NOW PAY ATTENTION! THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO COME UP WITH A GOOD EXCUSE TO WIMP OUT!
This warning was e-mailed on Saturday to all who signed up for the East Horsethief (this time I mean it) run on Sunday. Annie (Steve's conscience) kept asking what East Horsethief was like, and I couldn't answer her because, like the others who had signed up, I had never been on it - "that's why we call em' exploration runs," I insisted... BUT, my conscience gave a convincing argument (no sex - no beer ) why I needed to reconnoiter the trail, and let my running club friends know what they were in for. So to insure an uninterrupted supply of.... you know, I reluctantly agreed to run from the top of east Horsethief to the bottom on Saturday. I gleaned as much information as possible from the internet before I began the trek. Like every route down the east side of Saddleback mountain, the trail begins at the Main Divide and plummets (yes plummets) down to Elsinore. According to the Mountain Biking Blogs the East Horsethief is steep, sandy, and rutted... They are liars... It's steeper, sandier, and eroded... But it is navigable - meaning I didn't fall down once on Saturday though I had several close calls... Another indication that they are liars was there were neither bike tracks nor mangled bike parts to be seen... 
Segue to Sunday when a handful of intrepid trail masters showed up at the trail head even after being warned about the terrain they would encounter - and people ask me why I love ultra-runners. After slowly running the downhill (a very generous description) on Saturday, I figured Sunday would be much the same, only with four other runners calling me a block-head for getting them into this. WRONG! I was behind Marisa and Lisa, two speed demons who appeared to have a death (if not a serious injury) wish. 
They sped down some of the gnarliest running surfaces in the Santa Anas, feet slipping and sliding most of the way. Everyone on the run fell at least once - from a gentle butt skid by me to a full-on 9.75 double somersault with a full twist by Marisa. Having a companion go down so spectacularly gives one pause but Marisa popped right up, took inventory, announced it was just a flesh wound, and flew off to catch Lisa.
Kirk and Chris stopped several times to fix their wardrobes - Kirk to do his hair - and me to find my lungs while claiming to take photos... The 'girls' stood by patiently tapping their toes while wondering aloud when the men were going to get off their fat behinds and start taking their turns up front bush-whacking (there wasn't much). Once at the bottom 4.5 miles later and finding ourselves in the middle of an Elsinore swap meet (read unauthorized trash dump) we picked our way through burned out boats and wrecked computers. Chris lagged having discovered a slightly used mattress that he wanted to make an offer on. Once off the trail Lisa and Marisa forged ahead to McVicker Park and clean bathrooms... I started to feel the results of two days on the downhill. We rehydrated prior to the final climb back to heaven (El Cariso) on the El Cariso Truck Trail and again, to no one's surprise Lisa and Marissa took commanding leads. They were not seen again until we arrived back at the cars. A pint at Hell's Kitchen with Andy and Marisa, and a long nap rounded out my day...
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