On Saturday morning, Paul and I dusted off the tandem for a ride up to Dove Mountain with the Saturday group. Despite a chilly start (in the low 40's) and an ominous forecast, it turned into a beautiful day for 50 miles of riding.

My Sunday morning plan included 8 miles at the SAR Social Run on the Rillito River Path. I felt the need for some extra motivation and decided a change of scenery and a group to run with would do it. However, my dedication to this run wavered in the middle of the night when I awoke to the sound of pouring rain. When my 5:50am alarm went off, I immediately peeked outside and found that the rain had lightened considerably. After 30 minutes of vacillation, I finally decided to go for it. I figured 8 rainy miles with a group was better than 8 rainy miles by my lonesome. Alas, the running gods smiled down upon us - when I left the house at 6:40am, the rain had stopped.

The purpose of this non-competitive, go-your-own-pace, go-your-own-distance run was to bring together the various running groups in Tucson - WOG, the Grinders, Tri Girls and Tucson Trail Runners. About 30 hardy (and speedy) souls showed up at River and Campbell and headed west on the river path. Within minutes, I realized I was last. After a few more minutes, I could not even see anyone else from the group. But, I made peace with my lack of speed years ago, and so I just put in my headphones and enjoyed my run.

After turning around, I ran into fellow Tri Girl, Robin, who had shown up late for the run, but decided to get some miles in anyway. She turned back with me and it was great to have company for the last few miles. We chatted the whole way and enjoyed post-run snacks with the group. It was nice to finally put names to some of the faces I see at all of the local races, and I hope to attend more of these social runs.

I'm in the final stretch before the Pemberton 50K this coming Saturday. My body is feeling stiff, but Wednesday's massage should take care of that. The long-range forecast calls for rain...but that could (and, hopefully will) change in the next five days. Otherwise, I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

I'm looking forward to the race (although nervous too), but I'm also looking forward to not having a major goal hanging over my head. Between Pemberton and my marathon last November, I've been training for about 7 months and I'm ready for a break. I look forward to continuing to run and race, but without all of the pressure of a major event.

Stayed tuned for the race report next weekend!