Laser Show & The AZ Distance Classic
We are constantly looking for things going on at the University of Arizona campus that are different and exciting activities for us to take part in. A few weeks ago, I had seen an ad for a Pink Floyd laser show at a planetarium on campus, but unfortunately it was sold out. So, I looked at shows in the coming weeks and found a night in which they were doing a Daft Punk laser show. I immediately purchased tickets. The University of Arizona is a space college. They have several buildings and programs dedicated to space and the planets. Sitting adjacent to the Kipler Space Studies Building, the Flandrau Science Center & Planetarium regularly has space shows, but every so often offers music-themed laser shows custom-made to different music artists. The following weekend, we had our Tucson contract half-marathon. This would be our second half-marathon in Arizona, with the goal to run one in every state we live in. Sometimes you have to have some fun type-1 fun before you get into some type-2 fun!
Mile: 83,777
Quote of the Blog: “You must expect great things from yourself before you can do them.” - Michael Jordan
Song of the Blog: “Around The World” - Daft Punk
Amity and I have a love for good electronic music, and Daft Punk is one of those legendary artist groups that we have been dancing to since we were young. The moment we learned about the show, it was a no-brainer to make it happen. Before the show, we went to one of Amity’s favorite tap houses, the Casa Video & Film Bar. We have been here a couple of times. What we love about it is the fact that you can either get a beer on tap, or you can pick out a can from their cooler to either take home or drink in-house. This gives us both so many options that we always find something fun and new to drink. On top of that, it operates a classic movie rental store where you can rent DVDs and VHS movies. After a couple of beers, we headed over to the planetarium. Our timing was really good. The moment we got to our seats, they started the show. The laser show was very entertaining. We quickly picked up on the fact that these laser show configurations are made by students, which gave them a raw and real art feel. We loved the show. It was hard at times not to get up and dance. I could see us going to these more regularly if we lived here.
As the week progressed, we started to mentally and physically prepare for the weekend’s race. It was a different kind of training program for this run. We were not sure if we were going to do it in another state. We initially planned to run an event later in the contract, but the simplicity of the event being here in Tucson and at a good price forced our hand. This meant we both had to move our training up a little, even though we both had a couple of moments of overtraining and having to recover. All in all, we felt pretty good about where we were, but also knew this was not going to be a race where we set a personal record. Along with the odd training, this course ended up having a significant amount of vertical gain throughout.
On the day of the race, it was really nice to wake up in our own bed. Most of our races recently have been destination events on the other side of the state. We were able to get to the course with enough time for a quick bathroom break and make our way to the starting line. We gave each other our last high fives and set out on our runs. I had recently eaten some fish that was not properly refrigerated, so we were both very worried about my stomach this weekend. All in all, I did well, but I did have to make more than one stop at the bathroom on the course. I think it was more in my mind than anything else. This meant Amity and I leapfrogged a couple of times on the run. We last passed each other with only a little over a mile left in the race. Amity ran a strong and good race; I was just barely faster. At the end, we were both whooped. Amity looked at me and said, “I know who won the race today.” I was like, how and who? She ended up explaining to me that the person in front was a guy who went to high school in Whitefish, and she knew his face from the Tucson running club he now runs. She had seen him well ahead of the second-place runner when we first began to pass runners headed back toward the start. I laughed and immediately knew who she was talking about: Jose Delgato. We looked around for him at the finish area but had no luck. He finished a solid hour before us and was probably long gone. We wrapped the day up with some ice cream and some hard chilling. We were both happy with our outcomes and feel like that was one of the more difficult courses we have done yet. We both feel like we need a strong break from distance running for now. With this run, we have now completed the 9th half-marathon in Amity’s 9th contract location. Who knows where the next one will be. That’s part of the fun! Living Rad is full of surprises!