McDowell Mt. Frenzy

        Well I ran the 25k and it was totally awesome. I finished in my normal slow time but hey I was out there. The best part was that Becky played hookey from work and brought the kids out to watch their old man getting worked over. Another cool thing was my sister and niece came to cheer me on It was like I had my very own cheering section. All that was missing was more cowbell.  Now back to the race… It was a nice morning around 50 degrees, perfect for running.  The crowd was nice and light less than 50 runners doing the 25k, the 50k animals left an hour before our 8 am start time and everyone thinned out in no time at all.

For all who have not had the chance to enjoy McDowell mt. Park, this race took place on the 3 competitive loops which are pretty much all single-track so passing and getting passed takes some timing due to the numerous chollas lining the track. Then you have to avoid all of the loose cholla balls scattered underfoot.  Now back to the run the first loop takes place on most of the short track for 3 miles or so, the single track is nice and compacted decomposed granite. The track flows and rolls up and down and up and up and down through the desert really loosening the old thighs up. From there the course moves to the long loop which is 7 miles of rocky running. The nice little rollers from the earlier track transition into longer dives into and out of dry arroyo’s making my thighs burn. The course then takes us back to the parking lot and back to the short loop again by now I’m really feeling the little rollers but the tough stuff is yet to come. The short course moves to the technical course where the climbing is longer and rockier culminating in a mile long jaunt strait up a mountain and down the back side into a nasty wash that you basically have to crawl out of. After running for a couple of hours the view of the finish from the top of the mountain really invigorated me to start moving a little faster and ignore the screaming pain of my tightening IT band. At the finish my rooting cheer squad was there to dole out high 5’s and love.  I crossed the finish line dove straight at the snacks for some pretzels and a peanut butter burrito yuuuummmm. Over all it was a great run my IT band kills right now so I’m off to my parent’s ice cold swimming pool for a soak.

New Balance mt0101

 Well Rex ate my running shoe, that will teach me to put my shoes away. They were only a month old and just getting really comfortable so I had to go buy new ones. I normally would go to big 5 sports and buy my regular cheapo pair but since I had to go to Road Runner Sports to pick up my race packet I decided to look around. I got to talking to the store owner and excitedly she said that there was a new shipment of shoes from new balance in the back and she thought they had their newest minimalist trail shoes in it. So excitedly i had her bring me a size 10 just to see if they fit and if they were comfy. Damn the luck they were both so i pranced around the store for a while wearing them just to make sure i liked them and once again damn the luck they are supper nice.They were also pretty reasonable at $64 although they were twice as much as my normal shoes.Now i have to break in a new pair of shoes before Sat.It shouldn't be too hard, they feel really good right now.

Rambles

    All right so I decided to start running the DRT series of races that Arivipa Running is putting on. There are 6 events this fall\winter\spring I missed the first 2 but Oh well does it really matter. Along with these 4 races I'm going to run the PF Chang's marathon on Jan 16 which I said I wasn't going to because it was to expensive($130) well Intel decided to sponsor runners so I signed up and they paid the entry fee. COOL!!!  Then they came along and said they would pay the entry fees for the Lost Dutchman Marathon on Feb 5 so I signed up for that one as well.

    Anyway the first DRT run is this Sat. at McDowell Mountain park. It s going to be on the competitive track that is normally used for mountain bikes so its going to be kinda weird running on a trail that used to kick my ass on my mountain bike. Oh well!  I'm going to start with running the 25k for the first couple of races and see how that goes. If everything goes alright Ill finish the series by running the 50k in March. That is unless I get crazy and go run with the Raramuri in Copper Canyon, Mex. I actually have a friend at work who is from that area and has agreed to take me down there. Once you get passed all of the drug mules,assassins, and kidnappers I hear its nice. That run is March 6, may be I can talk Beck into letting me go as an early Birthday present.

     Here is a map of the McDowell Mt. Frenzy course.



McDowell mt. Frenzy course.

It was awful nice of them to make you climb over  a mountain in the last miles of the race. I don't have any expectations on how much time its going to take me I'm just going to go out and have a good time. Oh yeah after the run I get to look forward to going into work. Hope I finish early so I can at least catch a nap. Ill probably on do a few short runs this week leading up to the race.