Jan 14 - 19 Race week & Derek comes to visit!

Jan 14
The race is this weekend! Yay! All the training is done and now I get to find out what a road half marathon is like. Looking forward to it!
We started our day working on more blog posts. We are getting so close to caught up. We're going shopping this morning to find a bathing suit for Leslie as the other one she has is just done. We drove to the Tromonto shopping area and Leslie found what she wanted for a new swim suit. I bought socks, woohoo lol. We have Margaret in the truck and she hasn't been for a run on grass in a long while so we are driving up to Anthem to a park we noticed earlier. Anthem Community Park is an impressive place with 63 acres of land, a roller rink for roller hockey, several ball diamonds, playgrounds for kids and a huge pond with nice paths all around the park. It's really nice. We walked around a bit until we found a large area away from everyone else and then.... (don't tell anyone) we let her off leash in the park on the grass to run!!! She loved it and ran around and around until she needed a drink. Good dog day. We hooked her up again and enjoyed a nice stroll through the park until we got to the pond.

Really nice park.

Lots of ducks and geese, similar to the pond behind our house.

There were lots of ducks and geese on the grass and in the water and Margaret figured that this was much like home and we don't like birds on the lawn. Leslie had her on the retractable leash and suddenly she decided to chase a duck in the water. It took less than a second for her to figure out that the water is cold and she can't run after a duck in water! We don't have a picture but if you can picture an old dog soaking wet clinging to the cement at the edge of the pond with her front paws looking terrified and shaking, that was her. Luckily with her collar and the leash it was quick and easy to get her out but now she's wet and smells like a duck pond mixed with wet dog.... great. Oh please let's go back to the truck so we can enjoy that in a small space haha.

The high speed run on the grass....

Then the shake

I have an old towel in the truck so we dried her on the tailgate as much as possible and drove home for a quick dog bath. The pond water had a distinct aroma. The rest of our evening was the usual with some tea and TV. Margaret curled up in Leslie's lap in the blanket and crashed. It was good day for everybody.

Jan 15

I worked on the blog while Leslie went over to play pickleball with the fellas. I walked the dog over to see how they were doing and they were still playing after almost 2 hours. They didn't stop for water breaks! Hardcore. Les came home and showered and we had lunch together then she walked over for line dancing at 1pm for another 2 hours.

Leslie enjoying the line dance instruction.

Busy day for her while I blogged and net surfed and watched TV. The forecast is for heavy rain by late afternoon and they were spot on. It poured from supper time right through until we called it a day.

Rain gear for both girls to go outside!

Jan 16

 Chore day! We worked on some more blog stuff over breakfast and then divided up some tasks. I'm defrosting the fridge/freezer and greasing the slide rails underneath on the dining room slide. Leslie is going grocery shopping. I detest shopping for groceries and she likes it better when I don't go :) so that's perfect. We worked together on a rig clean inside when she got back because our boy Derek is coming tomorrow. That was pretty much it for the day. Leslie has a sore hip, like a hip pointer type pain. Gee, do ya think 2 hours of pickleball plus 2 hours of line dancing yesterday might have strained a hip joint a touch?? I'm no doctor but my initials are DR lol.

Jan 17

Derek is expected this afternoon and we have everything ready to go for a nice supper tonight. I want to do a short run just to keep everything moving before Sunday. We both walked with Margaret and then I ran around the park for about 4k. Leslie is putting together some pasta sauce, her power pasta sauce, for Saturday night. She uses lots of chopped veggies and I asked for hot Italian sausage as a meat in the sauce. It will be great I know.

We got a text from Derek after 1pm and he is driving up in his rental. We're excited to see him. It's been a few months already.

We walked out to the park entrance to meet him and show him the route to our rig. Big hugs when he got there and we headed back to the rig. We showed him around a little and we all talked high speed for a little bit catching up on the latest news. We had some drinks for happy hour and then got to work on dinner. Bacon wrapped steaks, garlic shrimp, baked potatoes and greek salad with a nice red wine to wash it down. Awesome meal.

