At It Again

It was still dark when the alarm went off this morning; my face still puffy from sleep. Why was I getting up so early again? I buried my face deep into my pillow, trying to recall how I had gotten myself into this. Oh yeah - marathon training. I was back in Vegas, partly to see Mouse, but also to tackle the Red Rocks Canyon loop. No matter how diligently I've been training back in SoCal, none of the routes can hold a candle to Red Rocks. So I had crashed at my LV training buddy's pad, and we were rousting ourselves at this ungodly hour to run the loop.

As expected, the route was brutal. Thank heavens it was equally breathtakingly beautiful, as Red Rocks always is, which helped to numb the pain brought on by the incredible hills. At times, it seemed like the climbs would never end. It hurt, but that's exactly what I was looking for. (Not exactly the pain, but the amped-up training, for sure.) So, even though my legs are now thoroughly shredded, I'm happy with our effort. It was another solid day of preparation for the marathon. Big Sur, here I come...