills!!! (I joke, I joke……kinda!) The rest of the month is status quo with morning runs on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 7am from Templeton Park, and Thursdays on the Templeton High School track at 6pm. On Thursday, August 19th, we’ll hold a field test to determine estimated VO2 max and associated heart rates to help dial in individual training paces. Feel free to join us any of these days! Check out Strava for course maps and to RSVP!
There are a few of us headed up to Toro Park in Salinas for the Spartan Trail Race on August 22nd as well as down to the La Cuesta Ranch in San Luis Obispo next month for a trail run with All We Do Is Run. Hope to see some of you there!
Happy Running!
Rosalie Smith
rosaliesmith@templetonrunclub.com
Templeton Run Club
PO Box 522
Templeton, Ca. 93465