Sunday, March 1, 2009

19 miles for 19 years run

Today, I ran 19 miles in honor of my 19th anniversary of sobriety. 19 years ago, on March 1st, 1990, I quit drinking alcohol entirely. Wow, how my life has changed since then. I reflected back on my life over the last 19 years during my run today.

So, to celebrate, I headed over to Sabino Canyon and did a little running. How else would I celebrate?

I started as the sunrise was peeking over the Rincon Mountains. I started alone and ran the Canyon tram road up and back. There was quite a bit of wind and huge wind gusts made it difficult to run at times. On the way back, I hit the Rattlesnake trail and portion of the Esperero trail back to the tram road. Of course, at this time, a wall of people were headed my way. That is the one downside of Sabino Canyon; if you are looking to 'get away', don't head there. Everyone is there. It sure is pretty in the canyon, though. Here I am at the end of the tram road in road running shoes:
After I had returned to the parking lot, 8 miles later, I met Shari. I changed into my new Montrail Vitesse trail running shoes (yay for new choos!) and put on my pink gaiters, which drew lots of complements today (as did Shari's pink/purple camouflage gaiters). We then both headed out to run Phoneline trail (does that trail ever get easier?), and then looped back on the tram road for another 9 miles.
Afterwards, Shari had to take off, so I went back out on Bear Canyon trail for another mile out and mile back, for a total of 19 miles. It was pretty smoking hot here in Tucson today and I was glad to be done.

Total time: 3:44 (running time only)

Total cumulative elevation gain/(loss): 3,361/(3,367)

Overall, a really good run. I had a fun time running with Shari, and felt good about the 19 miles. The Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon is one month from today, so I'll be doing 2 more long runs in the 20 - 22 mile range and then it is time to taper again. I'm hoping to beat my 2 prior year times for this race. In 2007, I ran that marathon in 4:55; in 2008, I ran it in 4:35. This year, I want to do it in 4:15. We'll see.
I ran 34 miles for the week.

More than anything, I just want to have fun doing it. That's what I'm talking 'bout.

3 comments:

HappyTrails said...

A HUGE kudos for kicking the alcohol thing - awesome! Great jog on your run today and THANK YOU for the lovely saguaro pics (as always! :-)).
And yes, FUN IS what we're talking about - always!
K

Joyce Vyriotes said...

Congratulations on your anniversary - that's great!

laura said...

Congratulations on 19 yrs sobriety! That is wonderful! I love your blog and have read for over a year but had to comment on that. My father had 35 yrs sobriety when he passed and growing up with him sober was the best gift. You are an inspiration in many ways. Kick some at the Bataan!!

Laura