Pasadena Tiger Run and Joshua Tree Trad Climbing

I will do a Thanksgiving post once I get the pictures. It was super super fun to go home but I will get to that later.

For now I am going to post about last weekend's trip to Joshua Tree. And running. And resting. Saturday morning, I knew I had skipped running on Friday so I decided to run the South Pasadena Tiger Run. There was a 5k and 10k option. Since I have done essentially zero speedwork, I thought the 10k was a slightly better option...but only slightly. Soooo I got up early, ran the 10k and then took off to Josh's house so we could leave for Joshua Tree. Since Josh wanted to go climbing ASAP, I skipped the award's ceremony. Plus, I ran 44-something which is not exactly a good time so I didn't think I'd get an award anyway. In the end though I won my age group so I have to find time to go pick up my award. Its not really about the awards though, but I do appreciate the effort the race directors put into them! The course was flat for the first 5k then a lot hillier than I expected.

As soon as I got to Josh's house we took off for Joshua Tree. The ocean was not cooperating surf-wise so I kind of gave up. Plus, when I went home for Thanksgiving Derek and I surfed the kinds of waves I used to surf and now I remember what waves should be like. I'd rather keep the memories than surf small, blown out waves. Anyway, Joshua Tree route climbing was our destination.

By the time we started climbing, I was already exhausted and it was around 12:30. Our only goal to start with was to climb Leap Year Flake since we hadn't been trad climbing or even sport climbing in a long time (its bouldering season). At first, Josh had some issues getting used to trad climbing again. Eventually he got sick of trying to trad climb and started actually trad climbing, at which point he sent the route super fast with not enough gear.

By the time I followed, the combination of cold weather and running a race (makes it harder for my body to stay warm even though I ate a ton of food to try to recover) meant I was freezing cold. Usually that is okay for climbing but this time my hands were so frozen they were dark purple and not pulling on the rock. I couldn't even feel if I was pulling on a hold or not, plus my legs were exhausted from the race. Apparently for most people this is obvious before they try to run a race and then climb on the same day but I didn't think of that. I made it up the route but it was much much harder than last time I did it. Josh and I finally met up at the belay where he quickly rappelled since he was starting to get cold too.

I cleaned the route, rapped down, and made it clear I had little interest in more route climbing. The race was just too much to do before climbing, on top of the rest of the insanity of my life. Instead we switched to a little bouldering as the sun set.

Due to the tired and coldness, we only did a quick bouldering session and didn't really get into it.

This time, we bought a year's pass to Joshua Tree. Its close enough to LA that we can easily drive there for a day trip, unlike Bishop. Last year we avoided it because it costs $15 for a day pass so this year we want more freedom to go ($30 for a year). Plus, Joshua Tree is beautiful:

By the time we got back to the car it was dark, but we decided to cook dinner in the parking lot instead of go out to eat (a good time to test Josh's "new" whisperlite stove). It was freezing cold (literally) but it was worth it. The night sky was awesomely clear so we could see the milky way all the starts we miss in LA. I love being connected to the sky like that...at Paranal the sky is so bright at night and you are so far above the rest of the earth that the sky seems closer than the earth. Joshua Tree's bright sky reminded me a little bit of the Atacama. While we were cooking dinner, the desert mice showed up to join us and had no fear of running right up to us. It was a beautiful night and I'm very glad we chose to cook instead of find a restaurant in town.

Staying awake during the car ride back to the city was almost impossible by this point. After Josh drove to his house I immediately when to mine so I could go to bed...sleep is a good thing! Sunday ended up being an extremely necessary rest day. I am just tired to surfing small waves so that wasn't much of an option, my legs weren't up to a run, so some quick climbing gym time was all I managed to fit in. Otherwise Josh and I hung out and relaxed before I went to church. I suppose we all have to do laundry and stop moving once in awhile...