There was very thick heavy ominous fog during my normal morning walk around the neighborhood. What was extra unusual about this morning was the parade of cars that were coming up the road from off of the main road. I have never seen this much traffic on this road. It was especially unusual to see this at this time of the day. Every car was turning to go up the hill that began my morning walk. There must have been a huge accident on the main road for all of the cars to be detoured through here.
Heavy fog
Detour
Leg #1: Home to Indio, CA (104 miles)
I took the day off from work and left for my road trip shortly after coming back from my morning walk. The first leg of my trip took me out to Indio. That stretch took me about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I exited the freeway at Jackson St to go charge up the car at the Tesla Supercharger station. After connecting the car to the charging unit, I walked over to the nearby McDoanld's to get some breakfast. I ordered their sausage egg McMuffin meal on the mobile app. Since I wasn't in a hurry and had to wait for the car to finish charging, I ate my breakfast there before heading back to my car.
Tesla Indio
McDonald's Indio
Leg #2: Indio, CA to Ehrenberg, AZ (101 miles)
The next leg of my trip took me out to Ehrenberg, Arizona. That stretch took just a little over 1 hour and 30 minutes. It was time to charge the car again. There weren't very many stall at this Tesla Supercharger station. Fortunately for me, there was an available stall when I pulled up. After I hooked the car up for a charge, I walked over to the nearby Flying J Travel Center to use their restroom as well as to buy some drinks. I got two bottles of Arizona tea for $3.50.
Tesla Ehrenberg
Flying J Travel Center
2 for $3.50
Leg #3: Ehrenberg, AZ to Buckeye, AZ (116 miles)
The next leg took me into Buckeye, Arizona. I've never stopped here before, but it was a good time to stop as there was a lot of traffic building up on the freeway. This stretch took over 1 hour and 30 minutes. As I pulled into the lot looking for the Tesla Supercharger station, I saw some people talking to the police. It looked like someone had smashed their car window and property had been stolen. Bummer. I found the charging station along the wall lining the western side of Watson Rd. I didn't even realize that the time zone had changed when I was charging the car in Ehrenberg. Arizona was again one hour ahead. So during my stop here to charge the car, I saw that it was about 3:30 pm instead of 2:30 pm. I decided to go grab something quick from the McDonald's across the street instead of having lunch at the nearby Cracker Barrel. Per the usual, I used the buy one, get one free deal on the mobile app to get 2 Quarter Pounders with cheese.
Tesla Buckeye
McDonald's Buckeye
QPC x2
Leg #4: Buckeye, AZ to Gilbert, AZ (54 miles)
This stretch to the packet pick-up in Gilbert took an hour and 10 minutes. I encountered some heavy traffic, most likely rush hour traffic. Once I got to the Verde at Cooley Station, it was a very quick and easy packet pick-up. I got my race bib, a race shirt, and a goodie bag. Most of the samples that were in the bag weren't stuff that I normally would use, but I did receive not one, but two "be our guest" cards for Chick-fil-A. They were good for 1 frosted lemonade or hand-spun milkshake! It was as if they knew I was coming!
Verde at Cooley Station
Packet pick-up
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Goodie bag
My friends texted me to meet them over at the Red White & Brew in Mesa for dinner. Originally, we had talked about eating at Culinary Dropout. I was actually looking forward to that as they had steak frites that I wanted to try. Oh well, maybe next time. I was greeted to a beautiful sunset as I arrived to the restaurant. While we waited for a table, my friend actually gave me her Chick-fil-A card because she knew how much I loved eating there. Now I have 3 of them!
Sunset at RWB
We were seated at one of the tables in the outside patio. That worked out best for us since my friends and I were all from States where COVID restrictions were more strict than Arizona. It didn't seem like a lot of people bothered with wearing masks here while indoors. After looking over the menu, I settled on ordering their spicy chicken sausage jambalaya with spinach as my side and an iced tea. When the food came out, I was surprised to see how big the portion was. That spinach was surprisingly good. Most other restaurants serve spinach in a very mushy form very similar to baby food. It did get a little difficult near the end, but I got it all down. It didn't help that I had eaten two burgers just a few hours earlier.
