First run in O'Neill Park with OCTR

We had a big group today running in O'Neill park: Wendy, Alexa, Jessica, Kayla, Kiko, Heather, Jenn, Chris and Bobby. As we were scheduled to start around 6:30 am and I needed to be at home by 8:30, I came there earlier and ran 3.5 miles before I met everyone at O'Neill park gate.



The whole group was running at a very comfortable of about 10 min/mile. The only exception was Kiko who kept circling around us running twice faster than the rest of us :-)



There were a couple of streams crossing the trails. Chris and Alexa ran right through them, while others tried to jump across on slippery submerged stones - some less successfully than others - I got my feet wet as well. I guess I should have followed Chris and Alexa: the result was about the same while their way of stream crossing was much more fun.



The initial plan for some of us was to run up to Jessica's place, hopefully get a bannana reward over there and get a lift back to where we parked our cars. But as we reached Ladera Ranch, we realized that we probably missed a turn to Las Flores where Jess lives.
Here is Jessica's recap on the search-and-rescue adventure our group had after I left home.



The good part was that I ran straight home from there and got there just in time.

Mileage: 12.3 miles
Time: 1:53:54
Average pace: 9:16 min/mile

More photos from today's run:

O'Neill Park with OCTR Sep-07

P.S. As soon as those streams are such a problem - at least on longer runs when it is more likely to develop blisters when your feet are wet - why do not we just get together and bridge them in the same way it is done in Aliso/Wood Canyon park?