A Boynton Canyon Winter Wonderland

Nine runners (plus a later arrival) and two pooches headed south for warmer Sedona and a new to NATRA trail - Boynton Canyon. We took easy paces, with a few even walking. Things sped up for a while after Bode spotted a deer and dragged Dana for about a half-mile! After a turn about a mile from the end, we abruptly entered a winter wonderland that lasted to the box at the terminus. (Now we know where Flagstaff's last predicted snowstorm ended up.) What a treat to see snow colored pink and orange from light reflected off the red rocks! Coffee was at the usual place where we met up once again with several other Flagstaff runners. (Thanks to Bruce Higgins for the post and photos)

Prelude to Kahtoola Agassiz Uphill

With 300 heading to the Agassiz Uphill this afternoon, three souls met for the NATRA run. Given the road conditions, we opted out of the scheduled run in Sedona and instead took the Soldiers Trail 5k route. Gered and Mark jogged it, while Bruce (who claims he is in the Agassiz Uphill event) walked, occasionally cheating the turns to keep the others in sight. After the short jaunt, Mark & Bruce called it a morning, while Gered jogged another 2miles home.(thanks to Bruce Higgins for the post)

Sedona Aid Station 5: Back to the 70s.

With a record 2000+ runners, the Sedona Marathon proved to be bigger and better than ever! At NATRA Aid Station 5, disco tunes blared from the boom box and 14 volunteers along with help from Olympian Janet Cherobon-Bawcom helped power Marathoners and Half Marathoners throughout their day. NATRA has staffed 8 Station 5 ever since the innaugural race and we just keep having more and more fun. Congrats to all runners and volunteers on a great day! For a fun reminder from last year's event, see the dancing Zombie video!

Rainiest NATRA Run, Ever.

Without doubt, in 11 years of NATRA runs, this was the wettest, rainiest one ever. Many who did not show, wondered if the Saturday streak was alive since it is not often that a cold soaking rain occurs in January. Still, an intrepid crew of 10 appeared eager to take on the morning dreariness and mud, and of course no one more excited about running in water than Bob. It also did not go without notice that the women outnumbered the men on this miserably, wet, bone chilling morning.

 

With three runners under the weather, the NATWA contingent chose to explore the urban trail along the Rio De Flag while the runners headed up onto Observatory Mesa. With more than an inch of rain in the past 24 hours, the Rio De Flag flowed bank to bank under the new Thorpe Road Bridge.  Water raged off side streets and funneled into the newly widened channel. Something so enchanting about running water in Flagstaff.

 

Towards the end of the walk, the discussion turned to the movie "Silver Linings Playbook". Sabrina mentioned how this run was a solid "5.0" out of 10. If you have not seen the movie, go see it, and you will understand why only a 5.0 rating is so magical.

 

(From Susan Blanchard's muddy run) "All I did was go to the top of the Observatory hill, turning around where it flattened too much and became a solid puddle. Shortly after starting up the hill, the others branched back to run on the streets for an hour where they could actually make progress, instead of sinking down several inches with each step. I was just glad that it would also mean traction for the downhill return. Timing was good for returning to the car at the same time as David and Sabrina. He and I drove to the KickStand, while Sabrina opted for more exercise. No one got so wet that they were shivering and most brought some dry spare clothing to wear in the coffee shop, so all went well for a sloppy day."

 

Next week NATRA takes a break to staff Aid Station 5 at the Sedona Marathon.  If you are running in the race, good luck, and be prepared to get down and funky at just past Boynton Canyon Road!   

 

When 37 degrees is warm!

Fifteen runners and three dogs left the single-digits of Flagstaff for a run in tropical Sedona this morning, along the Aerie-Cockscomb Loop. The route in was lined with runners training for next month's Sedona Marathon, but we had the parking lot to ourselves for the trail run. Not content with temperatures 30° warmer than Flagstaff, we reversed the route so the "cold" portion was near the end. It was great to have Tony back after a long hiatus! Brunch social was at the usual place, with the FUCers group joining us near the end.
(Thanks to Bruce Higgins for photos and post)

Mountainaire "75" Ski vs. Run at -7 degrees!

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11 NATRA runners, Oso, and Dylan braved the -7 degree temperatures to cross-country ski and/or run the 6 miles in the snowy tundra of Mountainaire. We tested how cold it was by having David B. vaporizing a cup of boiling water! After two hours of brutally cold fun, the intrepid crew returned to David McKee's house for coffee, very bloody mary's, and many more edible treats. Next week a much warmer run in Sedona, at least we hope!

Long Canyon - In Search of Sedona UFOs

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  12 NATRA runners, newbie Garrett and Bob the dog headed to Sedona to run Long Canyon in search of alleged UFO landing pads. As we drove out Dry Creek Road we saw dozens of runners pounding the pavement and a sign that read "Sedona Marathon Event Ahead!" No worries though, it was just a training run for next month's big race. While it was 2 degress when we left Fort Tuthill, the 22 degree reading in David's Subaru at the trail head felt balmy.

Once we got to the end of the trail we bushwacked to the pancake flat slickrock where Charlie found a piece of a flexi-capacitor that could only have come from an alien spaceship. After marveling at the silver o-ring we scrambled down to the sandstone tinaja filled with icy cold water. Susan looked as though she would take plunge but Bob the Dog tested the waters and immediately jumped out. If it was too cold for Bob, it was certainly not plunge-worthy! Somewhere along the way Sabrina the desert scrub impressively bloodied Sabrina's leg.


(Thanks to David Blanchard for the photos below!)


Returning to our favorite Sedona patio we noticed an owl statue above the bagel shop meant to scare off the pigeons that now had it completely surrounded in force. We expected if we zoomed in on Google Earth we would also see a big white spot on top of the owl's head. Next week's run, the Mountainaire 100 pot luck ski, snowshoe, and run. Meet at Mountainaire Tavern at 8:45 AM! Visit http://www.natra.org and click on next run for more details!