During these past three weeks of back-to-school madness, I've been looking forward to this three-day weekend: Labor Day! So, this morning, I slept in...until 4:30 a.m. Time to get up and join a thousand other early risers to RUN the Saguaro National Park Labor Day 8-miler! This was my second year doing it; as long as I live in Tucson, I hope to make this an annual tradition.
Last Thursday's Tucson newspaper, (click here for more info; above photo of last year's starting crowd from the article), had a lengthy article about the race, which has taken place here for 42 years. I didn't notice it, but my wife pointed out to me that I'm in the photo! Towards the right, I'm in the blue/white shirt, wearing a red cap.
A friend of mine drove over so we could carpool to the National Park; my wife volunteered to come along and be our logistics coordinator--all of this well before sunrise. And it was a muggy dawn--temperature already in the 80's in the desert! Fortunately, we had a cloudy morning--the thermometer never did rise above about 83 degrees while we ran.
That made climbing the numerous hills less of a chore; check out this topographical map (printed on the front of the race t-shirt from a few years ago) of the route:
About halfway through the loop, you have to climb the equivalent of a 40-story building.
It is a scenic route through the cactus-studded foothills of the Rincon Mountains. Come on and check it out!
This year's t-shirt:
Incidentally, the friend of mine who carpooled with us--he won his age division easily...AND he won the 'Masters,' meaning he was the fastest runner over 40; the only guys faster than him were a decade or two younger!.
As for me, I did make my goal, which was a minute slower (alas) than last year, since I missed about six weeks of consistent training runs this summer, with traveling to and from Asia, jet-lag, etc...I still consider myself a 'newbie'...and in about an hour, I am going to meet up with some friends at an Italian restaurant to celebrate, as I did last year, with a big plate of spaghetti alla carbonara. (Hey, runners deserve their carbs, right?) For health's sake, this too should be a once-a-year tradition only--the last time I tasted that piatto de colesterolo was Labor Day of last year...
Below, a few photos of the scenery in Saguaro National Park...
The Park is divided--one section is west of the city, and the other (about a 15-minute drive from where we live, where the race takes place) is just east of Tucson...With all of its flaws, it is cool to live in a city sandwiched between National Park lands...
I am especially fond of this park because it helped make me a runner. L'appétit vient en mangeant--the saying is smooth in French, awkward in translation: 'the appetite arrives while eating,' or, 'you get hungrier as you eat,'--sometimes you don't know you want/need/enjoy something until you are already in the process of trying it...
As an all-too sedentary adolescent, busy with music and books and GPA, running was totally off my radar...Running this cactus-lined loop last year, I realized that I enjoyed the mind-clearing motion of running longer distances outdoors. After I finished the 8-miler last year, I then set my eyes (or my legs, I guess I should say) on '13.1'...and a few months later, I finished my first half-marathon! So now, as the weather finally begins to cool down, time to train for another one...
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