Back to the Desert - The Carondelet 10-Mile Race Report

Back to the Desert – the Carondelet “Get Moving Tucson” 10-Mile Race Report

The sky is still as a spinning top,
shooting stars drop like burning words from above
If I could just connect all these dots,
the truth would tumble like a Cynic vexed by love
And yet the people keep sayingI'm miles from my home,
miles from my home…..

Cowboy Junkies “Miles from Our Home”


Speaking of Marathons……..

After a pretty outstanding summer tearing up the Southeastern Wisconsin Race Circuit, I left my home in Oconomowoc in the Toyota on Monday Morning, October 13 at 7:53 am SHARP and headed back to Tucson to our Winter Digs.

It was indeed time to put down the Miller Lite, extinguish the cigar, and get back to my partner Cayelin Castell and our life in the Desert. She'd been out there since early August, while I'd been having my fun on Lake Okauchee.

And, also, apparently to return to my blog, which, alert readers will notice, I haven’t posted to since my self-congratulatory story regarding the Valley of Gold Half Marathon in Tucson last March.

It hasn’t been that I haven’t been running – quite the contrary – it’s just that the Muse, and maybe also the time to write has been non-existent since I left Tucson on the first of May.

Either way, lots to catch up on. And, I’ll probably do it in reverse order, or LIFO – meaning, writing about my most recent running experiences and then backing up to some of the other spring and summer experiences

So, off I went on Monday, headed west to Johnson Creek on I-94, south on 26 to I-39, and then down through Illinois, picking up I-55 in Bloomington. Crossed the Mississippi at St. Louis, picking up I-44, and angled down through Missouri to Oklahoma. Emptied out onto I-40 and then fetched up west of Oklahoma City around 10:00 pm for the first night. 890 miles for the day.

On the road at 7:30 am Tuesday after the Best Western Complimentary Breakfast, which, gave me some not-so-complimentary Heartburn for most of the day. Continued west on I-40 through a driving rain storm, walls of water sheeting off the 18-wheelers and SUV’s in my path. Crossed the rest of Oklahoma, and the top of Texas, blasting through Amarillo in the early afternoon. Exited Texas, cranked it up to 85 MPH and made it to Albuquerque by late afternoon, though with the two hour time difference, I’m now ahead of the game. Hung a sharp left in the middle of Albuquerque, where now I’m finally and thankfully out of the rain, and arrowed south, down through the center of New Mexico on I-25, with stunning desert vistas, mountains, clouds, and rolling countryside. Exiting at the Hatch/Deming crossover, I headed straight west into the setting sun for what seemed like forever on some rough New Mexico two-lane, before picking up I-10 west for the home stretch into Tucson. By now, I’m at hour 25 of this marathon drive, the sun has set and I’m getting a little punchy, so I broke out the emergency M&M’s and Pepsi, and made the final push. Picked up a GREAT classic Rock Station, complete with Pink Floyd and vintage Yes tunes, that brought me home in fine style. I arrived at 8:00 pm local time on the dot, 1.890 miles and 27 hours in my Toyota.

And, what better way to celebrate my southwest homecoming, but to run a race the first weekend?

So, Saturday morning at 7:30 am found me toeing the line in downtown Tucson at the Carondelet “Get Moving Tucson” Ten Miler.

Lotta “T’s” in that sentence, si?

Anyway, this race was a very largely attended, very well hyped event that began and ended at the Tucson Convention center, a nine minute ride down the Aviation Freeway from our South Tucson Home.

I arrived about 6:40 am parked in the front row of one of several huge parking lots and , picked up my bib and a Barney-Purple T-shirt in about two minutes. Having some time to kill, I wandered around a little. They had a few booths and a huge tent set up in one of the parking areas fronting the convention center, where they were serving fruit and bagels to all of the runners and walkers, giving away hundreds of spring-loaded bracelet whistles and bells, apparently to blow or ring as you ran or walked, and handing out healthy lifestyle literature. Carondelet is the local Hospital Corporate entity (Think “Aurora Health Care” you Wisconsonites, or “Advocate Health Care” you Illinois people) This was one of their annual outreaches to the community to promote a healthy lifestyle. The event was put on in partnership with “SAR” or Southern Arizona Roadrunners, the local running club of which I’m a snowbird member. SAR had their own tent there, and were handing out brochures for the upcoming races as well as promoting new members. I stopped by to get my fill of race applications and struck up a conversation with Sherilen, Blonde-Ponytailed SAR Office Manager, who was very peppy and waxed enthusiastically about being from Salt Lake City, where there has already been four inches of snow. I countered with my “just-drove-here-from-Wisconsin” rap, and we chortled over all of you people out there who will be freezing come a few weeks from now, while we, the smart Snowbirds will be running in shorts OUTSIDE!

