Here are some pictures from my latest jaunt up to Flagstaff and Sedona.

I almost blew a gasket Friday night when we were eating at Pita Jungle and got a call from my daughter saying that the bag we left at my in-laws with my sons clothes for the weekend really contained our items including some of my running stuff (Race Caps Supreme!).  After the beer helped me to relax and my OCD mellowed out I was able to enjoy the rest of the night. The packet pick up at Pay N Take was a nice gathering of folks collecting their bags and shirts (both of which are nice-I really like the bag idea), drinking beer and watching the Diamondbacks loose game 5 in 10 innings.  Here is a picture of the shirt and bag.

There was a nice gathering prior to the race where I met a few of the locals and was able to see some of the new footwear and bags from Salomon running, and some of the offerings from Aspen Sports. There were lots of obstacles that being from the desert (1500 feet elevation) were new to me.  Obstacles like frozen mud (think black ice), large puddles with a thin ice layer on top, fallen trees over the trail, in other words common trail race stuff.

Here are some of the pictures I took along the way.

North Campus at NAU taken from our room at the Drury Hotel.  If you stay here each guest gets a ticket good for 3 free beers or drinks and a happy hour and breakfast buffet.  Pretty nice.

Here is a video I took, the title will explain all of it to you.

You have never seen a recovery mojito?

I hope that McGaughs and Pay ‘N Take are well stocked up on some new and interesting post race brews as I will need several.

Here is my race beverage of choice. Since no one down here sells it, I will be picking some up at the world foods or whatever it is east of NAU. And Go D-Backs!!! I will listen to the game as I am driving.

And I cant forget to rep my sponsor, Wheaties Fuel. If you are up there and see me I will have ample samples (of cereal) to hand out. Hit me up!

Watch it in HD with the volume turned up.

And another about the Table Mountain run in South Africa.

Dear past, thanks for all of the lessons. 
Dear future, I’m ready…

I understand that I can sound anti-RNR races, which isn’t always true.  I plan to do the New Years event in Palm Springs this year.  i just get annoyed with the hype and fake excitement that is created by silly things like a new route, a different color race shirt this year, the next rehashed rock band that hasn’t been mainstream in at least 10 years doing the post race concert, etc.  Be happy about your race but don’t act like you cured AIDS by doing some minor adjustment to your race.  And while you are at it, stop acting like every runner who is running for the “Official charity” (TNT) is the greatest person you have ever met and the other runners are lame for not being a part of the purple pride.

With tons of fanfare, here is the new Arizona RNR route.

As for me and my training, I hit up Deems Hill today with visions of doing at least 2 loops of the complete trail, instead I got through 1.5 and called it quits.  My legs were toast from the start and I was huffing and puffing like a hobo and his can of spray paint. Here are a few pictures that I snapped while trying get my legs and lungs about me.

This is not the sign you want to see when starting off on a multi hour trail run.

When I finally reached the top, for some reason I felt like taking in the fact that I made it up here in uder 30 minutes.  To do what any self respecting trail runner would do, I took a video of where I stood.  Douchey, I know.  Here it is.

I ordered Hammer Nutrition’s Race Caps Supreme.  They should be here from Tri-Sports this afternoon, and I will give them a full try out this weekend with a few half-marathon distance runs.  Hopefully they work as well as advertised.  I will let you know.  EDIT:  They just arrived!  Scary post run with no shower picture to follow:

Might be my last post for a while so until then…

I found this amusing as I have purchased a few Nike Dri Fit shirts recently and was beginning to wonder if it was my imagination or if my  already high rate of sweat had increased even more as the shirts are dripping with sweat after every run.  I know that the materials they put on the shelf is not the exact same as the materials they are providing to one of the best soccer teams in the world, but it has to be close.  They almost feel as if they are made of some plastic.  I don’t know if mine like FCB’s are made out of recycled milk containers…to me that explains a lot about how they don’t dry out.  When I ran the Chicago marathon in 2005 I arrived in Chicago to 40 degree temperatures after training in the Arizona 90+ degree heat.  I was frigid.  So at the expo I bought a disposable jacket that was made from…recycled milk containers.  It worked well and kept me warm, but it didn’t allow any of my sweat to evaporate, so under the jackets was my own personal sauna.  By the time I took the jacket off and trashed it at mile 7 my shirt could not be any wetter. Add the cold temps and wind, you get my feeling of having the flu around mile 20 and barely being able to hang on for a finish.

If you came here to read the FCB article click the link……………………….right ……………………………………. here.