Cockiness in Reach 11

Every now and then, I get cocky. "Oh, I got this running thing all figured out. I'm an expert now." Wen this happens, running usually reaches out and dope-slaps me. Today was no exception. Bill and I set out to do 10 or 11 miles this morning. We were looking for a change of pace, and we decided on Reach 11, a desert park in North Phoenix. We parked at a turnout on Tatum Blvd. and planned to run east toward Scottsdale Rd., and then back-- and tack on a small loop if we hadn't reached 10 miles. The City of Phoenix web site describes the trails as 7-8' wide and consisting of compacted granite. Perhaps they're measuring in Brisish feet, because the trails were 3' wide in most places, and consisted mostly of loose sand and compacted dirt. At least *I* didn't see any compacted gravel. They also weren't as level as I was expecting. There were quite a few ruts, divots, sinkholes and other obstacles. The scenery was very nice. There are lots of desert shrubs and trees, and the McDowell Mountains loom in the distance. We didn't see any wildlife, but there were quite a few droppings and piles of fur, so I suspect you'd run into some coyotes and/or javelinas at the right time of day. Anyway, trail running is quite a bit more difficult (to me) than road running. The first 3 miles went pretty well. After that, the wear and tear of the uneven surface on my legs started to build. We kept running (taking a couple quick 'pit stops'), but I was pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the parking area. We had only run about 7 1/2 miles so when Bill asked if I wanted to keep going, I answered, "No, but let's keep going anyway." We crossed Tatum Blvd. and ran west for another mile or so, and then returned to the parking area. I was pretty tired, and it seemed like Bill was, too. We'll probably run this route again someday-- but only when I'm up for a tough challenge. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1538 ft Location: Paradise Valley, AZ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 04/12/08 Up/Downhill: [+131/-131] Time: 06:16 AM Difficulty: 2.5 / 5.0   Weather: Fair   67 F temp; 10% humidity   67 F heat index; winds E 8 Performance Distance: 9.19 miles Time: 1:28:43 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 39 /mi Heart Rate: 181 bpm (Avg) Calories: 1417 218 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Heart Rate (bpm)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 11 -0' 28 6.5 +0.3 170 -6 ft 2 9' 25 -0' 14 6.4 +0.2 176 +3 ft 3 8' 55 -0' 44 6.7 +0.5 183 -7 ft 4 10' 38 +0' 59 5.6 -0.6 182 -6 ft 5 9' 36 -0' 03 6.2 +0.0 185 -7 ft 6 10' 50 +1' 11 5.5 -0.7 181 +10 ft 7 9' 55 +0' 16 6.0 -0.2 188 -3 ft 8 10' 18 +0' 39 5.8 -0.4 190 +10 ft 9 10' 31 +0' 52 5.7 -0.5 189 0 ft end 10' 04 +0' 25 6.0 -0.3 192 +6 ft Versus average of 9' 39 min/mile

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