onepinkfuzzy

I was hardly sore after my last long run (yay!) and was ready to head back out. Tuesday morning, I was supposed to meet Barbara on the river path, but we missed each other. I was running back and forth on the section I thought she'd come from, while she was running back and forth on the section she thought I'd come from. We both waited for 15 minutes before we took off - she to do the planned 8-mile run, me to go get an extra hour of sleep (much needed). Darn it!

Tuesday night, I went to the community college's track - my first time on a track in 13 years. (The last time was when I was a freshman in high school, and hated running. I did manage to run one mile twice, once in 9:15, once in 9:25 - so I guess those are actually my PRs for one mile...huh. I was faster in high school when I was out of shape and starving myself. Interesting.) Okay, anyway, I finally managed to get out with Paki, my training partner from this summer. We did three miles at dusk - 3 glorious, conversation-filled, 3-minute-lap miles. Okay, so it was slower than I wanted - I was out of breath pretty much the whole time - but we were talking the whole time. So much fun, and so needed. Then we both went our separate ways - to shop at the same grocery store on the way home! (We live right around the corner from each other.) Good, soul-fulfilling, easy training run.

Tonight, I managed to convince Johnny and Ash to come out with me. I thought a run at Sabino Canyon would be a fun way to kick off the holiday - and I've got to come up with 24 miles this week! I convinced Ash to go by telling him we could bring a flashlight and look for night animals, a la Blue's Clues. He dug that, and got ready quickly, easily and with minimal fuss (extremely unusual). We headed out, and my first mile was slow. The second mile was full of unplanned stops - Ash needed the windshield on his stroller, I needed to take off my hat, etc. I had planned on doing 6 miles, but we decided to cut it short and only do 2. Better for the whole family (Ash won't stay up too late, and Johnny and I won't over do it - I have a tendency to want to overdo things...). Of course I was faster on the downhill, but there's a wicked steep hill as part of the last mile out. I hate that hill. It took me forever to run it, and tonight I almost started walking it from the beginning. But I kept jogging, and found that I was able to speed up - faster and faster up the damn steep hill! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!! Then I was able to keep up the speed back to the parking lot. I ended up with a 10.25-minute mile. Awesome. Felt great - even with wearing 2 3/4 inch boots (that's high for my poor feet) today at work. So cool.

I need to get 17 more miles by Sunday. I don't think it'll be a problem, with a four-day weekend. Plus, we're going up to Mesa to see my family on Friday/Saturday, and we're thinking of checking out the Pemberton trail - maybe hike one loop (15.5 miles) with Ash in the backpack on Johnny's back. Just to get a feel for the course. That way I can dream about it for the next two and a half months. Then, maybe I can prepare for it better...

Am looking forward to a scouting run I'll be doing on Dec. 4 with Ross from the Tucson Trail Runners (TTR). TTR does an annual 50k from Sabino Canyon up to Molino Basin and back each December. The fires on the mountain have altered the landscape, so he needs to re-route part of the route, and also clear the existing trail. Since it'll be slow going and about 13 to 15 miles, it's a perfect fit for my training. Should be fun!