High Noon in the Mojave

Distance: 2 miles
Time: 18:02

It's good to be back! After taking my longest break from running since May, I set a new 2010 PR in the 2-mile today on a desert run in the scorching sun. I hadn't run since July 24th, and, as it turns out, it was the best move I could have made. It seems like forever since I ran without feeling pain somewhere on my body. The whole month of July was filled with minor injuries, soreness, back pain, etc. As a consequence, most of my times in July were dismal. But then I decided to take a good, long break from running and let my body heal once and for all. The only active thing I did between July 24th and August 3rd was hike to the top of San Jacinto Peak. That hike wasn't a walk in the park, though. It was an 11-mile, at times strenuous, hike to the top of a 10,834 foot mountain. I didn't run for 5 days prior to the hike because I didn't want to hike in pain, and I didn't run for 3 days after the hike either. Finally, I felt good and ready today to get out and run. The result was a pain-free, nice and steady run that produced an improved time.

I felt that I needed to seek out another route to run today. On a whim I drove down to an area about a mile south of our house where there is a school and a park adjacent to wide open tracts of desert. Right away I could see that this area was a perfect spot for a new route. I scoped it out a bit, then went home and planned a route on mapmyrun.com. I got my running gear on and headed back down to the route. This was one of the best runs I've done so far. On daytime runs I get pretty annoyed with all the cars and people I have to contend with. But this route took me out into the desert along dirt paths where I didn't have to stop at traffic signals or breath in exhaust fumes. It was just me and the desert, surrounded by foliage, darting squirrels and jackrabbits, and mountain vistas. The one mistake I made was running at high noon. It was only 90 degrees (temperate for August in the desert), but the sun beating down on me made it tough, and by the end of the run I was pretty drained. Aside from this, though, it was a great run. I thought my pace was pretty slow and so I was quite surprised with the 18:02 that I got, but what I realized was the difference maker was that I wasn't running hurt. Without back pain, or muscle pain, I was free to run hard with a good form. I think now I can finally start to work on getting my 2-mile down into the 17s and 16s. Only then will I be ready for 3 miles and beyond.

The picture above is looking east along one of the desert roads I ran today. There were actually all kinds of roads, paths, and trails in this untouched area of desert. I'll be able to come up with plenty more routes, some shorter, some longer, in this area in the future. This is definitely some of my favorite terrain to run in: the dirt paths are easy on the legs and feet, and there's something liberating about running through wide open land.