onepinkfuzzy

I can't believe I actually did it. It was wicked tough. The trails were not smooth, easy-running trails. They were gnarly, eroded trails, with fist-sized rocks scattered amongst the cheese-grater rocks and 2-inch thorned acacia bushes. Slice and dice, dude!

About seven of us started at dawn, running a few miles up a dirt road to the first trailhead. J and Ash ran with the stroller with me for the first few miles. It was cold! Wispy pink clouds accompanied the cool morning smell of moisture in the desert. Gorgeous.

Made it to the first trail, Sendero-Esperanza, one I'm very familiar with. Made it up to a saddle, then took a direction I normally don't go at this saddle: down the other side. Yikes! Those fist-sized rocks made their first appearance here, along with the sun - right in my eyes. I was able to make it down and around a picnic area to pick up the King Canyon trail and begin the steep ascent to the top of Wasson. About half way up I hit the saddle with the Sweetwater trail junction, and that's where the trail begins to wind straight up a gorgeous rocky ridge. Four hikers were in front of me, which was fun. I could watch where they went to give me an idea of where I was going. The whole time I was wrestling with intenstinal distress - but there was no where to relieve myself; not fun. I hit the junction with the Hugh Norris trail that lead .3 to the Peak itself - woo hoo! - and caught up to the four hikers. Once I made it to the top, I turned right back around to head back down. At the junction, I took the Hugh Norris trail to get back down. About .1 later, there was a little side peak that seemed relatively private, so I hiked to the top to water a bush. Okay, so I was still in view of the summit, but it was far enough away that I don't think the four hikers could see me. I felt much better, and ran the beautiful, smooth, sandy couple of miles to the saddle I hit earlier in the day (the one I went down from).

Then the lack of fueling hit. I was exhausted. I had about 3.5 to 4 miles to go to get back to the car, and it was mostly downhill, but I couldn't run it. I walked. And walked. And walked. I got cold. It was windy. My hands, legs and teeth went buzzy, then numb. I wanted a search party to come and get me. I was lonely. Then I remembered a little trick that J and I laughed about yesterday: Dory's "Just Keep Swimming" song from Finding Nemo. For the last few miles, that was my mantra. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. I was able to speed up to a granny shuffle at some points. Then I finally hit the road. Woo hoo! I started jogging, and soon enough I was running. Oh, it felt so good. Less than a mile on the road, and I'd be back.

I sprinted to the finish, where the run director and a few others were waiting. I finished in 4:38, which is super-slow. 18:50/mile, yikes!!! (Including breaks.) But I have to remember that Pemberton's trails are way easier and smoother, and also that there's only 1600 vt ft. To finish Pemberton within the 8-hour cutoff time, I need to average about 16-minute miles (breaks included). I'm so happy that I did it!