Marathons, Sawdust and Algae

San Diego
It's been a busy couple of weeks, even though school is out and I'm on "vacation." We took our TNT group to San Diego for the marathon (and half-marathon), which turned out to be a great trip. Everyone on the team did really well, even though it was pretty hot. That's right, a group of runners from Tucson thought it was hot in San Diego, even though the high was only in the low 70's and back home it was over 105˚ (but it was a humid heat - in San Diego, not Tucson - in Tucson it was a dry heat). I guess it was actually pretty warm, because there seemed to be an unusually large number of ambulances out on the course picking up people who had bonked, but all of our folks (thanks, of course, to some seriously magnificent coaching and preparation) managed to finish in fairly good shape (a few blisters, some dehydration, and a little bit of heat stroke, but otherwise okay). I did, for the first time in my coaching career, have to literally drag one guy the last half mile of the course to get him to the finish line. I spotted him as I was heading back onto the course from the finish area, and he was clearly in the loopy zone - as in ready to collapse - and I caught him just before he keeled over. He would walk with me for awhile, but then he kept trying to run and almost collapsing, and I kept pulling him back and telling him we were walking the rest of the way, and he kept saying, "I need to run," and I kept saying, "You need to walk," especially when he told me he was seeing white spots and asked me for the third time if we'd crossed the finish line yet ("No, dude, it's just a little farther," I told him every time). Anyway, he wound up in the medical tent getting an IV and being cooled down with cold towels. One thing that always strikes me is how different coaching a marathon is from running one (coaching, for the record, is much easier). I may put in more miles (32 at this particular event) but I don't run the entire course and there's a lot of slow running and walking to break up the time. This time, I ran back and forth between miles 5-9, which was looping through downtown San Diego, for the first couple of hours, then hopped on a train to get near the finish area (right next to Sea World) and spent the rest of the time running people in from around mile 24, which was on Fiesta Island (which, by the way, is really poorly named, because there's not really anything "fiesta-ish" about it - it's pretty much a completely barren island with a road going around it - apparently people camp there - I don't know why). Actually, running our participants into the finish area is probably my favorite part of the gig - I love being there when people (especially first-timers) reach the point when they realize they're actually going to make it to the finish line. For some of them, this is around mile 25, for others it's about 1/2 a mile from the finish, and a few aren't exactly sure they're going to make it until they're within spitting distance. But it's a pretty cool thing to witness. And now we're getting ramped up to start the new PF Chang season (Phoenix) and I've got to start getting ready for the Mt. Lemmon marathon (nothing like a little 6,000 foot elevation gain over 26.2 miles - but I got a really cool training shirt for signing up).

Speaking of vacation
It's nice not having to go to work and all, but I'm still pretty busy making some furniture for a group of teachers. Some people (my wife among them) refer to these as "cubbies" but I just can't seem to say that word, so I always call them "storage units." For some reason, I just can't bring myself to tell anyone that I'm making "cubbies." I'll see one of my neighbors, and they'll say, "Whatcha making in your garage?" and I can't say, "Cubbies," because that would just sound silly. It's much more manly and impressive to be building "storage units" than "cubbies" (just goes to show the power of a name). Anyway, I've created a whole lot of sawdust and sweated through a week-and-a-half of hot afternoons in the garage, and I'm currently about halfway done with the project.

Die, Algae, Die
For the past couple of summers, I've been battling the algae monster in our swimming pool. I treat the pool and get rid of the algae for several days, but the algae always comes back. I've tried lots of different things and have gotten lots of advice and spent a fair amount of money on various products, and whatever I try always seems to work for a little while, but then the algae comes back. It's never very bad, but it does add a definite green tinge to the water that just doesn't look right. But now, after lots of algaecide and lots of shock, the water is looking pretty darned good. I think I may have finally defeated it. The eternal optimist lives on.

Desert Blooms
One of the things I really love about the desert is all of the different flowers that come out in late spring and early summer. The ironwood trees are filled with purple flowers, our saguaros are still going strong, and this morning, I walked outside and saw a flower the size of my fist growing on a cactus that was about half that size. They don't last long, but they're really spectacular.

Okay, when I start writing about flowers, it's definitely time to wrap things up, so until next time may your eyes remain clear and bright, may your fiestas be festive, and may your vacations be restful and relaxing.