Walk Across Arizona Week 3

Amy's team won the mileage race this week.

39.3 miles!

I got some more bling in the mail today. My Desert Star for completeing the half marathon and the marathon in back to back years at the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon here in Arizona.

Tumbleweed Recreation Center

Mile 1286, Chandler, AZ - I've been waiting all year for this to open up. Chandler's first recreation center in Tumbleweed Park. It free until the grand opening sometime in April. I did a write up about it on my real estate blog, if you want to see more pictures.

It wasn't crowded, maybe a dozen people lifting weights. I started by doing 20 laps on the track. The track is nice soft and 1/10 of a mile long. It goes past the weights, basketball courts below, around the outside courtyard and back to were the weights and cardio machines are. I was the only one running on it. After 2 miles I played around on the Lifestyle resistance machines and did some rowing. Then I did one more mile on the track to give me 3 miles for the day.

Mile 1283, Chandler, AZ - 3.47 miles in 41:25. It was a perfect night for a run. Lots of neighbors BBQing, so I thought about food alot. I ran more tonight than yesterday. About 80% of the distance.

Knee feels fine. Time to ice it and use the stick.

Perfect Weather

Mile 1280, Chandler, AZ- I got in 5.62 miles yesterday in perfect weather. It was around 60 degrees with blue skies. I ran on the canal on the north east side of Chandler. The canal bank was a bit muddy and the service trucks left lots of trails. I really didn't want the outing to end. But, I knew that when I got back to the truck, it would be over. So, I did the unthinkable. I walked a lot of it. Normally, I would walk about 5-10%, but yesterday I walked about 40%. The second half of the run I was doing about 1-2 minutes of fast running. Normally, I go around a 10:30 -12 minute pace. I was in the 7's and 8's and I would try to hold it for as long as I could. Kind of like wind sprints. I was winded for sure.

No pictures from the run. But, I did snap a few while working this week. This is the ceiling of some little kid. The home is for sale and vacant now. The picture doesn't do it justice. The stars are those plastice glow in the dark kind. It was beautiful

Near downtown Mesa near the train tracks I found this mural. It's on the side of a large barn/warehouse. This is just half of it. Those are cows parachuting down to earth.

Great week 2 everyone. We are now approaching the Old Pueblo, Tucson. Home of the University of Arizona and Suguaro National Park. It's a beautiful area with lots of great places to hike and run. Everyone on Amy's Team got into double digits with Robbie leading the way with 28 miles. Many of you are dealing with that last winter storm, so keep up the good work. Warmer weather will be with you soon.

Pat's team had a strong week too. Not as strong as week one, but some of us are still recovering from the Rock N' Roll Marathons. Katie out in Baltimore lead the way with 37.8 miles.

I will try to post updates on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week. This week was really hectic, hence the delay.

and the doctor said. . .

Mile 1274, Chandler, AZ-So I woke up this morning and headed over to the doctors. I thought it was an emergency, but they made me use a different entrance. My doctor is gone, so I got a new doctor. Dr. Cool. NO, that's her real name. Honest. Anyway, the nurse took my blood pressure and said, "Is your BP always this low?". Turns out it was 100/80 and yeah, it's always that low after she checked my chart. Then Dr. Cool entered. I told her about my marathon and my now bloated knee. I was expecting her to pull out the needle and drain the sucker. She felt my knee and basically called me a wimp. Her exact words were something like, "it's just over use and some ice will solve the problem. Have you been icing it?" The doc also looked at my blood tests and said I could stop taking statins for my cholestorol. So, all in all, a good doctors visit. Isn't that cool?

So, I guess it's time to stop being a wimp and start to chisel my body.


I got in 2.6 miles tonight in just over 30 minutes. I felt great. Ran 95% of the time at a nice steady pace. It's good to be back running.

Home Run #1

I started playing baseball in 1971. I was the kid picked last. A walk was a victory when I came to bat But, I loved the game. I slowly got better, but never good enough to play in high school. I switched to softball and have played off and on my entire adult life. Slowly I got better, but I have never hit a home run over a fence.





