Headin' West

Just a few photos from my long weekend at Lake Tahoe (my third trip there this summer) last month. These are photos from the humbling Tahoe Rim and 23-mile Flume trails. You climb 2,700 feet in 4.5 miles, then you're on a single-track trail 8,000+ feet above sea level.

It's a trail really only for experienced mountain bikers. Which I'm not. But I survived, and even enjoyed myself (when I had the courage to take my eyes off the slender ribbon of a trail and look at the gorgeous views of the lake).

The trail is so narrow that if someone wants to pass you, you have to get off your bike and hug the mountain. Otherwise, you'll tumble to your premature death off a rocky cliff. Then you descend a few thousand feet to the lake on a sandy trail. You can't turn the bike's handlebars lest you fall. You have to slalom down the trail using your body to turn your bike.

And, of course, there's the part where you have to bike through the shallows of another lake. This was actually fun.

I head back to Tahoe (where E. and the pooch are -still) tomorrow. I'll be there until Labor Day. Besides my shorter runs, I aim to do a 16-mile long run this weekend, a 20-mile run next Sunday, and a 5K at a ski resort next Saturday. Should be fun at high altitude.

Pop the Bubbly: This month marks the second anniversary of my start in running. I hit the trails for the first time in August 2004, to train for the Army 10 Miler that October. Little did I know then, as I laced up an old pair of aerobic shoes, that the habit would stick.

MCM?: Who in the RBF is running the Marine Corps Marathon? Let me and Jeanne know. We're planning a get-together on Oct. 27, the Friday before the race. Meet your fellow running bloggers in the flesh: Talk. Laugh. Break bread. So give us a holla.