Waiter, I’ll have the Run, with a swim on the side.

Today I set off to do a long trail run and try some new routes. I started from Millhopper Rd- San Felasco Park. Ran through the connecting link, went up a nice hill and ran a very, rustic horse trail that I have not run in a few years. What a treat and cannot imagine why I stopped running it. Then onto the bike trails that lead to park entrance and water fountain on San Felasco north. Re-discovered some worthy trail and got to bottom of the Powerline hill and saw that the “off limits” tape was down from Cellon trail loop that goes to water fountain. BINGO. So I ran that easy trail and actually passed 2 women on mtn. bikes. Then a young runner came from opposite direction and said the trail was dead ended as he passed. WHAT???  I thought, well there are no official signs up and maybe he means there is still some standing water that would stop the mtn. bikers- but surely not Ultra Marathon runners!.

So I get to the “dead end” and see lots of water. HMMM. I do a quick test across small pond and it is only knee deep. By then the Mtn. bike women have caught up and we discuss the situation. They are going back as they cannot carry bikes through all that water. I decided to go for it as I can see the landmark for water station and think it is about ¼ to ½ mile at max. Plus after last weekend’s bonk and first time not EVER finishing a race, I was not about to stop because of a little water.

So I started sloshing thru, get to next dry area and line up with telephone poles and slosh again. Now the water gets a bit deeper, and soon it is waist high. HMMM. No problem, not that far to go. Soon it is chest high and I am holding my water bottle up and let my camelback get soaked. Next thing, I am swimming! I decide to do slow dog paddle style and try to keep water bottle clean from swamp water, plus this is a very quiet swim-DO NOT want to attract gators or worse those water moccasin snakes. The swim goes on and on much longer than I imagined, but am getting closer and a bit “worried”.  This is when I need those Navy SEAL guys from yesterday, who could wrestle the gator with 1 arm or have a knife stashed for snakes.

Finally I make it to the end of “pond” and crawl onto dry land, covered with green algae, YUCK. But, it would have made for great hardcore photo- if I had one of those camera gizmos and carried stuff like that when I run.

The swim did serve nice purpose, as I forgot to put on Aquaphor anti chafe gel in AM, so this washed off all the sweat and dust. Soon I was at water station and refilled my bottle for the run back to square 1 and washed off all the gunk.

While I was in middle of swim I was thinking of quote used by Chris Martinez –check his website. http://360moabadventures.com/site/?page_id=22

 –he has coolest job around-“you are never lost in the middle of an adventure”. Chris is race director for Red Hot 55 Ultra out in Moab and also does guided runs in the area. The Red Hot race is gorgeous and living in the Moab area is high on my list.