Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Desert Classic Trail - South Mountain

My plan was to get a 10 miler done today 12 days before my half marathon down in Tucson. I wanted to run somewhere that I didn't have to deal with traffic. I wanted some hills, but not a lot.

I decided to go to South Mountain and run the backside on a trail called the Desert Classic Trail. It didn't go up the mountain, just around it and it had a bit of an elevation climb, but not too much. But, it is a trail and trails in this part of the world means gravel, sand and rocks.

It's beautiful running out in the desert and the temp was in the low 60's. But, the trail is rough on your feet and you're always having to watch your step, so you don't get to see much mountains anyway. I did 4.46 miles in 55:14 with a 7 minute rest break to take in the scenery at the half way point. It was a good workout, but not my hoped for 10 miler.

This is a view southeastward towards my home. You can see the brown cloud that we have to deal with. Phoenix has lots of pollution, that's why we need the rain to wash it away.





Pictures taken along the run. I had mountains on the north side and homes along the southern side of my run.

This is the Father Marcos De Niza stone. It would be graffitti today. It is protected in a large iron case, but I took the picture between the bars.

4 comments:

Phil said...

Hi Pat ... I think the run you took through those tough conditions was about the same as the 10 miler you were looking for. I imagine that your HR was running pretty high for the hour ... therefore, it was closer to an hour tempo run, which probably did you more good than another 10 miler. Congrats and thanks for the pictures.

J~Mom said...

I loved running on South Mountain. I think the RBF needs to have a run there together! Great job on your run!

Spark Driver said...

Looks like a great place to go for a run.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Love the pics What a beautiful place to run. Good luck on your race.