Where Have You Gone Joe Dimaggio?

I'm still around. I usually post everday, but this week has been on the quiet side.





Tuesday: The weather was great. I ran 5.02 miles in the morning. In the daylight. For us here in Arizona, it's like spring. We can come out of the caves and enjoy nicer weather. Now, it may heat up again, since this is early for us. But, the past few days have been woderful weather wise.





Wednesday: 2 hours of japanese sword class. We practiced various moves and just started learning to use our feet to avoid an attack. This class is starting to get very interesting. I call it Kendo, but I don't think it is exactly. Either way Tyler and I are having a blast. If you call, getting wacked with a bamboo rod, a blast.





Thursday: I ran 4.07 miles in the morning. Great weather. My garmin was acting up. The pace was wrong, the distance was wrong. The time was right. I later googled my route to find a more accurate distance. Later that night, I played 2 hours of softball. It was the first time I pitched for the men's team. We won the first game 29-8. Everyone was hitting and anytime I can keep a men's team under 10 runs, I'm happy. It's softball. The second game we lost. Not sure of the score. Something like 11-6. I think. I did strike out two of their batters in this game. I take a little pride in K's.





Friday and the weekend: My plan is to play a coed softball game tonight and do an 8 mile run on the canal tomorrow. A possible 3 miler will be on tap for Sunday, depending on how I feel.

72 consecutive days of sweating!

Saturday's 8 Miler

Karen, Lisa, Angie and I will be doing our long slow 8 miler from Tumbleweed Park on Saturday. We plan to head over to the canal and head north. There's a gas station at around 3 miles and then again around 5 miles for us to stop and buy supplies, if needed. I hope I said Tumbleweed, near Germann and McQueen. Here's a google earth shot of what I think we'll be running.

Twelve Oaks

Map this trail

I like communities that have biking/running paths. Twelve Oaks is a subdivision in west Chandler, Arizona that has the nicest treelined path that stretches from Stellar Airpark to the West Chandler Aquatic Center and to a canal. This morning I did my run, intending to do a 5k. I park in the center of the community and headed west toward Kyrene Boulevard. Here, I was planning to turn around until I saw a gravel road next to the aquatic center. Being adventuresome, I ran past the sign that said private property (I think it was for the fenced field, not the drive) and ran outside the fence of the Bark Park, past the baseball fields and to the end of the road.

Park Path

The road lead to a canal that will lead you to the community of Gila Springs (pronounced HILA) I'll have to run that part of the canal on another day. I then headed onto a really nice gravel path that winds around the ball fields. I looped around this park that has the aquatic center, bathrooms and probably showers. Made my way back to Twelve Oaks (there are a lot of trees, not sure if they're oaks) and retraced my steps back to my car.
Stellar Air Park

I ran past my car. The path is concrete with lots of grass on either side. But some of the trail is surrounded by gravel. You have to go over several neighborhood roads, but there's not much traffic. Kyrene Road was the only busy street (it goes to the highway). As I headed east I past a middle school with a track.

Middle School Track

There's a fence between the path and school, but if you run to the east ball field, you will find a gate big enough for one person. You won't be able to get a bike through it. I ran further east until I arrived at Stellar Air Park. Stellar is a residential community with a small air field. Many of the homes have their own hangers, so pilots can land and taxi home.

If you'd like to do this run. Go to the corner of Rural Road and Chandler Boulevard and turn south. The turf area directly in front of you has a road on it's west side (right), go to the end of that and park in the shade. You'll have about a half mile of path going east and 1 mile of path going west. If you go over Kyrene Road you can run for another 8/10 of a mile by running on the outside of the park perimeter. Or you can run north on the canal and run 2 miles to Ray Road though Gila Springs Subdivision.

What a fun run. It was 85 degrees, but I had a cool breeze the entire run. I did stop and take lots of pictures, so my time isn't great. 4.07 miles in 55:37.