Bridle Path 7-miler

My usual running partner, Bill, was out of town this week. My friend and colleague Barry also runs, so I asked if he would fill in as my long-run partner for the weekend. We also ran together when we were in Philadelphia for work in May. There were lots of jokes about infidelity and being "plan B" for the rest of the week. :) Barry normally runs 3 or 4 miles, so he was a little nervous about a longer run. I wanted to do 8. He said he would try to do 6. 7 it is! ;-) Barry and I decided to run along the Murphy Bridle Path in North Central Phoenix. It's a 3-mile tree-lined gravel path along the east side of Central Ave. I had been wanting to run along this route for some time. When I first moved to Phoenix and heard someone mention "the Bridle Path," I thought they said "the Bridal Path" and figured weddings were held near there or something. Once I got that it was the BRIDLE path, I assumed it was so-named because people used to ride horses on it. Not so! It is named for a man named Murphy Bridle. His claim to fame is that he invented the 64 oz. styrofoam cup. (When I worked at University of Phoenix, I would get an extra large coffee from the diner across the street, and they would give it to me in a 64 oz. styrofoam cup. (I LOVE COFFEE!) So here's to you, Murphy Bridle!) I arrived at Barry's house at 5:30 AM, and we set out a couple minutes later. It's about 1/2 mile down Central Ave. from his house to the Bridle Path. There were already lots of people out strolling, running and biking. We crossed Bethany Home Rd. and picked up the beginning of the path. As expected, it's a very pleasant place to run. The old ash trees along the route provide a ton of shade, and the houses that line the path are big and situated on wide, manicured lots. It's waaaay nicer scenery than running along the Arizona Canal. John and Cindy McCain lived here until they sold their house last year. The only street crossing we had to stop for was at Glendale Ave. Otherwise it was non-stop all the way to our turnaround at the Arizona Canal. We did the first section at a very respectable 9:00 pace. By the time we headed back, the sun was high into the sky and was looking to pound us. Fortunately, the trees provided enough protective shade and the sun could only hit us in short bursts when we crossed streets. It was getting pretty hot, so the pace was a little slower. There was also more traffic, so crossing the major cross-streets was a little dodgier than on the way out. Still, we finished the return section at about a 9:15 pace. This was a fun and productive run for me. As we stood around chatting in front of Barry's house, I began to really feel the heat. I was sweating like I was standing in the misters in front of the Starbuck's on Frank Lloyd Wright. This Arizona heat is CRAZY! Barry did some quick math and realized that a half marathon is less than double the run we just did. He tenatively decided to tackle the P.F. Chang's Half Marathon this January. Yay! Another convert! Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1180 ft Location: Phoenix, AZ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 07/05/08 Up/Downhill: [+101/-101] Time: 06:40 AM Difficulty: 2.9 / 5.0 Weather: Partly Cloudy 87 F temp; 40% humidity 87 F heat index; winds NE 6 Performance Distance: 6.98 miles Time: 1:04:46 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 17 /mi Calories: 1012 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 07 -0' 10 6.6 +0.1 +19 ft 2 9' 39 +0' 22 6.2 -0.3 +29 ft 3 9' 08 -0' 09 6.6 +0.1 +29 ft 4 13' 02 +3' 45 4.6 -1.9 -3 ft 5 9' 10 -0' 07 6.5 +0.1 -29 ft 6 9' 37 +0' 20 6.2 -0.2 -26 ft 7 9' 45 +0' 28 6.2 -0.3 -19 ft end ** ** ** ** ** ft Versus average of 9' 17 min/mile ** Insufficient data to calculate this split

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