onepinkfuzzy

I was in Tempe this weekend for a soccer tournament (I was cheering Chris's team on; I wasn't playing!) and needed to get my long run in. I asked Phoenician bloggers where I should run, and Pat told me about South Mountain. Now, I've heard of South Mtn before - some trail runners in the past have put on a 50k, since there's a trail that traverses the entire 15-mile length of the mountain (more like hill) range. I was excited to learn it was less than 2 miles from our hotel.

Saturday involved two soccer games, a trip to IKEA, hot tubbing and scrumptious dinner at a friend's house. It also involved falling in the slippery shower, causing an incredibly painful bruise on my left shin.

Sunday morning I was up early in order to get in my 16 miles before the first soccer game. I didn't want to run in the dark, so I timed it to start at 7 am. I had difficulty finding the trailhead, and didn't get started till 7:30. I was worried about the timing, so I pushed it going up.

This was the coolest, funnest single-track I've run since before Bear Canyon's trail got washed out in the floods last summer. Up, down, around, rocks, smooth, playful. It was awesome.

When I reached seven miles, I realized I wouldn't have enough time to complete my run if I kept going, so I turned around early. On the way back I fought off a cramping right calf, a cramping left quad, wet backside from my camelback leaking the last few ounces out, and needing the pee every 30 minutes (at least I was well-hydrated!). I wanted to enjoy it so badly, but I was so beat up from going out fast to begin with! I had to walk the last .5 mile (good cool-down, right?). It was a lot of fun. It felt like a lot of elevation gain (after you gain the ridge, there are lots of ups and downs), and after I uploaded the info from my Garmin, I figured out it was 3300! Yay!

I showered up quickly and made it out to the soccer field only 5 minutes after the game started, and afterwards we all headed to a nearby bar&grill to watch the Patriots/Chargers game. We made it home after that with enough time to watch the last half of the Green Bay/Giants game before crashing way early (in bed at 8:30!).

I'm sore today and am taking a rest day. Hopefully I'll be out for a nice easy three miles tomorrow. I found out that my friend Barb who I've been running with a lot lately may sign up for Zane Grey!