Our Mountainous Saturday

Saturday, we were supposed to run 8 miles in our preparation for a half marathon in June. So far our running has consisted of following a canal thorugh the middle of town in Tempe. Since the half marathon route will have some hills, I thought tht it would be a good idea for us to run where there is some elevation change. So we found a state park in the area which we felt would give us the necessary training. Things were great for the first 1.5 miles. We were running on a wide trail, which slowly ascended into the hills. Boy were we surprised when the trail suddenly shifted to a rocky straight up climb. We kept running for almost a mile. But once we summitted the first lookout Laura's legs were spent (her wobbly legs almost sent her into a cactus which was alongside the trail) and we decided that enough was enough and that we should head back. I am proud of her for going so far, 2.25 miles up. I may have been able to go 4 up, but we will never know (I will just tell myself that I would have been able to). I guess that when we were looking for a spot with a little bit of elevation change we should have avoided South MOUNTAIN Park. That was my bad.

On a lighter note,after our run we decided to rest our legs and go to the temple. It was the first time either of us had been inside the Mesa, AZ temple. It is beautiful. I was a little disappointed by the size of the pool in front. The pictures always make it look so big (don't be fooled by our picture, the pool is tiny). It is definitely wedding season. There were wedding parties all over the grounds, and it was difficult to navigate our way through them to get in and out of the front doors. We love going to the temple!!