Mt. San Jacinto (10,800’) via the Marion Mountain Trail (11.2 miles, 4,600’ of ascent, round trip)

Stats?

In the three months leading up to the trip, I probably accumulated at least 500 miles on foot, and over 100,000’ of climbing.   Plus lots of biking and cross-training.  Not Olympic class, but I did see a dramatic increase in my VO2 max and heart rate recovery time – both measures of aerobic fitness.  I also wore out my favorite pair of hiking boots – the tread started delaminating.  I knew that I was making headway when I passed a Marine Corps member on my way down off of Mt. San Jacinto:  He said “I don’t know what you’re on, but I want some!”  In fairness, he was rehabbing his knee after surgery, so had to take it pretty slow on the downhill.  Of course, I told him that my secret was listening to death metal on my iPod…  (At that moment the shuffle had actually stated playing Beethoven’s 5^th symphony - I only own one death metal album.)