Heart of Rocks Loop hike - Chiricahua Mountains

Haven't been blogging much - I have been a little down about some things lately. Since I cancelled my Grand Canyon trip this weekend, and of course, the Gunnison 50k next weekend, I really don't have anything going on that I felt was blog worthy.

I recovered nicely from the 27 mile trail run up the Santa Catalinas a few weeks ago - I really wasn't even very sore. I did keep the mileage down that following week - 23 miles - partly due to the shorter road run I did last weekend. I'm running in the mornings before work now. Tucson is averaging 100 degrees for the high, so I, like many other Tucson runners, start getting up earlier to run and beat the heat.

This week, I ran every morning before work, totaling 30 miles. I pretty much just do various loops from my house, and up to the Rillito River sometimes. It is a nice way to clear my head for the day.

Without any big runs planned this weekend, Ken and I went over to the Chiricahua Mountains (about 2.5 hours away) and hiked the Heart of Rocks Loop. My friend Sarah and my sister Andrea had highly recommended it. We did 10 miles, with 4,714 feet of cumulative elevation gain. The high point is about 7,000 feet. It took us 3 hours and 50 minutes, not including about a 25 minute lunch break. Here I am next to 'Big Balanced Rock': Ken at the top of 'Inspiration Point':The Heart of Rocks Loop is a combination of various trails, with the Heart of Rocks trail being the center of the hike. There were all sorts of awesome rock formations that have been carved by time and wind, I guess. The hike was fairly shady, going through a lot of pine forest. The bugs drove me nuts for about the first 2 miles, but as the day heated up, the bug population dropped a bit (also there was a nice breeze at times, which kept them away).

Ken and I had a great time! It was really good to get out and hike together. He rarely exercises (well, except for the strenuous nature of his work), but he just trucks up the hills like it is no big deal, which always impresses the hell out of me. I'm terrible on the uphills. Ken will be hiking some of the big 14er's (14,000+ feet peaks) in CO this summer, which of course, I think is crazy. That's what he says about some of my running. :)

My upcoming running plans? Well, I'm still working on that, but I suppose I probably will just post them in my sidebar. I'm worried that whenever I blog about upcoming plans, they seem to fall through! Well, let's just say I have quite the adventurous running year coming up, with some super exciting races on my wish list. I'll need to get in better shape though, which will be my plan for the summer. That, and staying cool.