The the Cha
I had signed up months ago to run the 7 miles trail race (back when I still thought I could run a half marathon), so I was super excited. Although, I probably should have looked into how far away it was before we left...I didn't realize that the other side of the valley meant over an hour drive away.
I was super proud of myself, I finished the run, even though I didn't realize that it would be up and down in the White Tank Mountains. I did feel better when I saw that the "mountains" were really just big hills...or maybe really old mountains.
There was one problem and that my friends is why there are no pictures...I fell, like we are talking epic fall. Oh my goodness, it was one of those falls where you don't even realize that you're falling, therefore you don't really catch yourself. They warned us before the start that the trail was really rocky and people have gotten hurt before, so I started the race thinking a lot about falling. For the first few miles I saw several people eat dust big time, so that kept me on my toes. Until 5.5 miles in (dun, dun, dun) when my feet started hurting because I was running in my minimalist shoes and I haven't been running up and down, just flat. I could feel some serious blisters starting. Instead of worrying about running, I was thinking about my feet and sure enough I tripped, fell right on my knees (we were on a big ledge of rock), kept sliding and went on my hip, elbows and right shoulder. It was one of those situations where if I was oh about 20 years younger I would have started crying. I seriously considered laying on the side of the trail until a trail volunteer came by in their 4-wheeler to pick me up. But, I remembered that there are snakes and scorpions and it was starting to get hot, so I got myself up and started walking to see if I could make it the rest of the way.
A girl came running by that reminded me of my ol' work buddy Sarah Yamane (seriously they could have been twins) and she offered to run with me. Bless her heart, she probably saw me crash from up above. She ran with me for about 5 minutes talking about all sorts of things other than what we were doing. Pretty soon, my knees, hip, shoulder, elbows and hands were numb and I could finish. I was a little late thanks to the big fall, but was seriously just so happy that I finished. I finished!!!!!
The trail itself was beautiful, we were running through saguaro's and barrel cactus and cholla. (You've got to be careful of that darn cholla, remember Ranger Amy?
I can see how runs like that could be addicting, it feels so great to do something that seems hard, (believe me I am NOT a runner) plus you're doing it with a group of people that mostly seem to be struggling just like you. The next run is at McDowell Mountain in December. That run is 10 miles...I don't know if I can keep up the running schedule that long though....unless someone wants to come down here and join me!!! December is a fabulous time to be in Phoenix, who can complain about 75 degrees and sunny?
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