Red Rock Canyon #4

I had my 4th run at Red Rock Canyon today. It's max 5000 feet here, but this tells me one simple thing. Uphill is uphill and steep is steep at any elevation. I'd probably alter that opinion if I had the chance to go above 12 thousand. Anyway, I was so out of breath today. Maybe it was the cold? Maybe it was the McD's sausage burritos? Whatever the reason, I never really got much of a groove on today.

I was on a new trail with lots of sticky red clay from melted snow, big rocks, and tight spaces with cactus all over. The scenery though was gorgeous. I will have to get better pics another day and hopefully mesh with the trail better. Anyone remember Merlin from the movie Excalibur? In the end Morgana stabs him through his back with a sword and he says "right through the spine of the Dragon!" Oh wait that was when Arthur drove Excalibur into the rock. The land without a king, the king without a sword. Damn I loved that movie. Anyway, Spine of the Dragon....that came to my mind seeing these rock formations.

In a battling mood though, I decided to finish my run going up, up, up another short one mile trail. After about 1.3 miles it became clear this trail was not ending anytime soon. It was all uphill and fairly steep. I passed a dog off leash earlier so I knew it was time to find a nice rock and just sit. My breath calmed after about 2 minutes and I sat there in silence. The afternoon sun was in full effect and steam was coming off my visor. The only thing my ears could hear was a very faint hum. I'm not entirely sure it wasn't from just inside my ears. No wind, no cars, no animals, nothing but silence....so I just sat there for a few minutes and tried to clear my mind. I couldn't help thinking that this is what someone hears when they die in the desert. Nothing.

So I got up and ran my butt downhill and out of there. I remember the other day in the grocery store, this woman wearing a blue puffy vest and brown pants stared me down in the meat asile. She had spikey red hair and a mouth that tilted in anger making her look like a pissed off sunflower. She looked at me like I was someone who she needed to punch. It kinda spooked me.

Earlier I had taken Finley for a walk and we were passing a horse farm. These two awesome little Corgis with bandanas came running out across the road to meet with Finley. As we were walking away, a 4 wheeler came out of the dogs property and the man yelled at the dogs saying 'You damn F'n dogs, get the *uck back in there!! God Damnit!!! arrrgh" I thought holy cow what an A-hole! Then not a few yards later I saw a huge pigeon head decapitated with no eyes. What would you think? I asked, was it a cat or bird of prey that did this? It was a strange walk also seeing snow falling on the mountain.

Kazzoooo