I love visiting Arizona and running the Arizona Rock n' Roll Half Marathon is a great time. My good friends Lisa and Alan were always willing to let me crash in their casita. I have some pretty fun memories of going out to visit for long weekends, golf, beer, good food and great company. This trip was definitely going to turn into one for the books, or for the blogs.
Pre-Race Prep – What Not To Do
The worst possible way to prepare for a race is to spend the entirety of the day before drinking beer and golfing in the sun. Yup, I did. I capped the night off with a great meal and a couple of glasses of wine. Yup, I did. Somehow I was able to run at a pretty good clip! I didn't fall flat on my face or end up in one of those little medical tents I always see alongside the bigger races.
The trip to the race was equally as interesting. I was exposed to Ke$ha the singer while watching my friend Courtney dance in the driver's seat of the car all the way from North Scottsdale to the race start line. Every time I hear this song I still think about that car ride. This all while I was trying to explain to another friend Jen (JT) about the race, that you should absolutely try to take a dump before the run and the basic ins and outs of my whole one-race experience set. I was a complete pro.
On the way out of the car I was invited to a post race gathering at Temple Bar to watch football and drink beer. Football? Beer? I'm in!
The Race & Temple Bar
The race was fun, finished with my fastest time of 1:44:22, feeling good, time for some fun. When I got to Temple Bar I immediately noticed a cute brunette named Amy. She was good friends (college friends) with my other friend JT. It was one of those funny things but I knew from almost the very first moment that I wanted to date her. Although we didn't spend a lot of time chatting that day at the bar due to several larger males sitting in between us, we did connect afterwards and spoke every single day on the phone until we had our first date. I don't have any pictures of the race but I do of the first date that was conveniently on Valentine's Day.
Note: It is worth noting that the San Diego Chargers (DUNDERBOLTS) lost the playoff game that day to the NY Jets while we watched at Temple Bar. Damn that team has such a great way of breaking hearts! And my buddy Joe bet $500 on the Chargers. Sorry Joe.