Sunday Trip: Chapter Run

 The day was nice and young when I woke. With a cup of English breakfast tea and some warm running gear in toe, I headed out to the La Mesa MovinShoes location. Standing in the lot were 3 other sleepy eyed psychos, all reluctant to leave their cars on this, dismal at best, weather day. A quick sprint to the group car started the trip up to Mt. Laguna to hit up the Pacific Coast Trail.  Here's a view from the trip up.

The mercury topped out at 30 deg F, with wind gusts in the 30 mph range. Being up at 6,000 ft. meant we were in the clouds, which were filled with ice and moving as fast as the wind. The north trail juts out along the edge of the mountain which boarders the edge of the desert below.  One on side at times you had sheer 20 ft cliffs and on the other a ~5,000ft drop to the desert floor below. Within minutes I was drenched and with only a storm jacket and short shorts.
Right around 40 minutes into the run I had a feeling that my stomach was going to drop out of my body. I kept my eye out for a nice patch of snow, and ended up dropping a duce on the side of a cliff. Behind me a rather steep embankment with 25 mph gust coming down the hill. At my sides were miles of trail in the directions of Canada and Mexico, and 1ft in front of me was a 6,000ft drop to the desert floor below. Perhaps the greatest "rest stop" I have ever taken.
About 1hr 30 minutes later I was back in the car headed back down to San Diego. I snagged a mocha before crashing on the couch at home waiting one the next part of my day.