So Cal Days 1 - 3

Happy New Year!  We've crammed quite a bit in these past five days- from sitting in our car parked on the 405 with the engine turned off (Welcome to LA!), Rich reuniting with all five of his brothers for the first time in over two decades, my huffing and puffing my way through a torturous 26-mile training run...and my getting getting mauled by and nearly disemboweled by an ostrich!  So...ahem.  Nothing out of the ordinary, really.

A quick summary and pictures of our trip so far...

Getting ready to jet...some of us dressed in style, some of us...not.

Days 1 & 2
After landing in LA on Tuesday, we spent the night at a hotel in LA before taking off early in the morning for Tehachapi...which I think translated into English means- "You know where BFE is?  We're a lot further than that." We headed up there because Rich's stepmother Kay owns a cabin up there, and it was her 70th birthday. We had hoped to be able to spend three nights parked next to the cabin in her RV, but the heater crapped out on the first night and left us wimpy Hawaiians shivering our buns off in the 19 degree weather.  So instead, we checked into a beautiful hotel right near a train depot/museum that made one little boy very, very happy.

Kay with her six boys at the party...reunited and it feels so good.

Ryan with two of his sweet cousins Riley & Macey

Day 3

Our third day in CA I woke up at 5am to run my second 26-miler.  I can't say I was excited about having to wake up so early and run in the freezing cold, but I do admit I was looking forward to running without sweat dripping from every pore. For years I have told myself (& others) that my lack of speed is mainly due to my having to run in such high humidity. So I assumed I would probably run at my true, faster speed that day in the much cooler weather.

Fact: Jolene is NOT faster in cooler weather.  Jolene runs hunched over, shivering, gasping for breath with short choppy steps in colder weather...with fingers so frozen that in order to take on/off on her running gloves, she has to use her teeth like a savage beast. 

Brief side note here on my final long run of the season- That run totally depressed me.  The first hour I ran stiff and scared...I was freezing and couldn't see more than a dimly lit foot in front of me (mini LED flashlights don't quite cut it in pitch black darkness). So I awkwardly dodged gopher holes and tumbleweed remnants, and even accidentally 'ice skated' on some frost-covered sidewalk. Hours later, even after downing a few double shots of caffeine I still felt stiff and awkward...at no point did I ever feel confident or strong.  [Later, Rich & Joey would point out that my running at a 4,000 foot elevation probably had something to do it with...but pshaw.  Whatever.  I felt like such a loser and it made me totally not want to run the ultra anymore.]  If in fact they had a point, great.  But I'm officially back to being freaked out about it.  

After my long run, I quickly showered so we could head over to the local ostrich farm with some family.  I didn't have any expectations, really- so I was very, very pleasantly surprised by the informative tour.  Consider me brainwashed- ostriches are fascinating creatures! But make no mistake- lurking beneath their goofy-looking innocence lies a vicious beast. In the 25-year history of the farm, we learned that not a single ostrich has ever been harmed by a mountain lion, bear or coyote...as they have razor-sharp toes that can swiftly disembowel predators much larger than them. 

So happy, so naive...before the grisly, bloody attack.

I can only assume that I am one of the few known creatures on Earth to have survived a savage ostrich attack.  I know that I am truly lucky to be alive and pecking out this entire post on my laptop with my nose (as all my digits were practically ripped from my arm).  So without further ado...I present a video taken by Rich (originally intended to document our sweet son feeding them), entitled- When ostriches attack.   

Warning: Rated R for graphic violence.

Now that you've seen the gore and can clearly see that I have not in any way been exaggerating the severity of the attack, I think you're ready to handle the photographic evidence (which has already been submitted to my attorney as Plaintiff's Exhibit A):

Sometimes I still wake up at night screaming.

So as I'd mentioned before- even though hours earlier I'd been running and wanting to quit the ultra...clearly I cannot.  I must run for myself and all the other ostrich victims of the world.  They need me.  I must not let the ostrich win.