Literally, Holy Cow!

I woke up earlier than normal (5am instead of 5:35am) because it is the weekend, and I knew I could take a nap later today. I wanted to see if the extra half hour would make it any cooler. I woke up and forgot to take note of the temperature because I was greeted by an amazing sunrise!

Usually, when I leave at 5:45am for the walk, the sunrise has technically already occurred, but it is still somewhat cooler because the sun isn't directly on us yet. While I like to sleep, it is nice to know that if I have to start altering my departure time to accommodate the longer runs in the future that at least I might catch a sunrise once in a while!

Today, Bella and I hopped into the car and drove 2 miles down the road to the "Consolidated Canal" trail (light blue on very bottom of map below). It is a trail maintained by the power company (thanks Kevin and Jeff) and runs for 20+ miles.





As you can see, there is an extensive system of canals in the Phoenix area. Here is a link that can help you calculate the distance of your run along the canals as well as show you a bigger version of this map.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the trail. I have driven by it many times and thought that it looked nice. Bella and I parked by the Chandler Airport and were literally right by the trail. I don't think I was actually allowed to park where I did, so next time, I may try parking at Tumbleweed Park. Anyhow, the first thing I saw was this bridge over the canal.




One side of the canal is a 10 foot paved path and the other side is a 10 foot gravel path! We walked on the gravel path one direction and the paved path the other.

The trail heads straight through farming country. We walked 10 feet from about 400 cows having their morning meal! Bella really didn't know what to think. The cows (and the clinking tags in their ears) were quite loud and incredibly smelly. Bella's tail was up high! She was extremely interested in all of the animals in a very brave way. She's usually so shy and skittish with new experiences, but with the animals, she didn't seem nervous, just curious.




I really wasn't too sure what we'd find on the trail this morning. I feel like the universe listened to me about something I contemplated earlier in the week. Friday morning on our walk, I picked a route that was too traffic-laden for us. As cars whizzed by us on Arizona Avenue, Bella was nervous, I was nervous, and I noted that I wanted to try to stay away from major roads when possible. It just wasn't enjoyable.


Laughably, this morning was almost the complete opposite of that experience, complete with cows, horses, ducks, lots of open space and no traffic! Despite the malodorous cows, I much preferred the rural scenery over the stressful city traffic.

I think the canal trail is going to be an awesome place to do some of my long runs in the future. What a great morning! Here's the link to the Garmin data for the day for anyone interested!