Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My?

This morning, I finally dragged my lazy butt out of bed for a run. I headed out to Sabino Canyon to meet up with some Team In Training folks (they are training for a 1/2 marathon, I just tagged along). I LOVE running at Sabino Canyon, even though it's 7.4 miles of hills if you run all the way to the top. I do not love hills but I love Sabino Canyon. It reminds me why I love living in the desert. And today's weather reminded me why I tolerate the summer heat (but it's a dry heat!!!).
Yes, that is water running over the road we ran on! How did I cross it, you ask? I ran straight through it, splashing all the way!!! I channeled my inner child and had a huge smile on my face. (OK, if it didn't actually show on my face, I was definitely smiling in my head). The photo above is one of the bridges where the water was deepest yesterday. There are 7 or 8 bridges and all but one had water running over it. They are actually designed so that when there is a flash flood or just a decent amount of rain, like we've gotten over the past several weeks, the water that can't go under the bridge goes over the bridge.

Now you might be asking, didn't your feet get soaked? Wasn't the water cold? Yes and yes! That's part of the fun. The water in your shoes warms up within a few seconds but it is mountain runoff so it is a bit cold.

(Other people about to cross the fun way.)

Now some people get to the water and either take off their shoes & socks and gingerly make their way across or put baggies on their feet. Boo! There actually is an annual race at Sabino Canyon and the summer rains usually mean that the 500+ runners are splashing their way through.
And you might be wondering, why did she call this "Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My?" That would be because driving into the parking lot, the park ranger stopped all cars to warn them that there had been mountain lion sightings and give out pamphlets. My reaction to this news - Meh, I'm still going to run. Not gonna stop me. Did not see any mountain lions but I forgot to snap a photo of the warning sign for you. Do you like my bridge warning sign above? It makes me giggle and yes that sign is just before each & every bridge heading up and down the canyon.

The photo above is actually from one of my runs with Team In Training during the summer. The others were taken with my phone today. You can see the sun coming up over the Canyon but it takes awhile for the sun to reach IN the canyon so the 5am summer runs there are so enjoyable. I was really disappointed this past summer because there wasn't enough rain (major drought going on here in the desert) for the water to flow, let alone flow over the bridges. Yesterday's run was a great and challenging 6 miles for me. Time to get back into training shape...

While I was running, I thought about my college friends and my bee friends in the middle of their snow storm. And, not to make any of you mad, I was really happy I didn't have to deal with that and I could run at Sabino Canyon splashing through the water. This is why I endure the oppressive heat of late-May, June, July, August and early-September. Oh, and the Spring Training too! I didn't get Ebony's fabric in the mail this week but I DID get my tickets to the spring training game next month that we are taking my parents to as their Christmas gift. Go Dbacks! Please don't take spring training out of Tucson.