walnut creek

The one thing I was the most excited about on this trip was the stop in Walnut Creek to see my sister and her family! It has been 4 1/2 or 5 years since we saw each other last, so there was a lot to catch up on…like her meeting my 2 year old daughter for the first time!

Oh, and running with her for the first time ever!!! It’s safe to say that if my sister hadn’t started running there is no way I would have ever considered lacing up a pair of running shoes 3’ish years ago. And, I would not be one 1/2 marathon away from my Half Fanatic goal this year.

For all the advice and inspiration she has provided the one thing we have never been able to do was run together.

She started out mostly a road runner, but over time has now become an Ultra Trail Runner who spends a ton of time running on and around Mt. Diablo. She mapped out an awesome route for us that would show me all her favorite spots and give her a chance to check out a new trail as well. I knew I was probably in over my head…being a road runner does not a trail runner make!!! Plus, it was really, really hot and oh there was only 4,300 feet of elevation to run down. But, even though I was a little concerned I was not about to miss this opportunity to spend time with my sister on her favorite trails!

To say I ran with her is not exactly accurate. I would estimate that out of the 7 miles we covered on the mountain I only ran maybe a total of 2 of them. After the first few miles of downhill my legs were already shot and they were shaking so bad I could hardly walk let alone run.

Sorry for the low image quality. These are all my sisters pics and for some reason transferring from her google+ to mine is not working well.

Started out all smiles!

Ended up not so many smiles.

Proof I did run a little.

That view!!! Amazing!

I finally gave up trying to run the downhill’s because my legs hurt so bad and were giving out on me, and my toes were jammed into the front of my shoes. Knowing that we still had 5ish miles of downhill I had to develop a new trail technique…

When all else fails turn around and walk backwards down the hill!

It’s hard to tell but that was a really steep hill!

I may be the first trail runner ever to go down a hill backwards, but it worked. It took the pressure off my quads and kept my toes from hitting the front of my shoes. I’m sure my sister was cracking up and just wishing I would hurry up already. 😉 She spent a lot of time waiting at the bottom of hills for me.

Even though I had a hard time and frankly struggled during parts of it I had so much fun and would totally do it again just to have the time with her! It was awesome to see her in her element and see how strong a trail runner she is. She flew down those hills like there were nothing and was whooping it up having fun the entire time. I was already a proud older sister, but now I’m in awe of her, and have a first hand appreciation of the Mt. she loves so much.

It was also pretty awesome to see our kids playing together and how much fun Sky had with them. While the two of us were running the mountain the guys and kids were exploring some trails and caves in the flat land. Sky was in her element running after the big kids.

Our little explorer!

Finally 4 days later my legs have stopped feeling worse each day. I was able to do a 2 mile flat hike today and while they still hurt at least I was able to get through it!