AZ Trail Fun

Today I got roped (ok, maybe it was semi-willingly) into joining the Spacely Sprockets for their Dec ride on the AZ Trail. Erik's email said Difficulty - Low to Moderate. Difficulty is in the eye of the beholder. There was a big turnout between the SS ride and a group of people from SDMB. I had agreed to 'lead' the slow group. Turns out, I became the slow group.

We started from the Pistol Hill Road trailhead (we'd spend nearly all day here, but more later).

The first part of the trail is awesome. It feels alot like Fantasy Island. Very twisty and fast. Then you come to cross a dirt/gravel road and the fun ride continues for a bit. There are some pretty tight dipping turns. I actually had a pretty good time on this part of the ride. Soon after however, the low difficulty becomes moderate. Moderate = hike-a-bike.

Some views off the trails

There got to be (for me) some fairly iffy rocky sections that I just felt much safer walking through than trying bust out enough speed to get my bike over them. Plus, the trail usually was sided by a nice rolling ditch that a wrong move would send me tumbling into many cacti. I came close enough to a few as it was. Many sections I spent muttering about how this was low-to-moderate difficulty. Good times. Finally I came up on a picnic area with a bathroom and stopped here (among many other locations along the trail) to rest and catch my breath.

The trail picks back up after this for some more rocky good times. There were even a few places that I wondered how a bike got across. Finally the trail dumps out at the end of Colossal Cave Rd. and supposedly drops into the wash and makes a quick left around a rock. Totally missed that one. Myself and another guy cruised up the road trying to find where the trail disappeared. After hunting for awhile we just decided to call it a day as we were about 4-5 miles into the trail. The total trail was supposed to be about 20 miles r/t and since it was out and back, you could turn back at anytime. When we got back to the first half of the trail we met up with some other people from our group who pointed out the right trail to us. Oops.

We hopped back on the trail and headed back the way we came. Unfortunately, some of the stuff we came out on, just wasn't looking very friendly on the way back so there was a significant amount of hiking the bike. Part of the problem was also that since this part was mostly uphill, even once you passed the rocks that I have no idea how people ride over, you couldn't get going again very well. Plus I'm always in the wrong gear in this situation which makes my starting that much more difficult.

FINALLY, we got back to the less rocky, more fun part. I was bombing through parts of this (ok, its probably still slow for some of you, bombing for me). In fact, I went a little hot through a tight turn and veered myself right off the trail. How I managed to catch myself and remaining standing while leaning down a ditch, beyond me. I'm just that awesome. Once we hit the much flatter, FI-like trails I was back to having a wonderful time. So wonderful that after getting back to the jeep, cruising down the road, carving out a new trail through some brush, I decided to re-ride the first little section of trail. Way fun.

Overall the ride wasn't too bad. We had riden Sweetwater yesterday so I was already a little tired from that so I was feeling a lot of burn. I think as I get better this could be a pretty fun trail. Plus it has some nice picnic areas part way through that make for excellent stops (and bathrooms!).

I got back to the Jeep and changed and then got to sit around and wait for the rest of the group to come back. Not sure how long this really was, probably 45 minutes or so. Finally Erik comes rolling in and we get our stuff loaded up and ready to go as we wanted to stop by TriSports so he can pick up some "stuff" (read - my xmas gifts), and I wanted to check out wetsuit that have on a smokin deal. Then we had to go pick up his new shocks for the Jeep. And a new battery since when we started the Jeep this morning it was a bit slow turning over. No worries though. So in the car we go and he turns the key....and.....click,click,click...nothing. Hmm..battery? At this point I think of pointing out that I suggested he bring that nice portable jumper I got him for xmas last year. I think of it, I don't say it. So we asked one of the other guys to give us a jump. Get everything hooked up and try starting it again...click,click,click...nothing. So we assume it is the starter. Luckily we have a friend who had just left that lives in Vail.

......

