And Sometimes the Twain Shall Meet

In several past blog posts, I’ve talked about running and in several others, I’ve talked about trying new breweries and other beer-related events.  In this one, let’s mash them all up together (mash – there’s some brewer humor for you there) and see what happens!

On a moderately chilly recent Saturday morning (I mean, the east coast was under 2 feet of snow at this point, so “moderately chilly” it is), I accompanied Chris to Estrella Mountain Park on the southwest side of town to crew while he ran Aravaipa Running’s Coldwater Rumble 20K course.

Putting on his race number in the truck.

It is moderately chilly, after all.

A 20K is around 12.44 miles (quick conversion math: a 5K is 3.11 miles, thus a 20K is 4 times that - this equals 12.44 miles), and this one would be run entirely on the trails of the park.  While some of the distances looped back through the start/finish area, the 20K was not one of those; thus, I knew that I’d end up seeing Chris for 5 minutes as he started the race and another 5 minutes as he finished, giving me a good two hours in the middle to hang around the park and kill time. 

Getting ready to start,

huddling near the heat lamps.

The start went off without a hitch, so I waved goodbye and watched my hubby jog away and up into the mountains.

The field getting ready to start

There he goes!

The line of runners moves up the mountain.

After he headed out, I sauntered back to the car for a snack and then donned my own running gear (trying out a new pair of Nike running tights I purchased from Macy’s using a birthday gift card from Mom – thanks, Mom!), as I needed to do a six mile easy pace run in between my tempo run on Friday and long run on Sunday.  The area near Estrella isn’t the greatest for running on the main roads; the area is relatively rural, so large vehicles plow through pretty quickly, and the absence of sidewalks means I’d be on the road with the trucks.  Additionally, since it’s rural, I was somewhat concerned about the presence of wild dogs, as they can be a problem in Arizona.  Given all of this, I decided to try staying within the park boundaries, loping slowly along the shoulder to see if I could make it to six full miles.  While I eventually made it, there was a fair amount of running around the perimeter of several parking lots, as you can see in the image from my Suunto, below:

The weird little triangle near the top

is where I went, ooh, I need a bathroom

and veered off the road to find one.

Score one point for running inside a state park!

I finished my run and headed back to the truck to have a snack, checking Chris’ progress on my phone using the Find my iPhone app (this app is super handy in cases like this or you know, when your wife concusses herself after a fall from her bike and she doesn’t know where she’s located.  Or so I’ve heard, not remembering that situation myself).  I took my time changing out of my sweaty running gear into warmer, cleaner clothes, and I collected the camp chair, water bottle, and Entertainment Weekly I’d brought, heading back toward the start/finish area.  I cheered on the runners coming in from various races and cheered the longer distance runners (they were running 50K, 50 mile, and 100 mile events here, too) as they headed back out.  Eventually, I found the runner I was looking for:

Here he comes!

Hooray, husband!

Into the finish line chute

Overall, he was happy with his time of 2 hours, 15 minutes, as the course is decently challenging while still being a lot of fun to run.  Plus, he earned yet another Aravaipa pint glass to add to our collection:

Huzzah!

Since we’d both had a decent workout (him more so than me), we figured it was time to check out another newer brewery we hadn’t yet had a chance to visit, Saddle Mountain.  While Saddle Mountain is technically on our side of town, it was still a good 30 minutes away, so we hadn’t made it to their location yet (although we had tried their beer at several festivals, and it was promising).  In a fortuitous turn of events, Saddle Mountain is directly off Estrella Boulevard which also happens to be the turn off for well, you guessed it, Estrella Mountain Park.  Thus, we’d have to drive right past it on the way home from the race.  Score!

I was serving as designated driver at this point, so I didn’t order any adult beverages, but Chris had a flight of six of Saddle Mountain’s brews.  As noted in the shot below, they’re (from left) the English Coffee Brown Ale, Night Raid (a black lager), Hop Snob (their IPA), 300 Foot Steve (a red ale), 5G Pull (a witbier), and the Show Your Stripes (a golden ale). 

A whole row of teeny, tiny beers!

Of the ones we tried, we both liked the coffee brown ale and Night Raid.  Chris also liked the 300 Foot Steve, and I agree that it was solid.  The other offerings in this flight were good, but the darker beers were truly the outstanding ones.

As for food, Chris ordered a burger, and I had the turkey club, which features house-smoked turkey breast.  Both were outstanding, and Chris’ burger was massive!  Although not the same height as his, my sandwich was bountiful enough to convince me to take home the other half for lunch the next day where it was still great.

Noms!

Overall, we liked Saddle Mountain.  The location is right off the 10 freeway, so if you’re heading to the LA area (or Blythe, I guess, but who the hell goes to Blythe intentionally?), it’s a great stop on the west side of Phoenix.  It’s also just 5 seconds away from the new spring training facility for the Cubs and Reds, so anyone heading there now has a better alternative to the massive chains that dominate this side of town.  The food and beer are solid to great, and the vibe is laidback and easy (the theme of the place is WWII aeronautical – all of the waitresses wear cute little “Rosie the Riveter” red handkerchiefs in their hair).  We have food and beer options just as good (if not better) much closer to us, so I don’t necessarily see us heading out there super often, but when we’re on that side of town, we’ll visit again. 

Later!

Amy