Pining for the Fjords

So sad. For my Birthmas present, Chris gifted me with a shiny new GPS watch, the Suunto Ambit3 Sport in white.  Suuny, as I’ve taken to calling her, replaced my older GPS watch, the Garmin Forerunner 305, which I’d been using for 3-4 years or so.  My Garmin’s been a trusted, well-loved companion, but it was getting to the end of its life; it stopped audibly beeping about six months ago (without me turning this feature off), and in a few recent startups, the screen would switch from English to something that looked like hieroglyphics.  Since I don’t read ancient Egyptian, this was a problem. “Your Garmin is broken.  Here, bury it in this jar.” I’m confident the untimely demise of my Garmin was hastened by my uncanny ability to destroy almost any piece of running gear.  In the 10 years since I’ve been a runner, I’ve now had three GPS watches,* dozens of pairs of shoes, and at least 3-4 sets of running sunglasses; I had to replace my most recen...

Last Sunday, I ran the PF Chang’s Rock and Roll event at the full marathon distance.  The Competitor group runs the Rock and Roll series of events, and since PF Chang’s is headquartered here in Phoenix, they’re the title sponsor for the races that occur here every January.  Everyone here just calls the run PF Chang’s, which I’m sure the Competitor group absolutely loves, speaking from a marketing perspective. Since PF Chang’s is the largest and one of the older half and full marathon distance events in the valley, it’s often considered our hometown race, and most runners in this area have done one or both of the distances at least once or twice.  This was my second running of the full marathon distance,* and Chris and I have each run the half marathon course 2-3 times in the past as well. For the 2015 race, I was planning for this to be my full marathon distance for the year,** so I signed up for it early in the season; this helped keep me focused as my train...

Need to read the previous trip blogs?  Day1 , Day 2 , Day 3 . On the morning of our final day of vacation, we headed to Café La Tazza for breakfast, a small eatery across the street from the side entrance of the Westin.  Although it was little, it had plenty of room for everyone to eat, and the food was hearty and rather inexpensive.*  After breakfast, we hoofed it to North Beach for another walking tour courtesy of the folks at Frommer’s. Our tour started at one of the landmarks of the San Francisco skyline, the Transamerica Pyramid. The pyramid from further away. Even the topiaries continue the theme! We saw all sorts of interesting things on our walking tour, including the original Ghirardelli factory.  The North Beach area was originally home to the rougher elements in town, and several blocks still maintain that feeling, having many boutiques of adult entertainment from which to choose.  North Beach was also the famous home...

Need to read the previous trip blogs?  For Day 1, click here .  For Day 2, click here . On Boxing Day, we woke up, got ready, and headed out to the Beanstalk Café for breakfast.  Sadly, the place was tiny with no real place to sit down, so we pressed on and ended up eating at the Roxanne Café instead.  However, Chris grabbed a cup of coffee from the Beanstalk and was very pleased with the quality and craftsmanship of the brew. After breakfast, we headed back down to the bus stop at Market and Powell, and we hopped a bus to Golden Gate Park.  First on the agenda that morning – a visit to the De Young Museum, home of all sorts of contemporary art.  The De Young’s second floor was really neat in its arrangement of American art; the galleries started with American art during the Revolutionary War and continued up through modern times, with each gallery having a new set of date ranges and styles.  The De Young also has a great, 8-story observation to...