OP Fast Approaching...

The OP...what is the OP? Well, in the height (or lack thereof) of my youth, OP meant Ocean Pacific...my favorite surfer friendly brand of clothing. And you know a kid like me, landlocked in the desert, did a lot of California dreaming. Any opportunity to be in or near the ocean was gladly accepted, and in the browns and greens of the Sonoran Desert, I proudly rocked my fluorescent, turquoise, lime green and other obnoxious fabric colors of the '80s.

But now, today, right now, at this very moment...OP means the Old Pueblo. And I'm not just talking about the great little town of Tucson in which I live, I'm talking about my first 50 mile race. To be clear, and to answer some of the immediate questions I tend to hear after explaining what I'm about to do this weekend:

• No, it's not a relay
• Yes, I'm running the whole thing in one day
• In a perfect world I'll run it in 12-13hours, but as its my first 50miler, I'll be happy with any official finish that results in the finshers belt buckle award
• Yes, I'll do just about anything within reason for a belt buckle, its one of my weaknesses (a belt buckle is largely how I ended up back in the desert in the first place, but that's a whole other story.)
• No, this isn't a one-time deal, run a 50 and be done with it. I hope to do this race more than once, and my next race I have lined up is a 100K in California. Ideally, someday, I'll run a 100miler...someday
• Yes, I think this is fun. Really. This is the time of my life, I have such a blast running through trails, pushing my own personal limits and meeting other great people who are out there doing the same thing

Here's a map of the racecourse:

 

According to the race website, this is what to expect of the course: A challenging 50 mile loop course on forest service roads and trails through the southeastern part of the Santa Rita Mountains (part of the Arizona Trail).Elevation at Kentucky Camp (Start/Finish): 5142 ft Low point in course: 4031 ft, High point in course: 5847 ft Avg. grade is 6% with 7,500 ft climb and 7,500 ft of descent over the 50 miles

 I've had the pleasure of running with a handful of OP veterans in the past couple of months. Aside from being overall a great bunch of folks, they've also all encouraged me and assured me that I will have no problem completing this challenging course. To be honest, I sit here, less than 62 hours away from the race start, and I thought I'd be a bundle of nerves. Instead, work and life have kept me so ridiculously busy in the past two weeks, I haven't even had time to stress out about it. On top of that, its the little things. A simple e-mail from Renee telling me I'll do fine at the race has set my mind at ease more than I realized. I can do this. I know this. And once I've done this, I can set new goals for next year of faster times and recoveries. I've tapered well for the last two weeks, again largely due to the insanity of my schedule, but its been great. I've gotten the rest I needed, but I haven't been anxious. As a matter of fact, I find myself bounding with energy, skipping across streets (seriously) and sprinting from door to door. I've been riding my bike a lot in little fits and bursts, getting to and from far too many meetings about grants and other things. 

So...other things, I'll digress from the running for the moment. The things that have been keeping me so busy. I was able to start a dream project, a large garden project growing food for the crews we run at my work, and its something that is quickly gaining momentum. In the back of my brain I have always had the vision of how spectacular this project could be if it were magically funded by some unknown source...the food and knowledge and resources that could be shared not only with our crews, but also with the local community...

Well, although its been a stressful process, I'm hoping the stress will pay off. With the help of the United Way, I, on behalf of SCC, have submitted a grant proposal to fund the Gin Family Garden project. Basically, if this grant comes through, the ideas that I've already started to put in motion will come to fruition faster and in a less take-what-you-can-get pieced together sort of venture. The GFG site, which was already planned to become a community garden site, on top of the food we're growing for SCC, would also become an active natural play space for the youth in the community. It's really a spectacular dream...that will hopefully find funding and come true. 

My latest drawings for the project are here:

WOAH UNIVERSE, SLOW DOWN!!!! So, as I was struggling with changing these files into the right JPEG format to be able to upload them into my blog and also worrying about jinxing myself by talking too much about plans that are still very much in motion...my phone rang, and it was my UW contact. We Did It!!!! We made it through the first gauntlet and this project is that much closer to being officially funded. It is no longer a dream, but a dream come true!!! Official word in a couple of weeks or so...I'm seriously jumping out of my skin right now, I can't believe it. This. Is. Amazing. 



Look for the race report next week.



Right now, I want to have a dance party...I'll leave you with some more music that lends to dancing, at least for these feet:

 

 

DANCE DANCE DANCE!!!!