onepinkfuzzy

Kiera and I headed out for what I thought would be a five-mile run this morning around Sabino Canyon. We were planning on running the same loop as last week, except in reverse and without the back-and-forth route-finding that added a little bit extra mileage.

We quickly come to a creek crossing, and while the water is lower than it was last week, we still have difficulty finding a way across that will keep our shoes dry. Once we stake out the best possible place to cross, I pause for a good minute, visualizing my body soaring through the air gracefully and landing on each small stone perfectly. Yeah, it doesn't quite work out that way. The second stone slips and I scream as my foot plunges into the icy cold water. Okay, so I'm dramatizing it slightly, but I do scream rather loudly ("Like a girl!" says Kiera), and the top of my foot gets a little wet. Kiera does the same thing sans the scream (also, when she hits the small stone I slipped off of, she manages to flip it completely under the water). We continue on our merry way, but that really seems to have sapped a lot of energy out of me, and I spend the rest of the run trying my damndest to stay up with Kiera. It's like she has a rope around her waist tied to mine, and she is dragging me up the hills. Imagine, running *up* the hills! I don't know where she gets that energy from. We are still working on our route-finding skills, or at least, I am. There's a reason the folks in my trail running group have commented that if you want to know if someone will get lost on a trail, put Angie on it - if Angie can find her way, then anyone can :) Kiera seems to have a fine sense of trail direction and route-finding, though, and I'm quite glad to be running with her in front.

Once we make it back out to the Sabino Tram Road, Kiera looks at the GW (that's Geek Watch, i.e. Mike's Garmin) and states, "We need more miles." "But we're only doing five. We'll get five by heading back to your house now." I say, puzzled at needing more miles. "Oh, I didn't tell you? I'm aiming for six today." Well, then. I guess I'm getting six! Kiera says, "Hope that's okay!" and I reply, "Of course. It's only if you want to shorten the run that I'd have problems." I spend the next few minutes pondering the words that came out of my mouth - I must really be serious about this running thing if I actually said shortening the run would be a problem. Hmm... Anyway, we head back over to the dirt road/trailhead where we started our loop and Kiera realizes we may not actually have time to get more miles, so we head up for a bit, then turn around at a random spot and head back to the house. All in all, we got a good 5.54 miles in.

Now I'm up in Mesa at my mom's house (it's her birthday tomorrow - happy birthday Mama!); I've finalized my schedule and Ash is happy playing with his cousins. I realized on my way up here that I should have let the Phoenix bloggers know I'd be up here - we could have met for a run possibly! Next time I'm planning on coming up, I'll let y'all know in advance and maybe we can meet up.

A quick note: I was discussing with someone whose counsel I take very seriously my struggle with the fact that I really want to run 30 hours for my 30th birthday even though it seems to be in deep conflict with my desire for "balance" and "moderation" in my life. She said, "Perhaps running this much *is* your balance, your moderation. Or perhaps running this much will *help* you find your balance, or what moderation means to you." Hmm...food for thought...