Menu
Spicy chicken sausage jambalaya
Side of spinach
Once we had settled the bill, we went our separate ways. I hopped in my car and drove over to the Days Hotel Mesa near Phoenix. It was just off of the 60 freeway at the Country Club Dr exit. During check-in, the guy asked if I had a preference for a particular floor. I didn't care, so I was assigned room #302. He informed me that the rooms on the third floor were just recently renovated and they are now working on the lower floors. He also told me that I could take the staircase from the end near Starbucks to reach the third floor. You need the room key to access the hallway. The room was indeed pretty nice with the new updates. Shortly after settling into my room, my whole GI system apparently was not pleased with what or how much I had eaten. The last time I did something similar was when I ate a huge portion of very salty yakisoba at the Side Street Inn in Hawaii. Well after some extended toilet time, fortunately my body allowed me to get some sleep.
Days Hotel Mesa near Phoenix
Flat runner
Saturday 11/20
I got up early to get ready for the race and to pack up my stuff. While doing so, I caught some of the Leicester v. Chelsea match. I'm not doing very well this season for FPL. I checked out of the hotel at about 6 am. The drive over to the start line took just about 30 minutes to get there. They gave us 3 options for parking: Higley High School, the Higley Unified School District north of the high school, and the LDS church west of the high school. I opted to park in the church parking lot. With the time difference, it remained dark outside until it was almost time for the race to start. At about 30 minutes before race time, I went and used one of the portapotties. While getting into the start area, I bumped into a familiar face. We both run some many races in any given year that we're just bound to run into each other without any planning whatsoever.
Leicester v. Chelsea
Higley Unified School District
Start line
Rachel
The race started at 7:30 am. Having run the Revel Big Bear Marathon last weekend, I had no idea what my legs were able to give me today. We headed north on Recker Rd. During the first mile, I ran behind the 1:40 pacer. He slowly but surely crept further and further away from me. I covered that first mile in 8 mins even and I knew from the effort level that there was no way that I could hold that pace for another 12 miles. Eventually, I settled in on about an 8:15 min/mile pace. Shortly after reaching mile 2, it was right turn for a 2 mile out-and-back on a small trail that stretched over to Power Rd. Then it was a right turn back onto Recker Rd. Shortly after reaching mile 6, we made a left turn onto the Sun Circle Trail. This section was somewhat narrow. So instead of trying to pass anyone, I focused on maintaining the same pace. I saw my friends at Higley Rd which was about mile 7. It was nice of them to cheer me on before they went to run their 10k.
Around mile 7 From Dan
Once we reached the Riparian Preserve, we crossed over a small bridge and made a right turn onto the Eastern Canal Trail. At the second trail intersection, we made a left turn onto the Riparian Preserve Trail. Then again at the second trail intersection, there were flags indicating a left turn, but the runners that I was following keep going straight. Since I had paid attention during pre-race announcements, I made the left turn. That took me back onto the Sun Circle Trail. My pace had fallen off a bit as I had no one to chase. It felt weird because I was running all alone for about the next 2 miles until a couple of runners caught up to me. I tried to stay with them, but they slowly pulled ahead of me. Once I reached Lindsay Rd, I made a right turn for a short out and back where I hopped on the consolidated trail. Then it was a right turn back onto Sun Circle Trail. I reached mile 12 and was feeling gassed and almost on empty. Then it was the final left turn onto Gilbert Rd. My friend had told me about this final stretch of the course where we ran alongside the Gilbert Days Parade! The crowds were cheering for the runners and it injected some life back into my legs. My faster friend still caught me during this last mile. She was going to run it in with me until she saw another runner just ahead of us. She asked if I wanted to pass that runner. I tried, but I told her to go ahead as if I pushed any harder, I'd probably pass out. :)
Couldn't catch her
Finish line
Finish: 1:48:47
Click here for my Garmin data.
