CrossRoads Blog

Thirty years ago when a night was going to be about getting all dressed up and hitting a show it meant my favorite pair of jeans and maybe a Pink Floyd Concert shirt and heading to see The Boss at The Spectrum. Man, how times have changed…

We have such a great time every chance we get to spend a night with Sister Kerry and Brother-in-law Mike. A couple of our favorite nights out over the last few year was spent hanging with them. One in particular that included a Six Foot Six Inch Blue Bunny in high heels, but alas that was before the days of Blogs (thankfully) so we will leave that story alone. The rub is always finding the time to get together on a night that works out for everybody and of course we are in town. So sometimes we just have to plan ahead and make it happen. The other night we got to reap the reward of that planning and ‘Go Play Dress-up’ and attend one of the two nights that the Opera La Boheme was in town at the Phoenix Symphony.

Mike and Kerry stopped over before so we could partake in a few good finger foods and some nice Vino before the show. Mike was doing the Distinguished Gentleman thing looking sharp in the Tux, and Kerry was most elegant in her Black Evening Dress - I guess I didn’t get all the family good looks after all. Mrs. M was also her gorgeous self sporting the Black Dress, Black Pearls and Black heels. Me and Mike would surely be getting the envy nods tonight.

We all really enjoyed the show. It wasn’t one of my favorite Opera’s, and in fact I liked Rent (more or less based on the Puccini classic) a little better. Some of the singing was still stunning, but overall La Boheme’s ’story line’ isn’t really that strong compared to many of the others we enjoy more. This all said, still a great night with great company. After much talk about maybe going out afterward, it was Saturday night after all, we ended up coming back to the house and drinking a little more Vino before calling it a night. Like I said, ‘Playing Dress Up’ has changed just a little in 30 years….

It’s hard to believe that it’s just been twelve months since we ran in last year’s P.F. Chang Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon. As the saying goes, maybe only one year but a million miles away. Err.. perhaps more specifically about 4000 miles away (the running miles Kimberly and I have completed since this race last year. The other biggie is that last year we did the Half Marathon, and this year we did the Full. Last year we never had a race longer than this, this year we went in having done at least 30 races and runs that were longer. As they also say - things change, and since that time last year the running addition has been going full force will no slowdown in sight.

Having experienced last year’s ridiculous very early rise (pretty much the night before) in order to get over to Tempe, park, hop on the bus to get downtown, ride the bus, try to hit the bathroom line, get warmed up, etc. etc before the race begins at the crack of dawn, we thought better and reserved a room downtown for the night before. This way we could just walk over to the start line a couple of miles away and then after the race take our first ride on the light rail back downtown.

We headed downtown early on Saturday for a couple of reasons; we wanted to hit the Expo (every race has one and the Rock n Roll event ones are great), but more importantly was to connect up with a bunch of runner friends we have come to know online but never have met. The plan was to hook up at Starbucks in the Arizona Center at 2:00. As is typical we were running a little late and really didn’t have a chance to hit the expo before the meeting with the runner gang. That and parking at our hotel or anywhere downtown was a cluster with the expo and a big MLK event also going on.

Just like every other time we get a chance to meet in person some of the folks we have ‘met’ online, they turn out to be great people. I have to say, the “runner crowd” is good folks - happy, nice, considerate, supportive, encouraging, just really, really enjoyable ‘good soul’ peoples. We can already tell though we have just now met them, some of these people with likely be in our lives for years and years to come. We already have plans to connect up with several of them at upcoming races all over the country.

After the get together we did hit the Expo for a little bit, Kimberly scored some compression socks, we snagged all the freebie bars and such, got the obligatory official race magnet and little postcard (we have them from all the Rock N Roll events), walked around a bit and then scooted back to the hotel by late afternoon to try to settle in. I’m sure I have talked about our ‘pre big race ritual’ before: lay out all the stuff you need for the morning (shorts, shirts w bibs on, D-Tag on your shoes, heat rubs, lip balms, GU’s and energy blocks, 5 hr Energy drink, gloves, hats, Garmin watch, iPod shuffles, headsets, knee bands, heart rate monitor strap (K), running socks, spi belt, water bottles and water belt, banana’s x4, oatmeal ready, etc. etc. It’s a ton of crap, it’s like we are going off to war or some such, course by mile 24 it feels like you had been in one. The point being, set it out so you don’t forget anything and you can get that extra 15 minutes of sleep - course assuming you actually get 3-4 hours total anyway which would be a blessing. After getting everything ready, we partake of the homemade pizza’s and salad we always bring (we know this works for us). Hop in bed, turn on a boring movie, take a melatonin, sleepy time tea, and try to hit the hay by 9:30-10:00 ish.

