Half Marathon

This morning I ran the Phoenix YMCA Half Marathon. The race officially started by a shot from the double-barreled shotgun of Wyatt Earp. You can see, Keeper got a picture of him firing the gun. We thought that was pretty funny. The race started in South Mountain Park and ran down Central Ave. and then out on the canal. It was an out and back course. The canal down on the south side of the city is pretty crappy compared to where I've been doing my training runs in Scottsdale. The canal is more of a creek and the path isn't very wide. The race was small ( a couple hundred people doing the half) but the volunteers were plentiful and very appreciative of the runners, because the money from the race funds their youth and teen programs (which is pretty cool). They had no gatorade at the water stops, only water. The weather got hot and sunny pretty quickly, and I got bored pretty easily on the canal, especially knowing I'd have to turn around and do it again on the 2nd half. My first 2 miles were faster than I wanted to go but I settled into a comfortable pace around mile 3. I was very pleased to have no leg cramps (yay!) and I saved some much needed juice for the last 2 miles, which were uphill (going back up South Mountain, into the park). Darsh. I had hoped to break 2 hours, but finished (strong!) in 2:01:34. I am looking forward to a flatter (and hopefully faster) PF Chang's in January. The post race organization was well-stocked with water, gatorade, cliff bars, and Einstein Brothers bagels. We didn't stick around for the awards, but instead headed up to the mountain to the very top (Dobbins Lookout). Chloe was a great spectator with Keeper at her first race. I'm sure she wondered why she wasn't running.

Graduation

Chloe graduated from Basic Obedience I class this past Saturday. Our instructor set up six stations around the room for us to complete. We had as much time to practice as we wanted, then we had to call him over to evaluate us when we were "ready". She completed every station (amazingly). We did not win the "competition" (the highest score got 20% off the next round of classes) but we had fun. We're not quite sure whether to sign up for the next seven week class quite yet because our Saturday mornings are going to be busy the next few months, but we definitely felt this session was well worth the money.

I have turned into one of those "people" who buy Halloween costumes for their dog. I swore I wouldn't, but I did. I just couldn't resist the $10 Bumble Bee outfit they had at Target the other week. I showed my students the picture on the right and they told me she looks "humiliated" in the picture. I can't really argue with that.

The training class we took was held at at a place called Paws Resort and Spa for pets. They hold "doggie daycare" there, as well as grooming and boarding for dogs. We talked to them about boarding since we have to leave Chloe for the first time this weekend. I thought their prices were really high for boarding but then we learned that it's not conventional boarding at all. There are no crates/kennels. All the dogs are "evaluated" prior to being kept there to make sure they are sociable with other dogs. All day long the dogs are kept together and are supervised by the staff there. It's really like summer camp for pets. To make sure that the dogs aren't upset or "traumatized" about being left there for the first time, you have to bring them in for a day of regular "playtime" just to get them used to it. Chloe goes on Thursday for her first day. Can you tell we don't have kids???

Grand Canyon Trip

Last week J & A came out to visit for 5 days. We spent 2 days & 2 nights camping in the Grand Canyon. Keeper unfortunately couldn't come because he was studying and couldn't miss class last Monday. We got into Grand Canyon Village around 7:30pm Saturday night, grabbed dinner at the deli, then set up the tent and went to sleep. We woke up pretty early and Jen set to work making eggs and bacon (after wrestling with the camping stove). We decided to drive up to Mather Point and take some pictures of the view before heading to the visitors' center. We then took the shuttle bus to Hermit's Rest, and began our hike to Santa Maria Spring down Hermit's Trail. This particular hike was only 2.5 miles into the canyon and 2.5 miles back up. The altitude change really got to me on the hike back up; it was really tough! We made it up, refueled, hopped on the shuttle to see Hopi Point and finally made it back to camp. After a firewood chopping session, Jen made us pile back in the car for some sunset pictures near Mather Point. It was well worth the arm-twisting! After sunset we headed back to camp to made a delicious dinner and s'mores by the campfire. We were so tired from hiking, that Monday morning we decided to head to a lodge to have a hot breakfast. We shopped in the general store and then drove to Desert View to climb the tower and take some more pictures. After leaving the canyon on our way back to Flagstaff, we stopped off at two more National Monuments: Wupatki (pueblo ruins) and Sunset Crater. We got back into Phoenix around dinner time and tried a new restaurant that turned out to be great. It was a great visit and we miss them already! I took too many pictures to post here so if you want to see all 110 of them, email me and I'll send you the link.

A Familiar Face

Management has received several complaints about our lack of posting so.... here you go. In K and I's defense though, most of the time we are very boring people so there's nothing exciting to blog about. Two weeks ago, my college friend and sorority sister, Lorraine, was in town on business. We had her over for dinner one night and K made his famous (or should I say Gayle's) shrimp pasta. It was delicious, as usual. Then we went to a trendy wine bar in Scottsdale. It so nice to see a friend out here! L was in town until last weekend so we got to see her for dinner again on Friday night.

K's father flew down from Vegas last Thursday and stayed with us until Sunday. We tried two new restaurants, both good. We had amazing seafood at Wild Fish and good old fashioned Italian at Tutti Santi. K and his dad got a round of golf in Saturday morning and we amused ourselves in the afternoon with baseball playoffs. We are eagerly awaiting our next visitors, Jen and Andrew, who are flying in Friday night. Yay!!!!