The Road to San Diego -- Tucson, Arizona (Part 1)

(Day four continued) Arrived in Tucson around 4:00 p.m. Weather is actually pretty nice for this time of year, perhaps 91 degrees. As the sun began dropping, the evening air really cooled off. Went for my last medium-long run before the marathon. Did 10 miles through neighborhoods in East Tucson, 5 miles into the sunset and 5 miles back. Running feels very good -- not even a hint of last month's ITBFS, or last week's tight hamstring. Slept very well that night. Tommorrow is a day off from running.

Day five, Memorial Day, was a low-key day, recovering from all the driving (and last night's 10-miler). Tried hitting some of my old favorite haunts, but many of them were closed for the holiday (Rainbow Guitars for one). I've begun learning and studying the European jazz music of the great gypsy traditions (Django, Rosenbergs, etc.), and a great Arizona used book store, Bookman's, yielded a decent guitar chord book and a compendium of Django Reinhardt solos with analysis. Next, a stop at PDQ used records turned up several great gypsy jazz CDs. Headed back to the house with swag in hand and spent several hours picking out some new chord shapes, changes and swing tunes on my new guitar. Yes, I brought my new guitar along on the trip, hoping to get a lot of good practice time in. (Also hoping to catch the Hot Club of San Diego while in California!) A relaxing barbecue with family capped the evening.

Day six began early. I was up and out on the road by 6:00 am for a 5 mile run. After 2 miles of easy running did a bit more than a mile at marathon pace (8:00 miles -- hopefully!), then some quick pickups/accelerations over the next mile followed by an easy cool-down mile. The rest of the day included visits to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and the San Xavier del Bac Mission. The day was a bit hotter, almost 100 degrees, and a frozen Eegee's drink really cools you down. The evening included dinner at La Parilla Suiza -- fantastic Mexico City style food.