Anyway, apparently being charmed by my chatter, she gifted me with a copy of this years version of the SAR member T-shirt (why yes, another T-shirt, which gawd-knows I need one!) It’s a cool tan version this year, instead of the fire engine red one I received upon signing up last year. So, now I have two, and also possibly some volunteer opportunities. Welcome to Tucson!

Later, I’m at the start line, as mentioned and after an agonizing version of the Star Spangled Banner, the announcer gamely tried to draw out the suspense with a long count down, and Bang! We’re off, through a balloon arch onto the course.

There was a 5k attached to the race as well as the 10-miler, runners, walkers, etc all started at the same time. No chip timing, and consequently, of course all the slower walkers and shorter distance runners were clustered up front. I weaved and dodged and juked around them, and got up to cruising speed after the first two blocks or so but not before a sprinter in front of me, after apparently blasting off, gasped to their friend “That’s it for me” and stopped dead in front of me, necessitating deployment of the Bat Chute as I tried not to run them completely over. Still, it was close.

So, after that near miss, I’m up to speed fairly quickly, though feeling several things. One, it’s dry in Tucson.

Really REALLY dry. In the first few blocks, my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth, making me regret not hydrating more before we started

Secondly, I’m feeling pretty draggy. Not only am I slightly jet lagged from the two hour time change, I’m also feeling my 1,890 mile drive from a few days before, as well as the lack of running since a 10k the weekend before, AND some very slight residue from a Marathon two weeks before that. (more on that later!)

And thirdly, I’m feeling the heavier gravity of 2,600 feet above sea level – though it’s only an additional 1,800 feet above what we are used to in Wisconsin, hey, I feel it each time I come here – and it takes a week or two for me to get used to

So, I’m thinking this won’t be one of my faster days.

The course was pretty cool, though eclectic. There was a lot of weird out and back segments, and we ran on everything from suburban streets, to industrial areas, then onto the Aviation Bike way – and back, then out onto the Barraza-Aviation Highway, of all things, and then back onto another bike path, where we went out…and then back, and into downtown Tucson – first up Fourth Avenue (where the 1960’s are alive and well – there is everything from Tie-Dye stores, to Tattoo Parlors, Hookah Bars, and all kinds of 1960’s psychedelic artwork, as well as the Casbah Tea House, a local vegan destination spot)…and then after going around a corner on University (Where the U of A is) and down University for a block, we made a U-turn, doubling back again, on University, ran back to the corner, hung a left and ran back DOWN Fourth Avenue.

Much of the course featured that out and back and it seemed like for half the race I was passing streams of other runners going the other way – first the faster ones on my right and then the slower ones as I came back the same way.

I have to say that not only is there a large Tucson Running Community, but also these suckers are FAST! Both the men and the women. They are all lean, fit and desert hardened, and I have no idea how they train all summer in the blistering heat in Tucson. As I was coming past the second mile mark, I came to the first of the out and back segments and caught sight of the lead runners as they were coming “back” on that segment. Checking my watch, I noted that it was around 16 minutes, which later showed that these leaders had already passed by a large distance the THREE mile marker at that point. The looked like Cars, cruising at about 30 MPH as they blew past me going the other directions. Woosh!

So, as mentioned, a lot of the course was a two-way street, literally. The course was both very well marked and supported. There were large white arrows, plastered on the ground every 20-30 feet with Field Marking Chalk so you were never in doubt as to where the course was going. And, there were a goodly amount of enthusiastically staffed water stops, though some doubled as both an out and back one, which meant that at some points there were two miles between stops, which for me, the non-desert acclimated boy, made things pretty dry. As a result, I had to stop and make like a camel at each stop, inhaling several cups of water each time.

And, there was only water at each stop – no Gatorade, sports drink or sports gel. Again, these rugged Desert types…they are minimalists!

