A very wet run on 50 year and Sutherland trails in CSP

Julie and I sat in the truck for about 20 minutes waiting for the rain to stop before starting our trail run in Catalina State Park this morning a little before 8am. It was looking like it was clearing, but 15 minutes into the run, the rain started and didn't stop the entire time! Luckily, I had my new Arcteryx rain jacket, which I had yet to rain test. It held up well, and I didn't overheat since the jacket had pit zips and I could get some ventilation. Poor Julie, though; I think she was soaked to the bone the entire run. What a trooper. I'll miss her when she heads out of town next month. She says she is not a tough one, but I disagree.

We started on the Bridle Trail, connected to the 50 year trail and then the Sutherland Trail. The Bridle Trail is super sandy, the 50 year trail is a fairly good climb onto a ridge and the Sutherland Trail was not so great. Shortly after getting onto the Sutherland Trail, it dropped back down off of the ridge in a series of short, steep switchbacks, which we navigated with care. After that, the trail turned into boulder fields for long stretches. And, by this point, the rain had really picked up, and although it was about 55 degrees at the start of the run, it seemed as if the temperature dropped about 10 or more degrees with the heavy rain. We were freezing (can you tell Julie is cold on the picture on the left above?)

I had meant to call Joyce (I added her nice blog to my blog listing) and ask about the Sutherland trail, which she had just ran; however, I had so much going on, I kept forgetting. It was probably just as well; if she had told me the truth, I probably would have skipped it. I'm sure Julie would have been okay with that, too. :)

However, the views of the Catalina mountains were amazing, albeit covered in hazy fog. The saguaro cactus just seem like sentinels out there watching over us as we went down the trail over wet, slippery rocks.

I had planned on doing 2 loops of the Canyon Loop trail (2.3 miles each) when we were done, but we were just too wet and too cold. Our shoes were just sloshing with all the water. I did have the energy, though. I felt good out there today. So, we ended up doing about 9 miles. The Sutherland trail hooks back down to the Canyon Loop trail, and we took the short part of the Canyon Loop trail back to the trailhead. Warm thoughts of a truck heater at the end of the trail and hot shower when we got home were beckoning. I will say that the last part of the Sutherland trail before Canyon Loop was super runnable and I had some fun on that section. If I hadn't been so wet and cold, I would have followed through with the plan.

Well, I ended up getting about 26 miles for the week. I certainly had planned on getting over 30 miles this week, but with cutting today's run down by 5 miles, that didn't happen. I'll do a nice, long weight workout later on today in the warmth of my exercise room.

Julie and I stayed in pretty good spirits all considering and she bought me an Einstein's bagel afterwards (Good Grains, my favorite, with honey butter) which was heavenly. Thanks Julie!

I've got plenty of 'news' going on, but I'll save that for another day. Time for that hot shower.