Until. . . tonight.







Tonight I turned on an inside pitch, launching it down the left field line. The umpire, catcher and I stood at home plate and watched it twist towards the foul pole. I listened for the metal clank you hear when ball hits fence for a near home run. The sound never came. The ball bounced once and was found on the grassy hill over the left field fence. My first 'over the fence' home run.

After the game, the ump gave me the ball.

Do Not Try This At Home.

I think I have an injury from it. You can play it free on yahoo games. The object is to use your arrow keys to keep the balloon from hitting the walls and to direct it to the box. You have to speed touch the arrow keys and I did it while I listened to the tv. My arm now hurts. I always thought that repetitive use of your hands like that would hurt your eye sight.

On the injury front, my knee feels good today. No swelling. No knee pain.

Night Running

Went to the track tonight and got 3.3 miles in. Walked .9 miles with the lovely wife earlier today.

Drops of Jupiter

Mile 1268, Chandler, AZ - My first run since this month and I was sweating drops of jupiter. Can you name the band on that song? Hint - the lead singer has the same name as me.

I just wanted to test the knee. 3 slow miles to Desert Breeze Lake and back. It turned into 3.45 miles in 42 minutes. About 1/3 of a mile in I noticed my left leg and foot felt way more tired than the right side. At around 2 miles I felt a slight needle type pain behind my knee. I think I was just noticing anything that could possible go wrong. Sort of like when you hear noises at night.

The real test is to see if my knee swells up tonight. If not, I'll probably do another 3 miler tomorrow and take it real slow.

Answer - Don't click on this if you don't want to know yet.

Wouldn't it be great if blogger remembered names, places and words that you previously linked to and would give you a drop down box to link to them again. I can't be the first one to think of this. Does anyone know a solution?

BlogWalkRun - Pat's Team

Here's our team stats. 209.7 team miles. The leader is Eric with 56.3 unbelievable miles. Way to go. Jeff, Cheryl, Karen, Lisa and Katie R. all posted plus 20 mile weeks.

Follow all the teams at the Walk Across Arizona Leaderboard.

Injury Report: My knee swelling has gone down considerably. Hopefully, I will get a run in this afternoon. It won't be long, but it will be needed.

Walk Across Arizona

Click the photo to enlarge.

Week One is in the books. Here's the results for BlogWalkRun-Amy's Team.

Taryn's miles are still to be added. Katie B & Robbie put up great numbers.

Pat's Team's results are not in yet. We still owe $10, before we can update our miles. As soon as, I get that done I will post week one. Four members of that team are over 20 miles for the week.

Want another challenge? This is the President's Fitness Challenge. You did it in elementary school and now there's an adult version with bling! Bronze, Silver and Gold medals. The miles you do, will count toward both challenges. I'm doing it.

Big League Dreams

No running today. I spent the day doing a bit of real estate. Had to look at three homes for a client. Then I watched the FBR Open on TV. It was a great finish, as my man Phil Mickelson lost in sudden death. Finally, I watched the Super Bowl. They showed a blimp view of the stadium real early in the broadcast. It was dark, the lights were shinning, the ferris wheel was going. But, at my house 30 miles away it was still daylight. That just shows you the NFL can do amazing things.

Another amazing thing is the new 'Big League Dreams' in Gilbert, AZ. It is paradise for the adult softball player.

Water on the Knee?

My left knee is full of fluid. Not sure why. It doesn't hurt much, but I can't bend it over 90 degrees either. I played softball on it tonight and got a pinch runner each time I got on base. Some occasional pain behind the knee. It feels weak. I'm going to rest it over the weekend. No long run with the TRC. If it's still swollen on Monday, it'll be time to go visit the doctor.

Now for the good news. Ice-T is now my neighbor. Well, not next door neighbor. Well, not in the same square mile. But, same city. 4.34 miles away. Honest. OK, maybe he lives closer to J-mom and K-pokey. But, he lives in a Shea Laguna model, I live in a Shea Newport model. We're practically best buddies. I hope his knee is ok.

