Monsoon season = sweaty runs

Monsoon season is upon us in the desert, with thunderstorms and rain galore. Had to spend $1,000 to patch up my roof because of leaks. The storms bring in lots of rain, which we need pretty badly here in the desert. They also bring in wind, so I had a lot of my 'wind sail' trees trimmed back several weeks ago.
The cloudy mornings create some nice sunrises (view from my house):

I've been lucky to not get rained on yet on any of my runs this month. I ran 10 miles yesterday morning on the Rillito river wash with Nancy and Sue and there was quite a bit of water running in the wash from all the rains this week. It was muggy and we were sweaty, but we had fun. Nancy regularly runs 60 miles a week! Amazing. She's been doing it a long time, though, but still incredible.
This morning I ran about 13 miles with Shari. We did an out and back on the Dove Mountain trail, which is a nice rolling hill incline dirt path near a golf course and lots of pricey homes in Marana, which is Northwest of Tucson. Before we headed back on the DM trail, we added on part of the Wild Burro trail. Storms were threatening in the distance, but we stayed dry!

Shari is always fun to run with.

We saw this very strange tree growing inward on itself. Must be some external force making it grow that way. Isn't life like that?
So, I ran 23 miles this weekend for a total of 40 miles for the week. My work schedule has been crazy, so I didn't run Thursday or Friday and decided to make up for it this weekend!
Here is a pretty view of the Tortolita mountains. 2 of the 3 Winter Trail Series races were out here in January and 1 of the 3 Summer Trail Series races will be here in August. Unfortunately, a Ritz-Carlton resort is currently being built in the Tortolitas. You can see it on one part of the Wild Burro trail. Once you loop around the mountain on other trails (which we didn't do today), you get away from all of it, but it is still a bummer to see all that excess hogging up the beautiful landscape. Thank God we have so many areas that are still preserved around Tucson.

Dove Mountain Trail Run - Tortolita Mountains

My friend Andrea and I ran the Dove Mountain Trail today, which runs along Dove Mountain Boulevard (starting at Tangerine Rd.) We ran all the way to the end of the road, just past the Wild Burro trailhead, which goes into the Tortolita Mountains. Got in about 9-10 miles, which was about right. Most marathon and ultra training programs show a 10 mile long run the week before the race, so I don't think I'm overdoing it. The trail did have a slight incline heading in, which I really felt in my lungs more than my legs. I thought that was a good sign that my muscles were ready for the race next week.

I had met Andrea back at the Blue Pants Racing Winter Trail Series in January, and we have just never been able to hook up for a run until now! She is super sweet and so easy and fun to talk with. By the way, BPR is going to be doing a Summer Trail Series in August (3 races). Yeah, I know it will be hot, but we'll just have to get over it - we live in Tucson!

I got in about 22 miles this week. I'll be getting a massage on Monday, I'll run about 4 miles on Tuesday, and probably do Bikram yoga on Wednesday. Then, Thursday and Friday, I'll rest. I'll be driving up to the race with Angie and her boyfriend Chris on Friday, and will be returning on Sunday after the race.

My husband just came down with this nasty cold, which I'm hoping to avoid before the ZG race.