Let's see, where were we? Arizona, Flagstaff, oh right, we were almost back to Tucson toward the end of last September. Back in Howie (our travel trailer) after a couple months of living out of the truck and various types of camping and lodging.
During a run while charging the truck in Phoenix - a fun pedestrian bridge and I think the red things are meant to portray the fruit of a prickly pear cactus (we are definitely back in Arizona):
I'm guessing it was still rather warm at that point, so a day up in the Catalina Mountains would have been a pleasant relief. John and I hiked around the Bigelow area, did an orienteering map from an event we missed, and apparently tried to push a rock off the side of the hill:
Interesting rock shapes and an interesting man:
John's on top of the world (at least a local maximum):
More Catalina trekking, this time up the Babad Do'ag trail, cross-country over to Soldier's Trail, and then back down to the road. Somewhere along the way to get back to the truck we found this lovely symbol:
Along the same line, celebrating our anniversary - love you bunches!
Lovin' Spoonfuls always delivers an amazing vegan meal:
This blog has now arrived at October! Here's a cool sunflower mailbox I saw during a run:
October 13, 2025 was officially "Beard Day" in the Wordle World. Finally! And we didn't miss it on one of our out-of-cell-service backpacking days, yay!!
It was also a rainy day in Tucson. There is normally very little water in the Santa Cruz "river" but that changed briefly:
The sun came back the very next day and the water was still flowing well:
My favorite image of our TV screensaver - puffins!
Ever since I first heard about the "Man Against Horse" 50-mile race near Prescott, I wanted to try it. I'm amazed that there are guys who can beat the horses outright (even subtracting the vet checks where the horses get to rest). That was never going to be me, but hopefully I could finish within the cutoff time.
The race number sure is pretty:
Knowing my (lack of) speed, I opted for the early start:
A few pre-dawn runners getting ready for a head start on the horses:
It was an entertaining, interesting, challenging day. The horses passed me as I was starting up into the hills and I enjoyed greeting the riders. The fast runners weren't far behind. Up into the highlands with beautiful views. Some steep climbing, lots of up and down, mostly reasonable footing on the trails, and I tried to stay focused on keeping a good pace. I smiled when I caught a glimpse of Jerome, and I think I could see Sedona in the distance (if I remember right).
Then there was the crazy steep uphill grind, which I had some idea about in advance (it tended to make the stories). John was at the top to cheer me on and help me through the aid station. Great to see you, John! Several more miles through the woods, staying focused and happy, then a wonderful switchback-y downhill. My legs did great and amazingly didn't try to cramp even once.
One quick aid station and one confusing sign later (the "miles to the finish" number was way low) and I was hustling to get through the fields to the end before the final cutoff time. I didn't enter many races in 2025, and after DNF'ing Hardrock it was nice to get confirmation that I could still indeed finish an official race. Thank you to the organizers and all the wonderful volunteers and horse people for the unique experience!
John spent the morning climbing Granite Mountain and took a couple pictures. There really is a lot of granite up there:
Rocks of unusual shapes:
The next day we finally made time for a tour of Arcosanti where we saw some beautiful architecture and learned about various types of artforms being created there:
Bells are apparently a specialty:
It's a really neat space with a fascinating history:
Meanwhile, back in Tucson, it must be getting close to Halloween...
Quite the yard decoration!
Thanks for playing along and letting me revisit some recent memories!
No comments:
Post a Comment