SEDONA ROCKS

Training in Flagstaff has been going well.  This past weekend Pieter Desmet and I rented a car to get to some different trails and explore a little.  The first run we went to was Walnut Canyon (6800 feet) just outside of Flagstaff.  This canyon is pretty amazing (400 feet deep, 20 miles long and 1/4 mile wide) and if it wasn’t located 100 miles from the Grand Canyon I’m sure it would be a bigger deal.  The run was fairly flat except for a 1 mile section that goes down and up the canyon.  A lot of the trail runs along the edge of the Canyon and the views are amazing.  A solid hour and 55 minutes and Pieter got in a solid 55 minute wait. Walnut Canyon:

The next day we went down to Sedona (4400 feet) for Pieter’s track workout and my turn to wait around.  I just did a little recovery run but managed to get in some good sights around Red Rock Loop by the high school.  After the run we did a little more sightseeing with the car and Pieter got his first ColdStone Ice cream. Sedona Red Rocks:

Yesterday I got on the track again after two weeks (tempo and fartlek have been my good friends up here) for a 1200m session but, because of the wind I took the executive decision to switch to 1000’s for one less straight into the wind.  A typical lap would be 33 sec/ 35-36 seconds due to the wind.  Either way the effort was good and I’m looking forward to Mt. Sac.

Its Pieter’s first time in North America and he’s learning a lot.  Cal bought a TV for his stay here and simply returned it at the end of his 3 weeks.  Pieter could not believe WalMarts return policy and how sufficient “I don’t like it” is for a reason to get a full refund.  Realizing he was short on towels Pieter asked if he could return a towel at the end of the stay… I said “I guess its possible, you just give them a reason why you’re returning it”… he acts out the return, “I do not want this towel anymore.  It is wet.”  Welcome to America.