One of the neat, and sometimes inconvenient, things about living in Arcadia is that every January the PF Chang's Rock & Roll Marathon runs through the area.  The course heads north up 48th St along the linear park, then east on Indian School to Scottsdale.  Our family loves to get up on these Sunday morning each year and cheer on the runners as they pay by our neighborhood.  We often have friends running, and being at roughly the 15-mile mark, we provide a good pit-stop for fresh energy food, water and words of encouragement.  Plus, the music is always fantastic.

This year the race was on January 18th and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful.  I think it was pushing 70 degrees by noon!  We sat at the corner of Osborn and 48th St and listened to the local bands play their sets.  I especially liked Sevencar Pile Up.  With a name like that, how could they go wrong?!

Of course, on race day there isn't a whole lot else we can do.  At least, there is nowhere we can go.  We are virtually land-locked by the marathon and half-marathon cutting off our escape routes with road closures.  The roads usually start to open up around 1:00, so we just needed to plan around it.

With the big Cardinals vs. Eagles NFC Championship game on at 1:00 that afternoon, the marathon was a great way to kill the time and quench the nervous anticipation.

Anyway, kudos to the Cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe, PF Chang's and all of the sponsors and organizers who pulled off another great civic event.  And, congratulations to all of the runners that competed.  I envy you all.  It was one of my life goals to run a marathon.  Maybe someday...