Pining for the Fjords

As frequent readers of the blog already know, before the heat of the summer was upon us, Chris and I put time and effort into working on our backyard, in the form of building two raised planter beds in which to get our garden on.  The smaller planter was mainly used for herbs, although we also have a jalapeno plant in there that is seriously loving life right now. Here’s the smaller garden right after we initially planted, back in March: And here’s the garden right now: That’s the jalapeno plant on the left, the basil on the right,  and if you look closely, you can see a tiny sage plant growing underneath the basil toward the center. The odd little mesquite tree in the back corner of the yard shades the jalapeno plant nicely, and the lime tree handles the other side (closer to the basil), so things in here have stayed pretty happy for the most part.  The jalapenos, basil, and sage have been growing nicely throughout the summer heat, although ...

Hey everybody!  Lots of things are coming down the pike soon, from the SOMA tri for Chris to Ragnar Trail to a visit from my Mom over Thanksgiving, but it’s kind of quiet, event-wise right now.  So, to make sure I still had a blog post this week, I figured a training update was in order.  Fascinating, right? SHUT UP! THIS IS AMAZING! TELL ME MORE! Well okay, javelina that sounds like Billy Eichner, I shall.   My big race for the season is the P.F. Chang’s full marathon in January, and I’m shooting for 4:00 or under.  My previous best time is 4:13 and change, which I logged at the Tucson Marathon in December 2013.  I think 4:00 is doable, as the weather is normally nice and the P.F. Chang’s course is pretty flat, but we’ll see for sure in a few months. Done at Tucson!  Hollah! As standard when training for a full marathon, I’m also signed up for several shorter races, including another year of the City of Peoria Runner’s...

Because we’re always looking for our next big athletic adventure, we’ve been (very) tentatively eyeing the Trans-Rockies Run , a multi-stage trail race that runs each August in Colorado.  Given the extreme demands of the course, particularly the climbs that will occur at or over the 10,000 foot mark, we wanted to test our limits in a high-altitude setting closer to home, before we forked over the more than decent chunk of change associated with the race.  Thus, the first weekend of October found us traveling north to Flagstaff, with the intent on summiting Humphreys Peak, the highest mountain in Arizona. Starting the hike at the trailhead The most popular trail to the peak starts at the base of the Arizona Snowbowl resort, which features great skiing, snowboarding, and other wintry activities when it is cold enough.  The elevation of Flagstaff itself is around 7,000 feet (compared to 1,300 or so around our house in northwest Phoenix), Snowbowl is around 8,0...

Another few months have gone by, so it’s time for another Stitch Fix!  In case anybody needs a refresher, Stitch Fix is an online personal shopping service that sends you clothes and accessories through the mail, and you determine which ones to keep or send back.  I’ve been through 7 or 8 fixes by now,* and I really enjoy each one. Although I’ve kept my Style Profile on Stitch Fix fairly much the same since I started, I’ve added a few notes to my stylist at different times throughout the year.  For example, when summer hit in full swing here, I asked for my fixes to focus on lighter, sleeveless and short-sleeve tops so I could make it through the season without sweating through every one of my outfits.  Since it’s finally becoming cooler in Phoenix, and the smell of pumpkin spice is officially permeating the air, I decided I was feeling rather fall-ish. Downright frigid, ya’ll. To celebrate, I logged onto the Stitch Fix website and added a note to my...