A fabulous dinner with Derek Carter. So good to see him again!

We had a few more drinks after dinner and chatted at a more normal speed lol. We called it a night around 11pm. 

Jan 18

We want to show Derek around a little and get him some Arizona sunshine. We got through the morning routine and jumped in the truck for a return trip to Lake Pleasant Regional Park. This time we will see the lake. We paid the $7 at the gate and drove to a trailhead at the north end of the park. We got out and found a beauty spot to get a view down the lake.

The selfie with a view down Lake Pleasant.

Awww.  Momma Leslie loves her boy lol.

We decided to try a short hike to a bridge across a little bay on the lake. It's only 1/2 mile one way which is great and the trail is easy to walk.

A view of the wash below the trail.

All smiles on the trail.

The bridge selfie.

We stayed on the bridge for a little bit and enjoyed the cool from the water and the views from the bridge. We turned back towards the trail and headed back to the truck to go explore the marina.

Everything is so green and lush, trail goes through the saguaros.

The marina was only a short drive away and we found a good spot to park and go for a walk on the marina boardwalk. There is a nice restaurant out there and some beautiful big boats under cover in a secure area at the end. Just a gorgeous day to be out on the water.

A little trolley or the stairs to get down.

Nice little restaurant on the water.

We looked around for a bit and then back in the truck for a tour of the campgrounds which Derek wasn't likely finding a thrill a minute but he played along. We're all hungry and we had been wondering about a burger place that we had seen on the way out called Wild Horse West. It's an old hotel type place but the parking lot is full every time we have passed it so we are giving it a shot.

See no guns! That's great right?

Very no frills inside, picnic tables to share, food is great!

We drove back to the rig for a little rest before we drove to Gila River Arena in Glendale for a hockey game tonight. Derek very kindly bought tickets for all of us (Thanks buddy!) for tonights game.  It's Phoenix Coyotes vs Pittsburgh Penguins. This is the first time we have seen "Sid the Kid" who is not exactly a kid anymore. We're very much looking forward to it. First though we are meeting up with Callum Peel and his girlfriend Hailey for supper. Callum was my shift supervisor at work when I retired and him and Derek are buddies outside of work also. I am the designated driver tonight because my race is close so Derek and Leslie can have as much fun as they like and I'll get them home safe. Derek is definitely happy about that decision and he is having more than one beer. Oh to be young and have a strong liver lol. We met Callum in the Arena district at a restaurant he found called The Yardhouse. Really nice pub style place with patio and inside seating. We chose the patio. Great choice Callum!

Great spot right beside the Arena.

Leslie, Derek, Hailey, Callum & me.

Did I mention Derek was excited to have a driver!

We had a fantastic dinner and Callum & Derek played credit card roulette for the bill. I didn't play. The boys are still working and that bill was probably half my pension haha! Thanks Derek for paying for our dinner too! Poor guy. This trip is expensive. Good thing he's staying with us at least.

We left the restaurant for the short walk to Gila River Arena and the hockey game.

We're happy to see each other lol. He picked me up after this pic :0

Beautiful arena(much the same as the one in Edmonton) and some of the action.

Our seats and the boys having some beers, how many is that Carter?

Derek, Leslie & me. Leslie drinking giant beers??

An exciting finish in o/t. Great game to watch.

When we sat down in our seats the first time, Callum looked down and noticed that his brother Tim was one of the referee's for tonight's game! How cool is that? He didn't know he was reffing tonight. Of course we had to heckle the ref during the game and I think Callum was loudest lol. We didn't get to meet him of course. It's not like you can chat with the officials during a game. Too bad but I thought it was cool that he happened to be there.

