Feeding My Princess in Scottsdale, Arizona

I arrived in Phoenix on Thursday evening, and so far I've been lounging around, sticking close to my dad's house in downtown Scottsdale. I've done a few easy runs on the Arizona canal, enjoying the much warmer temperatures in the 30s and 40s compared to Fort Collins' single digits lately.

I've been doing errands, getting my race supplies organized, and conserving my energy as much as possible. The weather has been nice, a little cool, but the sky is blue and only today a few clouds moved in, but it's still mostly sunny and pleasant outside, with a slight breeze.

I have no agenda with this blogpost, just thought I'd share a few photos of the surroundings in downtown Scottsdale. The big peak with the towers in the middle is Thompson Peak, 4000' elevation, that I used to run at least once a week when I lived in Fountain Hills.

Along the waterfront on the canal in downtown Scottsdale.

Bougainvilleas blooming outside my bedroom window.

Baby shin daggers, someday these will impale some unsuspecting tourist.

The fish along Goldwater Blvd. near my dad's house.

The giant pitaya down the street from dad's house. There are two of them in this house's yard, and I love to stop and look at them, as they attract a collection of birds.

The entrance to my dad's neighborhood.

It's all quite relaxing, I'm thinking very little about running strategy for the 24 hour, as that's pretty simple. My goal is to go out steady for the first 12 hours, and be strong in the second 12 hours, and get at least 50 miles in the second half of the race. Mostly I am thinking about being very organized so I waste as little time at the table as possible.

My inspiring, enthusiastic and energetic friend Shannon Price (aka Wheaties Boy) posted something on Facebook yesterday about going after your goals in 2013. He called it "Feed Your Crazy". He's still new and fresh enough in ultrarunning that he has a lot of crazies to get out of his system. I've gotten a few of mine out of the way, but there's always more. For me, I guess my own version of feeding my crazy is my goal of running faster at age 50 than I did in my 30s, at least at ultra distances.

I was thinking about how I can feed my crazy in 2013 and all I can think of is doing speedwork. But I will also have to race at more competitive races, which feeds my inner princess. I get very princess-like in the days before a race where I want to do well. I guess I'll be feeding my princess a lot in the coming year or so.

At Across The Years, I'd just like to get a really solid run in, not looking for any amazing performances, just a good strong run, some socializing, some partying, and a fun 24 hours of running with many of my favorite people in the universe.

Not sure how much I'll be blogging between now and the end of the race, but I will be posting pictures and a blogpost afterwards. Happy New Year to all my readers!

I couldn't help but include this short video of the palm trees in the breeze above my dad's house. I think it's peaceful.