After buying a new starter and battery (I actually suggest the battery too since we don't know the starter is the only bad part), we head back out to the trailhead. It is now 3:30 and we'll be losing sunlight soon. The guys get to work trying to get the old starter out and I'm the tool girl. Still a lot of dirt under there from last years 24HOP race. Finally they get it loose and get the new one in. I try to start it and get nothing. Needs the battery too. Get that swapped out and try it again. Success!!! So, at least I learned to change the starter on the Jeep. One nice thing is that you can crawl under that sucker w/o a jack. Needless to say we didn't make it to TriSports or the 4-wheel hardware place.

Dec Run-a-Thon, Day 12

It is hard to believe we are almost halfway through Dec. Which means I am almost half way done with running everyday. So far it has gone pretty well. I didn't really recover enough after Sunday so now all my runs leave me feeling like I haven't run in months. I should probably slow down a little bit. I don't want to burn up/out before Chang's in Jan. I have a long run of 9 miles scheduled for this Saturday. I'm also mtn biking the AZ Trail (starting from the Pistol Hill Rd trailhead) on Saturday w/the mtn bike club from work.

Today is our program's holiday lunch. Steak at Sullivan's. Yum. Then Erik and I are headed to either FI or Sweetwater so he can take me on some of the stuff I haven't done yet. Perhaps I won't be scared out of my mind when I ride these places at night if I'm more comfortable during the day. He keeps reminding me that I have this sweet bike I paid $1,200 for sitting in the garage and perhaps I should ride it. Perhaps he is right. But until Sunday my focus had been running. Now I can branch out a little bit. I have to start getting my butt in gear for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo (assuming we find a 4th). I have about enough endurance to get me through a lap. Maybe 2. I'm sure Liane will be thrilled to read that.

I have also decided to try doing some of the MBAA races next year. I'm trying to get myself to trust myself a bit more. I've found that when I ride alone (or with people I don't know), I tend to just let myself ride instead of always thinking about what is next. I do that with Erik. Especially since he rides behind me (so he won't leave me behind), but I get nervous with him watching.

I've gotten off the topic of running a bit. Oh well, still not fond of it, but it is getting a little easier. So far haven't missed a day, I've come close but I've managed to squeeze exactly 2 miles out on those occasions. I also decided to start going to yoga. I'm hoping this helps with my lack of core and my ever dimishing flexibility. How I miss those days when I used to dance.

Damascus bakeries Tucson Half Marathon

I don't run. I hate running and I swear it hates me. But I figured the only way to get past this feeling of disgust is to run more. Perhaps if I got better, I would like it. Or at least hate it a little less.

I picked out a half mary training plan and promptly missed the first 2 weeks because I was too busy finishing up my MBA and graduating. I did run a little bit, but didn't follow a plan. I also skipped the 2 peak training weeks when a self-surgery went wrong and we went home for Thanksgiving and I wasn't ready to run in snow & cold. So going into the race, my long run topped out at 6.5 miles. Which I did in a speedy 1:20. I also nearly killed my lungs at the end of it and was forced to walk more than I liked. I had high hopes for this race. I had originally set a goal of 2:30 which I later revised (due to my 2 weeks off) to the 2:45 area. Then I set a bunch of goals ranging from 2:30 to 3:15.

So Sunday morning comes and I'm up, dark & early at 4:15. Packed up the last bit of my things and headed over to Ventana Medical to catch a shuttle to the start. Got to Tangerine & Innovation at about 5:15 and then spent the next 30 minutes in line, on Innovation trying to get to the parking lot. So much for the last bus leaving at 5:45 as that was the bus I was on. As we left the parking site you could see traffic backed up on Tangerine to the east and then down Oracle past the entrance for Catalina. It is times like these I like living on the westside.

