New Surroundings, Bad Health Report
I had a feeling the first week of training was going too easily. At the beginning of week two, I got hit with a double whammy: a series of twelve-hour days at work, followed by a cold that drained me for most of the week. As a result, I did not get my first run of the week in until Friday, and that was only because I took a day off from work. By the end of the week, however, I was able to salvage an "OK" week of training and still feel that I am on track.
Two of my workouts during week two were in a town called New Cuyama, population 80, in central California. New Cuyama is located along Highway 166, about 50 miles east of Santa Maria between the coast and Bakersfield. Much of the landscape around New Cuyama must be similar to what the moon must look like, and we even had the chance to drive on an unpaved road which ran right along the San Andreas Fault. I also found out that the exit to get to New Cuyama from Interstate 5 is Frazier Park, which was the site of the campsite for UCLA Unicamp, where I met Jessica.
We were in New Cuyama for the wedding of one of Jessica's cousins, Tony. We had a great time visiting with Jessica's family, including being treated to fantastic barbeque (amazing ribs!) for the rehearsal dinner at a ranch run by Jessica's Aunt Claudia and cousin Jubil. The wedding was beautiful, and both the ceremony and reception were held in a space built to resemble a traditional Mexican zocalo complete with a bullring! Needless to say, we had a really good time.
We were lucky enough to get to stay in the only motel in town, the Cuyama Buckhorn, which was only about 3 ½ miles from the wedding site (rather than the 50 mile drive back to Santa Maria).
The Buckhorn is a lot of fun with comfortable rooms (and only 40 bucks a night!!), a bar, and a restaurant that unfortunately is only open for breakfast and lunch. If you make it there, be sure to try the biscuits & gravy as well as the tuna melt (which may be the subject of another blog of mine one day).
On the afternoon before the wedding, I decided to take a run along the road behind the Buckhorn, which apparently is in use by an oil company. Unfortunately, they did not take good care of the road and it was completely broken up, making for a treacherous run.
After about 2 ¼ miles, the road also ended unexpectedly at a gate monitored by video. Rather than risk it, I turned around and finished my six mile run by running through the neighborhood of New Cuyama. On Sunday morning, I got up and ran 7 miles along the highway, going out and back from the Buckhorn to the wedding site. Other than the traffic whizzing by to get to the coast, it was pretty peaceful and completely flat.
Here are the current totals:
Week Two
Miles: 16
Time: 2:16:28
Totals
Total miles (running): 37.9
Total time (running): 5:23:42
I made it through the week, and would like to think that I got my cold out of the way early in the training. More to come soon!
Two of my workouts during week two were in a town called New Cuyama, population 80, in central California. New Cuyama is located along Highway 166, about 50 miles east of Santa Maria between the coast and Bakersfield. Much of the landscape around New Cuyama must be similar to what the moon must look like, and we even had the chance to drive on an unpaved road which ran right along the San Andreas Fault. I also found out that the exit to get to New Cuyama from Interstate 5 is Frazier Park, which was the site of the campsite for UCLA Unicamp, where I met Jessica.
We were in New Cuyama for the wedding of one of Jessica's cousins, Tony. We had a great time visiting with Jessica's family, including being treated to fantastic barbeque (amazing ribs!) for the rehearsal dinner at a ranch run by Jessica's Aunt Claudia and cousin Jubil. The wedding was beautiful, and both the ceremony and reception were held in a space built to resemble a traditional Mexican zocalo complete with a bullring! Needless to say, we had a really good time.
We were lucky enough to get to stay in the only motel in town, the Cuyama Buckhorn, which was only about 3 ½ miles from the wedding site (rather than the 50 mile drive back to Santa Maria).

The Buckhorn is a lot of fun with comfortable rooms (and only 40 bucks a night!!), a bar, and a restaurant that unfortunately is only open for breakfast and lunch. If you make it there, be sure to try the biscuits & gravy as well as the tuna melt (which may be the subject of another blog of mine one day).
On the afternoon before the wedding, I decided to take a run along the road behind the Buckhorn, which apparently is in use by an oil company. Unfortunately, they did not take good care of the road and it was completely broken up, making for a treacherous run.

After about 2 ¼ miles, the road also ended unexpectedly at a gate monitored by video. Rather than risk it, I turned around and finished my six mile run by running through the neighborhood of New Cuyama. On Sunday morning, I got up and ran 7 miles along the highway, going out and back from the Buckhorn to the wedding site. Other than the traffic whizzing by to get to the coast, it was pretty peaceful and completely flat.
Here are the current totals:
Week Two
Miles: 16
Time: 2:16:28
Totals
Total miles (running): 37.9
Total time (running): 5:23:42
I made it through the week, and would like to think that I got my cold out of the way early in the training. More to come soon!