Besting Buffalo Park

So, yesterday the plan was to go running with dear Grace at Buffalo Park.  2 loops around the trail is 4 miles, so that was my plan.  Gracie is training for a half-marathon, so she intended to do 3 loops.

It was cold and really windy, but I had my trusty inhaler, and Roxy was chomping to get going.  She hasn't been on a run since the first snowfall.  She forgets she is little and skinny and freezes quickly so she has been impatient to get outside.  Grace was happy to have a beautiful trail to run on.

When we arrived, it was hazy and dusty, and during the warm up walk, my chest was starting to ache, so no running for me.  I decided to not create angst over it and just glory in the really pretty sky and snow-capped peaks as Grace leapt ahead like a gazelle.

If you go right on the trail, at the end you get a really steep hill.  If you go left, you start by going down the really steep hill, and going up a longer, more gradual slope.

I had decided to go right, and when I finished that loop, I'd turn around and go left. 

The wind was horrible, cold and unrelenting.  My hands were tucked in my pockets and my hood tight around my face.  I tried to not remind myself I'd be warmer if I ran because that just made me mad.

As I walked up the really steep hill, I thought, "You know, I don't really have to turn around and do this again.  This sucks. Why am I here?  This is stupid.  I can wait in the car for Grace."

Well, Roxy wasn't ready to stop, and I really didn't feel like playing on my phone in the car until Grace was done, so we turned around and went the other direction.

As we started walking up the milder slope, I had a flashback to about 4 years ago when I first moved to Flagstaff.  My friend Steve from Casa Grande had come to visit and we decided to check out Buffalo Park for a place to go walking.  That was the first time I'd been there, and we took the left entrance just because there were fewer people doing it.

I actually haven't taken the left entrance since then.  The trail looks different in the other direction.  I had completely forgotten about that first walk in Buffalo Park until the scenery brought me back.

The very first time I walked this trail, I had to stop three times to rest before hitting the top.  We didn't even walk the whole two miles because I was dying.

And here I was, mentally grousing because I couldn't run 4 miles because of my asthma.

Wow.

The rest of the walk seemed quite cheerful, actually.