Cool runnings in Arizona

Here's a "I'm almost caught up" post with some places we've been running in Arizona this winter.

Sedona!  I've been trying to get there every couple of weeks.  It's so beautiful, the trail network is crazy extensive, and I don't think I would ever run out of places to explore.

Even on a cloudy day, anywhere you go is camera-worthy.

The only downside is that it takes longer to get anywhere, partly because I have to watch my footing on the rocky-ish trails, and of course because I'm always wanting to stare at the scenery at the same time.

I'm not sure what geological magic created these shapes and colors, but I surely appreciate it.

Moving on to somewhere less orange, we had the chance to climb Siphon Draw to the Flat Iron in December.  I'm not sure why I didn't bring the camera, because it was quite a unique experience.  The "trail" goes straight up a very steep draw.  Lots of scrambling and route finding on big rocks and slabs.  All totally doable, all while wondering how hard it will be to get back down.

After that, the walk to the top of the Flat Iron was strangely simple, with great views on a lovely day.  At that point I had plenty of extra hands and fingers available for digging out the phone to take a picture of the towers on top, looking toward the Superstition range:

Oh, and getting back down was fine.  Fun even.  Glad we went!

I ran my first 50K race in quite some time, from Lake Pleasant to Cave Creek.  John came out to crew, meeting me at the halfway aid station.  Yay for John!  And for hand sanitizer after using the porta potty!

And there she goes...

Two things that stood out: Running for hours seems to take a lot longer when not listening to podcasts.  And being out in the desert following a flagged route, with no map/compass, no idea where we were going, that was strange!  I guess we have done a lot of orienteering around here lately.

Even though my stated goal was only to finish, I ended up racing several other women.  Only because it was something to do.  And they were chasing me.  My competitive streak still exists!

The final 3 miles were a loop up a big hill, around and down the other side.  John got a picture of me climbing the switchbacks up the hill, although I'm so tiny in this photo that it's really just a picture of the terrain we were running in:

I climbed reasonably well, but then noticed two women chasing me - and running uphill!  Geez, y'all aren't going to make this easy.

John also hiked so fast up to the top that he even got a picture of me on the traverse around the back of the peak - again you'll just have to take my word for it:

Happily my downhilling speed is still half-decent, especially when properly motivated.  Crossing the line, after "winning" the mini-race that didn't matter for anything (there were several actually-fast women well ahead of us, after all):

Some scenes from an orienteering event near Rock Springs, where we helped pick up controls afterward and John took the time to snap some pictures.  The Gila River is really pretty around here:

A couple of the checkpoints were in a drainage that offered a bit of downclimbing on interesting rocks, plus figuring out how to climb around small pools of water.  We were warned beforehand that this was more of an adventure hike - those are always fun!

Hey Dave, come join us one of these days!

Moving up in race distance, time for a 50-miler!  Or 52 miles, that works too.  I ran around the trails of Estrella Mountain park last week, super enjoyable day.  The clouds made for perfect temperatures:

John didn't even have to go anywhere to crew for me, as the course was in big loops of 20 and 12 miles.  Added benefit of knowing where I was going after the first loop.  And some company from a local runner who was fun to talk to for part of the first loop (thanks Danelle!).  Plus my iPod in the later miles.  It was a tiring and excellent day (and evening):

We are enjoying winter in the desert!