Hey, Ice do you want to go for a run when my knee is better?

Walk Across Arizona reaches Tubac

About 20 miles north of the border is the town of Tubac.

Many of us are around here in our Walk Across Arizona.

I figure as we head north, I'll give you a tour of our state.

The actual information will be on my sister blog - LivingInTheEastValley.com.

Tubac is an artist colony and one worth visiting

if you are ever in the southern part of Arizona.

Congratulations on reaching Tubac, now on

to Tucson, the home of the University of Arizona.

My Run

Mile 1263, Chandler, AZ - I did another 1 hour run. I got to 4.99 miles. It killed me that I wasn't over 5. Last night I tried the 'downward dog' yoga pose. I thought I could do it forever, but it gets hard to do after awhile too. You can last longer than when you are doing a 'plank', but after a minute you start to feel the burn.

Super Bowl Plans!

Mile 1158, Chandler, AZ - If you live here in the Valley of the Sun, you may have heard about the football game being played this Sunday in Glendale. And you may have heard about the golf tournament in Scottsdale. And you may want to avoid those areas, unless you enjoy sitting in traffic or waiting for hours to get seated at IHOP, let alone any of the in restaurants.

My plans are to stay away from Phoenix, Scottsdale and Glendale. I'll get in a couple 5 mile runs in Chandler on Wednesday and Thursday. Play softball on Thursday and Friday. I'm in two leagues. And do a long run of 11 miles on the weekend. Heck, I might even do a run during the Super Bowl itself. There's a trail/canal on the south side of the UofP Dome, so I could run it and marvel at the crowds in the parking lot. I know, I said I'd stay away from Glendale, but if I park 5 miles from the stadium, there should be no crowds. I think.

Of course, if anyone has any tickets to the game I could have for free, I might be tempted. Ahh, who am I kidding, I'd sell them and go for a run.

Today? I got in 5.25 mile in 1 hour around the neighborhood. It was in the mid 50's and beautiful today. I decided I was going to run for an hour and see how far I could go.

University of Phoenix Stadium is the only football stadium in the world named after a college that doesn't have a football team. Think about that!

UPDATE: Road the exercise bike for 1 hour. That counts for 4 miles for the Walk Across Arizona. Total todate: 11.55 miles

precipitation, rainwater, drizzle, rainfall, raindrops, driving rain, mizzle, Scotch mist

Mile 1253, Chandler, AZ - And all day long. We don't get to run in the rain much around here, so I suited up and went for a quick run before dinner. It went smoothly, but I hate sweating inside a layer of clothing. I did about 2.3 miles. The garmin doesn't like it when it's overcast, so I had to figure out the mileage when I got home.

Ken from Detroit sent me a tee for winning the Biggest Loser. Here it is. On the back it says, "Getting Foot Traffic in Detroit Since 1983." Pretty cool tee. If you haven't checked out Ken's blog, you should. He's a great guy that helps train Team In Training athletes up in the big mitt.

He's, also, participating in the Race Across Arizona.

Speaking of the Race Across Arizona. I did my first 2.3 miles that can go toward that journey. I'm 2.3 miles from the Mexico border. There tends to be quite a bit of walkers in this part of the state, however, they tend not to be US citizens. I only need to go 407.7 til I get to Utah.

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Running Schedule:

February 17: Lost Dutchman Half Marathon

March 1: Ostrich Festival 5k
March 9: Valley of the Sun Half Marathon

March 29: Laughlin Half Marathon

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Hey Karen, slow down!

Lisa, Karen & Pat run so much we have our own sign.

Mile 1251, Chandler, AZ - I knew I wasn't ready to race today. I've run less than 5 miles in the past two weeks since the marathon. My heel was feeling better, but my left knee was a bit swollen. I didn't want to spend $20 on a 5k, so I skipped the "Run for the Islands" and met Lisa and Karen at Tumbleweed Park for a long run.


No, I wouldn't have picked a 10 miler. But, that's what we did. Five miles out, five back. The first 6-7 miles were fine. We were doing a 5 minute run/1 minute walk and around an 11 minute running pace. It was a good workout. Until.


