Cheat Day, 105 degrees, and a run...no problem.

Today I spent the entire day out of the house. I left before 7 am, spent the entire day with my youngest daughter. She had a dentist appointment in a town about 35 miles north of us, where my wife works. Since my truck doesn't have AC, gets 15 miles a gallon and diesel is $4.50 a gallon, we decided to ride with my wife and pal around for the rest of the day.

The town is Green Valley, Arizona. It's a retirement community. We had one errand to run (get the oil changed on the car), and the rest of the time was ours. The appointment was in the morning, so that went by quickly. After eating lunch with my wife and her co-workers, we went to a used book store and found a STEAL. A first edition, signed copy of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove...for $3.00! Whoa!

Then we went to the library. We picked up a couple of books, including Pam Reed's book, The Extra Mile. As we used the automated computer system to check out our books we saw we had something ready for pick up that had been reserved. We look on the shelf that's in the first isle in the library. Our name is at the bottom. We are bent over looking for our item when we hear a RIIIIIP. I looked up and there's an old man's saggy rear end pointing right at me between the shelves from the neighboring isle! I grabbed our item and we scrambled away to the checkout computer choking on laughter. The old man actually farted right in our faces.

The thing I want to know is, did he NOT know it made a sound, or did he NOT know he let it rip?

What was the item we risked death to retrieve? Beverly Hills Chihuahua! No joke.

After the library we dropped the car off to get the oil changed and walked across the street to Wal-Mart. Now, my daughter Brianna (12) and I play slug bug rather aggressively. We've expended the game to include PT Bruiser and Kick-a-Jeep. Also, remember this is a retirement community. If you're 65 in this place, you're a youngster, no exaggeration. I decided to kick our game up a notch, and as it turned out, this was a very poor decision on my part. I decided to start a game called, Punch and Oldie. That means, see an old person, punch the competitor. So, for an hour we sat on one of the benches punching and pushing each other. I'm bruised! We did see an octogenarian woman wearing bright red short-shorts! Whoa!

It was 105 degrees today, we were gone all day and had very little to drink. It was one of those days where I was starving all day. Also, being Friday, it was time for a cheat meal. My wife wanted Little Cesars and I just wanted to eat, so perfect. Little Cesars it was!

We waited an hour after dinner and went for a run. My oldest daughter Alex, (17), decided to go along, though not to run. She was going to take pictures of things. She'd walk the trail until my youngest daughter got tired and turned around to return to the car, where they'd return together. As it turned out, there were too many good things to see for Brianna (the youngest) and she never turned around. Instead, when she got tired, she just explored until I returned and decided to run back with me.

We found Alex about a mile from the trail head. It was getting dark. I held the camera and her phone and the three of us jogged back to the car. Alex did very well for not having ever run before, especially considering that the mile she ran is challenging because of the sand.

So here's a little tip: Ever want to know how to run better, ask a 12 year old. The first mile of this trail is largely soft, deep, dry sand, the kind that swallows your feet and fills your shoes. She told me today, to run better in the sand, I just need to go faster. Of course, it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that she weighs 95 pounds and I weigh 215!

What about the combination of pizza (covered with Tobasco), lack of hydration and 105 degree day and running? Did it make me hurl?

Nope. In fact, I felt great. It was just a recovery run, so I went slow and easy the whole way.

Here are a few pictures of the trail. It's called the Sonoita Creek Trail, the Rio Rico Trail head. It's just over 1.6 miles from the trail head to the first gate, which is a perfect recovery run. That's usually as far as I go, as I did tonight.


This is Brianna and myself heading out on the run. Good thing it was a recovery run because my legs were STIFF at first!

Here are a few pictures of the trail. I'm not up for the full 18 miles out and back, but eventually would like to write a full report of the trail. I've walked the whole thing, but that was a long time ago.


As you can see, this is a well traveled path.



This is the mountain San Cayetano, which I climbed three weeks ago.