This was by far one of the better executed race that I've run in recent times. It helped that the weather was nice and the course was pretty enjoyable especially that last mile running alongside the Gilbert Days Parade! That was definitely the highlight of this race! It reminded me a bit of when I used to run the Rose Parade route before they have their parade.
We grabbed a quick finish line selfie before continuing down the finisher chute and getting our medals. We came around to the barrier just before the finish line to cheer on other runners and to wait for our friend who wasn't too far behind. After she came through, we went to the post race area to grab a post race goodie bag. We then headed back to catch our other friend at the finish line.
Lorinda
Finisher medal
PK
Post race goodies
LaBoo
After she came through, we went to the post race area to check on age-group awards. The awards weren't being handed out yet, so I went back to wait for my other friend to come through. While waiting, I caught a pic of another Half Fanatic. These days, the club is so big, I don't know a lot of the members anymore. Also quite a few of the older members have either retired or moved on from running endurance events.
Half Fanatic
Rachel
After my friend came through, I started heading over to the bus pick-up location for a ride back to my car. Coincidentally, it would turn out that my friends that were waiting on the age group awards were already on that bus. The bus ride took about 20 minutes.
Bus pick-up
After we were dropped off, I said goodbye to my friends and went to my car to change out of my sweaty clothes. I put on the race shirt. I like it. I might just keep this one instead of donating it. I texted my friend to let them know that I'll be heading over to the Portillo's on McClintock Dr and will wait for them there. The drive over took about 30 minutes. I went inside to use the restroom before I went back outside to wait for my friends. It took about another 30 minutes for my friends to show up. That was fine as the weather was very nice outside. My friends got in line to place their order while I opted to place my order on the mobile app. I got my usual two jumbo Chicago dogs and a large chocolate malt shake.
Chicago dog
After we were done with our meal and went our separate ways, I hopped in the car and headed over to the Tesla Supercharger station at the Biltmore Fashion Park. My friends also own a Tesla. They warned me that this particular charging station can be a bit cutthroat with most drivers being very aggressive. When I arrived, all of the stalls were occupied, so I parked close by and waited. I didn't have to wait long before a car vacated a spot. Thankfully, there wasn't another car waiting for a charge. I pulled in and plugged the car in for a charge. I then walked over to the mall to pass some time. It was a nice outdoor mall with some decent restaurants, but it wasn't too big, so I ended up walking a bunch of laps. As the car was close to finish charging, I used one of the mall restrooms near the parking structure before heading back to my car.
Tesla Biltmore Phoenix
Biltmore Fashion Park
Leg #1: Phoenix, AZ to Quartzsite, AZ (133 miles)
Once the car got enough charge, it was time to hit the road for home. The first leg out to the Tesla Supercharger station at Quartzsite took almost 2 hours. The layout of the main lot was very well thought out. There were a lot of stalls in that lot with additional stalls in the Carl's Jr parking lot. I plugged the car in and walked over to Carl's Jr to use their restroom. I then waited in the car for it finish charging, during which I got to watch a father and son play catch with a football in the adjacent dirt lot.
Tesla Quartzsite
Leg #2: Quartzsite, AZ to Indio, CA (117 miles)
After getting enough, but not a full charge, I hopped back on the 10 freeway and continued heading west for the Tesla Supercharger station in Indio. This second leg took a little over an hour and a half. After plugging the car in for a charge, I walked over to McDonald's to get dinner. I finally ordered my first McRib sandwich since they were brought back for this season. Honestly, I'm not a fan of them. It's pretty much mystery meat slathered with way too much barbeque sauce. I still prefer to get a Quarter Pounder with cheese or a Big Mac. I used a mobile app deal to get an order of large fries for $1 to go with the sandwich. As I was eating my food, a nice older lady employee went around to each table to check to see if anyone needed anything. You just don't see that kind of service these days especially at a fast food restaurant!
Tesla Indio
McRib and $1 large fries
Leg #3: Indio, CA to home (104 miles)
The third and final leg also took an hour and a half. With all of these frequent pit stops, I didn't get home until it was close to my usual bedtime! Man, I miss my Mini Cooper!
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