A Cry for Help?

“Crazy”, “inspiring”, “surprised”. Those are only a few of the responses I received from friends and family when I announced the beginning of “My Quest to Run 100 Miles”. My favorite was, “knowing how private you are with everything you do, I consider your sharing this quest with everyone as a cry for help, hoping we’ll stop you before you actually do it”. Hmm maybe, I’ll give that some thought.

If you follow my Training Calendar each day after I run I record the time and trail(s) I ran. The past 2 weeks on Tues, Wed, Thur, I’ve been on the Promenade Trail, this will continue all summer. My alarm is set for 4:00 a.m. every morning, most mornings it doesn’t go off because I’m already out of bed and have turned it off. After a strong cup of coffee I walk out my front door and run 1 mile uphill on a dead-end road to reach the start of the trail.

The beginning of the Promenade Trail. The old jeep trail I follow the first 2 miles goes half way to the top of the mountains in the distance.

Close to 3.75 miles into my run I leave the Promenade Trail and take the Western Loop Trail to the top. Yes, that’s the top behind the sign. (On days I run 7 miles or less I turn around at this point and head home.)

At the top of the Western Loop Trail looking north at Tom Thumb. If I’d stayed on the Promenade Trail I could run into the Tom Thumb area and connect with the Gateway Trailhead or McDowell Mountain Regional Park trail system. I’ve never added it up but I’m sure I could run 50-75 miles in this area without running the same trail twice.

At the top of the Western Loop Trail looking southeast. You can see the jeep trail in the center of the picture that makes up most of the Promenade Trail. In the upper left you can see part of a golf course, I live near that area of town.

This is the easiest part of the Western Loop Trail, or at least the most level.

I hope I never need to crawl down the trail to this point and keep my fingers crossed I have a cell signal to get a ride if I do.

Back on the Promenade Trail heading home.

So that’s where I am every Tues, Wed, Thur morning while close to a 1,000,000 Phoenix area commuters are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on their way to work (driving with their knees while eating a doughnut and texting on their cell phones).

Until next time…have fun and be safe!

• Share