The last few miles. Karen ate some shot bloks and took off. It was like jet fuel. She looked really good. Karen was right behind her and both of them were afraid to look back at me. I was trailing. Dragging. No way was I going to keep up with them. I asked for a shot blok from Karen. She said they were a bit hard, since she left the bag open. I think she left it open in the freezer. At the end I was walking and Karen even doubled back to give me a push. She could have run on. I could have layed down on the concrete and taken a nap. Which is what I did when I got back to the hacienda. 3+ hours of sleep for my tired body.

Walk (Run) Across Arizona

It all starts tomorrow. We have two teams and are competing in Maricopa county against 138 other teams. Each of our teams are planning to run or walk over 2000 miles. That's almost 5 times across Arizona.

Here's the teams:

BlogWalkRun - Pat's Team

Pat from Arizona

Cheryl from Maine

Jeff from Maryland

Erick from Arizona

Karen from Arizona

Katie R from Maryland

Joe

Lisa from Arizona.

BlogWalkRun - Amy's Team

Amy from Arizona

Carolyn from Arizona

Robbie from Missouri

Ranae from Virginia

Taryn from Arizona

Katie B from Arizona

Ken from Michigan

Beverly from Texas

Not only will we have a little competition among our two teams, but hopefully we can fair well against the rest of the teams.

Hillary Clinton - I just got a call. The caller ID said Hillary Clinton, so I answered, "Hello Hillary!". There was a pause. Then a lady introduces herself and said she was calling for Hillary. I said, "I thought it was Hillary." She laughed, but I think I threw her for a loop.

The First Plank Challenge

The winner of the Monahan Family plank is our pet turtle Speedy. He can stay in this position for 5 minutes or longer.

First up was Tyler. I told him that if he could do a plank for longer than 25 seconds, I would take out the garbage. I, also, told him that I would give him 5 cents for every second over 25. He lasted for 29 seconds. I took out the garbage and owe him 20 cents.

Next Emily, the other teenager. I told her that if she beat her brother I would do the dishes next time it was her turn. And 5 cents for each second over 25. She crushed her brother and did 56 seconds pretty impressive. I owe her $1.55 and the dishes.

Next my wife, Amy. Amy's way past her teen years and gave it the old college try. Her butt was a bit high and she collasped after 5 seconds. We gave her a second chance. 25 seconds later she was happy with her effort. I told her if she did over a minute I would do the laundry next time. Oh well, no laundry.

Then my turn came. I was scared I wasn't going to be able to beat my daughter's time. No one offered to give me any nickles or do any chores. I was on my own. After 15 seconds I was hurting. After 30 seconds I started to bounce. At 56 seconds all I wanted was to get to 1 minute. I finally collaspsed at 62 seconds, a Personal Record.

The Monahan four got a total time of 172 seconds or 44 seconds per person.

How did your family do? Post your results in the comments with individual times, total time and average time.

Softball Nite in the Desert

It's softball nite and our team, at 3-1 played the first place team (4-0). We didn't do so well in the first game and got shlacked 21-3. I was pitching and they were hitting. So we were down a little, but not out.

In the second game we got up 10-0 and were playing pretty good defense. We kept pouring it on and got to a 21-0 lead in the fourth. After four, if you have a 20 run lead the game is over. So, I just needed to get three outs for my first ever shutout. The first guy popped out, then they got a hit. The next guy, who was a bit on the large size hit a ball to our third baseman. Our man tried to get a force at second but threw the ball into right. The runner rounded third and I was thinking there goes my shut out. I'm yelling, 'home, throw the ball home'. Our right fielder throws it to second where the heavy batter was trying to advance. We tagged him out for two and luckily the runner advanced to third and stopped. Two outs, man on third and I need one more out for the shut out.

The next batter hits a hard liner right between my legs. I reach down and grab the ball. It's in my glove. The batter is standing at home staring at me. I have the ball and I take my time to throw it to first. Game over and we shut out the first place team. I've been pitching for 4-5 years now and I've never had a shut out. Until tonight.