And, we're back.

All that writing about exertion was completely exhausting last night, particularly after my very strenuous recovery day, largely spent sitting in the sun drinking (let's not kid ourselves- I may run sometimes now, but I still have priorities). After a good night's sleep and waking to a blessed day off, I'm now ready to continue documenting this summer's little victories.

Awesome Test #4- Desolation Wilderness Backpacking and Pyramid Peak

After the Mount Whitney extravaganza, my leg muscles wouldn't really function and I was completely filthy and, yet, I seemed to have come down with a slight case of the Outdoor Spirit. Though I was perfectly happy to spend some quality time re-establishing my city girl identity by cocktailing my way around New York for two weeks, I also agreed to go to Desolation Wilderness with Steve, Eric, and Mike over Labor Day.

Only this time, we would be BACKPACKING. Gasp. And shudder.

Since I had previously expressed 100% disinterest in backpacking - ever- I really was not equipped to carry all of my things on my back through the woods. Nancy offered her external frame backback circa 1971 (still in mint condition, I might add), but Eric (correctly) assumed that I had a better chance of enjoying the trip if I thought I looked cool. So, we bought a fancy-pants backpack to go with my high tech Mount Whitney hiking boots and super sweet trekking poles. I certainly looked the part.

So, off we went. You know what? Backpacking is not that bad! Revelation!

Desolation Wilderness is a beautiful, completely untarnished wilderness area near Lake Tahoe- highly recommended for anyone who occasionally enjoys looking at pretty things. We camped near one of the many lakes and set our sights on the summit of the Holy Grail of Desolation Wilderness- Pyramid Peak.

There are no trails to the top of Pyramid, so we set out on our old-school bushwacking excursion with only a map, a compass, and our wits to guide us. This was not a Mount Whitney-I'm-Seriously-Going-To-Kick-Your-Butt long hike, but, you guys, this hike was HARD. We successfully navigated our way to the top, scaling walls, climbing over car-sized boulders, crossing streams, and scrambling up giant piles of rocks while the terrain got steeper. And steeper. And steeper. Pyramid Peak did not mess around.

At the top, we celebrated with our fellow pioneers, including a wee seven year-old girl (Un.Believable.), and then began what would prove to be the most difficult part of the adventure- finding our way home. To start things off, Pyramid decided the whole thing would be a lot more fun if I was bleeding a lot, so it loosened one of its eight billion rocks just enough to send me catapulting into another extremely sharp rock. Thank goodness for Steve and his A-plus first aid training.

Then, we made several group decisions that led us down the part of the mountain that was basically vertical. Scary stuff, but when you're lowering yourself down a sheer rock wall, you can come up with some pretty amazing strength you had no idea you had. It wasn't "fun" at the time, but looking back at what we did, we felt awfully proud. Except that we weren't back to camp yet and it was basically dark. Oh yeah, and remember how there was no trail?

Headlamps on, we walked and walked and climbed and climbed in the direction of our camp, knowing that at some point, assuming a bear didn't eat us for a midnight snack, we would stumble on our tent. Sure enough, around 9 pm, we made it and no bears got to sample our tasty meat. After a day of hanging off the side of a mountain being lost but not lost in the woods, I can attest that dehydrated pasta primavera tastes pretty freakin' good.

Awesome Test #5- Ragnar Relay!

Finally, we arrive at this weekend's incredibly fun adventure: another 200 mile relay. Although my knee is still a little busted (torn hamstring attachment = not good times), the doctor gave me permission to run as much as my little heart desired, so Van Deuce remained basically intact, including yours truly playing the role of the Requisite Female.

This relay began in San Francisco and then wound its way around Napa Valley. Each van supports its runners half the time and "rests" the other half. There is much farting and giggling 100% of the time. From an outside perspective, sitting in a van for 36 hours with six sweaty boys telling mildy offensive jokes may not sound like a great time, but there's really nothing better. And, then there's the running, which, turns out, makes you feel pretty great, as long as you don't mind a little indigestion from eating so many bagels and packets of Gu.

Despite being unsure whether my slowly healing knee could handle it, I was determined to give my three legs my best shot. Friday afternoon, I ran 4.3 miles (ranked Very Hard) through the hilly farmland of Nicasio. Then, around 1 am, I completed 4.2 miles in Santa Rosa. After a couple of hours of sleep, I faced down what I knew would be my most difficult opponent: 7.9 Very Hard and hilly miles in Napa.

With my team cheering me on the entire way (we're not all jokes in Van Deuce- we're the real deal), I pushed myself through mile after blazing hot mile. I even passed people and cheered them on! It was unbelievably thrilling to reach that finish line. At the risk of getting all gooey and mushy, I truly hope everyone can experience something like that. A few hours later, Eric led all twelve members of our team, plus our awesome drivers and navigators, across the finish line in Calistoga. With our sweet Ragnar medals/bottle openers around our necks, we stuffed our faces with pizza and beer and started planning the next one. Ragnar SoCal- you're ours!

That's it! I figure I have a day or two to bask in all of this awesome-ness and then it'll be time to start thinking about the next big thing. If I've learned one thing about this alterate reality called Living in California, it's that no one likes to sit around for long. So, I think Eric and I will enjoy this for another minute or so and then head back outside to dominate something else.

