All things random about Arizona

As I was starting to collect my thoughts for the Rock n Roll Arizona race recap, I realized that so many random things happened that weren't relevant to a race, so I would recapture everything in a separate post... in bullets to streamline the actual race report.

• Never been to Arizona... EVER, so I had to capture in all the scenery

Desert from the flight 

Goodbye 19 degree Nashville weather, hello 60s Phoenix 

A stubby short Cactus!!

Scenery was gorgeous 

Walking 2 miles to "our hotel", luggage in tow, passed by ASU stadium, which was also the finish line 

Outside of ASU stadium

• After expo we decided to take the rail to downtown Tempe to explore and get some good eats. We randomly met these  guys on the rail, Scott & Pedrum, talked with them very briefly, then decided to walk around and have beer / food with them for a few hours. Scott was racing, and Pedrum  was there for moral support. Since they were Canadian and we couldn't easily just swap numbers, we exchanged Facebooks (yes classy in this stalker age society) to keep in contact with over the weekend. I had already talked with Rebecca W aka "other B"  about joining her in doing a back to back in June,  RnR Seattle  + Scotiabank Vancouver 1/2 , and since they live in Vancouver, I'm now planning a meet up with them again. (Oh how I just love the friendliness of runners)  
• After lunch with the boys B looked up our hotel and google maps said it was 1.5 miles from our location, so we decided to walk and enjoy the scenery (which is where the above photos are from) Turns out it was much farther, just over 2. We are staying with other B and her sister L, so they text me about 10 min before we get there by foot, saying that they are checked in and our room  is 421. We get to room 421, knock on the door, and someone else answers. I call B... turns out we just walked to the WRONG Aloft hotels-- for the record there are 2 Alofts- one in Phoenix, and one in Tempe... mis-communication at its finest

"Ok so you're at the Aloft thats a $14 cab ride away?!?"

• Somehow B got injured during the race- not  injured as in she fell- more so repetition caused some type of injury with her hip that we're waiting to see what the doctor says. After the race it progressively got worse and she was moving at a snail's pace. On Monday we had to take a taxi to Walgreens to get her crutches to take the weight off

The boys figuring out what the proper height needs to be

Stealing one of her crutches

• Speaking of cabs, in Phoenix they have clean air cabs, all Prius', so neat and odd at the same time- also, every driver we had was a well educated, clean cut, middle aged American, again odd.  

• Above pictures are us in the In -n- Out Burger parking lot, first time for everyone!

Behold "In-N-Out"

Meal wasn't bad, HOWEVER, they don't have bacon in their establishment, WHAT?!?!

• Our flight was delayed 2 hours and we didn't find out till we got to the airport and noticed how our flight wasn't on the departure screen- after asking the attendant about our flight he just said "oh ya, its now leaving at 7pm vs. 4:55"- I wanted to be like "where is my text notification?!!?" Oh it came.... almost 1 hour later. 
• One perk of B being on crutches is we got to be boarded with all the wheel chair people, which translates into being in the first row with PLENTY of leg room- thanks B. 
• I sat next to this extremely good looking gentleman who at first talked normal, then made a phone call and he had a full blown Irish accent, and the ENTIRE time we talked to him, probably about 1.5 hours, there was NO accent. He also first mentioned his ex girlfriend, then later it became his ex boyfriend--- so strange. I did learn a lot about the process of someone becoming a Buddhist monk though (he worked in Nepal for 6 months helping out by teaching them English and hygiene) - so although I couldn't figure out what was going on with him, I at least learned something. 
• I don't think I can properly do this trip justice, but there was a lot of  adventure and random meetings of people- I did have fun.  Although it was hard having to rearrange plans and go at a slower pace for 1.5 days to accommodate B's injury, I think it better prepared me to be a mother in regards to taking care of someone, and of course... my ongoing quest for learning better patience :) 

Report to come soon....