Climbs and Crossings

This is not so much a race report as it is a congratulations to some people I love for finishing the 5k run. There's these ones: The Posse family of determination and accomplishment! And she completed her very first 5k, beating more than 50% of the women's field.  This run is in conjunction with the Asparagus Festival. A three day celebration of asparagus. I'm way into festivals because I grew up kind of pretty much in charge of my local hometown popcorn festival. And when I say in charge, I mean my mom was in charge. But yeah, I love a good festival! So along with festivals, I'm also way into traditions. So Staci ( My Posse ) and I have a tradition where we have a good time at the festival and have an aspara-mary.  The first photo is here.  BFF 2006 WHOA GIRLS! 2007. Somebody had to work, 2008. Posse back in action 2009. The dark year, 2010.  2011? A few things different, right? : Aspara-Marys replaced with Tomato/Clamato/Beer with an aspar...

The course was hard. Really hard. Here's how hard it was: The 35 and 50k started at 8:30, the 10k at 9:00, and the 21k...not until 10:30, which meant not having to wake up at the crack of dawn to drive to Berkeley. After getting a little lost in the Berkeley hills, we arrived at Lake Anza in Tilden Park with about an hour until the start. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. At 10:30 about 80 or 90 of us gathered between some orange cones to listen to instructions about blue ribbons and striped ribbons and then we were off. Within 20 seconds we hit the mud. Big mud. And not only mud but the first climb along with mud. So one step sinks your foot down six inches and slides you another foot or so in a random direction. And a rushing river coming downhill. It made the start of the race especially interesting. 5 minutes in and my shoes weighed 50 lbs each. Pretty sure I was grinning through it all. Once the trail dried out, the climb continued. I stayed steady and started to relax and enjo...