During the race, at mile three or so, I came upon a guy about my age, who was sporting on of those Camelbak water back packs. It seemed he was toting about a gallon and half of water on his back, and was clipping (or more correctly, Sloshing) along at my pace. In my mind, I instantly dubbed him “CamelBack Man” and figured he was my competition for the day. We ran side by side for a few feet and then he accelerated, apparently being better hydrated than me, as he didn’t have to stop at the water stops. We traded the lead a few times in the first half of the race, and then, after I took a longer water stop as I got more desiccated, he managed to get ahead of me quite a bit.

No matter – I’m already resigned to the fact that this isn’t one of my better days. Have I mentioned that?

Still, I managed to slog along at an okay pace, by my GPS, I was averaging a solid 8:00 to 8:01 pace for the first five miles, and then, apparently, altitude, dryness and over tiredness set in, and I started dropping towards the dreaded 8:15 pace per mile, in the latter miles. Oh well.

I ran over a set of bridges spanning the freeways and Railroad yards, then up, then down Fourth avenue, which took me through miles 7,8 and 9, and then dug in for the final mile, which was first through an industrial area, underneath the deepest bypass in Tucson, and then emptied into the Downtown Tucson Mall, where we weaved, U-turned, and traversed over several walkways, bridges, plazas, and past fountains, finally spitting out into the last quarter mile stretch of road, and a quick U-turn back to the finish line under the same Balloon arch.

As I was emerging from the bypass in the last mile, I once again came upon “CamelBak man”, who was flagging by then. I thought “you’re mine, Sucker” and dug in hard and passed him up. He attempted to catch up to me, however, lugging all that water must have taken it’s toll, because he didn’t have anything to catch me with. After traversing the mall, weaving in and out of the fountains and up and down the walkways, I traversed the final street, hung the final left and thundered into the finish line. The clock read 1:21:50 – a not-so-stellar ten mile time for me, however, it’s consistent with my recent performance on the distance, so I wasn’t too chagrined.

Later I learned that while I was in the upper third of the finishers that day (160 out of 460), my age group placement was a dismal 17. Indeed, these Tuscsonians – the top 15 finishers were well under an hour, the top finisher was around 51 minutes for the distance AND for me to get close to an age group placement, I would have had to break a 6:25 minute pace for the course, instead of my shuffling 8:11.

And also, an Arizona thing – the Age groups were 10-years wide, making the competition that much stiffer.

Still, it’s okay to be a mid packer. I got to see all the sights, and again, am not unhappy with my finish time. Perhaps with my return to Reid Park and doing laps there again, I too, will be come Lean, Fit, and Desert-Hardened after a time.

Who knows?

Post race, there were large quantities of fruit and cookies (including some VERY green Bananas) an abundance of Gatorade and bottled water, and a really good cover band up on a stage turning out some classic rock and roll. There was also a raffle, however, not needing any more stuff, plus, as the announcer intoned to the crowd “It’s starting to get pretty warm out here!” I elected not to stay.

I downed some water and Gatorade, retrieved my new SAR shirt from Sherilen, and headed back home.

I think they did a good job on this race, the course, support, timing and logistics were great. Coulda used a little Gatorade on the course, and of course the five year age groups are better (not that it would have made a difference in My case), however I know I’d do this one again. It’s a great distance and a good training run, and I have an opportunity to beat my time next year. The entry fee was a little stiff at $40 though, I’m not sure that it wasn’t because I was a late sign up, however, that was still pretty high.

Either way, it’s good to be back in Tucson!

So, what’s next? Well, the race circuit does heat up here (hah!) in the fall and winter. I have, potentially on the docket before Thanksgiving, a 10K, a Half Marathon, a couple of 5k’s, perhaps another 10K and who knows what all? This is indeed their racing season here, when the weather breaks and the heat is less intense. I’m planning on a quick return to the Midwest in December to catch up with my community there, and my next scheduled stab at the 26.2 is at the PF Chang Rock And Roll Arizona in January, where my Midwest buddies Rhonda and others will hopefully be joining, and I can run once again with my good friend Mark from Phoenix, who has had a great racing season also.

I am also intending on catching you up with the summer race circuit experiences, including Three Marathons (Eugene, Madison and my Return to the Milwaukee Lakefront a few weeks back), Three stellar Half Marathons, as well as a plethora of 5K’s, 10K’s, four milers, two milers and a ten miler or two. Lots to catch up on and some surprising experiences as well

So, stay tuned, and I hope to see you all at a race soon!