Chatted with a couple people on the bus since I didn't know anyone. Just tried to keep myself calm. Once we got on Biosphere Rd, the bus stopped. Apparently we were waiting in line to drive to the start because there wasn't very much room to turn around. People started getting cranky and joking about how we'd need more Bodily Fluid Cleanup packs than just the 1 at the front of the bus. Finally the driver let us off and we walked the 1/4-1/3 mile to the start area. I immediatley got in line for a bathroom and then headed back up the hill to warm up and drop off my bag. Interestingly, I never really felt nervous about the race. I had my Garmin set to do a .15 mi run/.1 mi walk interval. I just hoped I'd be able to keep that up.

Shortly after 7 (amazing that we started on time w/all the people still trying to park when we left), the gun went off and I joined in the middle of the pack. My plan was to keep it pretty slow for the first 3 miles and then add just a little bit for the next 3 before starting to push for the finish. The crowd finally thinned out about the 1 mile marker and we were off and headed downhill. Of course I realized I would need to make a bathroom break at the first aid station (mile 2.4). Naturally there are only 2 port-a-potties and a line. I'll wait. I took the time to take off my disposable jacket and just decided to keep it with me as it was still chilly out. Shortly after that I got passed by some TTG M&M's! I lost site of them as my run/walk would cause me to run past a bunch of people who would pass me back on the walk. A couple girls wanted to pace off me and we did pretty good until mile 6.2 where I finally had to wave the white flag for a bathroom.

9 minutes later, I was cold and finally back on my way. Long lines & few bathrooms suck. (I would discover the next aid station had no line). I had caught up to Michelle and Kari (the M&M's) at 6.2 and made it out of the bathroom and back on the road first. Didn't see them again. I'll count that to be an accomplishment for the day. After this point the road start to get flat or a gradual uphill. I just kept chugging along, making a stop at every aid station to grab some water. I also was eatting a Luna Moon at every mile. Finally I could see the turn to head behind Basha's and I knew the short, steepish hills were coming and I needed to throttle back so I didn't burn out on them. So what do I do behind Basha's? I try to actually run up the little hill. I felt that one. I started gettinga little out of breathe after that but just kept trying to keep everything easy and remind myself I only had 2 miles to go.

After I made the final turn onto Wilds Road I started paying attention to where I was in the r/w interval. I realized that unless I walked part of a run period, I would end up on a walk through the finish line. Not allowed. So I waited until about mile 12.95 and then just started sprinting to the finish. I had some idea in my head about where I was and just tried to keep distance between the people around me. Nothing worse than a finish photo with other people blocking you. I finished in 2:50:55. Not bad and I would have hit my 2:45 goal had I not had to stand in line for a bathroom.

I was more thrilled by keeping my interval in check the whole time and not having to add extra walks (I did walk through the aid stations). I hit the food line and then started coughing which lasted a good 5-10 minutes. Awesome. Saw Lynelle at the finish (she passed us at 6.2 while we were all in line). And then TTG Lynne. I saw Kathy out on the road riding her bike, and Julie's car driving by me near the finish (although I never saw Julie herself). So big thanks to the girls who came out to cheer us on. It was a cold and gloomy day that never really warmed up. So after sitting down for a little bit I decided to hop on the bus back to my nice, warm car. Some In-N-Out burger as recovery lunch, a hot shower and I was ready to again.

I have the PF Chang's Half next month and am looking to go 2:45 or better there. Hopefully, I can change up the interval times so I can run for a bit longer.

Holding my finisher's medal


Me actually running; these are few and far between

El Tour de Tucson

I've been slacking, I know. El Tour was weeks ago and I have yet to finish my race report. So I sat down and attempted to finish it up. Because I know you are dying to read it...

We left the house about 8:30 to head over to Udall. On the way over I realized that I had taken my lip gloss out of my purse. This poses a problem as my Infinit (or any sports drink) tends to make my lips sticky. Which I then lick or chew on and then they get dry, and I get cranky. Once we hit Udall I ran across the street to Walgreen's to save my lips. About 10, I met up with jay, Elaine and Mea. Took pictures. We look cute.

