The Getaway

Earlier this year, a new and special person in my life suggested a winter getaway, which was thrilling, and even more so when he suggested a trail running and yoga retreat in California in January. It sounded perfect, and we leapt at the opportunity. When we realized it was in Malibu, it seemed less driveable from Portland than we'd hoped, but we decided to go all-in and road trip down. Memories were made!

The retreat was run by two excellent orgs in Portland - the Wy'east Wolfpack (an organization of excellent athletes who put on numerous events and educational opportunities for trail runners and outdoorsy athletes in the area) and Flex & Flow, an extremely fun and supportive local yoga studio. They started a Facebook group for the event and it was fun seeing who was going to attend and what the schedule would look like. Once the schedule was posted, it showed daily runs of various choose-your-adventure lengths and at least one daily yoga class, along with camping, healthy foods, and both planned activity and free time.

I contacted my sponsor, Hammer Nutrition, and told them I was bringing along some energy gels to share with the group, and they kindly threw in some other endurance products to contribute. 

Jeremy and I loaded up Chocolatito (my little brown Honda) with way more stuff than we needed for 6 days and got on the road. Day one took us just across the border to Crescent City, California.

Day 2 we anticipated a longer drive, due to some bad math on my part. We stopped by his dad's in Mendocino County to get even more supplies we didn't really need. We took a detour through the Redwoods and explored some big trees before ending our day in Oakland, sharing a lovely, relaxed evening with a gorgeous view of the estuary.

 

Day 3 we drove the final 6-plus hours down to the Pacific Coast Highway, just north of Malibu. La Jolla Canyon campground specifically. It was gorgeous. We missed the yoga class that evening because we were unpacking the car and Jeremy was setting up our tent. We arrived just in time to get what we thought was probably the best location for us.

 

We did bring along some Malibu rum since we were headed to Malibu - when in Rome, right? So we set up the group with some super sticky-sweet piña colada shots the first night. 

 

A very fun first evening - we were already making new friends and talking about tomorrow's adventures. What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out the air mattress we brought along wouldn't inflate, so we made a big pile of blankets and hoped for the best. Around 12:30 we started hearing what sounded like jets flying overhead, but we soon realized were crazy strong winds. Our tent was bowing in the wind, and soon was coming all the way down to where it was touching our bodies. We popped it back up into place a few times, but the 3rd or 4th time, the collapsing tent came with a couple of large cracking sounds. Several fiberglass rods snapped and poked holes in the tent. By this time it was 3:30 am, so we gathered our bedding and weighted down the tent and slept in the back of Chocolatito. Not comfortable, but at least we had an escape option. 

The next morning we surveyed the aftermath and analyzed our options: borrow a tent if possible from the organizers, go into town and buy a tent, go into town and try to get materials to repair the existing tent, or rent a hotel and just be day visitors at camp. Mercifully, the Flex and Flow ladies had a tent they had been using for storage, and we were able to borrow it.

 

The winds were still so strong the next morning. The forecast was that they were supposed to subside by 4 pm, so Alyce from Flex & Flow found a location closer to L.A. that had a forecast of "nice". We caravanned to Topanga State Park in Pacific Palisades and had an excellent run in very pleasant conditions. We had an option of 4 miles or something longer, maybe 10 miles? I wanted to to do a longer run on Saturday, as did Jeremy, so we opted for the shortie - 2.2 miles up, 2.2 miles down. At the top, he opted to escort another camper back down the original route, and I went with some new fast friends on an alternate route that was supposed to be the same length, but in fact ended up being almost 8 miles. The whole experience was delightful and offered some stunning views of Los Angeles.

 

We returned to camp for a little free time, a little yoga, and to set up our borrowed tent. Friday night was still quite windy, but our loaner 3-person tent was up to the task. Saturday morning we were ready to take on the some of the planned routes in La Jolla Canyon. I brought along some energy gels to share, along with Endurolytes, Heed, and Fully Charged (thank you Hammer!). I put out a box of stuff for people to help themselves, and was pleased to get to provide some carb and electrolyte on a warm and delightfully less windy day.

The 16 mile route I chose brought me along with some fun and slightly faster runners, but I rose to the challenge and mostly kept up, stopping occasionally to snap some pictures along this gorgeous, 3-hill route that gave us a total of nearly 6,000 feet up and down the canyon and back and forth across a cooling creek.

That was so much fun. It felt great to really see the area, to do some challenging climbing, and to get to know some fellow campers a bit better. I may have sweat out a couple of vodka tonics from the night before. That night Jeremy and I skipped yoga to have a walk on the beach, where we were thrilled to see dolphins playing so close to us in the surf before we sat down for a romantic sunset view.

The next morning a bunch of folks went down to the beach for yoga, and we got all packed up to go on our long drive home. We did the homeward drive in 2 days, which was a lot of driving, but easier with someone to share the task. Podcasts, audio books, and lots of great conversation made it enjoyable.

All in all, I'm not super sure I'm ready to spend 3 days sleeping on the ground again immediately, but the BIG takeway from this trip was a terrific time spent with a group of people large enough to be a ton of fun and small enough to get to know people. I know a lot of runners and many yogis in Portland, but to have expanded our athletic fam with such a terrific bunch of people was truly incredible. Looking forward to reconnecting back on the home turf with some of our new homies. The Flex & Flow/Wy'east Wolfpack Getaway was an amazing experience that we will not forget!