When the Sunrise at Old Tucson studios 4 mile trail run came across my radar I was like where do I sign up?? I also immediately copied and pasted the link to my running buddy’s facebook page because duh who else would I be running it with? I had never been to old Tucson studios but knew it was set up like an old west town (like tombstone) and it had been the set of many different movies through the years, I knew the scenery would be unique and it would be all dirt, double score!
Alas because of the beauty of facebook everyone that is a mutual friend of Jenny and I could see the link I posted and one of our buddies from Ft Lewis was going to be in town and wanted to do it too (awesome!).
So there we were (no sh!t) 5am on race day in the parking lot of the NCO academy picking up Nia. We were all excited and got ourselves ready for the hour plus drive up to Tucson. I was a little sad we weren’t able to all carpool together… mainly because its fun to have good convo on those long drives on the early mornings but I needed my car since Vic was bringing me the kids once I finished the race so he could make his drive to Texas for work. It was ok though I pumped up the jams on my XM radio and rocked out to any music I knew the words to pumping myself up. I knew I was under trained, I had hit some sort of wall the past couple weeks and hadn’t been getting out there as much as I should. This week I had only clocked one run and it was only 2.5 miles.. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I ran 4 miles (well actually I could if I logged on to daily mile and pulled up my history but that’s beside the point). Regardless of the fact I would have my a$$ handed to me by this trail I was looking forward to the beating.
We ended up getting there sooo early we got our bib numbers and were shocked to feel how cold it was! But we realized it was only 615 and by 8 the race start it would warm up enough to brave the race in our tank tops. To kill time we jumped in my tahoe and chit chatted/gossiped/ laughed and giggled until about 725 when Nia reminded us we should probably hit the head before we get to the start line. Good call! Of course there was a GIANT line for the female bathroom.. well actually there were like 6 people.. after we got in line about 15 more showed up so it was more like a line… of course then we got a lady to take our pre race picture. The lady kept asking us where we wanted to stand, we were like um we don’t care.. she insisted we have a “background” for our picture… what the heck lady it’s the fricken desert, and it’s not that serious! So we found some classic desert landscape for our picture, rocks and cactus (LOL).
Then we made our way into the park to find the start line. There wasn’t one, instead there was a huge mass of people standing around in unorganized groups.. Ah whatever we still had 10 minutes to go.. then at about 3 minutes to race start someone on the porch of a second story building came out with a mic and started organizing us and herding us to the “start line” He also thoroughly explained the course to us, this guy from Southern Arizona Roadrunners always does a great job explaining the course pre run… except for me it just ends up sounding complicated, and in my head I always say, well the race is marked isn’t it??
In true old west style not only was it a “gun” start it was a old school revolver “gun” start done by a cowboy who I’m assuming works at the park and was shooting caps or blanks.. but hey you never know!
Anyways… we were off with a “bang” and another “bang” and yet another… really guy do you need to keep shooting? You may call me a wuss but despite the fact it’s been years since I was deployed I still get a little jumpy around loud noises. Jenny had reminded me before we started that I needed to start SLOW and not charge out of there like a bat out of hell only to use up all my energy the first mile, so we started out at a nice slow steady pace right down the center of this old western “town” of course right after we made the first turn and had gone about 100 yards there was the first downhill then uphill, despite the fact it looked steep it wasn’t to hard. I was testing out my new compression tights and a combination of the slick material of those combined with the slick material of my moisture wicking tank top my shirt kept riding up. I kept pulling it down and I said out loud “man this shirt keeps riding up and getting on my nerves!” Nia replied “well better your shirt then your underwear!” how true is that!