Elaine, Mea, Jaye and I at the start

Mea and I

Rather than finding a place in the mass of people lined up, we hung out while the major group passed us and then joined the back of the group. The first 4ish miles was pretty good, took it easy and hung out with Elaine and rode behind this guy with a stereo on his bike. At least it was entertaining. Got the wash crossing which royally sucked. I think it was around 25-30 minutes of hiking and complaining about having to hike my bike. Got out to Snyder Hill and just concentrated on pedaling up that sucker. I kept reminding myself that this was a piece of cake compared to Mt. Lemmon. In all honesty, I felt like the hill on Sunrise was actually a little more challenging than Snyder was. I had a pretty fabulous ride across Sunrise/Ina and up Oracle. I made a quick aid station stop at the fire station on Ina and then got back going.

Once we turned onto the First and started that climb I could feel the burn in my thighs and I just kept telling myself to pedal and pedal some more. The turn onto Tangerine was very happy. I made it around Rancho Vistoso and Moore with few issues (1 more aid station stop). Tangerine headed west was amazing. I coasted at 25 mph. It felt awesome and was a great break from pedaling. I made a stop at the aid station by I-10 and decided to cut it short since I noticed they were holding a train. Once I turned south on the Frontage road, my race started heading downhill. Things just seemed a million times slower. By time I made it to that evil hill on Silverbell (it isn't really that bad, but at that point it was), I just wanted it to be done. I passed the aid station there and then started to realize just how little I ate over the course of the day which explained the headache and general crappy feeling. I contemplated just going home as the route passed by our house - but alas, I had no keys. I also realized, after looking at Erik's GPS later, that once you turn south on the Frontage road you are going uphill the whole way. No wonder I was slow!

As I'm going down Silverbell at a slow, pokey pace, I hear someone call 'on your left', so I scoot to the right a bit and look over to see a TANDEM PULLING A KIDS BIKE TRAILER passing me like I'm standing still. At this point, I really wanted to be done. I suffered it out and hit the next aid station for a granola bar and some watermelon to try and calm down the evil headache and get me through to the finish line. I swear, Silverbell goes forever. And who made it rolling?

Finally hit the finish line and have never been so happy to be done with something. Called Erik who had finished and then biked back to the start (all the way across town) to get the Jeep. He wanted to me to meet him at Granada & Speedway (or Main..whatever it changes too). I thought he was joking but agreed to slowly walk my way there. No way was I getting back on that bike.

I went to the medal pickup tent, but they RAN OUT of 66 miler medals. Was I that slow? There was a huge crowd of people waiting to put their address on a paper to have the medals mailed to them. Not happy. How do you misjudge by that much? I finished about 938/1205 so there were 250+ people behind me (not including those who finished before me in line) that didn't get a medal. Of course I got an email last night (12/11) that the medals were in and we could pick them up from the PBAA office. Seriously? You run out of medals and now I have to go pick it up after I put my address down to have it mailed to me?

It wasn't a bad ride, everyone in our group finished before me. I thought I was making great time until the last 15 miles. Oh well, I finished it and now I know I can certainly go 66 miles. This makes for my longest ride by distance ever. Longest by time is still Mt. Lemmon and that was 6ish hours of fun. Mostly uphill climbing fun.

Wow....

So it's been awhile and I've been lazy on the blogging concept. My new years resolution will be to put more of an effort into doing this. Lots of the girls use their blogs for race reports and this seems like an excellent idea. I already have to write it twice (one for email and one for BT); I can just send the link to here.

I'm participating in our clubs Dec Run-a-thon. Something about this helping with all the holiday eating and maybe getting the body to enjoy running. Yeah, enjoy running. Funny. I'm 2 days in and so far so good. The goal is to run (or as I like - "Walk, with intention of running") 2 miles a day. The first day I thought I had a loop by our house figured out, but it was only 1.84 mi. Last night I did it a little differently and came up at 2.1 mi. As you can see, shooting for exactly 2 miles. Not one of those people who hears 'min of 2 miles' and then goes and does 5+ miles because it seemed like a good idea. Plus, I have a half mary to run on Sunday and we all know this is taper week.