Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

It's amazing what you can do with your Garmin 305. This is a run from last year.

Double It?

Remember I asked, if you ran 1 mile on January 1 and double it each day, how many miles would you run in the month? It's a take off on the doubling the penny question. Chad was the only industrious one to attempt to answer. Wikianswers gives one answer, but you can find a dozen different answers online. So, Chad was the closest and I'll take his answer for being correct.

What's in the Picture?

click on the title and scroll way down to the bottom. It's the new D-chip with the cover stripped off. WMD got it right first. The ball in the background, is indeed rubber bands. I add a rubber band everytime I run. Javamom remembered from a long ago post and got it right first. Many of the rest of you got it right as well. Thanks for guessing. Although, I do like that shoelace ideal. Now, go visit WMD and Javamom and let them know how wise they are.

Attacked during my run

I was running minding my own business when I saw the largest rabbit ever. I had to snap a photo of me holding it's ear.

It wasn't moving so I got a better picture.

But, that's not what attacked me. Further down the road on my 7 mile run I was dived at three times by this Bi-plane.

It was yellow and red and might have had the Arizona flag on it's wings. I sometimes run past Stellar Airpark, a small airstrip with homes on the runway. Garages act as hangars. It's a cool community. This plane was practicing approaches and I'm slow enough that he flew over me three times circling to the runway.

I, also ran in Gila (Hila) Springs named after the Gila Monster. I got to see lots of birds, but no monster.

I even got to chase some of them. Maybe I was the monster.

I ran down this canal. Not all the canals are pretty.

And past this mansion on the not so pretty canal. Now, you know I'm a REALTOR, so if you are in the market, I'd love to sell you this home.

See the Virtual Tour.

Well, it's Christmas Eve, so it's time to have dinner and then go to church. Here's hoping everyone has a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Krazy Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year!

A Marathon Contest

15 Marathon Events in January

How many can you name? I use the Runner's World January 2009 magazine, that I just got in the mail.

Viv, down in Texas asked for some motivation. So here's some Arizona style.

A Race within a race contest, right here on Pat's Blog. If you are running in a marathon or half marathon in the month of January you can take part in our race. This way Houston Marathoner's can compete with Disney Marathoner's. There'll be two categories. One for 26.2 miles and one for 13.1. I'm doing the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Half Marathon right here in Phoenix on January 18th.

Here's the Rules:

1. Enter before january 1 by emailing or commenting on my blog.


2. Specifiy which race you are doing, when and what distance.


3. Train Hard


4. At the Expo, buy something under $5. If you get something for free at the expo, make sure it's really cool.


5. After the race I will link your race report and let everyone know what you bought.


6. Chip times at the race website will count as your official time. Therefore, I will need your real name for this contest.


7. The fastest runner will get to pick first from our collection of goodies. Everyone wins something.


8. You will be responsible for mailing your gift to the person who selected it.


9. Marathoners pick from the marathon stash. Half marathoners pick from the HM stash.


10. These rules can change. Like if someone buys an IPOD, then I'll change the rules, so that I'm the winner of said item.

Eat That Frog - The Movie

My broker (real estate) like to motivate us. Usually, I say 'whatever' and hit delete. I thought this was cute and very helpful.

How can you run across the London Bridge, but never leave the country?

By running the Havasu Half. Way back when, the founder of a chain saw company bought the London Bridge. Took it apart and reassembled it in Lake Havasu, AZ. It was rebuilt on dry land. They then dug a channel for the Colorado River under the bridge, making an island and a tourist trap.

Anyway, that's one of the races I want to do for 2009.

It's the Ceiling of The Lone Butte Casino.

The picture from yesterdays post is some artwork on the ceiling of our newest casino. I went over to take some pictures. The casino took $4 from me. It was the biggest gambling loss of the year for me.

Deck the Halls'

No time to run today, as we celebrated the season by putting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house. Hope all of you are enjoying this joyous time of year.

My Christmas Gift To You.

