Mt. Wrightson trail run party

A whole bunch of us went down to Mt. Wrightson to get some training in for upcoming races - me, I'm doing the Mt. Lemmon marathon in October. I planned on doing 2 full ascents/descents and then a partial ascent (halfway) to Josephine Saddle and back. We had 20 people total for this casual get together and distances ranged from 1-3 ascents/descents.

My stats:

Total time: 9:25

Distance: 27.27 miles

Cumulative elevation gain/(loss): around 10,000 feet up and 10,000 feet down

The first ascent I did with Dallas in 1:55.

Total time full round trip: 3:24

I took a 14 minute break to eat and resupply my pack.

The 2nd ascent I did by myself in 2:17.

Total time round trip: 3:47

I took a 21 minute break this time. Everyone else was done and was sitting around drinking beer. I was enjoying talking to everyone and had a hard time getting going again!

I then went up to the 'halfway' point, which is Josephine Saddle in 1:00. On the way up, I met this guy named Pete, who asked me, "Did you forget something?" He had already seen me go up and come down a few times! How funny. He was really nice and I passed along some info on TTR. I really enjoyed the chatting break at this point in the day - it was really getting hot.

Total time partial trip: 1:39

Dallas finally did it and made 3 ascents/descents for a total of about 33 miles!!! I was so proud of him!!

A successful day for both of us. I will try for 3 full round trips at the beginning of August! Dallas will, I'm sure, think of doing 4.
Why? We are training for the Mt. Lemmon Marathon. And, why not?

I took sooooooooo many pictures of all of my wonderful friends that were there: Steve, Gene, Joe, Mike, Tom, Mari, Boone, John, Tonja, Ken - all of you are so wonderful! Thanks for coming out everyone! I am so blessed to have the people in my life that I do! There were too many pictures to post, so check out my pics here.

I even made a 'new' friend today.

My new pacer! :)

What a great day on the trail! It was hard work, but I was proud of myself! My dirty feet and legs tell the story:

"All I know,
I still got mountains to climb

On my own..."
~ Switchfoot

Flagstaff 50k Fun Run

Dallas and I headed North out of hot Tucson to the much cooler mountain town of Flagstaff, AZ for Aravaipa Running's 50k Fun Run. It would be our first 50k together. I was excited to say the least. 

Total time: 7:04
I know Dallas could have finished sooner, but we made the decision to run together. Running trails is just like life! Lots of 'ups and downs'. Finding a way to love and support each other through all of it is the key.
Distance: 32.18 miles
Cumulative elevation gain/(loss): 10,720/(10,671) feet No, I'm not overly confident about those high numbers, but that is what the Garmin reported. We had two good climbs during the run and lots of rollers.
Starting elevation: 7,100 feet
Highest elevation: 9,045 feet 

About 10 minutes before the start of the run, I realized that I was missing my insoles in my shoes! I've been using some custom ones and other store bought ones and didn't realize when I packed my trail shoes that there were none in the shoes! That morning, when I put my shoes on, I thought, 'boy, these shoes sure are roomy!' I was tired and didn't realize there was a problem and just cinched the laces tighter! My arch started hurting after arriving at Buffalo Park and that is when I realized my error. Well, nothing to do about it now! On with the run and hope for the best.

 

This run was through a lot of beautiful forest on a series of connecting trails - very runnable and just gorgeous out there.

Before the first aid station at around mile 9, we ran around a beautiful lake. Dallas is in front of me.

The aid station was great! They had so much food! I ate the fig newtons (my aid station favorite!), the dark chocolate covered espresso beans that I bought, and something new - pretzel covered M&M's! It was a much warmer day than anticipated (we were expecting high winds, rain, cold), so I peeled off my long sleeve thermal.

Waterline trail was all uphill, but very beautiful.

It had a cool tunnel:

Waterline was a 5 mile out and back and I really enjoyed getting to see the front runners blazing past us as we headed up. Here we are at the 'turnaround' point on the out and back.

We sure had fun running downhill for 5 miles. Weeeeee!!!!

After coming back from Waterline, we hit the same aid station again. There was one manned 'food' aid station that we hit twice, and they had other 'water only' aid stations, one manned. We were able to bring a drop bag, which was awesome.
We headed out of the aid station, and all seemed well for a bit. We even ran into some horses along the way.

I had a little trouble around mile 21. I just couldn't run anymore. We were climbing up Little Bear trail and it was steep. Everything on my hips, knees and arches hurt and I became pretty nauseated. I'm not sure if it was all related to no insoles, but needless to say, I was in serious pain. At some point, Dallas said, "not a good time for pictures?" He knows me...(I'm sticking my tongue out at him and he didn't realize it until he uploaded his pics!)

I did manage to get a smile in after that...

Dallas just kept on walking with me and was very patient while I slogged along. I thought I was going to have to walk the whole thing in, but shortly after that, I got my mojo back and started running! It never always gets worse. That was one tough climb.

Dallas stopped at some point, turned around and said, "I am so proud of you!" He thinks I'm tough for running the whole way with no insoles! Him telling me that was one of my finer memories on the trail that day. It made me feel so good!

Dallas and I coming into the finish!! We 'tied' for 18th place out of 43 finishers of the 50k. There were 8 finishers of the 34k. Running with Dallas is a joy and a privilege.

Oh my gosh, what a fun day!!! I had a tough time for a little while, but this was one of the best runs I've ever done! Jamil and Nick Coury and the volunteers are class acts. The marking on the trail was the best ever. We had a detailed turn sheet, but we never had to actually use it. Excellent job guys!

If you can, try to always spend time with people who have a sweet spirit who will put 'a mirror up to you' and show you how beautiful you are. Thank you Dallas!!! You light up my life with your rainbow soul.

Meet Me Downtown 5k race report

PR baby!!!

I was shooting for a sub-25 minute time and I was faster than I thought! Guess all of that mountain running is paying off!

Time: 23:54

Distance: 3.1 miles for all the non-runners out there.

I was 5th in my age group. Lots of fast gals in my age group.

Overall, it went pretty fast - I wore my iPod and before I knew it, finish line!!!

It was still around 100 degrees at the start - 6:30 pm. About 1,400 people showed up, though! Dallas, Joe and me after the race:

Dallas rocked the course - 20:31! He's almost 49 years old! He was 5th in his age group, also. Is there anything not to love about this man?

Lots of TTR's out! Chase, Bruce, Wayne, Patricia, Joe, John, Constantino, Kim, Dallas and I.

I'm in the middle in this picture (white tank, black shorts):

Dallas and I went and saw 'Saint Ralph' at the Fox Theatre afterwards which was part of the race entry fee. We sat on one of the 'loveseats' on the balcony. It was one of the best movies!! I loved it.

Another picture of me after the race:

I cut Dallas out of the picture - he was blinking in it - but he said it was one of his favorite pictures of me, so I'm posting it. I like it because my arms look more buff these days (I'm working on my pushups!)

"One of the best safeguards of our hopes, I have suggested, is to be able to mark off the areas of hopelessness and to acknowledge them, to face them directly, not with despair but with the creative intent of keeping them from polluting all the areas of possibility."

~William F. Lynch