TTR Wasson Peak Run

Despite some misgivings about the 50% chance of rain today, I joined the Tucson Trail Runners for a run up Wasson Peak, which is the highest point in the Tucson Mountain range. About 15 people showed up. Julie, who I've been running with for a while now, was sick with strep so she wasn't able to go. It would have been our last long run together before she leaves to her next destination, so I was pretty bummed. I will certainly miss running with her - I can't believe she will be gone soon. I plan on visiting her up in Colorado on one of my trips up this year, which I'm excited about. Not too often that I really connect with someone, but I sure did with Julie.Anyway, back to the run...

It was just getting light when the run started a little after 7am. The sun was coming over the mountains (we started on the West side of the mountains, which are on the West side of Tucson) and with all of the clouds from the weather system moving in, we were treated to a lovely sunrise. I quickly hooked up with Missy, a new face in the group, who seemed to be about my same pace. I didn't want to be alone for the whole run or get lost again and she was very friendly. Her husband Darrell was there, too and they are both doing Pemberton in February. We chatted the whole way up.

And boy, is it up. I have hiked Wasson Peak twice before, and if you had told me I would be running it one day, I would have said you were crazy. We did hike up quite a bit of the last 2 miles, which were steep. Missy admitted she was a little slow on the hiking, but she had a really good running pace. I felt like I could have gone a little faster on the hiking part, but all in all, the overall pace was good - wasn't looking to kill myself today.

It was super cold and windy the closer we got to Wasson Peak, which is at 4,687 feet elevation. The view from the top was beautiful; the wind was moving the storm clouds in fast, though. We stayed a few windy, cold minutes and headed on down. Once we started really running again, we warmed up, but both of us had freezing toes, fingers and knees for a little bit. View from the top:

We must have missed a turnoff, for as we were headed to the peak, we were running into people returning from the peak. This was supposed to be a 'figure 8' loop to the peak. So, instead of a 14ish mile distance, it turned out to be around 12.5 miles. We ran mostly on the Sendero-Esperanza and Hugh Norris trails. The downhill was crazy! There must be 3-400 steps going down Hugh Norris. At least we were going down them and not up! Missy really hauled on the steps, but I was shortly behind her, and Darrell right behind me.

We did the entire distance in 3:08 (3:25 total time out). Seems a little slow, until you consider the elevation change, which was a gain of 2,787 feet up and 2,753 feet down. My legs were pretty tired, and I felt like I had a good run.

It was starting to sprinkle the last part of the run, but it really didn't get raining until about a half an hour after we finished. Perfect! What a fun run. I got to yak with others from TTR afterwards, and there was a lot of broken bone stories exchanged (hmmm...this trail running must be dangerous). Beverly, one of the other women on the run, broke her arm on the same trail I broke my wrist (Charoleau Gap).

It is nice to meet new faces all the time - I used to be so afraid of meeting people. Well, the truth is, I still worry about what they think of me, but that happens less and less as time goes on. And, I just take the action of showing up in spite of my fear.

Here I am with Missy after the run: Here comes the storm - got out in the nick of time:

What a great workout! Even though the run was shorter than planned, I felt the distance was good considering the climb. I plan on doing the 9.9 mile Blue Pants Racing trail race next Saturday in the Tortolitas, which will be fun! I'll follow it up directly with a 9 mile round trip on the groomed Dove Mountain trail, so I'll be sure to get in almost a 19 mile run next week!

TTR AZ Trail 50k

I knew I wasn't ready for the 50k, but I joined the Tucson Trail Runners for as much of an out and back on the AZ trail (a lot of it on the Old Pueblo 50 mile race course) as I was able to do. I got up at 5am and headed over towards Sonoita (about an hour Southeast of Tucson) for the scheduled 7am run.

It was pretty dang cold at the start - about 35 degrees, but I kept the clothes down to a minimum (skirt, long sleeve shirt, thin gloves and my 180 degrees ear muffs) because I knew I would warm up. The high was going to be around 60 in that area today. I did stay cold for quite a while, but finally got a little toastier after about 5 miles.

It was an out and back course, with all runners doing various distances. My plan was to get to Kentucky Camp, an historical mining camp (there were bathrooms there, too!), which was 10 miles out, for a total of 20 miles. I decided to walk the uphills on the way out to ensure that I would save my legs for the distance. It has been a long time since I had gone that far, but I figured with some walking, I could do it.

Well, I never made it there. We did have a map, but I just couldn't seem to follow it well. Others got a little lost, too. A lot of illegal immigrants cut new trails around there, causing some confusion. Even after examining a map back at the beginning of the route, I'm still not sure exactly where I went wrong. Having a GPS would have helped things. At any rate, at some point, I made a wrong turn. I knew I was on the wrong trail when I didn't see any more AZ trail signs. I decided to follow it through, just in case. So I went about 1:55 out, doing some pausing for map reading and some walking on the hilly parts.

I headed back and at one point, the route did not look the same; I was along a frozen creek (very small one). I certainly did not remember that. I didn't think that I had made any wrong choices coming back, so I roamed around a while looking for an alternate trail, and sure enough, I found it. I realized that going through there on the out part that I was higher up; I didn't even see the creek. So, I jumped up to the higher trail and made my way back. I do think there were a lot of other questionable spots for getting lost. Well, like I said, I wasn't the only one. I'll try to pair up with someone next time. I seems as if I'm in the middle - not as fast as the speedy ones, but faster than others, so I seem to run alone on most of these runs.

Total time out on the trail - 3:51. This included about 15 minutes of 'pause time', which included trying to read the map, stopping and looking around and taking some pictures. I figured I walked around 20-30 minutes of it. With the remaining time for running, and without a GPS to back me up, I came to the conclusion that I did around 17 -18 miles. Not bad, since that would be my longest run since the Red Mountain 50k in May. I was up to 16 miles before I broke my wrist. I feel better knowing that I can get in enough training now for the Pemberton 50k on Feb. 14th.

I had a really good time and met a lot of new faces - Doug K., Tanja, and Julieanne, and got to see some other faces that I met at previous TTR events. It was really pretty low desert mountainous landscape - a lot of single track and jeep road, some uphill, some screaming downhill, a little rocky in spots, some super smooth trail sections - a little of everything.

It was fun to watch everyone come in; I was one of the first. Here are Ross and Steve checking out the munchies (they were out about 5 hours, so they were hungry!)

My wrist never hurt during the run, even though it was so cold out there, which was great! I'm all done with physical therapy, although I'm supposed to keep doing my wrist exercises. It does still get stiff from time to time. I'm back to my weight workouts, even though the weight is lighter than before for now.

Oh, I added 2 races to the 2009 race schedule. I'll be doing race #1 of Blue Pants Racing Winter Trail Series on January 10th. They are starting at 8am this time. Yay! It will be 9.7 miles in the Tortolita mountains, which are gorgeous, and then I'll add on the nearby 9 mile Dove Mountain trail afterwards for training. I've also put the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon (White Sands, NM) on, although I'm not officially registered. It is on March 29th, and will be my 3rd running of it. I love it! Lots of hills, sand, mountain views, and only about 8 -10 miles of it is on pavement.

I have a feeling I'll be a little sore, so I'm hopping in the shower and putting on my recovery socks. I felt like taking a nap on the way home, but now I feel pretty good, so I'll just get some stuff done for our upcoming trip (Christmas in CO!) and turn in early.

I do have other news, but I'm just not able to do that post just yet, so maybe in a few days. Nothing earth shattering, but it just seems we've had a lot going on lately. Running helps me cope with all of that.