Sunday, February 17, 2008

Change of running plans - 19 miles!

1st plan with Angie/Barb - Sabino Canyon Phoneline trail/tram road loop x 2 (18 miles). Too much water we figured, so onto the next plan...
2nd plan with Angie/Barb- Douglas Springs trailhead to Cowhead Saddle out and back (17 miles). Check out pictures from Angie's blog and you'll see why I changed my mind about this one.
3rd plan (no Angie or Barb) - about the same as last week - 8 mile Saguaro East paved loop, followed by 11 miles of Cactus Forest/Mica trails.

We had quite a storm on Friday that dumped a significant amount of snow on the surrounding mountains and lots of water in the valley. I knew Sabino Canyon would be too much water to wade through, so we made an alternate plan - running with the Tucson Trail Runners to Cowhead Saddle in the Rincon Mountains. I canceled out on that one because I was concerned about the amount of snow on the Rincon mountains. 'Fear of the unknown'. I didn't want to risk falling or getting injured on ice/snow, so Angie went on without me. Sorry Angie! She was one brave one though. I'm a warm weather runner, that's for sure!

Here are the Rincon Mountains with snow on them this morning.

So, I ran the 8 mile loop by myself. It is really hilly (with one super hill) and is a great workout.

You can see the super hill here in this elevation profile:
Then Laurie met me for 11 miles of trails (Cactus Forest and Mica in Saguaro National Monument East). I was so warm! It felt lovely. We ran into a little mud, but not too bad. Pretty dry for the most part.


I felt pretty good, although I have this mild shin pain that has been going on for several weeks now. I don't think I have upped my mileage significantly - it must be shin splints and I'm just in denial. I could have run a little farther today I felt so good at the finish.


Our friend Lisa (back from Oregon!) showed up at the end of the run to go for a bike ride with Laurie. Doesn't she look fabulous?

Laurie and Lisa gearing up for a bike ride

Next week - out to Tucson Mountain Park for a 20 + miler. I love, love, love it out there. I have 3 more long, long runs before I start tapering for the marathon!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a great day for a run. and yeah - it was snowy up there! i went for a good mile or so in ice and snow before turning around. apparently it got up to a foot deep at the saddle!

the trails were muddy, but great. what time were you out there?

Sarah said...

You're doing so well. Keep it up! Hope the shin pain resolves itself too.