Thursday, March 18, 2010

Training camp - Day 1

Sarah and I headed down to St George about 2:00 and enjoyed a car ride free of diaper changes, fussy kids to entertain, and snacks falling all over the floor. It was lovely! We chatted about all kinds of things from our racing histories (which are very similar, we both started at 16 for instance), to our goals, to our families, to whatever came up. It was nice.We arrived in St George and headed right for the Chuckawala trailhead right outside St George. Great place, highly recommended for running, mtn biking, climbing, family hikes, etc. We ran out about 25 minutes to eventually look over the town of Ivins. I I decided it was time to head back as my left calf was really bothering me after a 9 mile run the day before it seized up on me in the last mile of the run. It was hurting pretty good. We headed back in the general direction of the car, a little unsure of the trail at times, but we weren't worried. After about 15 minutes of running though, we were a little lost. Wandered around for another 10 or so and eventually managed to spot the highway. After some bushwhacking we scrambled up the slope, climbed a barbed wire fence and made our way around a chain link fence onto the paved trail that parallels the highway. We had no idea at the time, but we somehow managed to get 2 miles up the highway away from our car! We were running toward it! How in the world did that happen???
Anyway, finally made it back down, pleased to find out bikes still there as we'd forgotten to lock them up before we left - whoops!
1:10 of good solid adventure training!

Calf was not feeling great and the winds were really picking up. I was a little nervous for what was in store tomorrow.

We made our way 6 miles up the road to Winchester Hills a community where my friend Sylvia lives. They were such a great homestay! We had everything we needed including THE coolest accommodations I've probably ever seen.
Waiting for the pics from Sarah, so stay tuned!

1 comment:

Sarah Jarvis said...

You forgot to mention that I was the one that got us lost and also the one that forgot to lock up the bikes. Thanks for not getting mad. Or at least not showing it! :-)
As for the pictures, Karl took the camera without telling me and did not bring the cord. So we'll have to wait until Wednesday night. Sorry!