Running Arizona

My absence from the blogging world is attributed to our family's trip to Arizona. Since the title of this blog is "Watch Greg Run," not "Watch the Sankey Family Travel," I will offer insight in to our trip from a running perspective.

The first stop on our trip was in Prescott, Arizona so I could show the family the marathon route for May's Whiskey Row Marathon. You can check out my recollection of that event at http://watchgregrun.blogspot.com/2009/05/prescott-my-prescott-its-pronounced.html.

We then made the drive to the Grand Canyon. Our first view of the Canyon was on Thursday evening, June 25, and it was even better than I expected. My run came early Friday morning, which was made easy by the fact we were staying at the Bright Angel Lodge just a few feet from the Canyon Rim. Our family woke up to watch the sun rise and then I headed out for a run of nearly eight miles, which was filled with breath taking views as the sun peaked through the clouds to form spotlights on the colorful walls and peaks of the Grand Canyon. I could fill this blog with pictures from my morning around the Canyon rim, but I'll leave you with just two pictures from one of the great runs I expect to make during 2009.

On Friday, we left the Grand Canyon for the drive to Phoenix. After enjoying a Diamondbacks game on Friday night, my run was in downtown Phoenix on Saturday morning. Saying it was hot in Phoenix is stating the obvious, but it was really hot--like 98 degrees at 8 in the morning. I did not take any pictures during this run, since the best picture would have been the thermometer.

Sells, Arizona is in the same state as the Grand Canyon but in many ways it is a world away (the picture to the left was taken from Kitt's Peak Observatory--the peak in the distance is called Baboquivari). On Saturday (June 27), we made the relatively short drive from downtown Phoenix to downtown Sells. The primary purpose for our trip to Arizona was to serve by working with kids among the Tohono O'odham Nation in southwestern Arizona http://www.tonation-nsn.gov/. The T.O. Nation's government base is in Sells, which is located in the Sonoran Desert. It not only sounds hot, it is hot, but the temperature was "only" in the mid-80s during my two early morning runs. Running in Sells is much different from running at home in Alabama or along the rim of the Grand Canyon. The location of Sells near the United States border with Mexico, which results in the incredibly visible presence of U.S. Border Patrol. In addition to Border Patrol, Sells is "open range," which means there are cows and horses freely roaming through the center of town. There are also dogs running free all over the place. Border Patrol, cows, horses and dogs make for an interesting run. It certainly is not what I see most of the time.

During our ten days in Arizona, we traveled from the northern border (the Grand Canyon) to near the southern border of the state. As you can see from the pictures, Arizona is filled with incredibly beauty. The mountains, Grand Canyon, saguaro cactus, Sonoran Desert, Valley of the Sun and the site of storms rolling through the desert provide some awesome views characterized well be this sign, which appears adjacent to the Grand Canyon.