Cactus Jack drinks coffee black
Tells me it’s my lucky day

— michael murphey (no martin)

—

Little-known fact: A saguaro only grows its first arm after it’s 250 billion years old.

Another little-known fact: When I’m tired, I just make stuff up rather than looking it up.

Everyone has a happy place. I suppose this one is mine.

It’s just 30 minutes from our front door (unless the 101-202 interchange is closed and you decide to take the 360 without realizing it misses the turnoff to the park and you end up just down the road from Gumbo’s house which is about a day and a half too far and then come back using the iPhone map but don’t realize you just typed in “usery” rather than “usery park” and so it sends you to “usery trailhead” which is a swell spot but on the wrong side of the park and you need to be inside the park proper to fill up your water bottles and so you spend half a day meandering about greater Phoenix and your early morning beat the heat strategy becomes a quest for survival. And this is my happy place?)

It’s not the most glamorous park in the world, and I guess the trails aren’t as spectacular as some, but I love it so much. When I haven’t been here for a while, I spend the entire run mentally kicking myself in the butt for having been away so long. Nothing good can come from kicking oneself in the butt while running.

The Where the Hell is Jill loop combined with the Moon Rock makes a perfect 8 miles of saguaros and singletrack and views of the Superstitions that never get old. I know these trails so well that I’m almost guaranteed to get lost at least once per outing since I’m daydreaming and miss turns. And isn’t that the fun of it? You never get lost on the 0.39 mile Lasso sidewalk loop. And that’s a shame.

Why the hell am I not running here every day? With gas dropping below $2 a gallon and the heat leaving me with the trails pretty much to myself, it’s the perfect getaway from the real world. Whatever that is.

I made it 8 miles without crashing, beating my previous record by 7.2 miles. And if I DO crash, it will make the perfect excuse for skipping October. Win-win! Why do I keep entertaining the notion of October taking place exclusively here? Could there be a better place to die?

Happy. I’m thinking part 2 tomorrow. Surely the saguaro arms will have grown a little. Maybe Gumbo will leave cookies on her porch.