I'm so happily WRONG!

I thought today was the first day of work.

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That means I don't have mind-numbing meetings until tomorrow!  Now this idea isn't mine, but I did a quick google search for a poster I have in my classroom that refers to meetings and found this.  This is a good idea to make meetings less mind-numbing.  How bored could you be if everybody is a storm trooper?

To celebrate my extra day off I slept in until 7 am.  I didn't as much as stir until my wife told me she was leaving for work.  I thought about trying to go back to sleep, but decided a run would be better.   I drove to the trailhead and one the first step my injured left leg went "HEEEEEY, remember me?!?!"  

But I took it easy and had no other issues.  I completed a four mile single track trail run that's 85% shaded (a rare treat in this part of Arizona).   There were lots of calves that were afraid enough to trot away from me, but not enough to really leave.  They'd ramble up the trail a bit and then forget they were running...it's sometimes hard to remember you're fleeing something when the world is your pantry.  They'd start eating something and as if they'd never seen me before, take off again when I caught up to them.  The worst two offenders eventually crawled under some scrub and laid down. 

I am glad I've been able to be patient with my rehab.  I've developed and am continuing to develop some strengthening and stretching routines and devote more time to warming up and cooling down, for both running and riding.  These are things I needed to do anyway. 

It's been a while since I shared any MSPaint art with you.  So here goes:

Cheat Day, 105 degrees, and a run...no problem.

Today I spent the entire day out of the house. I left before 7 am, spent the entire day with my youngest daughter. She had a dentist appointment in a town about 35 miles north of us, where my wife works. Since my truck doesn't have AC, gets 15 miles a gallon and diesel is $4.50 a gallon, we decided to ride with my wife and pal around for the rest of the day.

The town is Green Valley, Arizona. It's a retirement community. We had one errand to run (get the oil changed on the car), and the rest of the time was ours. The appointment was in the morning, so that went by quickly. After eating lunch with my wife and her co-workers, we went to a used book store and found a STEAL. A first edition, signed copy of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove...for $3.00! Whoa!

Then we went to the library. We picked up a couple of books, including Pam Reed's book, The Extra Mile. As we used the automated computer system to check out our books we saw we had something ready for pick up that had been reserved. We look on the shelf that's in the first isle in the library. Our name is at the bottom. We are bent over looking for our item when we hear a RIIIIIP. I looked up and there's an old man's saggy rear end pointing right at me between the shelves from the neighboring isle! I grabbed our item and we scrambled away to the checkout computer choking on laughter. The old man actually farted right in our faces.

The thing I want to know is, did he NOT know it made a sound, or did he NOT know he let it rip?

What was the item we risked death to retrieve? Beverly Hills Chihuahua! No joke.

After the library we dropped the car off to get the oil changed and walked across the street to Wal-Mart. Now, my daughter Brianna (12) and I play slug bug rather aggressively. We've expended the game to include PT Bruiser and Kick-a-Jeep. Also, remember this is a retirement community. If you're 65 in this place, you're a youngster, no exaggeration. I decided to kick our game up a notch, and as it turned out, this was a very poor decision on my part. I decided to start a game called, Punch and Oldie. That means, see an old person, punch the competitor. So, for an hour we sat on one of the benches punching and pushing each other. I'm bruised! We did see an octogenarian woman wearing bright red short-shorts! Whoa!

It was 105 degrees today, we were gone all day and had very little to drink. It was one of those days where I was starving all day. Also, being Friday, it was time for a cheat meal. My wife wanted Little Cesars and I just wanted to eat, so perfect. Little Cesars it was!

We waited an hour after dinner and went for a run. My oldest daughter Alex, (17), decided to go along, though not to run. She was going to take pictures of things. She'd walk the trail until my youngest daughter got tired and turned around to return to the car, where they'd return together. As it turned out, there were too many good things to see for Brianna (the youngest) and she never turned around. Instead, when she got tired, she just explored until I returned and decided to run back with me.

We found Alex about a mile from the trail head. It was getting dark. I held the camera and her phone and the three of us jogged back to the car. Alex did very well for not having ever run before, especially considering that the mile she ran is challenging because of the sand.

So here's a little tip: Ever want to know how to run better, ask a 12 year old. The first mile of this trail is largely soft, deep, dry sand, the kind that swallows your feet and fills your shoes. She told me today, to run better in the sand, I just need to go faster. Of course, it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that she weighs 95 pounds and I weigh 215!

What about the combination of pizza (covered with Tobasco), lack of hydration and 105 degree day and running? Did it make me hurl?

Nope. In fact, I felt great. It was just a recovery run, so I went slow and easy the whole way.

Here are a few pictures of the trail. It's called the Sonoita Creek Trail, the Rio Rico Trail head. It's just over 1.6 miles from the trail head to the first gate, which is a perfect recovery run. That's usually as far as I go, as I did tonight.


This is Brianna and myself heading out on the run. Good thing it was a recovery run because my legs were STIFF at first!

