Arizona Recap

Justin and I are back from Arizona and had a great time. We didn't end up going to the Grand Canyon...so, Arizona, we'll be back!

Friday we arrived and were met with glorious sunshine and upper 70's! We went to the race expo (i.e. the place you pick up your race number, t-shirt and can buy lots of running goodies(yay, new shoes!)). After the expo we walked around a bit of downtown phoenix, found lunch and frozen yogurt! (YUMMMMY!)

Saturday we were supposed to go to the Grand Canyon but slept through the alarm and decided we didn't want to drive the 230 miles just to get out of the car, take a few pictures, and drive the 230 miles back to Phoenix. Instead we drove out to Sedona. I've heard great things about Sedona and was excited to see their famous "red rocks." We were not disappointed! We drove around a bit and ended up finding a short trail. At the top we had 360 degree views of the surrounding red rocks. It was gorgeous!

Sunday, race day! After much deliberation given my injured knee and bronchitis I decided that I trained for the full marathon so I was going to complete it! Race morning was a bit chilly but really for January very mild. Justin and I probably have vastly different race reports (i.e. experiences during the race) as he finished in a smokin' 3:28 (a PR, personal record, of over 15 minutes) and I had to make a few port-a-potty stops (ugh) and was struggling from the 20 mile marker to the finish--but I finished too...in 5:56, which is a PR of about 5 minutes. My strategy was run two miles take a short minute walk break and continue. This worked great for the first 6-8 miles. Then I went to a run 10 minutes/walk 1 minute, which again worked until about mile 15 when the port-a-potty stops came. From mile 15-20 I ran 7 minutes and walked 2. Mile 20-24, I ran 3 minutes/walked 1. After mile 24 race strategy was out the window and I just wanted to finish! Which I eventually did! Yay! I am so lucky to have such a loving and patient husband who waits over 2 hours at finish lines for his poor wife to finish. Seeing him near the finish always makes me finish with a smile no matter how much my blisters hurt or how much I'm still coughing!

We both agreed the race course in San Diego was much prettier. As advertised, Arizona was pancake flat. With the flatness came no vantage points along the course. Despite not loving hills (or really training on them) I think we both prefer races with a gentle rollers which allow for nicer views.

--Justin here with a quick recap of my race. Like Alisa said, I PR'd! I didn't really expect to break an 8 min/mile pace, but I had the help of a couple of annoying women behind me that forced me to run faster to get away from them, and from mile 20 to ~26 the help of the 3:30 pacer (the marathon organizers have people who go out and run certain paces to help the participants along) who was giving motivational quips every few hundred yards: "only 30 minutes to go, everyone's tired, don't give in now" and "we are doing great, we could walk the last mile and get in on time... not that we are going to." I was very tired for the last 6 miles or so, but didn't have to walk at all! I also never fully hit the wall, though it did politely bump into me a couple of times. It wasn't the prettiest course, but I was thankful for the "flat as a pancake" aspect. I was very impressed by Alisa coming in ahead of her SD time with all her troubles! It was a great vacation and I really love the unique landscape of Arizona. I am looking forward to exploring similar geology in Utah!---

Here are a couple of pictures of our respective finishes and one of us after we're both done:

Monday we spent the day lounging around our 5 star resort. It was truly a beautiful resort! We started the day with massages...ahhhh...by mid-day we were drinking margaritas and soaking up the sunshine. We even came back with a bit of a tan! Here are a few pictures from the resort.





All in all, it was a great trip all around! Thanks Mom and Dad for vacation money this year, we used part of it for this trip and will be using the rest for a summer excursion.

Maybe some year we can find a race that a few different distances (and walker options) and make a weekend out of it...Dunlap Family Race Weekend (it has a nice ring to it!). (John Dunlap's there is Disney World Race Weekend with a 5k (3.5 mile walk/run), half marathon and marathon.) Who's in???