At about 4:15 a.m. we both did the little whisper thing to see if the other was awake - as always - yep. It wasn’t too bad, we both assumed we ‘netted’ about 4 1/2 hours sleep. We did the routine, took the pre race pic and we were out the door. It was cold, but not bitter cold which was very helpful. For those that don’t do a lot of pre sunrise running, it’s basically you want a winter parka and 2 sets of gloves before you start and the first mile or two, then you could darn near be in a birthday suit as you are dripping sweat. More relevant was the wind, and it was fairly nonexistent so that was cool. Other than walking right by John McCain’s car window on the way over to our corrals and spooking the secret service guy our pre race was fairly uneventful. The bathroom lines were even palatable this year.

Kimberly and I both enjoyed the race and were mostly happy with the results too. The race itself is always a riot, though a real tough challenge to go all out for that long, it’s really the reward for all the hard work beforehand. The results however can be a different story, but we did good, not spectacular, or even great, but good. Kimberly came in at 4:36:19 about 1300th out of all women (even the err umm ‘younger ones’ which was a new PR. I did 3:22:19 which was good for top 8% overall and in my age group. It was also good enough to qualify me to run in the Boston Marathon which is cool. The downside was I did end up fading like a 70’s concert t-shirt the last few miles and it killed my sub 3:20 goal.

The big news of the day actually came after the race. I nearly had a heart attack - and not from running, but from worry! They have this runner tracking thing, and after the race I was hanging with some of our good buddies from West Valley Runners and they had the tracking up on their phone. It showed Kimberly had passed the 21 mile mark over an hour and a half ago (at the time). Knowing her pace, and seeing the plan was to meet where I was, she should have been there by now, or at least real soon. So after another half hour or so my worry starts to turn into real concern. Then I overhear some people next to me mention some lady just straight falling out at about mile 22. Looking at his bib number he and Kimberly would have, should have been very close to the same time. Now I really started to worry though didn’t ask him or anything because that would be silly. Long story cutting a little short, another half hour passes and STILL NO KIMBERLY. I now send out our friends (they offer) over to the medical tent, I borrow a cell phone to start making calls, it’s starting to get real crazy - and of course she finally walks up smiling like nothing ever happened. Seems she was following the crowd and headed off in the wrong direction for a bit. Scared the dog-doo out of this 45-49 age group husband of hers. If she wasn’t such a stubborn, competitive redhead I wouldn’t have to worry that she might push it more than she should - but alas…. that not be’ my woman….

A few pictures HERE. Until the next race, errr I mean blog

Said loud and proud: We have a healthy and beautiful little Grand Daughter!! The little precious one decided to step into the world just a wee but early (a couple of weeks or so) and for a second had us old Grandparents a little worried. We were hanging out at the Fiesta Bowl when we got the call that Momma Antoinette was at the Doctor for a regular baby visit and all of a sudden started going into labor and they were rushing her to the hospital. The scare came because while reception is excellent at the stadium, we couldn’t get a stinking dial tone on the cells because everyone was using all the AT&T bandwidth (I could fill a blog complaining about AT&T but this is about our little one…) to get any updates. Because our Grandson M3 was early and both he and momma had a little rough go, we were concerned for Antoinette and little Ariana. When we finally did get word (it was probably right away but sure seemed forever) that everyone was healthy and doing great and little Ariana was 6lb 10oz. well… let’s just say the tailgating got way more celebratory!

Now the only challenge will be hanging out until we get to see her and smother her with all those hugs kisses. Grandma may do more of the holding and smooching, but I will be there smelling her precious head and clicking away - the return of Grandpa Flash! We will likely wait about a month, we free up around then and that will both give Mom and Dad time to settle in and also allow us to go when we can hang out for a few weeks. The only other downside as I see it is this also gives Grandma many weekend shopping days before we go. So I guess I will have busy weekdays on the phone trying to round’ up another client or two because I think I have no real idea of how spoiled “Little A” is gonna’ be, and I will also be ordering more website bandwidth to handle all the upcoming pictures….

