Friday, November 23, 2007

Tempe Town Lake and shoe shopping

Mile 1056, Tempe, AZ - I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. We didn't have any family in town this year, so it was a quite holiday for the Monahans. Amy did ask the kids if they wanted a turkey. Yes, it was unanimous. The dinner was a scaled down version. Turkey, stuffing, carrots, mashed potatoes and bread on the kitchen table. Amy did a fabulous job with the turkey. I don't remember a juicer bird. You could here the juices flowing as I carved it. It was so moist, the stuffing in the bird was more like pudding. That's what the kids called it. We, always make extra stuffing in a crock pot, so Amy and kids ate that. I ate the stuff out of the bird and it was delicious. Emily and I peeled potatoes earlier and they turned out great. The carrots that cooked underneath the bird were great. As is the Monahan tradition, Amy and Emily cooked. Pat and Tyler cleaned up. It was easier this year, because we didn't have the fancy china and silver to clean up.
Today was shoe buying day. At Performance Footwear you get half off the purchase of the second pair today. I got two pair of my Asics Kyano 13's. They even gave me my Arizona Roadracers discount on the first pair. Can you tell which pair I've worn for around 400 miles?
Since I was up near Tempe Town Lake and it was a gorgeous 65 degrees out, I decided to take a fun 3 mile run. It went like this - slow, slower and slowest. And I had a blast running along the lake to the east dam. Town Lake is a man made lake between two inflatable dams. It's in the river bed of the Salt River or Rio Salado. Yeah, our rivers are usually dry. It takes lots of rain or snow up in the high country for us to have water in the river. Weird, I know. So, the good folks of Tempe decided to fill their part of the river up with - Water.
During my run I thought that they should have a Dam to Dam Race. It would be about a 4 miler. I think I might just organize one for the Tumbleweed Running Club. Heck, it should be a Dam To Dam To Picnic Run. We can do a potluck and eat in the park. Dam It!, I think I'll do it. It's a Dam fine ideal. I do like dam jokes.
If you click on the map below, you'll see the dams at either end. The west one is barely in the photo, the east one is right past the Y. The U shape is Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University. The parking lot of the stadium is the finish lines for the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathons.




7 comments:

J~Mom said...

That is a dam fine idea you have there. Congrats on the new shoes...love that store. Did you see that Road Runner Sports opened at the new Tempe Market place? I hope it doesn't hurt business for Performance.

MNFirefly said...

Nice shoes and bird!

Jeff said...

Nice shoes, Pat.

Irene said...

There's nothing better than new running shoes on sale! Hooray! I think you might have something there with the dam to dam run! They should call it "Pat Monahan's Dam Run."

Cheryl said...

The turkey looks delish, shoes way cool, but did you say INFLATABLE dams? Now that's weird!

Nancy said...

Dam, that sounds fun!! Have you heard me talk about Dam to Dam in Iowa?? It is one fine event with 8000 of my closest friends, about 12 miles. You're invited :D

Girls did a fab job with the bird!! How nice to have a relaxing Turkey Day.

TNTcoach Ken said...

Good idea to load up on shoes for that price! I need a new pair for the cold winter weeks ahead, I’m thinking of a trail shoe for more warmth!