I feel like I nonsensically ignored the fact that I could still go snowboarding even though I live in the desert now. The past couple years have slipped by but fortunately, this year I got a season pass and have been up a few times already! If you’re flying solo from the valley (Phoenix) I highly recommend the Desert Snow Connection. When I booked it for this trip, it cost $40 to be escorted out and back arriving when the resort opens and leaving when it closes. I’ll definitely be taking this means of transportation to Snowbowl again. With Desert snow connection I was able to work on my laptop en route to Snowbowl and then I got to enjoy an extra libation after the day came to a close before hopping on for a relaxing ride back.
It was four years ago today that I was swimming in a pool in Littleton, CO with my favorite kids!
Four years ago Z and I had the opportunity to live with my brother Matt, his wife Crystal and their super awesome kids. It was a blast! We spent almost every evening at the pool!
If it wasn’t for this beautiful summer, I may not have had the chance to spend nearly every evening at the pool with Maxine now! She’s hardly 2 but loves hanging out in the pool just as much as my nieces and nephew did four years ago!
I definitely consider myself as a jogger. I’ve logged a few jogs on MapMyFitness from everywhere I’ve lived and many places I’ve visited since 2012. I’ve lived in Scottsdale since late 2017 so I’ve logged quite a few jogs here. The ridiculous heat aside, I really enjoy it. Scottsdale is an urban environment so I can’t compare it to running mountain trails in Colorado or wooded rail trails in Minnesota and Missouri but it’s really nice. It’s especially awesome in the winter when the rest of the world is frozen. ^_^
Summer is HOT!
This is painfully obvious if you live here. It’s darn hot in the summer time so if you’re going to run during the day you learn a bunch of things.
Cover up as much as possible.
Jog shorter distances.
Run slower.
Stay hydrated.
Monitor your heart rate.
If you’re going to run under the hot sun, be sure to cover up. There is some sweet clothing tech out there that actually helps. I really like the ArmCoolers by RecoFit. They work pretty darn well to cover your arms AND keep them cooler then if they were bare. With the UV index so darn high, I even wear a visor to cover my face. Fortunately my sister-in-law got me an awesome monogrammed sweat visor! hehehe.
Up to 105 degrees, I’ll still jog. If it’s nearing 100 then I’ll intentionally keep my pace really slow so I can keep my heart rate down. For me, if it’s near or over 100 degrees then I have a hard time getting my heart rate to drop after i pick it up too high so my goal is to keep it down as low as possible by waddling along with a slow jog. I can casually cruise along doing 8:30min miles if it’s 88 degrees or below so if it’s 95 and above I’ll slog along around 10:15min/mile. The hotter it is, the slower I go.
Staying hydrated can be annoying especially when you’re used to running an hour or an hour and a half with no hydration. During the winter it’s easy to put down a liter of water 30 minutes before a run and leave the hydration at home but if I’m going to run for more than 30 minutes in the heat of the day then I bring water. I can easily consume 1.5 litres and hour. I prefer to bring an iced beverage (mostly ice + some water at first) and let it melt en route. On occasion I’ll mix in some powdered Gatorade but I don’t do that often because the sweat from ridiculous heat lets go more water then anything, for me
Become a Morning Runner
Most of us tend to start jogging in the wee hours of the morning even if we aren’t built for it. Despite the fact that I don’t appreciate getting out of bed before the sun does, one of the best parts of jogging in the morning are the sunrises. It’s definitely something to appreciate when you have to be up before the sun comes up to enjoy the jog.
Sunrise at Chaparral Park in Scottsdale
Another awesome perk of running in the morning is that the morning crowd in Scottsdale is just super nice. Everyone waves, everyone says hi. There’s a few folks out there that are dead to the world but the vast majority of the morning walkers, joggers and bikers are really polite.
The Infrastructure is great
For being an urban environment I feel like the running and biking infrastructure in Scottsdale is amazing. I live in a pretty ideal location next to Chaparral park but I only have to cross two small streets before I’m on a nearly endless network of multi-use paths. It’s especially awesome for biking but that’s another post.
The parks and recreation maintenance staff in Scottsdale really take care of everything they offer. The parks and trails are clean, the water fountains always work, the grass is nice and everything is pretty well lit when its supposed to be.
After 24 years of smoking and attempting to quit many many many times, I feel like I’ve finally quit for the last time! I don’t even remember when I quit but it had to have been more than a couple months ago and I no longer feel extremely compelled to find nicotine! I get an occasional light desire to smoke but it’s no longer hard to deal with.
I had the pleasure of taking a 4 day mancation hosted by TMTorn Adventures. It was wildly educational and intense fun in a relaxed and super safe atmosphere. I learned effective combat techniques, shot lots of guns, rode ATVs & dirt bikes and enjoyed great food and drinks during the all inclusive getaway at their camp. Read more
Laila coordinated and sponsored our Team Super Geeks for The Great Candy Run of 2015! We had a GREAT time! From left to right on the picture below our team are the adults in costume!
Josh (Super Banana)
Z (Boba Fett)
Loli (was the mascott for the run, he wasn’t on our team persay. lol)
Laila (Super Women)
Crystal (Sugar Rush)
We even entered in the Costume contest and the banana suit won best adult costume! Our team was in the contest for best team costumes but we cheered louder for the kids in the same competition so they won. It was rated by loudness of cheers. lol. ^_^