Today my family made my Grandma's Mince Meat Cookies. They taste unbelievable and it is a great way to remember my grandma. Of course this recipe reminds me of alot of my Monahan relatives. My brother and sisters. My mom and dad. My aunts and uncles.

So once again, I'd like to offer this recipe to you, my faithful readers.

To all of you that celebrate Christmas, have a wonderful Christmas day and cherish every moment you have with your loved one's. To those that celebrate other holidays, I also wish that you get to spend great amounts of time with the one's you love and that everyone finds peace and joy in the new year.

Grandma Monahan's mince meat cookies

A Season to Run

Mile 1071, Chandler,AZ -I don't have all your addresses, so here's a Christmas card from The Monahan's to all our running blogging friends. Can you guess how I made the christmas card above?

Saturday was spent hauling christmas boxes out of the garage to the living room and then putting the plastic tree together, hanging the lights that I can never seem to get all lit on the tree and putting christmas decorations all around the living room. It looks really nice and I'm glad I did it. But, I haven't been in the living room since and that's where all the decorations are. I can't even go buy a gallon of that peppermint chip ice cream and sit in their watching the lights go on and off.

So, I did the next best thing. I decorated my blog. I hope you like the picture of the running santas from Las Vegas. This Saturday they are competeing with liverpool, England to see who can set a worlds record for the most running santas.

Oh yeah, I got a 10 1/2 mile run in with the gals - Karen and Lisa on saturday morning. It was a good run with lots of talk, but we didn't get lost or run over, so not much to mention. It was cold, but no snow, just a bit below 50 to start.

Tonights run was done all by my lonesome. I ran around the neighborhood and then over to Desert Breeze Lake, around it 1 1/2 times and then back home for 5.27 miles in 59:01. A pace of 11:11. It's funny, my garmin data is stored on software from two different compaines- Garmin Training Center and SportsTrack. I get two different readings. SportsTrack is always a few tenths of a mile better.

The Biggest Loser Fantasy League

I guess because of the writer's strike we get 2 hours of BL every week. I'm liking it a lot. Bryan, I'm sad to say has been voted off. He impressed me a lot. There's just 6 players left.

Last week I made a math error. Since Kae was eliminated I forgot to give Bob her last few pounds. Of course, those pounds meant the difference between 2nd place an first for Bob. Jeff is in second and both of them have the same two players - Neil and Isabeau. There's no way for Jeff to pass Bob. If Neil gets eliminated than I might have a chance to pass both of them. but, it looks like the fantasy league will finish with Bob first, Jeff second and me third.

Click on the BL fantasy league to get the up to the minute standings.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Here's a picture that's a few years old of my dad and mom in front of the Mackinaw Bridge in northern Michigan. And another in front of the Alamo. My dad, a veteran of the Korean war meet my mom while stationed in Japan. They raised four kids, me being the youngest in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a cook in the army and spent most of his life running restaurants in southern Ohio. I remember his employees always telling us what a great boss he was. I, also got the pleasure of working during college with my father in the summers. I was always amazed how he worked harder than anyone else in the restaurant. While, most managers would sit around and order their staff to clean the table, serve the food or fill the damn salt shakers, I would see him busing tables and helping waiters serve the food. He wasn't good at delegating work, but you love'd to work for him. He now lives a comfortable life in retirement just north of Cincinnati.

Dad, they should make one of those beer ads for you. It would go something like this:

Deep Voice Announcer Guy: Sons everywhere present Real American Heroes

Scratchy Voiced Singer: Real American Heroes.

Deep Voice Announcer Guy: Today we salute you, Joe Monahan, dad to Margie, Thom, Theresa and Pat.

Scratchy voiced singer: Mr. Monahan, dad of four.

Deep Voice Announcer Guy: You had the courage to raise two daughters and two sons. To keep them on the straight and narrow. To work long hours in the food industry and to serve your country in it's time of need.

Scratchy voiced singer: Sit up straight and eat your veggies.

Deep Voiced Announcer Guy: You took your family on some great vacations to Florida, Tennessee and to Niagara Falls.

