Nina, Rob, and I set off to Rancho San Antonio to do the PG&E Trail: about 8.5 miles with a 1000+ foot rise overall. Since it was Daylight Standard Time, it was nice and light out at 7 when we got there.
We headed up. Pretty steep. On the second major hill I said, “Are you guys even breathing hard?” They weren’t. We agreed we would all meet up at Vista Point, the halfway point in the trail, after which we’d start heading down the hill.
Puff. Puff. Puff.
I managed to keep running for a while…but not the whole way. Eventually I stopped and started hiking up. At one point I saw Nina and Rob off in the distance — at one point I was only 20, 30 meters behind them. But then they started running up the hill again and I just puffed along.
We met up at Vista Point, and Nina and Rob seemed to be surprised by my appearance. My appearance so close behind them, not my appearance-close-to-death. We started down the hill and Rob began explaining to Nina that I am fervently, hopelessly competitive.
Which was roughly when I felt a sharp sting on my scalp. That grew into a sharp, terrible pain. I doubled over and yelled, “Is there something in my hair?”
Indeed, there was. A yellow jacket had just stung me on the back of my head. I don’t know what happened to the yellow jacket. Nina pulled out the stinger. (She said, “This is going to hurt.” I said, “Go ahead. Can’t hurt any worse.” And it didn’t.)
We had to walk all the way back to the car. Jostling my head hurt too much.
Can I just say that getting stung on the scalp is one of the more surprising things that’s ever happened to me?
I was bummed that we had to walk half the way, but the downhill portion of the PG&E is gorgeous: looks out over Santa Clara Valley to the Bay. Really is a pretty area we live in. And the weather was absolutely perfect: about 70 at the highest (which, if you are climbing 1000+ feet, is just what you want).
At Rob’s house Nina got out a sting kit and Rob gave me an Advil and some coffee, so I was good to go. The sting still hurts, but apparently I’m not allergic to yellowjacket bites (this would be my second one in the past four months). I am worried about taking a shower and washing my hair though. Oooch.
I run the PG&E every Saturday morning, so I know how hard you have to work to summit moving faster than a crawl! Great job, sorry to hear the indigenous lifeforms almost did you in though.
Recently, have been using a Garmin Forerunner 301 GPS to track speed (slow!) and altitude, and it is a demanding 2400 ft. of climbing from the parking lot, to the summit, and back down. Remember, nasty little climb 3/4 of the way home.
Keep up the great work…