onepinkfuzzy

To be thankful and joyful this holiday, I chose to do one loop (15.4 miles) of the Pemberton trail - to prepare for my big race. How exciting!

On Thanksgiving proper, Ash and I made fat-free blueberry muffins while Johnny slept in, then we went to Johnny's family's house for dinner. Ash was sad that his cousins weren't there to play with this year (they moved to Michigan in September), and John's dad wasn't there this year (he was in Kentucky). But overall, we had fun. Plus, Johnny's mom wanted to have Ash over for pajama party, which meant Johnny and I got to go watch Harry Potter - in the actual movie theater! - Thursday night.

Friday morning, Johnny and I packed up and had major drama over how we wanted to attempt getting the trail run in up at Pemberton, and still make it to my Mom's house in Mesa in time enough for Ash's bedtime (7 p.m.). By the time we picked Ash up at 11 a.m., we were way behind schedule - the trail is up in Fountain Hills, an hour beyond my Mom's house, and three hours from home. Yikes!

We finally made it up, by 2 p.m. Ash had only a short, fitful nap, and I decided it was too late for me to make the entire 15.4 miles before dark. I'm too slow! Plus, I'd have to run by myself (I'm a scaredy-cat), and Ash would stay up way past his bedtime. No good all around.

After using the restroom and taking a few deep breaths, I decided that epic training runs were par for the course, and therefore I would run the entire loop. We decided that I would start in one direction, and Johnny and Ash would start in the other direction. Once the sun starting setting, Johnny would pick up speed to make sure he met me before it got dark.

I headed out at 2:25. After stopping to tie my shoes a little tighter, I settled into an easy jog. I made it through the first flat-to-downhill mile in 13:42, not a bad pace. Not too fast, not too slow. The trail turned out and away from the broad, gentle wash, and began climbing the bluffs to a hot ridge above the wash. I had to walk most of this long section of trail - it was very warm, and mostly uphill. The afternoon sun shining through the grasses, which were waving in the breeze between the giant saguaros, was brilliant and put me at ease. I felt so at home out there, the opposite of the fear I usually feel. I could make out a granite rubble of a hill to my left, but the sun was directly above it, and I could not see detail. I look forward to experiencing it on the morning of my race - I think it will be beautiful.

I finally made it to the end of the ridge, and began a small descent. At this point, I experimented with standing up to relieve myself - I had heard of many women doing this on ultra-runs, and thought it made sense. I am glad to announce that it worked well :)

At this point, the trail began it's roller-coaster ride through rolling terrain. I was beginning to get nervous, wondering where the next trail junction was. I had been out for about 5 miles, and knew the next junction should appear soon. I noticed a cool rock knob in the distance, and hoped the trail would go near it. I thought about how cool it was that I knew I would be out for a long distance, much longer than usual (in the past), and that it was possible that the trail would go near that rock knob. That idea was so cool to me - I'm so un-used to doing distances like this!

As became the norm for this trip, I ran into two bicyclists and a trail junction - there wasn't a trail junction without a bicycle or two! Whew, I was relieved to hit it. I was one-third of the way done.

The middle third was a gorgeous cross-country ramble up and down hills, through rock gardens and cool washes. After passing the rock knob, the trail wound it's way up through two grassy knolls, and down the backside to another wash. A roller coaster trail - just way too much fun. The sun fell behind light clouds (clouds in the desert, what a novelty!), finally causing a cooling.

The trail hit the upper boundary of the park, creating a half-mile of boring, straight, flat, wide service road running. Yuck. I hit the 9-mile mark, the point where I turned and began the final third. I looked at my watch and did the math - if I could average 13.5-minute miles for the last 6.4 miles, I would make it back to the car by 6 p.m. - not bad! I decided to try. As soon as I decided to do that, I ran into Johnny and Ash!

They were having a blast. Ash had hiked for part of it, and the rest he did in the backpack on Johnny's back. Johnny thought I would walk back with them, and was surprised and a little hurt when I wanted to keep running - he wanted to be a family! He decided to try jogging with me - yes, with Ash and 2 liters of water on his back. He did well, and Ash did relatively well (I don't think he likes the jiggling of jogging on Daddy's back!), until Ash decided he wanted stop and look for animals. He was very loudly persistent. I finally decided that being with my family was more important than making my time for the trip, plus I figured that the sun was already setting, and there was no way I'd make it back before dark - and there was no way I was running by myself in the dark! So I was stuck with a poor time. Oh, well.

Once Ash felt better, he started running down the trail, then decided he wanted to be in the backpack again. Johnny decided he definitely wanted to jog with me, and said he wasn't hurting himself, so I said, "Awesome, let's run!" I made sure Johnny went first, so I wouldn't run too fast and have him hurt himself.

Well, putting him first wasn't necessarily the best thing to do. He took off. I couldn't keep up with him! He decided his natural gait kept the backpack moving the smoothest, and felt best for him and Ash. The last 4ish miles passed in an ever-darkening blur of Ash talking about night-time animals, and me attempting to keep up with Johnny. My glutes were yelling at me with every step, and my knees were groaning. It was mostly downhill, but I was breathing hard. Finally, I made Johnny slow down, then I went first. By then, it was totally dark, and I was sloshing all over the trail, trying my darndest to stay upright. I was literally moaning with every exhale, and finally popped out at the trailhead - at 6:16 p.m.!!!!!

Even with slowing and stopping with my family, I completed the 15.4 miles in under four hours - in 3:51 to be exact. WOW! If I am going to complete the race in the 8-hour cutoff time, I need to complete the first loop in under 4 hours (I'm aiming for 3.5 hours). So this was a great training run!

We were a little freaked out - our headlights were on. We didn't know if someone was breaking into our car or what. Johnny cautiously approached the car with the keys, and activated the alarm. Turns out Ash must have turned the lights on when he was playing in the car prior to his hike! Too funny.

Enjoyed an Arby's Beef-n-Cheddar sandwhich and French fries on the way to my mom's house - gallbladder be damned. It tasted so incredibly delicious. There's nothing like cheesy, salty beef and fried potatoes. Thankfully, I had taken care of my gallbladder in the last two weeks, so that this over-indulgence did not keep me awake that night. Whew!

Had fun on Saturday with my family, and enjoyed football and fall-cleaning the closets today - got rid of four garbage bags to charity, six to the dumpster and two will be going to the local used bookstore as trade. Woo hoo! Also got my damn haircut fixed, finally! It had been KILLING me this week.

And - to top my wonderful holiday weekend off - I am not very sore from my long run, woo hoo! I love feeling my fitness improve! Just my shoulders are sore this time around, and not too bad...

Yay!