onepinkfuzzy

Even more flooding...this is amazing. Tucson is in the desert; the last few years we've been in a drought and received less than our normal 12 inches of rain per year. For some reason, the last few days a high pressure has been stuck in the southeast, forcing an uncommon weather pattern for summer - a stalled low-pressure system over us (I think I'm describing this correctly, please correct me if I'm wrong!). Here's a great explanation. Every night around 2 a.m., the rain starts, and it pours inches upon inches in the mountains and surrounding areas. By 8 a.m., the rain has stopped, but our normally dry washes are raging. Now that the ground is saturated, the rivers have actually topped the record charts. The bridges at Dodge and Campbell spanning the Rillito were closed today, as were a few bridges across the Santa Cruz river. A house in Marana fell into the Santa Cruz, and the families in the remaining houses in the area were evacuated. Earlier today, the Rillito was flowing at 30,000 to 35,000 cfs, a bigger flow than both the 1993 and 1983 floods, which were a big deal! Surprisingly, we are still in a drought, even with this rain. Here's another link, this one has some neat photos of the floods on the lower right side.

Sabino Canyon's road washed out. You have GOT to watch THIS. It's a pop-up video, so if your pop-up blocker is on, temporarily allow pop-ups so you can see awesome videa of where I spend most of my time running. We took this photo Saturday morning on Sabino Canyon road, on the bridge over Rattlesnake Creek that no longer exists:

(If that link above doesn't work, go here and click on "Sabino Canyon Bridge Washed Out" over on the right side in the playlist column.)

Last Friday, Johnny and Ash went to Sabino Canyon. They unknowingly made it into the news (Johnny's back as the reporter talks about a "jogger headed up the roads with a baby stoller"), and also ended up racing flash floods. They didn't beat them this time - it's a story I'll let Johnny tell. Let's just say they are safe, but I wasn't too happy to hear the story.

On a running note, I thoroughly enjoyed our trail running group's annual potluck on Saturday night. There's nothing more fun than spending a few hours with fellow ultrarunners, hearing stories on this year's races: Badwater, Hardrock, Tahoe Rim Trail 100, etc. Got some more info on upcoming local races - the Soul Ride/Run is cancelled! (Sarah, this means I won't be racing on the weekend of Oct. 21, are you still planning your trip to Tucson?) We had fun reviewing the upcoming season's schedule. Johnny will be directing a run this year, which will be fun. I learned that Joyce (Hi Joyce!) reads my blog, and is also going to be up at Javelina Jundred - her husband will be running it as his first 100 (I'm pretty sure that's what she said). We'll have a Tucson camp, what fun! I got to touch base with OP50's RD. I also got some great training notes, and encouragment to "just ask" regarding training (thanks Bob, I'm holding you to that). What stood out in the training discussion: run less (don't worry about reaching 75 mpw leading up to OP50), cross-train more. I learned that a woman in group won Leadville 100 on 60 mpw. Only 60 mpw! That surprised me. Quality vs. quantity...I will be experimenting with that on this training cycle. Chase (who finished WS100 this year) suggested more cross training and strength training. With no Soul Run in October, I'm not sure how I'm going to prep for OP50 in March. I'm starting to think about it...rolling ideas around in my head...

I was surprised that my legs hurt more than my abs yesterday; however, today, my abs hurt more. A whopping three miles, and it hurt! So I probably won't run tomorrow morning, but on Wednesday morning instead. I'm planning on using the gym a lot more this time around. It's cooler, I don't have to worry about the heat, I can do cross-training and strength training.