Here are a few pictures of the trail. I'm not up for the full 18 miles out and back, but eventually would like to write a full report of the trail. I've walked the whole thing, but that was a long time ago.


As you can see, this is a well traveled path.



This is the mountain San Cayetano, which I climbed three weeks ago.

Milagro (Miracle) Run

Happy National Running Day!

Today I went on a run I'd been planning for a while, but never had the time to do. See, basically, I planned on having someone drop me off in the desert and then I would run home. My wife agreed to drop me off in the desert, though with some apprehension.

The run itself wasn't terribly long, but anybody that's done any bush-whacking through high desert knows that distance isn't half of the story!

I started off and climbed a series of 5 hills over a span of one mile that total for approximately 900 feet of climbing. The climbing isn't terribly hard, but the down hills are flat (pun intended) dangerous! See, the ground is hard packed underneath a bed of either pebbles or gravel. So, no matter how great your shoes are, they're going to slide down the hill. I've taken my Jeep on these roads and there's no stopping on the way down in a vehicle either!

Anyhow, I'm calling this the miracle run. First, it's a miracle that it was nice and cloudy this morning. It's also a miracle I can run it! It's a miracle I didn't get bitten by a snake, twice! Last, it's a miracle I didn't completely bite it on the way down one of those hills. I came back with most of my skin.

After the hills, which is an easy trail to follow as it's a gas line road, I took a right hand turn on a smuggling trail. There's a lot of human and narcotic smuggling in the area. These trails usually skirt just below the edges of the ridge lines and follow what were once cattle or game trails. There are a lot of places where one must push through walls of mesquite and other things with thorns like this:

After clearing all of those things, which took about a mile of running I was in the flats below which are open and grassy, but rocky. I was tired and not paying attention when I almost stepped on this:

Turns out it was just a skin, but at the time I had no idea what it was. About two miles later the same thing happened, except that time it was a living snake. Luckily, it was non-venomous, and didn't notice me at all, I don't believe.

Now, along the way I saw some extraordinary beauty. I had to stop and take a few pictures. This is a cholla cactus (sometimes called a jumping cactus) that's blooming.

And here, below, is what I saw as I came through the last thicket of mesquite trees.

This was about 2 1/2 miles into the run. It's followed by about 1 and a half miles of running through sand and then 2 more miles on pavement. For an idea of the topography, here's a link, though you need google earth for it to work.

All told, it took me 70 minutes, though the hills themselves took me 32 minutes. Nothing like running 16 minute miles and feeling dead!

Dead Coyote Run

I've been consumed by running lately. So this evening, even though I'd already run some crazy hills, ridden my bike, and lifted weights, I went for a run. Isn't vacation grand!

It was about 5 miles, half of it through deep, soft and dry sand. On the way I saw a lot of rabbits, a lot of deer, and then this:


It slowed me down quite a bit, stopping, adjusting the headlamp and trying to get a good picture, but it was worth it.

I love running, always have. It's just that for a long period of time I was too heavy to run. Before I got injured, and used that as an excuse to get fat, I ran all the time. I'd run in the mornings as part of our physical training (army PT) and in the evenings I'd sometimes run with friends who were trying to improve. It was nothing to me.

For example, one night I was restless and bored, so I ran to my friend's apartment, 8 miles away, in basketball shoes, no socks. I got there and he wasn't home. I broke in through the kitchen window and was watching TV when he and his wife returned home from an evening out on the town.

It wasn't uncommon for me to drink with my friends, get antsy and go on a run in the middle of the night. Sometimes I'd come back with some fantastic made-up stories that I'd sell, like how I stole an army truck.

In the army I was faster than 99% of the people around me. And those that were faster than me trained. They were serious. I drank and smoked and ate pizzas and ran hung over, or still drunk. I only ran for the pure pleasure, much like the reasons I drank and smoked. It was ephemeral, in the moment and then gone. You could do it again, but there would only really be the memory of it (or so I thought at the time).

When we'd run, and it was timed, there would usually be one or maybe two people (out of few hundred) that would be faster than me. Again, they trained and were very serious. Even then, I kept up with them until the end. And while I knew they'd eventually drop me, I'd talk trash the whole time. I'd tell them what I had done the night before, how much I weighed, or ask them how they could feel they were fast when I was step for step with them, talking the whole way. At the finish I'd get gasps of disbelief from the time keepers and atta-boys from those that knew me.

See, I didn't have a runner's body. I'm 5' 10" on a great day and weighed around 210 then. I was as strong as I wanted to be, or so it felt. But all of that weight was a lot to lug around. I was thick and boxy, while runners are lean and long.

So now I'm wondering what could've been. No way to tell...but, I can find out what is. I need to drop a lot more weight to really know. But I'm on my way. And with days like this, the weight will come off.

And later, when people ask me what I've done to lose weight, what's my secret, and I'll tell them, "diet and exercise," they'll look at me as though I'm lying and teasing them. But, I can count exactly how many beers I've had in 2011. Before, I couldn't count how many I'd had on any given weekend. I can count the number of cheese burgers (3), bags of chips (0) and sodas (0) I've had. Heck, before, I couldn't go a meal (other than breakfast) without meat in it. Now, I go days without meat, and weeks without red meat. And when I have it, it's because I'm either dining out or my wife made it for dinner.

