Well, the boys survived the first full day in CS and the USAT Race Director’s Certification Conference. After a fitful night in way to comfortable beds, day broke on the second day.
The guys decided to skip a morning run and take it easy, with plans to run later in the afternoon. Breakfast was oatmeal with fruit and egg whites for T3 and eggs and trout for Mav. (finding palatable food that is runner friendly has been so difficult for the brothers) Then it was off to the conference for the morning sessions.
Lunch break saw the boys grabbing apples and trailmix and getting the car to go exploring.
They drove up into the foothills looking for trailheads they could run from later. They didn’t find what they were looking for, but did get some spectacular views of CS from above.
After lunch the conference started to wrap up, which included a class picture:
Mav managed to get in the only position he could not be seen in. So we just have to TRUST that he was actually there. It was an interesting group with a broad spectrum of event types and amount of experience represented.
One great thing was guys got the opportunity to interface with USAT personnel and race directors from other areas.
When class let out the boys headed up the hill for a run with the David Christen who is the Membership Services Operations Manager for USAT. Dave was kind enough to take the guys up Gold Camp Road to a great trailhead and spend an hour and a half running with them.
The trail climbed steeply and the guys saw evidence of the mountain lions and other wildlife the area is famous for. Mav saw a mule deer and after the run the crew saw a fox and a lynx. The view from the trail was breathtaking:
The altitude was a factor (they got up to about 9500ft), but running along in the dark looking out over the lights in CS was a treat the guys would have missed for anything. They send their heartfelt thanks to Dave!