4 Peak Tucson Holiday

Well, I had a goal. And it was good to be done with it. I must say it proved more difficult than I thought it would be! I had some necessary help from some friends.

Saturday was an aggressive beginning. I ran Wasson Peak on the west side with my friend Joe. It was a great morning run, but harder than I had expected. And this was the smallest one! After a fruit shake at Joe's house, I went to Mt Wrightson on the south side. I was already a bit sore but started to make my way up. On the way, my right quad cramped and I had to fast walk on a lot of the steep trail. On top of the mountain there was some snow and it was super windy. Freekin cold! But I got there and made a quick decent. Very sore and rethinking this whole plan.

Sunday, I had planned an early bike ride up Mt Lemmon, but opted to sleep in a bit and reconsider. Luckily, another friend, Chris, was willing to start a little later and by 9am I fealt good enough to go. We climbed well enough and the weather was perfect. But by Palisades at mile 20, I was spent! Thank god the gift store at the visitors center had prickly pear candy. It saved me! We then made it to the peak. Chris dropped the bike off at the ski valley and ran up the ski slopes 20+% grade! I rode the service road that tipped up to 14%. After, we had great food at the alpine restaurant in ski valley. It's amazing how GOOD food can taste sometimes! On the way down, I froze my @#%$ off! The wind picked up and we had to actually pedal down hill! Finished the day sore and tired and rethinking again....

Monday, Chris saved my goal by doing some research and telling me the highest peak in the Rincons, was NOT Rincon Peak, but Mica Peak. So at 7am we set off to conquer it! Yes, he got hooked on the goal of 4 peaks as well! A bit of bush waking to find the trail, but overall it was easy to find. It was steep and very exposed. I was sweating like a madman! My camelback, unfortunately, had a hole and we were left to share a 32oz bottle of gatorade for the 18 mile trip with almost 5,000 ft of climbing. Not enough...........The trail was awesome though and the dirty snow at the top tasted oh so good. The way down started fast until, we realized we had gone a long way! It took forever. And at the end, I was so tired, I almost puked. But the goal was accomplished........Maybe a silly goal, but an epic and fun way to spend the holiday weekend.

Chris jsut called a bit ago and had tried to get up Wrightson, but ran into a bear on the trail that wouldn't move! Crazy! So another weekend of insane workouts at another time I guess. But one heck of a story to tell!!

Yes cross training can be fun.................