TTR Bear Canyon Loop

Well, my internet at home has been down and I have limited capabilities at work, so I'm behind on the blogging. Apparently, someone went up the Quest pole and stole our internet! Didn't know you could do that...

I joined TTR for the running of Bear Canyon loop in Sabino Canyon.  This is touted as the trail run that has, 'been run by more Tucson trail runners, more times, than any other trail run in Tucson.' This was my 3rd running of it. The last 2 times, I came back on Phoneline trail, which takes longer, but this time, I came back the last 3.7 miles on the road (which is the 'traditional route'). So, if you are in Tucson, or just visiting, definitely check this trail run out.

Distance: 17 miles

Time: 3:49

Total cumulative elevation gain/(loss):  My Garmin reports some fantastic gains sometimes, so I'm not going with what it reported. From other sites, looks like it is around 3,000 feet gain/(loss). Looking back on the switchbacks:

I had to hike a bit of it. I'm still recovering from the 60k I ran last week. I took 7 days off of running to help recover, but I still have sore hips and a sore left foot. However, once I got on the flats and downhill today, I was able to run fine!

Well, except I toe-hooked on one rocky spot that I was hiking and got a minor flesh wound! I fell down and hit my hand on a rock.

It bled a little, but luckily, I had a bandana with me that I use to blow my nose, so I wrapped it up in that. It turned pretty bruised looking later on the in the day - looks like I wacked the top screw that is in my wrist from my previous wrist fracture (I have 9 screws altogether). So, it was pretty sore. 

I ran into a lot of my good friends today, but it was particularly good to see my blogging friends, Troy (I ran with Troy at the Red Mountain 50k a while back) and Angie (I did the Zane Grey 50k the same year she did); I haven't seen either of them in a long time! Troy will be running the Ghost Town 38.5 in January that I'm doing, also. Angie is just getting back into the running scene again and is taking it slow.
I'm still taking it slow after my race - one more week of low mileage and then I'll start bumping it up again. Next week: Half Mary race - Everyone Runs
Next race after that: Tucson Marathon in December.
Time to get some long runs in... I'd 'secretly' like to qualify for Boston at the TM. I'd have to get a 3:50:59! Not sure if I can pull that off.
Note to self: It is all about the fun. Don't forget that.

Bear Canyon Loop trail run

Today, I ran 17.5 miles on the Bear Canyon loop in Sabino Canyon with David M. He had just run 18 miles the day before, so I was hoping he would have sand bags for legs and be a little slower for me, but, as usual, he was raring to go with energy to spare. Keep an eye on this guy; I am sure he is going to do some amazing things in the ultra world. Me, on the other hand...slow as molasses. Is it allergies? The iron deficiency still? Or just hills that I'm no good at? Will I ever get better at trail running? David says I'm too hard on myself; that this loop is challenging.

The Bear Canyon loop starts at the Sabino Canyon parking lot, heads out towards 7 Falls, and then goes up towards the East Fork, connects with Sabino Canyon trail, and then up to Phoneline trail. We ran Phoneline trail on the return instead of the Sabino Canyon tram road. It took a long time to do this run, but returning on Phoneline trail just takes longer than running the road back on the last part. I'm also terrible on the uphills, so I tend to walk those a lot. I have to do something about that.

Total cumulative elevation gain/(loss): 4,112/(4,229) feet

On this run, a great deal of the elevation gain is on the first half and the majority of the elevation loss is on the second half. This is my second running of this loop (first was with TTR and I had a mighty sore ankle that day). I would really like to do it more often. Beautiful. The cactus are blooming right now and the saguaros all look like they have little hats on them. :)

Lots of cloud cover out today, which was fabulous! We got a few sprinkles of rain falling on us on the last 2 or so miles, but it felt good. What a great run. I didn't feel so bad about missing the Gunnison 50k (which was today) after all. Maybe I'll do that one next year.

I ran 40 miles total this week. I hope to keep this mileage up over the summer, with some additional hill training thrown in. On June 1st (when registration opens), if I can get in, I'm signing up for the Imogene Pass run, which is on September 12th. Holy Cow. Oh, and I also signed up for the Run with the Roosters race, which is new this year, and is on July 12th. Pretty soon, I'll have my race calendar filled. That's the way I like it!