Scratchy voiced singer: Play some putt putt in the smokey mountains.

Deep Voiced Announcer Guy: So crack open another beer and enjoy your Cincinnati Reds as they battle out of the NL Central cellar. The Reds maybe last, but Joe Monahan, you're first in the minds of your family.

Scratchy voiced singer: Your a great dad, I hope you know it.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

I, also want to wish a happy father's day to my father-in-law, Harry Potter. Yes, that's him with his daughter, Amy (my wife of 21 wonderful years). He gave my son signed copies of the first two Harry Potter books. We enjoy the coincidence, but I'm not sure he does.

We celebrated Father's Day on Saturday. I started the day, as you know, by running a 5k. Then, after lunch and before a listing appointment I had scheduled at 1 pm, I got to open presents. My daughter gave me a Beatles CD. I'll add the songs to my Ipod and get some new stuff (old stuff) to run to. My son gave me a copy of The Natural with Robert Redford. I really like baseball movies. Then my wife, Amy gave me a Flat Screen TV for my office. We usually don't buy expensive items for each other. We're pretty conservative. But, every few years either she or I surprise each other with something special. I wasn't expecting this, but I sure do like it. I then went to my listing appointment were I am listing a new townhome in Tempe. You can learn more about it at http://www.townhomesonly.com/ or my townhome blog. Finally, I got to watch the Reds beat the Rangers on my new TV and write this post.

Valley of Gold Half Marathon

Saturday started off great with a victory by Ohio State Basketball. It was over Xavier, a catholic Cincinnati school. It's always nice to see Xavier do well, but OSU has the best chance to win it all.

After watching the game, I took off for Tucson. My car told me it was 96* outside. It felt it and I realized it was going to get warm during my run on Sunday morning.

I have to confess. I'm not going to drink 45 beers all year, let alone on St. Patrick's Day. Matter of fact, I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day much. I just think you should be proud to be Irish for other reasons than for the ability to get drunk. But hey, I may be the only Monahan to feel that way.

I decided to take a scenic drive down to Tucson, by way of Florence, AZ. Florence is known for the state prison and if someone says they've been to Florence, it probably means they were visiting relatives at the pen. I didn't visit, but I did get pictures of the county seat and this beautiful church. They are raising money to repair the court house clock tower, which reminded me of "Back to the Future". I then drove down state routes 77 and 79, which is just stunning. If you like the desert and want to see Sagauro's, Cholla and other plants of the desert, this is the drive.

Now this road is best known for the site where Tom Mix, the TV cowboy died in a car wreck. So, the good state of Arizona was nice enough to put up a memorial. You'll see in the picture, it is at a rest stop with picnic benches and bbq's. Good thing he didn't have his accident 5 seconds earlier or it wouldn't be so conveinent (bad joke).

I didn't take many pictures at the race itself. Here's the (blurry) start and another one of the Catalina Mountains.

So, here's my race report. I wanted to PR, so anything under 2:43:07 would do the trick. I stayed at the Red Roof Inn ($81.00) at Ina Road and I-10. Right next to the rail road tracks. That's right, all night long I heard trains blowing their horns at the intersection. I mean, several an hour, all night long. I didn't know we had that many trains in the US. I thought there was going to be a health expo on Saturday, but I was wrong. So I learned, don't rely on buying gu's and gels at the expo.

I got up at 5 am for my 7 am race start. Stopped at Circle K (like a 7-Eleven) for coffee and a danish. Remember Circle K, we beat them in softball. In Arizona, there's a Circle K on every corner, except for the corners that have Walgreens. Got to the start line with plenty of time to warm up and see some fellow TnT'ers. I wore my TnT race shirt, since this is a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society race. From parking lot to the start line is uphill, luckily there was a shuttle, but I figured that this was a warning that this race would have hills. And hills it had. This course was in a master planned community. Many neighborhoods named Honey Bee, Sun City, Vitosio, etc. built by a bunch of different builders. The race was on the main road through the community in a semi circle. 6.55 miles out and then we turned around and headed back in. The last 1.5 miles of the route (the middle miles) took a couple of turns into one of the neighborhoods. I kept thinking that each turn would be the last, but I was fooled 2 or 3 times, even thought I had my Nike+ to tell me when we reached the half way point. I guess I was just wishing to get to the half of this half.