After the game the fellas and Hailey felt like having some more fun in the Arena district. I said I would hang out for one or two but Derek said he would either stay with Callum & Hailey or Uber back to our place. Leslie wasn't up for more drinks really. She had 3 giant beers at the game which is lots for her in that amount of time. Les & I drove back to the rig in Derek's rental feeling confident we would see him tomorrow. Well around 1am I heard a light tap on our door and it was Derek. Not entirely sober with a bag of Cheetos in his hand offering me some hahaha. It took him and the Uber driver a little driving to find our rig.  I went back to bed and as I'm getting back to sleep I hear Carter trying to quietly crunch his jalapeno cheese Cheetos in the back of the rig. We laughed about it the next morning, pretty funny stuff actually. It was a great day!

January19

I made a big breakfast for Leslie and Derek to help feel better from last night. I was drinking water so I feel great. We are going downtown to the Phoenix convention centre to pick up my race package and check out the fitness expo. There is normally some type of show at the race pick up place with all sorts of gear that is related. Derek did a great job driving us downtown and we parked as close as possible to the centre. I had texted Barry & Ailsa and they are meeting us there to pick up their stuff as well. Their friend Katherine Durell, who is also a very fast female runner, is with them and she is entered in the 10k as a warm up for a marathon she is doing soon. We joined up with Barry, Ailsa & Katherine at the door and went inside to get our race packages and bibs. I got an awesome surprise when Barry came out of the line and showed me his bib. Barry was also supposed to run the 10k as a warmup for a 50k race on Feb 9th but at the last minute he changed to the half marathon so he can run with me!!! That is so awesome that he would do that. He is going to pace me and I will learn so much from him. He's been a huge help already with free advice.  I am super pumped for the race tomorrow. Barry & Ailsa are the reason I started running in the first place and to run with Barry and learn from him.... boom ! We all took our bibs to the countdown clock for a pic.

Hammin it up a little for the camera :)

The expo is quite large so we all split up to do our own thing and we'll hook up again at the exit. Not far in I was very excited to get a photo with a huge celeb!!

The Geico gecko!!

The half marathon route in Tempe. Blue line.

We decided to go for lunch at a favourite spot in Tempe, the Thirsty Lion in Tempe Market. Barry & Ailsa have been there lots and we have been a few times and it is always a hit. 

Lunch at The Lion.

My choice, chicken & waffles, others thought it was not a healthy choice?

Of all the times we have been there we finally hit a sour note or should I say a sour server. The girl that served us was quite pleasant until I accidentally bumped her hand while she walked by with a pint of beer. I had reached back to scratch my back at the same instant she walked by and it spilled the beer which unfortunately a little splashed on her. Holy smokes did that bring a reaction! She looked at me like I had punched her or something and then slammed the door into a cart while she went inside. She returned a minute later and wouldn't even look at us and slammed the door again into the cart, having a major hissy fit. I had tried to apologize instantly when it happened but she wouldn't even acknowledge our table any more. WTH?? Barry asked another server for the manager to come out and we explained what happened and that she way overreacted to the situation. He agreed and took all our drinks off the bill and he apologized for the behaviour which was incredibly unprofessional. The manager was great and of course we will go back but never in her section of the pub for sure. 

We took a leisurely walk through the market to browse some stores. Ailsa loves the candy store at Tempe market so that was her intended stop. I browsed a little and noticed a shocking gummy worm for $30 if you're interested. Holy smokes!

That's a big gummy!

The gummy got lots of laughs and  questionable comments. I can't imagine buying one of those. After a nice stroll through the market we left Barry, Ailsa & Katherine with hugs and handshakes until tomorrow and race day! Derek drove us back to the rig where we relaxed until supper time. He seems a little mellower today after his night out last night.

Sorry pal, couldn't resist adding this.

He rallied for dinner though and a small glass of wine.

We enjoyed a great dinner of Leslie's power pasta and then relaxed in front of the TV. I called it a day at 9pm because I want to be up early to eat breakfast. Setting my alarm for 5am but likely I'll be awake before that. I'm really excited to run with Barry tomorrow and I hope to get a time around 2:45 or less for my first road half marathon. A little bit of butterflies but more excited than nervous. We'll do the next post for the race with lots of pics. I have some friends from High Chaparral coming to watch too so I hope it's good. Cheers everybody!