Dispatches From The Field 2-27-11

Didn't get this posted with scrambling around getting ready to travel, but wanted to share...


Sometimes the desert just takes your breath away.

Met fellow sommelier Jeffrey Bencus at the Late Night Trail head in the Cottonwood Valley. He dropped me a text commenting that it might be muddy. I responded with "OK", figuring a little mud never hurt anybody. Hell, my cousin Daren lives for mud.

The trail is at roughly 4200 feet and when I checked the weather on the Internet it was in the low 50s in Las Vegas, so it never occured to me that there might be snow on the ground (ok, a dusting of snow, but hey, it's the desert) and that I might be dealing with strong winds. Cold, Cold, COLD! So don't I feel stupid standing there in shorts and a thermal looking at Jeffrey who is clearly properly dressed for the conditions.

Jeffrey B. - That smile says it all.

So when Jeffrey inquires if I might be cold and maybe a tad under dressed, I look him in the eye, shrug and say, "I'll be ok, let's go!" (Man-up baby)

Unlike me, a runner with common sense.

Today we are running through the tunnel under Highway 159 toward the south. Jeffrey has run a loop over here before that is 6 miles. I need 10, so we agree to do his loop and then keep going past where we parked out Late Night Trail way to get in the other 4 miles. This way we will both see some new real estate.

Immediately, my legs hurt and Jeffrey is a little quicker than I remember. This does not bode well. I tell myself to relax and let him go. I'm going to give my body time to settle in. Patience I think, patience is something I'm going to need in November. I jog along and listen to my body as my legs speak with me frankly about yesterday's injustices.

The 3 mile outward section of the loop is all uphill and it is beautiful. Further, I get lucky as the landscape acts as a windbreak for most of the climb up. The trails here are perfect for me right now. For the most part the single track is not technical (although there are moments) and the grades are not crazy. That being said, it's enough to get my attention. The Double Dipsea in June is very much on my mind. For me, this will be one of three "A" races for me this year and my first trail race ever. I have no illusions of being a threat, but I want very much to be respectable. As I get a little closer, I plan to throw in some hard climbs and more aggressive technical trail.
 

Working up the trail (no help for the sun)

Jeffrey is one of the nicer people I know, and shows it by jogging back a quarter mile a couple of times to make sure I'm not dying on him. I wave him forward (I have my pride). My legs are also coming back. I churn ahead.


Almost at the top of the loop.

The picture above is at about the three mile mark and I am thinking I am in the home stretch. Jeffrey is at the top to greet me and inform me that we are going to continue up to the right of this picture for the steepest part of the climb. It was only about a third of a mile though and the view was spectacular. Of course I didn't get a picture because Jeffrey took off and I was worried about not seeing him again for the rest of the day.

The descent has the most technical running of the loop and I focused on small, quick steps. That too is something I'm going to need to get some serious practice on between now and June.

The rest of the run was pretty straight forward and just plain fun. It got a little cold in the flats where the wind picked up again. Jeffrey waited for me at the Late Night Trail. We ran most of the last four miles together, enjoying the view and catching up. I plan to do a lot of running in this area in the near future. The 4-5 runs I have done out here so far have all be awesome and there is just so much to explore.

In the future, I will dress for success.

2:11:34 / 10.91 miles