Most of the race featured me passing the same dozen people and then walking as they passed me. Four ladies with TnT shirts, two gentleman who looked like father and son (they both were about my size and the son was a bit younger than I), a younger guy (maybe early 30's) who had on basketball shorts (real long, real heavy) and a few others.

Around mile 8, the sun was in full force and I bet we were in the upper 70's. It was beginning to take it's toll on me.

Around mile 9, I did some math and figured I needed to do 12 minute miles for the last 4.1 to have a chance at a PR. I quickly figured I was going to NOT PR. My legs hurt, it was hot and every other excuse for not PR-ing. But, hey - I can have a good time and not PR. It was going to be ok.

Somewhere around miles 10,11 and 12 I decided I needed to cool down. At one water stop, I took one water, told the lady to pour the other water on my back. I poured the first one on my chest and then grabbed a gatorade to drink. At another water stop I poured the water into my cap and put the cap on. That felt good and was probably better than drinking the water. I should have done it more.

The last turn on the course brought us to about 1/2 mile from the finish and it was downhill. I ran it pretty well and even turned on the afterburners for the last 50 yards. As I crossed the finish I looked at the clock. 2:43:11, just 4 seconds from my time at the Lost Dutchman Half one month earlier. That's ok. I had a good run and felt proud that I could run almost as fast. As I finish I have to turn off my HRM and Nike+. I looked down at the HRM watch and hit stop to see a time of 2:42:53. I forgot about my chip time. I had started the race 20 some seconds after the start and I did indeed have a PR. A PR by 14 seconds. I had a great time either way, but a PR sure is nice. Those trains can toot their horns at that.

We Are The Champions!

Introducing your 2007 Friday night Tempe Co-Ed Champions:

The St. Matthews UMC Softball Team

starring

Mike P., Shortstop & Coach

Sommer B, 1st Base

Duane, Left Field

Geri, 3rd Base

Pat, Pitcher (That's me)

Karen, Right Center

Jeff, Left Center

Cheryl, Right Field

Angus, Outfield

Sandy, Catcher

Gina, 3rd Base

Tom, Outfield

and a host of other great teammates.

We won last night 12-6 over the other Circle K Team. We finished the regular season 6-1, only losing to the Hapless Heros by one run. We wanted to thank all our fans who came out for the game. I counted 9 people, including my wife and two kids and our friend from college, Suzi.

Next week is the start of the post season tournament. We play the 0-7 team first and then the next week we play one or two more games. Of course, it's single elimination so we do need to beat the Monsoons the first week. It's funny. In a league like this teams can be drastically different from the last time you played them and so no game is easy. The 0-7 team can bring in some ringers and all the sudden we're going home. Either way, we'll have a blast.

**

Running? Yes, this is a running blog. I only ran twice this week. I wanted to get in 3 runs, but life happens. My legs are rested and besides a nagging back and a bit of soreness in my left knee, I'm good to go.

Us, serious athletes (said with tongue in check) have to lace them up when the game is on, no matter the aches and pains. So the plan is to run this race in better than 2:43:07 for a PR. But, 2:40 would be even better. That would take a 12:12 pace. And dare I say 2:30 at an 11:27 pace would be. . .

**

Now, I'm Irish and today is St. Patrick's Day. So, tonight I must do the customary downing of 45 green beers. One for each year I've been alive. I hope it doesn't hurt my running in the morning.

Now, I'll finish with an Irish Lymric:

There once was a barmaid from Wales,

Who on her chest had tattooed all the prices of ale.

And on her behind, for the sake of the blind,

She had all of the same but in braille.*

*I had to read a bunch of really bad, really dirty lymrics to find this one. Now, that's takin' one for the team.