We have a lot of good friends here in Phoenix for sure, but for the most part all our old (old both ways…) friends either moved away or always did live under some other push pin on the Google map. So it is very cool when we get the call that some friends are headed our way. This time it was extra cool because it was Clay and Kathy making the trip to see us here in the desert. Kathy and Clay aren’t really friends - they be family - and it had been way too long since they made it out this way. Plus it was over the New Year’s holiday which meant lots of goof time to be had. Being oenophiles and golf fanatics, you knew we would be drinking well and I would need to dust off the wife’s sand wedge too.

Before we knew of the visit, Kimberly and I had been contemplating what to do New Year’s Eve. We really hate to go out, but at the same time hate to be old fuddy-dudies and just sit around. So with Kathy and Clay coming it seemed a no-brainer - we would have a party for them on New Year’s Eve! Then, with what was already sounding like a great few days got even better when the TCU Horned Frogs BCS bid sent them to the Fiesta Bowl. Both Clay and Kathy were grad students at TCU and go to most games back in Ft. Worth. Clay’s mom also works at TCU and with that has some special allocations where she could score some great seats for the game (the Fiesta Bowl is played 15 minutes up the street at University of Phoenix Stadium here in Glendale. BTW: Mrs. Reeves insisted on getting tickets for us and that was very kind and thoughtful of her and Gerald. So the week plan was set, family, vino, golf, vino, golf, vino, party, friends, tailgate, Frogs… life be good. It really did turn out to be a great week and every day ended with the old - it doesn’t get much better than that. The exception being the Frog’s loss in the Bowl, but I think next year is set up to be perhaps Natl. title time.

Seems Clay and Kathy had just landed a day before, played a round of golf and it was party time. As always we spent the day running around making sure we had everything we needed and doing the setup and cooking. Before you knew it, party time. We didn’t have a lot of the Belly Dancer gang this time as many were out of town or had other plans by the time we set the Party up. Plus it’s so hard sometimes with New Years, baby sitters, etc. But we still did get to enjoy a great fire dance from Laura, and Misty and Kimberly did a excellent sword dance too - the gang all loved it. Also cool was we had a ton of folks from our West Valley Runners group show up. We have gotten to know them all just recently really and this was the first opportunity we had to invite them over. It was great to have them. Of course a ton of the other usual suspects were also kind (or silly) enough to spend their NYE with us as well.

I’ll leave the details for another time, but as seems to happen as the night wears on the activity under the Tiki Bar progresses to trouble (ish). Stirring the pot this time, Mr. Clayton Reeves himself. He was pouring Tequila shots quicker than a Nolan Ryan fastball. My poor little sis ended up playing that game a little too long by the way and missed Auld Lang Syne by about 15 minutes. Tequila along with a ton of Bubble Water, including some Dom Perignon (brought by good friends Christian and Debbie) was a flowin’ until the wee hours. I think we ended up hitting the pillow about 3:00 am the first early morning of 2010.

Over the weekend we did the golf thing. I got to play Anthem Country Club which I have wanted to for awhile. Considering the cold, and I had not played in forever, plus the course (man it is a tough one), I did pretty good. Would have enjoyed it anyway, but sure helped having a decent game. I even won a couple of bucks from Clay (let’s not mention he has to give me 2 shots a hole).

One of my favorite days of the whole visit was Fiesta Bowl day. We did it up right. I think we had the whole back of the truck full of grills and coolers, chairs, food, etc when we headed over to do some serious tailgating at the stadium. It was a chamber of commerce weather day, I grilled some burgers, then some shrimp, and we just hung out all day munching and drinking beer and vino and enjoying the great company (incl. Clay’s folks who were here for the game). The best part of the day however wasn’t even at the game - it was because our Grand Daughter was born (Healthy, happy 6lb. 10oz. Ariana Marie)!! It was killing us though that we could barely get cell service to find out all the details.

I sure hope that Kathy and Clay enjoyed the week as much as we did. I wanted everything to go perfect because there is some talk that they may make Phoenix home a couple/few months out of the year. It would be so, so cool to have them close so we could hang all the time.

As always… you know there were some Party Pictures (errr ummm …minus a few) HERE and also the Fiesta Bowl shots HERE