The Day the Circus Came to Town

Some weeks are simply more challenging to write about than others.  This week, however, was full of greatness and I am excited to tell the tale.  Oddly, enough – I think I am so excited to tell you about it that I haven’t a clue where to begin.

So, while there was a great (but painfully hot) 5 mile trail run on Thursday and another incredibly difficult and hilly 20 mile ride on Friday morning – this tale MUST truly begin on Friday evening.

Post-Trail Run on Thursday

And, post ride on Friday.

About two years ago I started going to a new General Practitioner – Dr. George Roso.  After my first visit, I knew I’d made a fantastic decision to change GP’s – he was young, understood my passion for endurance sports and always seemed to relate to me, not to mention he was single and absolutely easy on the eyes.  On my first visit, I told him I was a marathon runner – so he asked me if my knees suffered any pain.  Enthusiastically I answered, “yes!” Fully expecting some sort of miracle drug or a stretch to assist with that very pain.  His response, “Yeah, so do mine.  You’re the picture of health.”  Within that same year, during a routine visit to his office, he hopped up on the medical table with me and showed me his new found passion – Trapeze.  From his iPhone, there were pictures and videos, and Dr. Roso in tight clothing.  The only thing not-so-perfect about this picture, I wondered if heterosexual men liked trapeze, or if I my gay-dar had simply not caught on because he was so interesting.

Well, fast forward another 18 months and Dr. Roso invited me and 3 of my co-workers to join him at his newly created Trapeze School.  THIS was Friday my night.

I wish I could tell you all about it, but there simply are no words to explain the amount of fear, excitement, pride, strength and camaraderie that took place for all of us that night.  We all took pictures and videos of each another – and Erica was nice enough to compile it all for us.  I have done a lot of cool and exciting things in my life, but this was certainly one of the most memorable for all of us.  It was hard, but once you got the hang of it, it was only about listening for the commands of Colby – Dr. Roso’s colleague and right-hand man – and executing.   Also assisting them was Dr. Roso’s lovely girlfriend, Teri (yes, yes…I know).   She was delightful and encouraging – just as Dr. Roso and Colby were.

Kim, Mer, Colby, Erica and Sam

Saturday morning, I woke up with incredibly sore abdominals, arms and shoulders.  But, I trudged through 1600 meters in the pool, anyway.  My times were just awful, as I thought about the pain during every stroke and just tried to concentrate on finishing.  I could not do all 2000 meters, as planned, so I cut it short after I’d hit 1500, since that’s what I need to be able to crunch out at the Tri in 4 weeks.  I actually thought the pool might loosen me up.  It didn’t – I was tired and sore the entire time I was in the water.

I’d set my alarm for 4:10am, this morning, because I knew I needed to be on the road for my 10 mile run by 4:45am without fail.  I had agreed to meet Kris at South Mountain Park to watch her complete the last of the 5K Summer Series, and she had agreed to drive me home after she finished.  Yes, my 10 mile route would take me to a race finish line – kind of cool, I thought.  Much to my chagrin, the temps at 4am in Phoenix were an impressive 95 degrees, cooling to 93 by 5am and then heading up again.  I needed this to be a better effort than the prior week, but knew that was going to be tough.

My route, this morning, consisted up climbing up for a few miles and then taking the canal along the north side of the South Mountain Preserve and then eventually completing the climb into South Mountain Park, where Kris would be doing her 5K.  And, it was a gorgeous choice for morning routes.   Not only does the canal get really close to the side of the mountain, but there are homes up there that are stunning works of architecture.  You can only see many of them from the canal, as they rest snuggly into the edge of the mountain as it ascends.  I wished I’d felt compelled to stop and take pictures of some of them – but there were simply too many to stop.  I really wanted to see the race start (and finish), so I was focused on finished the run by 6:30am.  
Some of the climbs toward the mountain were tough, so I walked a minute or two only 2 times – just to get my breath and cool off a smidge.  But, my times had been good enough that I thought I could risk a couple of respites here and there.  I only needed them at mile 6.5 and mile 8.

10 miles done and felt really good!

As I climbed my way into South Mountain Park, I really pushed myself to finish strong.  The prior 1.5 miles had been up, up and up – so cresting into the park for the last .5 miles was fantastic.  I finished in 1:41 – a solid 6 minutes faster than last week’s flat route.  I was really pleased with myself and YEP – I caught the start of the race.  I landed at the starting line 4 minutes prior to the horn blowing.

It was great to see Kris finish what is always the most difficult of all of the Summer Series courses.  As I say each week after my trail runs – South Mountain can and does defeat all of us from time to time.  It’s good that we get out there and try to beat it down every now and again!  Good work today to Anne, Loretta and Kris – they all got out and hit the pavement!  And, to my workout buddy, Matt – who should be finishing up an incredibly difficult 18 mile trail hike/run, soon.  We should all feel pretty good about our accomplishments, today!