always loved that Lennon song …. but todays run gave it new meaning . After a great light show last night …. there is nothing quite like being on a big Mesa and watching T Storms move in …. I had the opportunity to watch a rainbow form b4 sunrise ! So … back to todays run, and running for my life !
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| the bobCat is not making this run |
I was slow getting started , storms and too much red wine kept me up . Wanted to run long ( 2 hours ) but wasn't sure what kind of shape the road and trail would be in after the rain . Cloudy and cool , good running weather but didn't look like rain . The campground is on the highpoint of the mesa, so any run that goes off-road will be downhill out and uphill back . After about a half hour it started to look like rain was starting to happen over at the campground …. so I turned back and decided to run a one minute hard / one minute ez workout on the way back.( As I would be going uphill it would be a good one) . Well dang "if in" the moment I turned around didn't I hear some good thunder rumbling from over my left shoulder . Looked around and didn't see any real mean looking clouds, but sound travels up here so I congratulated myself on turning around. ( sorry for all that weak grammar )
Within the time it took to me smoke another interval …. flash … wait for it …1,2,3,4, 4.5 BOOM ! Now I am in for it . Should I just turn this into a 5k time trial ….. ? One more interval … really flying down a little swale …. Flash …. 1, 2,3 BOOM . Shoot … and here I am without my 5k speed !
Tell you what …. I ran hard …. watch said 6.35…. but that was uphill at 6000 feet so I knew I wasn't going to keep this up the whole way . As I make the turn towards camp with about 1k to go I get the full flash boom cycle and I am heading into it and it is headed towards me . Ever run straight in to T storm ? I bet Capt Don has …. no way I want to do it again
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| north window arch from parking lot ! |
Arches ranks right up there with Zion , Yosemite , and Yellowstone when it comes to impact . It doesn't quite get the same numbers but it is much smaller and the astounding formations are very accessible from the road and parking lot trails . Every time I drove by on my way to Moab I would look at the long line of cars at the entrance and shiver and drive by. Today it was tStorms so I was hoping with yesterday being the annual free entrance day that it wouldn't be so crowded . WRONG !
But it was entirely worth it . I put up with the traffic and went right to Windows . When I got there it was mayhem . No parking anywhere and rain starting in earnest . Somebody bailed and I grabbed a spot . Waited . Quite a while . Just when one of the "fins" in my rearview started showing sunlight on it I made a run for it…. figuring the sunshine was headed our way . The rain soon stopped and a gal who was on the same wavelength was a few paces ahead of me . She introduced herself as Mike …. and we had the whole place to ourselves for about a half hour . It was awesome . I had no idea the formations were so LARGE . The presence was just fantastic , and we talked and enjoyed the moment and managed to get in a couple more sites before the rain started again , equally as fun !
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| North Window 30 minutes later |
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| turret arch from south window |
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| this little walk had a nice zen feel |
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| south window |
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| both windows from the Turret Arch |
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| me trying to stretch |
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| Garden of Eden |
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| this little tree managed to find some water |
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| more of the garden |
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