I'm devoted and focused. That's what it takes to lose weight. Don't try if you can't be devoted and focused.

That's what it takes to lose weight. That should be a book.

Q: Do you want to lose weight?
If yes, follow step 1.

Step 1: You will lose weight with permanent changes in your diet and exercise. Devote yourself to dietary changes and exercise. Stay focused.

The End

I hope that didn't sound too snarky. I really don't intend it to be. It's just that there are no short cuts and everybody knows it. But stating such makes me the bad guy in some circles. I'm not the bad guy, I'm one of those guys that decided to devote myself and stay focused!

Celebrate the Pain

Let us celebrate, revel even, in the punishment we are about to endure.

That was the sentiment as we approached the first of four large hills that I planned as our daily run. We joked, those hills at home or at a school will be nothing.
The hill, from here, is a quarter mile to the top and a climb of 204 feet in elevation.

Here's my running partner finishing off the first hill.

Here is the view from the top of the first climb.

Here I am standing in front of the second hill. The drop before this one is pretty small, but the climb was another 100 feet.


Here's hill three, with my running partner, Brianna, running at the bottom. This gives you an idea of how steep they are.
And of course, every time you run, if you look, you'll find something unexpected. Like a Kris Kristofferson record that someone blasted with a shotgun.


The thing about this run is that the hills were loose and steep. I fell running up them a few times. Going down was precarious and if you fell, you were sliding to the bottom and leaving a lot of bodily tissue behind! So, caution was the word of the day on the descents.

In Born to Run, there's a woman who describes a Monster. The Monster is what urges you to stop, slow down, give into the pain. I think about that a lot while I'm running. I want to face the Monster, beat it. I want to challenge it every time.

Today's run was supposed to bring the Monster, but it really didn't. Yesterday's two mile flat run did, I felt like crap. I didn't expect to see it there, but was happy when I did. It made me pick up my feet, take a deep breath and GO. I wanted to see it again.

But today, we showed no humility in the face of the hills. We were both thoroughly beat, after having run up each one as fast as we could. Each hill made us feel better, more accomplished and more confident.

My knee hurt, Brianna twisted her ankle, a dehydration headache was setting in and we were both exhausted. We can't wait to do it again.

Exploring

One of the nicer things about living where I do is the access to vast openness and all of the trails, marked and developed, or otherwise. I think I could run an entire year worth of trails within a 15 minute drive of my house and never repeat the same route.

On today's run I scared a coyote and a huge group of cows that were drinking at a stock tank, saw a lot of trash from illegal immigrants, and got all cut up from mesquite thorns. Awesome run!

Here's the GPS map of the run, though the return portion of the run is missing, for some reason. The software is a bit quirky, but free, so I'll deal with it!

At the turn around point of my run is a gas line road. If you're unfamiliar with those roads, they go perfectly straight between two distant points. This means, they do not contour to the surroundings. This road runs perpendicular to all of the hills.

When I reached the road, I knew I had to climb it. According to the GPS, it was a 100 foot climb over 1/8th of a mile. Pretty ridiculous. But I ran it and had fun. Coming down was a bit scary though!



This was the view from the top.


Here's my still chubby face! Runs like these will certainly help shave off some more body fat.

Yesterday's run was equally cool, though I had NO IDEA where the trail went. It was a Jeep trail that trimmed down to a four-wheeler trail that narrowed to a horse trail that narrowed to a game trail. It wound around the side of San Cayetano (the prominent geographical feature of Rio Rico) and then down into a canyon that opened up into Sonoita Creek. Definitely a lot of fun.

The thing I kept thinking of while running today, and the heat was bad, was the look a woman gave me last night. I told her that I had lost weight with diet and exercise. She looked incredulous. Her look said, "There's got to be more, you liar!" Nope. Diet and exercise. It's easy to say. It's not easy to do, but that's the beauty. Running is hard if you're doing it right.

Running with Cousins

Tonight we (Brianna and I) ran with our cousins, Sarah and Alyssa. We did about 3 1/2 miles and had a great pace. Poor Alyssa does NOT run (yet) and looked miserable. But, being Alyssa, she was upbeat and happy and fun to be around.



The route we took is a portion of the de Anza trail that runs parallel to the Santa Cruz River. It's soft ground, well shaded and meanders. There are some fallen trees crossing the trail that must be jumped over and some pretty cool views of the surrounding mountains.

Today was supposed to be a recovery run. I'm not sure what happened, but Brianna was keeping pace. On the way back she took off like I'd never seen her do. We were booking! It was so much fun. The dog was BEAT, as were the two of us.

Here's the pace-setter today:



In this pic, a bit blurry on my face (you're welcome), you can see my cheap toe-shoes. I love these things.

It's so fun to run with my daughter and cousins.

And here's the route we took: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/34631194

Anyhow, here's to running. :D