13 K Copper Crawl Hill Climb, Miami, Arizona
Saturday morning April 17 found me toiling up the side of a mountain above the mining town of Miami, Arizona about 40 miles east of here on U. S. 60. The race is part of Miami's annual Boom Town Spree. A great experience start to finish, from leaving the house at 5:35 AM to arriving safely home again six hours later. A tough but interesting course mainly over dirt roads up, up, up into the foothills of the Pinal Mountains. Out and back, with the turnaround point at Warnica Springs in the Tonto National Forest. The race started from downtown near the corner of Live Oak and Adonis. Great support, T-shirt, goodie bag, not to mention the complimentary pancake breakfast and sports massage.
I enjoy the on-the-fly camaraderie of running events. One has conversations, some of them unforgettable for a lifetime, with people many of whom one will never see again.
Round Mountain Sunrise Challenge, Globe, Arizona, National Trails Day, 5 June 2010
I left the house at 4 AM, arrived at the trailhead in Globe around 5:15. Gun went off at 6. A very challenging 5 K (3.1 mile) rocky course through and over boulders and dry streambeds with plenty of elevation change. Not even a worldclass trail runner could have negotiated the whole of this sucker at a run. A delightful course nonetheless with scenic views and a friendly coterie of local diehards. I took third place in the 60+ category. (And yes, there were more than three in that category!) But I had to pour it on at the end to keep from being overtaken by a crusty one-eyed 75 year old.
What Colin Fletcher says of hiking is equally true of running, especially trail running: It is ". . . a delectable madness, very good for sanity, and I recommend it with passion." (The Complete Walker III, p. 3)
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