We ended up catching up to a man and his son running, I think we could have kept going and passed them but we were kind of taken aback by this “kid” he was little! We were trying to judge his age, he was a lot shorter and skinner then my Vicki so I was thinking this kid was like 3 maybe 4 and I was thinking how awesome it was he was out there running when I know my daughter who is supportive of me running isn’t really one to set out and run 4 miles… Jenny asked how old he was and the man replied he was 5… Holy cow a 5 year old running a 4 mile run?? Crazy! In a good way of course… fitness is important and it was nice to see a father that was encouraging his kid to be active. As we made a loop around the Old Tucson studios we ran next to the kid giving him encouragement, telling him how awesome he was for doing it. We circled around the town taking in the landscape and finally reached the 1 mile mark. The dad said yay Dylan look 1 mile you made it 1 whole mile! We cheered for the boy as well because.. hey that is pretty hard core! As we made the turn after mile 1 we were making our way into the “trail” part. It narrowed and the extreme ups and downs started. I was immediately glad we hadn’t brought the kids like originally planned.. no WAY was this wide enough for a stroller! When all the runners merged onto the single line trail Nia and Jen ended up in front of the boy and I ended up behind him. It was apparent the boy was slowing down (or the girls were going faster) because the gap between us and them got bigger. Passing isn’t my strong point so I figured I would just jam out behind this kid for a little bit until I got a chance to pass; Would have been easy but this kid kept zig zagging all over the trail. His dad was running to the side jumping over mini cactus so he could stay right next to the boy and keep his pace.. only issue is the boy didn’t want to be next to his dad, he wanted to be behind his dad so he kept jumping to the side.. I would get ready to pass and the kid would trip and come back down to the trail. I could have just told the dad I needed to pass but it was amusing watching this kid run and even if I had passed the kid he probably would have ended up passing me again and in my mind its better to be keeping pace with a 5 year old then to be passed by a 5 year old.. a lot less depressing anyways! Finally a few people started bunching up behind me and the dad picked up the kid with his legs still pumping and moved him to the side while we all passed. By this time I could barely see Jen and Nia but I knew they were there so I hoped I could catch up to them (but I didn’t count on it with my slow behind) my inner thighs and hamstrings were still sore from a leg workout I did 2 days ago and every hill I had to run up sent protesting screams from those muscles. I was breathing hard, my heart rate monitor was telling me my heart rate was up well over 180 which was insane because normally when I run at home it stays between 165-175 so I knew I was really working.
Two people asked to pass and I stepped to the side to let them go. At this point I found myself alone, nobody right in front nobody right in back and that’s where I found it… my running zen. I felt peace overcome me, the pain in my legs went away and I just enjoyed the ride (or well the run). At one point I did realize I had been running for a while and I hadn’t seen another mile sign signifying I was at mile 2. Then of course I started getting ticked… the next time I see a mile sign it better be mile 3 or the finish! As I was getting my mind worked up I came to a strait away. Sweet I thought to myself until I started running on it… it was like running on the beach.. my feet were sinking in the sand and I was having to work really hard to keep up my pace. I was scanning the ground trying to find an area that was a bit more firm, and after moving back and forth I determined it was hopeless and there was no way I was going to find a “good” place to run so I just kept moving. Finally I looped around and saw another monstrous mini hill to climb but I was back in the “town” as I got halfway up the hill I could see a mile marker sign.. Once I got to the top I could see the big bold 3. YES! I knew I had gone over a mile ;). I knew I only had a mile left and that put an extra spring in my step as I looped around the back of the town. I tried to enjoy the scenery of the mountains to keep me going, my legs felt like they had led in them as I continued to pump them along. There was an older man in front of me and I told myself that if I didn’t do anything else I was going to pass this dude! I started closing in on him as I came back down through the middle of “town” all of the masters were lined up on both sides of the road (to cut down on trail congestion they divided the run up into 2 categories under 40 and over 40) man the way they were cheering it reminded me of when I was finishing up my Tucson half marathon. I know I had a big goofy grin on my face as I ran thru that gauntlet; it gave me that last little push I needed to finish strong! As I was reaching the end of the line I heard go Cass!! I knew it couldn’t be my two race buddies.. I look over and there is a lady named Robin, a running mom I know from an online running group, I knew she was thinking of doing the race with her sister that was visiting but I had never followed up to see if she was going to be there. There are a two things I can tell you of racing… 1) people who enthusiastically cheer you on even if they don’t know you is really wonderful 2) to get support at the very end from someone you do know (especially when you aren’t expecting it) pumps you up even more! Thanks Robin it really meant a lot! I of course ended up passing the guy in front of me with ease as I went into the last turn, The race volunteer said circle up past the building and you’re at the finish!
The finish line wasn’t nearly as exciting as the start line where the “masters” were but it was the finish line nonetheless so I picked up the pace as soon as I was in direct line of sight of it. Of course my two awesome race buddies Jen and Nia were cheering me on “Go Cass!” I could see the clock.. it said 49:42 I just wanted to get in before 50 minutes… but I wasn’t sure if I could my legs were definitely tired and heavy but I managed to cross that finish line in 49:48… sweet! Of course Dylan the 5 year old came in at 51:28 so I think I have some work to do……
Me and the girls post race-
