Mini Duathlon Through Sycamore Canyon

This past Saturday morning I decided to try something I always wanted to do. Drive to the beach, leave the car, run home via Sycamore Canyon, then ride my bike back to the car with my son. What a fun way of "mixing it up" a bit by doing something new.

My destination Saturday morning was PCH at Sycamore Cove State Beach in Malibu. While a straight shot down Sycamore Canyon Road from Newbury Park to the beach is 8 to 9 miles depending on where you start, getting there via Potrero Road west to Hueneme Road and south on Las Posas to PCH is about 18 miles.

Driving west on Potrero Road while deftly taking picture before navigating twisty, hilly turns.

I reached the ocean around 6:45 a.m. and soon noticed there were "no parking" signs lining up almost every inch of PCH within range of the Sycamore Canyon trailhead. Thoroughly annoying. I KNOW it wasn't this way all the time. Perhaps the state is so broke they're putting up the signs to force us to pay $12 to park in a lot.

Malibu in the morning does not suck

I thought of parking in the state park lot but it didn't open until 8 a.m. So I drove down PCH just south the trailhead and discovered a handful of spots available and nabbed one. Whew!

Most of Sycamore Canyon from the beach is slight to gradual uphill, up until the very top where there's an 800 foot ascent over 3/4 mile. The bottom half of the course is mostly dirt trail, then switches to pavement  More on this course HERE.

I love it back in Sycamore Canyon. It is rarely crowded, beautiful, peaceful scenery, you can go miles without seeing anyone, in the early morning you'll come across deer and other wildlife and....there are plenty of, ahem, porta-johns along the course. That's a nice feature to have along any course.

So 72 minutes later I was home and felt great. A bit grungy though, so I hopped in the shower and within 15 minutes was out the door with my son.

The ride down Sycamore Canyon doesn't require too much effort. Other than some initial, brief uphills into the Canyon a handful of dirt stream crossings, it is a fun, downhill ride. Make sure your brakes work!

We enjoyed the beach a bit afterwards then drove over the Oxnard via PCH to grab lunch and enjoy the rest of the day.

Sycamore Canyon is beautiful but do watch out for poison oak if you veer off the main road/trail.

Plugging Away in Hidden Valley

Not a lot of excitement to report running-wise these days. Just plugging away, slowly ramping up mileage for a TBD fall marathon at this point. Nothing too serious, though I did run The Oaks Mile 5K on May 5th in a (for me) pedestrian 19:55. Hoping something "clicks" in this ancient body of mine one of these days. I also had a decent 90 minute run into Sycamore Canyon last Sunday; my longest run, roughly 12 miles, in about 4 months (pre-eye surgery).

This morning I got out later than I wanted and chose to run into Hidden Valley from Newbury Park. Running through Hidden Valley can be one of the most peaceful, rewarding runs one can do in the Conejo Valley area. Quiet, serene farmland views, mostly flat (though there are sharp hills on both the Newbury Park and Westlake Village sides of the run).

The only negatives of running through Hidden Valley are that there are no restroom stops, which makes the run dicey if you feel you may have a need for a pit stop, and you may encounter periodic speeding cars.  You'll also encounter cyclists on most any day through Hidden Valley...remind me the final "con" - that there are no bike lanes/sidewalks back there, so you absolutely must run facing traffic back here to stay safe and sane.

See you out there...!

Boston Marathon 2012 Was Sweltering; Top Local Finishers

Here is the card I got back in the mail, indicating my lack of appearance at the race. My friend picked up my shirt in Boston for me. At least I have even splits in this race.It was actually a blessing that I didn't run the Boston Marathon last month as I don't like running in the heat and it was one gnarly, hot and humid day out there. According to race organizers, it was 79 degrees at the start of the men's race and 85 degrees at the finish.

One local runner who has run Boston a dozen or so times said it was 87 degrees at the finish and he was starting to see double. He finished about 33 minutes slower than last year's time, though he was equally fit. Another friend of mine who works at Future Track Running Center in Agoura Hills dropped out of the race; having finished in 3:22 last year, he saw little point in staying on the course for 4+ hours in overheated misery! The winner of the men's race finished in 2:12:40 this year, nearly 10 minutes slower than last year's winning time.

Here are some of the top local runners who did complete the whole course. Congratulations to all!

• Blue Benadum, 32, Malibu: 2:42:08 (100th overall!)
• Jessica Douglas, 30, Santa Barbara: 3:12:41 (79th female overall)
• Pete Feldman, 47, Santa Barbara: 3:16:58
• Joy Zemella, 36, Santa Barbara: 3:19:37 (153rd female overall)
• Craig Prater, 47, Santa Barbara: 3:20:50
• Simon Martin, 45, Newbury Park: 3:26:40 (1st Ventura County finisher)
• Steven Kulchin, 57, Santa Barbara: 3:34:01 (61st in age group)
• Leanne Mohr, 26, Camarillo: 3:34:25 (2nd Ventura County finisher)
• Joslynn Spreadbury, 35, Santa Barbara: 3:37:30
• Fred Alvarez, 49, Ojai: 3:37:35
• Rebecca Getman, 23, Calabasas: 3:38:22
• Barry Wallman, 60, Camarillo: 3:38:30 (19th in age group)
• Andrew Whittington, 45, Thousand Oaks: 3:38:39
• Jason Griffith, 40, Thousand Oaks: 3:40:03
• Sharon Pick, 45, Thousand Oaks: 3:41:03 (56th in age group)
• Brianna Alban, 23, Thousand Oaks: 3:41:09
• Erik Lange, 44, Ventura: 3:41:57
• Scott Hambly, 45, Thousand Oaks: 3:42:24
• Dana Janowicz, 36, Camarillo: 3:42:31
• Larissa White, 25, Santa Barbara: 3:42:49

Visit www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon for more information.