A beautiful day for a 16 mile run

This morning's temperature started off in the late thirties. It was cold. As the sun slowly made it's way high into the sky the morning quickly warmed up to 60 degrees by noon. Needless to say it was perfect running weather; perfect for 16 miles. I did not run today though, I manned a water stop with my previous mentor and running buddy Victoria, there she is on the left, and with Honoree Jack and my husband. It was fun!
The team ran along the Coyote Creek trail in south San Jose. It's a beautiful trail with a lot of wildlife and greenery. Something that I and a lot of last season's participants did not appreciate last summer.
Last summer I ran this route in nearly 100 degree heat! I'm not exaggerating here, it really was that hot and we ran 18 miles! It was awful. It was the worse run I had ever ran. Period. Well, it was the worst run that season. It was hot, the water stops seemed to be too far apart, the trails were full of TNT walkers and runners, there was hardly any shade, it was very dry and my running partner left me in the dust. I didn't mind though. I was going to walk and that was that. The only relief I received was when Coach Kris came riding along her bike and spritzed me with water. When my arms stopped sweating, yes I stopped sweating, I literally walked the last 5 miles. And I'm not counting all the walking I did before that. It was bad. One young lady nearly fainted from the heat and was told she had to stop. Thankfully we didn't have any problems today.
The half marathoner are now in taper mode. What is taper you ask? Well, a runner trains for a long endurance run they slowly ramp up the mileage according to their event. A person running a half marathon will run 10 to 12 miles while a person running a marathon will run 20 miles, the furthest distance during training. Once they have reached that goal three weeks prior to their event the runner goes into taper. The runner dramatically cuts the mileage for the remainder of the training season. So the TNTers that are preparing for a half marathon are now in taper! Yay!
As for the TNTers training for the Napa Marathon, they still need to run 18 miles and another 20 miles. These runs will be in Natural Bridges Santa Cruz and in Monterey! These are two gorgeous run and I'm so envious of the runners! Ah, I wish them all well and an injury free runs.
Stay warm and well hydrated out there in them trails!