Monday, March 7, 2016

Phoenix Marathon: Post Race

YOU MADE IT! You read about the Pre-Race drama, the shenanigans on race morning and along the 26.2 mile course, now you are ready to wrap it up with what went down after the race itself!

Well, if you know the PRO Compression crew (which reminds me, if you don't, you should probably give us all a follow, I may be a little bias but we are a pretty awesome group of people ;) [https://twitter.com/PROCompression/lists/2016-pro-ambassadors]), then you know we like to get together and have a good time. #WeRunSocial and PRO Compression sponsored a little get together for the ambassadors who were in town for the race at OHSO Brewery Saturday evening.

This crew! THEY ROCK MY PRO COMPRESSION SOCKS!

Not only was the company AWESOME and the food YUMMY [I don't know if I have been living under a rock or just really have never thought of this before, but they put corn IN THEIR GUAC! And it was DELISH!], but God treated us to an AMAZING sunset to wrap up our Arizona evening. It's sort of like He was apologizing for the HOT HEAT ;)

The sky was on FIRE!

After drinks, dinner and a night-cap we called it a night and decided a decent night's sleep was probably a necessity after the multiple mornings of EARLY wake up calls we had been 'enjoying'.

One of the many great things about Saturday races is that you still have all day Sunday! The hubby had gone on a guys weekend to camp at Joshua Tree National Park a few weeks prior and said that we could drive through it on our way home since we'd be in that area. Although adding an extra 2-3 hours of being in the car didn't necessarily sound particularly fun to my marathon'ed legs, I am always up for an adventure.

Sunday morning came (FYI sleeping in till 6:30am was a TREAT compared to our 3 and 4am wake-ups the previous mornings), we ate our "free" continental breakfast at the hotel, dropped Brian off at the airport, and hit the road again.

This time we made sure to stop for gasoline TWICE (and even arrived home with more than three-fourths of a tank JUST TO BE SAFE!), not to mention the countless pit-stops. Even though I chuckled at the frequency of bathroom breaks, my legs were much appreciative of the ability to get out of the car and walk around a bit.

We made it to Joshua Tree, paid our National Park fee, and then went exploring. Ryan had a couple places on his itinerary, but we also stopped whenever we saw something that tickled our fancy.

TOTALLY worth the extra time in the car!

A JOSHUA TREE!

Adventuring with this guy is my ABSOLUTE FAVE!

At first I thought the desert was boring... I guess I just didn't appreciate its beauty!

Skull Rock

Ryan was a little bummed I wasn't letting him do any of his bouldering on the trip

The high elevation and decent cloud cover made for perfect temperatures to explore


We were on the look out for REAL turtles, but didn't see a single one!

This was the best we could do for a "turtle"... But when you
see a giant turtle on the side of the road (especially one with lipstick),
you MUST stop for a picture, right?!

On the way out we stopped at a little vegetarian restaurant for lunch and it was DA BOMB! Who knew there would be so many amazing vegetarian joints in the desert?! 

This HIT THE SPOT! The Natural Sisters Cafe is a MUST when in Joshua Tree!

By the time we had stopped a couple more times, went to our friends' to pick up Walt and got back to the house we had been on the road for about 9 HOURS. Thankfully the hubby knew EXACTLY what I needed and offered to head out on an easy 3 mile shake out run to get our legs moving and chase the sunset. The PERFECT way to end the weekend!


In case you couldn't guess, I thought the weekend was a HUGE success! I got to see friends (both new and old), had a blast on the Phoenix Marathon course and enjoyed God's creation with some of my favorite people! Now to start planning for next year ;) Will I see you there?!

What is your take on road trips?! Love 'em or hate 'em?!

4 comments:

JBirdRuns said...

This looks like a blast! Sounds like a perfect end to a great race.

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great trip home!! Here's hoping I can coordinate family holidays with Phx marathon and a) run the full and b) not be so socially awkward and actually talk to you! Haha

Kristen said...

This side trip looks awesome! I did the same thing when I ran the Zion Half Marathon - the very next day I hiked down into Bryce Canyon and my legs were super happy about getting to shake off all of those uphill miles!

Samantha said...

I absolutely love road trips - I am itching for another one and am kind of hoping to plan a half marathon road trip somewhere! Maybe Utah or something!