It is 85 degrees (3l degrees Celsius) as I head off into the desert for my long Sunday run. Fortunately the temperature drops rapidly as the sun sinks to the horizon and so I start my run around 4pm in an effort to finish just past sunset.. Once I get beyond the inner 2-mile loop, crest a hill and look out and see no one else for miles. Just hundreds of enormous saguaro cactus. I run at what seems like a solid speed, but the trail drops in and out of washes (dry river beds) and by the time I hit the 14k mark I realize I need to pickup the pace. Unfortunately I am tiring a bit by this time. I see birds circling round and round above me and I assume they are vultures who are betting that I will not make it back to the trailhead and that they will be able to feed on my carcass. I push on more quickly and the sun casts amazing shadows against the mountains. I am really tired at 16k and alternate between walking the rocky, hillier sections and sprinting sections of flat, hard-packed trail. Of course it is dangerous and imprudent to start the run so late. (And I should know better having once scrambled through the dark across lava in Volcano National Park in Hawaii - guided by the sight of car headlights on a distant highway). But after the sunset the red sky in the desert and the lights of the sprawling city of Phoenix are magnificent. (and I refuse to run in the afternoon heat)
1 comment:
Sounds a fantastic run. Last night Tamami and I raced on the track in Melbourne in 32 degree heat with winds that almost knocked us off the track. Running a trail through the desert sounds far more appealing.
Run well.
Jon & Tamami
Post a Comment