Or at least I'll head to the pool- I am taking the day off, after all.

And now I can safely sit on my butt until Christmas...

This weekend, Eric and I earned the final points required to earn our Awesome Badge for 2011.

You can have one too- here's how:

Although the year still has a couple months left to affirm our self-proclaimed Awesomeness, we are (at least for today) perfectly satisfied with our current level of membership in the club. Without the bevy of brunch options or fancy Broadway parties that we were accustomed to in New York, Eric and I had to find new ways to fill our social calendar once we moved to San Francisco. Adios: Sunday sangria. Enter: A whole lot of exercise.

Don't get me wrong- we've always been fond of the gym and complimenting each other on our impressive muscles, but around Christmas when "we" (aka Eric) agreed to do our first 200 mile relay, I was less than enthused. In fact, I was shocked when I realized he hadn't meant it as a joke. Guess what? Not a joke. And so it began.

Awesome Test #1: THE RELAY

Once upon a time, our dear friend Tiffany asked us to run a 200 mile overnight relay with her. Me: HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Tiff: No guys, it's fun! Really!

Me: HAHAHAHAHA.

Tiff: No, seriously! The running is really an afterthought. It's not about that! It's all about fun!

Me:HAHAHAHA.

Because we are bad at peer pressure and we really like Tiffany, we momentarily forgot that a) we didn't really like running and b) we didn't really like staying up all night, and we agreed to join the team and started to train.

Lo and behold, once you start practicing running, you actually get better at it and you no longer feel like you may die at any moment. Sure, it still hurts a lot sometimes, but soon little miss I-Hate-Running-Rebecca was pounding out four, six, even ten mile runs. And pigs did not even start to fly.

Then, in April, THE RELAY happened and Van 2/Van Deuce/Rebecca and a Bunch of Boys took the running world, or at least the running world from Napa to Santa Cruz, by storm. Our team of twelve split into two vans to cover the miles, and over the course of about 36 hours we ran our way across Northern California. I personally ran over 4 miles in Sonoma, 6.2 in Pacifica at 2 am (best time ever! and I'm so not kidding!) and 6.3 in the Santa Cruz mountains. Much hilarity, gas, and body odor ensued (I mentioned the boys, right?). Little to zero sleep occurred. A bunch of running addicts were born.

Turns out Tiff was right- the running IS an afterthought. There's something to be said about that feeling of accomplishment when you push yourself to do something you never thought was possible for yourself. And we wanted MORE.

Awesome Test #2: Avenue of the Vines Half Marathon

Ok, you know this one. But, here's a re-cap. I busted my knee, Mother Nature: California Edition delivered tons of hail and rain and thunder, ZipCar tried really hard to keep us from going to Lodi, I used an entire roll of tape to keep myself in an upright and locked position, and we were almost dead last but finished our 13.1 mile hobble. Great times and I received a sip of wine as a reward, but we're still thinking we might need a do-over. An accomplishment, nonetheless.

Awesome Test #3: Day Hiking Mount Whitney

As you may recall, last year Eric and his boyfriends went on a backpacking trip to Mount Whitney ("best time they ever had. Ever.") while I happily stayed and drank martinis with my family. This year, I agreed to hike that beast in one day with Eric, the Paynes, Kristina, and a few other friends. Again, with the peer pressure. While the idea of carrying my sleeping bag on my back sounded like torture, walking 22 miles up and down one of the tallest mountains in America sounded like a pretty good time. Hey- I'm always up for a nice stroll!

Yeah. That was not good thinking. Mount Whitney does NOT mess around.

First, our campsite, while beautiful, was a popular thoroughfare for bears. Little to our knowledge as we set up camp at midnight when we arrived, our wee friend Paddington was playing a game of What/Who Will I Eat For Dinner? Then, Chris' bear spray went off in his tent and things got a bit messy. The mountain loomed.

Our Donner Party set out at midnight and enjoyed several incredible star-lit miles. Along the way, we lost a few to altitude and gained a passerby, Randy, who was making his sixth attempt to summit Whitney. (And no, we didn't LOSE lose them. No one died, so stop worrying. I just needed to clarify.) By dawn, we'd hiked over 7 miles and were at around 11,000 feet. Not bad for a day's work but, unfortunately, also not even close to the end.

Fueled by beef jerky, arrogance (stubbornness, if you want to be nice about it), Mojo bars, fun-sized Snickers, and a lot of jokes, Eric, Steve, Tiff, Katie (Tiff's sister), and I pushed our way through 99 switchbacks, sheer cliffs, snowfields, and a seemingly endless trail and FINALLY arrived at the summit. Hallelujah!

And then we had to hike down.

That, my friends, was something akin to torture. Many hours, semi-hallucinations, jokes, and a few tears later, we arrived back at camp. We hiked for over 18 hours and couldn't honestly say it was enjoyable until the next day, but when we dragged our beaten-to-a-pulp bodies out of our tents the next day and looked at what we'd accomplished, "enjoyment" doesn't begin to sum up the pride and awe that we felt.

Alright, let's be honest- this is getting a little too long and has the potential to get sappy. Blech. The final two installments of this great adventure will be available for your viewing pleasure tomorrow or whenever I feel like it. You may now return to Facebook.