Its been another long while since I wrote about my running. My last blog detailed my week of Arlington Peak summits, 7 times in 7 days back in early September. At that time I was thinking the challenge would kickstart my running to start building towards another big effort. Perhaps a 100-mile race.

In the weeks since the Arlington challenge, I’ve been able to run 50-60 mile weeks, usually 7,000 – 11,000 feet of vert. This level of training is about what my “base level” training felt like earlier this year and last year. Ideally, I should be able to build bigger weeks on top of this base, and then return back to it comfortably.

It felt good to get back to this volume of training, but there have been a couple set-back incidents along the way, which have kept me from adding bigger weeks. A couple weeks ago, I did a 20-mile day with my friends Jon and Jake. We went over to the backside of the mountains behind Santa Barbara, out to the other end of the Cold Springs trail. Jake told us all about the backcountry trails of the Los Padres National Forest. He got me very interested in exploring more of these remote trails.

These backcountry trails are not as well maintained as the more frequently-traveled trails on the coast. At some point during this backcountry exploration I stepped through some poison oak. Later that day after the run, my legs started to feel itchy. That night and the next day, most of my legs broke out in a rash and were very inflamed. This was my first experience with poison oak, and it rocked me. Its finally starting to subside, nearly three weeks later.

The week after getting the poison oak, I had to fly back home to Georgia for my younger brother’s wedding. I was glad to get to go back home to celebrate my brother and his fiancé. Also, this time of year is the best season for trail-running in the north Georgia mountains.

Unfortunately, the poison oak was still effecting me quite a bit, which made running hard. And a storm happened to roll in the day I arrived, so there was several days of rainy, not-fun running. Also, the week was quite busy with wedding stuff. I only got to run about 30 miles, mostly flat road. This was a good reminder of how amazing Santa Barbara is for outdoor activities. The weather is mostly pleasant and good trailheads are a quick drive away.

The next week was difficult for running as well, because I had to make up some time off work from my travel. I worked several 10-hour days, which made it hard to fit a run into the day. I planned to have a couple bigger days over the weekend.

On Saturday, I was able to get in a 16-mile run, with about 4,500 feet of vert. I pushed some up-tempo intervals on a few of the climbs and felt good about the effort. Then, on Sunday, I planned to do a 16 mile loop, using another new-to-me backcountry trail.

The Sunday run started off great and went well. I took it easy on the newer trails and did some more up-tempo intervals on the climbs. I felt good. But then, after a beautiful and fun descent down the San Ysidro trail, with incredible views of the Pacific and the winding green canyons, I took a weird step onto a tree root on a flat, non-technical section. I stumbled forward and was unable to catch myself. I hit the ground hard and my left kneecap smashed into a rock. I had so much momentum that I flipped over when I hit the ground.

After my body slid to a halt, I sat up and saw a lot of blood rolling down my leg into my sock. The pain blasted through my leg immediately. I almost got sick to my stomach at the pain. I attempted to stand up, hoping the pain would be a like a rolled ankle, hurt for a few steps and then eventually subside. But that was not the case. Every step was painful. And I knew I still had about 3 miles and two big climbs and descents before I would get back to my car.

I tried to start jogging, but my knee was on fire. I knew it was going to be a tough three miles. Luckily, I was able to hike. The damage was not crippling, but close to it. I proceeded to hobble for the next hour and a half, running out of water and the sun beating on my back. It was a tough one. I started to have flashbacks to Tahoe 200, hobbling down the trail, wincing with pain.

I made it back to the car and got myself home. My knee was in quite a bit of pain. Now, two days later, I’m taking it very easy with running, only running 1 mile to keep my run streak going (maybe that’s a bad idea, but I’ll keep doing it anyway). Even the one mile is quite painful for my knee. I am pretty sure it is just bruised and will start to subside in a few days with no serious injury.

Although I am lucky I am able to walk after that fall, I can’t help but feel frustrated. I was having a great weekend of somewhat challenging running, only to end it with a fall that will take several days to recover. Once again, a set-back of any sort of build in my training.

I am hoping to be able to get a couple more bigger weekends of running to gain some endurance and uphill strength in my legs. There is a cool route using the front-country and backcountry trails near Santa Barbara – a 46 mile loop, with about 13,000 feet of vert. If the next couple weekends go well, I will try for a sub 11 hour, self-supported run of the route in early December. Hopefully there will be some water flowing in the creeks and the daytime temperatures will be a bit nicer at that time.

Another 100-mile effort before the end of the year is definitely not in consideration at this point.

Some (not all) music selections from the past few weeks:

Lindsay Lou album Queen of Time

The Brothers Comatose album Golden Grass

Mt. Joy album Hope We Have Fun

My Morning Jacket album Evil Urges

Greensky Bluegrass album XXV

Zeds Dead album Return to the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness

Jukebox the Ghost album Phantasmagorical Vol. 1

Goose 10/4/2025 Philadelphia, PA. Thanks to taper: Jon Pasternak.