Post Phoenix Follow-Up

Busy day today catching up. Not much time to decompress from the weekend. However, here is a race/event posting. First, family had fun. My wife enjoyed the time off and away from Vegas. Found a perfect size Zoo for our age kids and found out again why I love college towns so much. Plus, a great place to eat in Tempe - Suckerpunch Sally's 24 hour Diner. Just opened two weeks ago.

Race - Lots of runners! About 22,000 just for the Half Marathon alone. Great weather. I am sure it was at least 50 by the start and ended up around 60-62 by the finish. Short sleeve T and shorts was the attire for the event. Did the Camelbak again. Just can't drink the Cytomax they offer and hate drinking out of cups on the run. The course is flat for the most part until after mile 9. Two hills of note after that point which put a little pressure on ya (or me) after 9 miles. Plus a few quick up and downs as well. Mile 11ish?, actually closer to the 11.5 mile point, till the end was mostly downhill and all out sprint (at least for me) to the finish. Especially, on the bridge over the Salt River/Town Lake. Not the most scenic course and I could've lived without running through the first 5-6 miles or so. I did like the last 3 miles of the course. The finish was very nice near Sun Devil Stadium on the Arizona State Campus. 

Before the race I was thinking PR. Did not happen. The first 5K bad stomach cramps (thanks Olive Garden for the less than great carbo load). Bad enough that I was hoping I would throw up just to get it out of me. It was a hard first 3 miles due to this. Plus, for the first time my ankle pain. I get it training every now and then. It is arthritis in both ankles. This was the first time for a race to have it though. It was slow go for the first 5k. At least I thought? According to my compared race results of my 5K point in Las Vegas and now Phoenix R&R HM's - I was actually faster by a minute in Phoenix!

The hills - I was not expecting them. We drove the course the day before. Took note of them, but they didn't seem anything big. Yet, I must admit I DO NOT hit any hills in my training after running 9 miles at race pace. I pushed through them as hard as I could, but it seems this is where I lost the speed and no PR was the result.

Hydration - need to find a better race and long training fuel/hydration than Gatorade. It is not giving me what I need. I have noticed this before this race in my long training runs as well. Need to do some research and experimenting on this one.

Pre Race Fuel - Ate too much the day before and not the right kinds of carbs. Need to experiment more on this one as well. The stomach issues were not fun.

In the end though and overall - I liked the event. Very well organized. Elite racing does these Rock and Roll events and does them well. Well supported by the local community. Arizona Senator John McCain was there at the start to give you a thumbs up. Expo was full of everything you could ask for. The bus shuttle from the finish area to the start - seamless. Great job on that. More porta potties (take note RBR) needed. Yeah, the two I used, were a little too well used RBR. Yuck and Yikes!

I am not sure if I do this one again, but our family had such a fun time overall - I might. Again, nothing better in my life than seeing my wife and kids near the finish line. I missed that doing Las Vegas in December. I also earned the bonus Rock and Roll Double Down Medal for doing both Vegas and Phoenix. Phoenix finisher medal itself was very nice and heavy. I really liked the official poster for the event as well. Met some new peeps. Several from Seattle and two inspirational local runners from Arizona. Great meeting ya all! This is a big reason why I do these. Meeting other runners is the best. Especially those with great stories of life.

Tempe, Arizona was nice as well. The last times in the Valley of the Sun were spent in Scottsdale and Peoria (Seattle Mariners spring training facility). This time we were in Tempe or Chandler most of the time. Had fun and have a much better appreciation for Arizona State University and the Campus. My youngest calls Sparky, the Sun Devil Mascot - the "bad monkey." Not sure where that comes from, but he asked my wife "why are all these bad monkeys all over?" So, all of us came home with "bad monkey" T's and sweatshirts. Yeah, I know, a big rival of my UW Husky Alum bloodlines. Yet, if any of my kids want to be a "bad monkey" alum - I could think of worst schools. :)

We try to visit a college campus whenever we are on vacation. Thus far our kids have toured the University of Washington (of course), Western Washington University, UCLA, UC San Diego, Cal Poly, Stanford, UC Berkeley, BYU, University of Utah, Dixie College, University of Wisconsin, Mizzou, University of Kansas, Kansas State, University of Nebraska, University of Texas, Rice University, Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University. If you have a favorite college campus for us to visit - let us know and we will check it out. Maybe our kids will be students there some day?

We are also liking the Phoenix area enough as a "maybe" place to raise the kids in the future. So, very eventful trip for us. Fairly family friendly place, and it seems to be a great sports town for runners, all athletes and old wannabes like me. Memorable family trip and run.

I will be taking today and tomorrow off from running. Then back at it Thursday. I have a new post run "happy ache and pain." It is on the inside of both thighs. I think it was doing the hills after mile 9 at full strength. More hill work in the future. Plus, Surf City Half Marathon in Feb.! See ya there Sis and Nephews!

Had fun reading a few blogger friend postings over the weekend as well. Thanks for the shout outs Minnesota Julie and Meg Runs! Everyone I read had some really good postings this weekend. Some good running vibes going on out there.

Cheers!