I slept very well after I dropped Alex off for their redeye flight and with no alarm set, I didn’t wake until past 6 am! So I was now perfectly adjusted to the 3-hour time difference, just in time for my flight east. I was not yet adjusted to the heat though, so I really felt the sun even at 7 am during my interval run.
I ran along the canal trail which was perfect for the hard quarter-mile repeats.
Nice view of Camelback Mountain as I returned to the hotel.
I got in my last swim right after running. There were a few people enjoying coffee on lounge chairs but I had the pool to myself. Afterwards, I soaked in the jacuzzi for a while and Hotel California randomly played on my swim headphones.
After showering and packing it was an easy 20-minute drive to the rental car facility and then I took the super-efficient monorail to the airport. It had great views as Phoenix is so flat. Downtown Phoenix is west of the airport so this is as close as I got.
The flight to Chicago left a little late but not enough that I needed to worry about my connection.
Our plane pulled out of the gate almost on time but then it just stopped a few hundred yards later. A never-ending line of planes slowly rolled by and I wondered why our pilot was “afraid” to merge. After 25 minutes he finally announced it was “a busy time of day” and many planes had to leave at the same time. Then when we finally moved into the line of planes we got to “only 8 planes ahead of us for departure” and there was a short weather delay. We got into Buffalo an hour late.
It was rainy and cold in Buffalo, spring still not quite arrived. The high temperature the next day was exactly 50 degrees less than in Scottsdale.
I saw this cute bunny in my yard, notice that the Eastern Cottontail has smaller ears than his Western Desert cousins in Arizona.
The best part of any trip is being reunited with Fifa. She had a nice stay at the spa but did seem genuinely excited to see me (which was nice as she had left me without a look back when we arrived at Love My Dog).
She had a grooming and bath and a new bandana! Because she plays well with other dogs she is allowed to spend every day at the kennel with the dogs who are there for doggy day care.
DONE! Six great days in Scottsdale! When we had visited there before Covid I had said to Alex that we should visit our cousins there once a year as it is such a nice vacation spot in the winter. Covid interrupted that but it is the plan now, for sure.
Only 6 hours until my Colonoscopy/Upper GI. I had both when I was 50 as I had reflux that was not completely controlled with Pepcid. I had borderline Barrett’s Esophagus and they suggested a repeat upper GI after 5 years but I switched to Prilosec and the symptoms resolved so I put that off until now. They recently pushed the age for a first screening Colonoscopy back to 45 as colon cancer seems to be increasing in younger people (likely due to our highly processed diets). Unless they find polyps (I had none last time despite my dad having a history of them) I think this is my last Colonoscopy. In ten years I imagine they will have improved the stool and blood tests for cancer DNA or they will have AI read CT or MRI scans that are just as accurate.
There is only a 3/100,000 chance of mortality from a screening colonoscopy, so about the same as me being eaten by a shark. I don’t find the prep process that bad but I am very hungry as I put myself on a liquid diet an extra day early.
My Cinco de Mayo celebration was just one margarita while watching the Yankees and Mets games. The Yankees had a solid win on a very wet/rainy delayed start day; the game eventually ended after a long 8th-inning rain delay. They are now just one game behind Baltimore. The Mets had a sad loss after giving up a one-run lead in the 9th inning and losing in the 11th inning; they are under .500 now. In the morning Chelsea won and with just 2 weeks left in the English Premier League season, they will finish in the top 10, which I am happy with after their slow start.
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