February 26:In Phoenix for Matt's Half Marathon

The main entrance was stunning!

Our family enjoys getting together when Matt competes in Iron Man and Marathon competitions. This half marathon in Phoenix looked like a good time to cheer for Matt, do a late Christmas gathering and celebrate Linda's and Tom's Kidney Anniversary. Tom drove down from his home in Flagstaff and met us at an airport hotel Thursday night. Friday morning we headed to the great house Linda found for us on AIRBNB. It was even better than the promotional pictures.







Linda and I took the master bedroom but the others were just as nice with one exception. Ours had a great jacuzzi tub that definitely snared Linda. We encouraged everyone to use it.

One of two living and dining areas.

The house had an open concept kitchen, dining area and family room. It was perfect for us to get together but not be on top of each other.We prefer to eat in as much as possible. We eat much more healthy food than when going out and we get what we like. Linda's brother Tom looks forward to discovering what kind of "Healthy Food" we will push on him each time.The kitchen was the best equipped we've ever stayed in. Every pot and pan you could imagine was available. We even had our own orange tree with ripe oranges.




Tom brought three dozen eggs from his own chicken coop. We scrambled some for breakfast Friday and found they tasted better than store bought eggs.

Linda is delivering the fresh oranges from the back yard.

The back yard was beautiful and had a swimming pool. Unfortunately the pool was not heated and the temperature was in the 40's overnight. No Polar Bear Club members with us! During the day it became quite comfortable with the sun up.

We picked Rebecca up at the airport Friday night and went to bed early. I was leaving at 5:45 am to drive Matt to the start of the race. It was no accident that Linda found our house only 1/2 block from the race path. Linda even got up early to ride over with us!

Matt started with his typical running outfit. Then he added the "Throwaway sweatshirt" purchased at the Goodwill store due to the 40 degree temperature. He discarded the sweatshirt by the time he passed us at the 3 mile mark.

Tom heading to the corner - too late.

Dressed for cold temperatures to watch Matt

We warned everyone that Matt would be coming by quite soon. Wendy, Rebecca, Linda and I headed for the corner and told Tom he better hurry! Unfortunately his delay for a cup of coffee caused him to miss Matt going by. He arrived at the corner just after he heard us cheering Matt on. Too bad he got up at 6:00 am and missed him! He did however join us at the awards presentation! Matt ran a great race. He placed second in the Master's Category which is runners 40 years old and older. Way to go Matt!

After the race we returned to our house by driving around numerous roadblocks due to the race. We finally made it home and relaxed for a while before starting the Christmas and Kidney celebrations.