topanga canyon turkey trot

htppnh and i hooked up this morning in woodland hills at zero dark thirty to head into topanga canyon for the race.  as i sat in the parking lot waiting for her to show up, the sky slowly began to grow light and a HUGE smoke plume began to come into view.  with the announcement of more santa ana winds, i guess it wasn't a surprise to see another wildfire billowing ash into the sky.  this one, though was only a couple ridges over from where our race was.  the race would go on, as the wind was blowing the fire into the ocean via malibu canyon.

it was a brisk 37 degrees at the start, so after picking up our packets, we tried to stay out of the wind waiting for our race to start.  who'd think that wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt to a race during santa ana conditions in so. california would be a near freezing proposition?

anyway, the race went off a little bit late, on the plus side, the sun came over the ridge while we waited and kept us warm. 

the course was a great, wide fire break for the first four miles, with the first three for the most part uphill.  there were some pretty steep sections of the trail, but the climb up to the ridgeline we'd run along resulted in some AMAZING views.  the skies were very clear with the winds from the day before.  to the north, the san gabriel mountains were dominating the skyline and to the south, catalina island. 

at about mile four, though, we dropped down off of the fire road and onto a great stretch of singletrack that would finish off the race.  htppnh had never been on singletrack before, so she had a blast learning to navigate that type of running.  just after the six mile mark, we came up out of the canyon and caught sight of the finishing area.  htppnh picked up the pace a bit and we finished strong.

it was a great day for a race, coupled with great company and a great opportunity to introduce a friend to the joy of trail running.  here's to many more!