Lets go to Papago!

After a short little run the other morning and helping our friend out with her car which involved a trip to the dealership. Which in turn was packed full of these...

I got the "get-out-and-do-something-active(besides-run)" bug.

It was really nice to get out where it was nice and quiet. We did a bit of yoga...

Did a little running

we walked

and walked

till we got to the lakes on the other side of papago and I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to start taking picture of nature.

Best part of the hike was that I got to spend some time with the Sparkles Wife and talk

Later I went to the DMV to have my commercial drivers license knocked down to a normal one so I don't have to keep my medical physicals up to date. They are always a ray of sunshine no matter how polite and friendly you try to be. Must be hard having a government job, I could be wrong.

Ouch!

So I believe it was about a week ago that I fell victim to the worst injury I have ever received as of yet. I won't/can't go into details , you wouldn't want to hear them, but I can say that after a trip to the ER and bed rest for quite a while I finally woke up today and am feeling better. The only bad thing is that I have not run for a week, when that happens, bad self image thoughts creep into my mind.

So... what I did do this last week was if I wan't in extreme pain or could just bear it for a while I would go try to walk around the library. It was one of my favorite things to do when I was a kid. To just wonder around until I found a book that caught my eye and my interest.

We really have a beautiful library here... This is approaching the entrance from the lower parking garage level...

Well I've been a bad blogger lately but hopefully I can get back on the road soon and start running again. Its really driving me up the walls being in the house all day. Thanks to the Sparkles Wife for taking care of me!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Due to overwhelming demand by my avid fans I realized that more pictures mean less of me rambling which is best for all of us :) SO.....

This morning I woke up and did what I do every morning - Sneak out of the room without waking the Sparkles Wife and go take care of the garden.

Then while the wife went to get buff with weights I geared up in my finest running attire and vestments, then headed out into the pleasantly perfect 80 degree weather. (hint- it didn't stay that way long)

I took a very slow pace to Tempe Town Lake to conserve energy for what I knew would be a long run.



Stopped for a while to stare at my FAVORITE Landmark in all of Arizona. ASU Sun Devil Stadium and Frank Kush Field

By now my right calf was killing me so I spent some time attempting to touch my horrendously large feet and trying to meditate and relax for a little while in the warm sun. (I've been experimenting with meditation recently and I'm liking it so far. Was a nice way to break up the run half way through.)

A quick jaunt across Mill and around the lake

And then I decided it would be a good idea to try and conquer "A" Mountain.

At this point I was rethinking that decision...

I took the slighty easier way up, its still a very quick vertical but worth it once your up there.

At this point I was really thankful i brought my phone because the wise words of Healthy Tipping Point's tips for running in hot weather kept going through my head and I knew I was done for the day OR ELSE... So called the Sparkles Wife and got a ride home.

*sorry about the quality of the pics, I have to use my phone to take pictures now. The Sparkles Wife and I weren't respecting the camera's union contract, negotiations failed and now its on strike... its a long story but basically we need a new camera.*

I did find this super cool picture for people that may be familiar with the Tempe area...

Thats the "A" Mountain I just ran up today in the 1890's!!!

Here it is today ("A" mountain is in the center left)

What or where are your favorite places to run?

mom

Thats my mother on the right. Next to her is my wife on our wedding day and then my sister on the left. Happy Mother's Day Mom. I hope that we can do half as well as you did with more than you had. Love you

Chasing my Wife All Over Town

This morning I had to take a 7 mile run before I did anything else. So I mapped out my run on Google Earth and asked my wife if she wanted to come along. She usually doesn't run with me because of a persistent IT band injury but she strapped on her helmet and got on her beach cruiser and we took an awesome 7.2 mile run. I realized that running is a lot easier when there is a beautiful girl on a pink beach cruiser to chase ;)
I get really bored with the scenery around our house on my typical runs so I get excited for my long runs because I get to run outside of our neighborhood and explore. The wife had found this really beautiful historic district nearby that we wanted to move into, so we ran down there and ran through the neighborhood. Its the kind of place where the houses are so quaint and quiet that it almost doesn't seem like their real. The thing I like about it the most is that it reminds me of the old houses in the little rural town I grew up in.
Well i'd love to go on but my protein shake is almost empty and its Mothers Day so I better going! Happy Mothers Day to everyone!

Massive Assembly Required

Skipped running this morning to help our friend build the crib for her newborn daughter. Now it 95 degrees outside and unfortunately I don't plan on skipping this run so...... Anyways, about the crib. I didn't even think about what I might be getting myself into, but sure enough there it was... leaning against the wall in a box that was maybe 3 inches tall. For those of you that don't know, any box that small that is supposed to turn into a large piece of furniture, means that there is more than just "some assembly required" it means there is Massive Assembly Required.

Luckily I had a 1 1/2 year old helper to help move the project forward. He actually was a pretty good helper(better than some I can remember), he stayed out of the way, gave me the nuts and bolts I needed, and was always holding onto the small tool that I would have lost 15 times throughout the whole process had he not been holding onto it the entire time. He was really happy the whole time, so was I.

In the interest of not spending 3 hours thinking and talking about myself and more importantly getting this blog up and running so the real magic can happen. I am going to only tell you the three most important things about myself that I would want my children to know about me, in order.

1. I married a women almost 2 years ago that loves me more than I love myself most times. Going through life with her has been like a never ending happy hour on a secluded beach with your best friend, if that makes sense...

2. I believe we only get one go around on the earth and I strive to experience as much of it as I can and to experience it as naturally and uninhibited as possible.

3. All I really want out of my life is to live peacefully with my family and somehow touch someone's life in a way that they carry on a legacy of love and caring because of it.
(3 1/2. Oh and run fast, run fast alot.)