weekend recap

i made an attempt to kick start myself after being sick on tuesday and wednesday, so thursday after work i headed out and put in a quick 6 mile run. i kept what i thought was a comfortable pace (still getting used to checking the forerunner while i'm running) and found out that it was just under an 8 min. mile. not too bad for having taken a few days off. it felt good to get out of the house and get the legs moving again.

friday morning i got up bright and early and headed out to las vegas to visit my sister and her family. i did the customary check of the tires, oil, etc before heading out and noticed that there was a section on the passenger side front tire that was looking a little bald, but it looked like it'd get me there and back, so off i went. i stopped in barstow for some gas and checked the tire again, only to see that the tread had worn through and the tire didn't look like it was going to last much longer. i looked up a tire shop, bought some new tires and within an hour was back on the road again.

when i showed up at bfbh's place, i turned into a jungle gym. i spent most of the afternoon running around the house with two boys hanging onto my legs and my niece wanting to show me a 'surprise' (basically everything in the house). it was a blast getting to play with the kids, i hadn't seen my niece that active in any of the times she's come out this way to visit. she was a bundle of energy, and actually wanted to play more than the boys did, on occasion.

friday night i geared up and went for a run across the desert floor by their house. i ran up some jeep trails, cross country through the desert scrub and then picked up another trail that took me out to a desert tortoise refuge. i turned around after 3 miles and cruised back home in the fading daylight for a total of another 6 miles.

i spent most of the evening catching up with aflbh and bfbh, watched the beginning of a movie and then, since i couldn't keep my eyes open much longer, headed off to bed. i was up early again on saturday with the plan of following in alison's footsteps. as i was getting my kit ready, the boys came downstairs and started asking all sorts of questions about my fluids and fuels. they were most interested in the bottle of cytomax that i had. earlier in the visit, we'd discussed which super hero we wanted to be (i, of course, am the amazing hip). so, i explained to them that the cytomax was 'super juice'. i let each of them have a little sip. both of the boys began running around like madmen, exclaiming how fast the 'super juice' was making them run! it was one of the cutest and most hilarious things i'd see. i'll make marathoners out of them yet!

i headed out to red rock canyon, picked up a map at the visitors center and decided on a trail to run. the white rock trail said it was a 6 mile round trip run, so i figured i'd just add some additional stuff onto it to get me closer to a total of 10 miles. the description of the trail stated that it was moderate difficulty, with only an 800' elevation gain. i opted to start out at the base of the trail at willow springs, rather than the top at the white rock trail head. as i started out, i began to realize that the 'moderate' rating was only for coming from the other direction.

the first mile was up a deep canyon along a 4x4 trail, with huge sandstone buttresses on either side. as i hit the white rock fork and headed around the white rock formation, the trail turned into a single track hiking trail running through a wider canyon and low juniper forest. the red, clay dirt was great for running on and the shade from the white rock formation was very welcome. i continued up the trail, marveling at my surroundings, until i came to another fork in the trail. luckily, there were some hikers there and i asked them if this was the madera/white rock fork. they said that i'd passed that fork about a half mile back. oops, too busy enjoying the scenery to pay attention to the trail! i spotted the trail i was supposed to be on across the valley, so i went cross country, hopping over scrub, dodging cactus and wading through manzanita stands. eventually i hit the trail and was off again.

the trail continued to wind steeply up the canyon, and eventually topped out at mile 4 with a great look back down the canyon one direction and out onto the red rock plains the other direction. with the rest of the run mostly downhill, i picked up the pace a bit. when i hit the trail head at 5 miles, with only about 2 miles left back to where my car was, i decided to head along the road to the scenic drive look-out. it was about a mile in the other direction and would end up giving me about 9 miles total.

i did the last four miles on the road with little to report, other than the great views of the red rock buttresses. i hit the car at 9.1 miles, with just under a 10 minute pace. not too bad considering all the climbing and bush-whacking. i cooled down, headed back to my sisters house and got cleaned up. we headed over to a park for a 'happy birthday jesus' party her church was throwing for the kids. i stuck around for a few minutes before hopping back into the car for the drive home.

as i started driving home, the tickle in my throat that had been there for a few days began to make itself more noticeable, and my body began to exhibit the traditional 'flu' type symptoms. i kept mentally fighting it, but by the time i got home, i was pretty sure that i was coming down with what smsmh had all last week. so, i'm skipping today's 18 miler to get some rest. i can't miss any more work before the holiday break, so let's hope that this passes quickly!

overall, it was a fantastic weekend, finally getting to see my sister's place, be the jungle gym for the kids and get in some beautiful running in the nevada desert. despite ending it up with the flu, you can't beat those positive points!

Posted by jeff at December 12, 2004 9:52 AM