Spring Training & Sprinting

I was on cloud nine walking off the plane into 85-degree weather in Phoenix. Seriously, give me Matt & the sunshine and I'm a happy girl. Adding best friends and sports to the mix? Even better. Matt's roommate, Anthony, is from Scottsdale and was home for spring break, so we had our own personal tour guide of the city. We figured there was no way we could visit Arizona in March without hitting up a spring training game, so we ended up at the A's stadium to watch them play the Padres.

The next day, Clark & Shelley flew in with the same idea, so off we went to another baseball game. This time we saw the Angels take on the Mariners. Working for the Bees made me an Angels fan, so it was fun to see them play!

We had to leave the game early to get some pre-race pasta in Matt, so we enjoyed a late lunch at Macaroni Grill while catching the Sweet 16 action. Then it was off to Arizona State's Sun Angel Stadium for the big meet.

It was a night meet, beginning at 5 and ending at 10. Not only was this incredibly convenient with the heat, but it created a really cool atmosphere for the races. Matt tore it up on the track, placing 7th (of 40 big-school athletes) in the 100, shaving another two tenths off his 200 time, and running a solid first leg in the 4x400.

100 Meter Dash:

200 Meter Dash:

Prepping for the 4x400:

Fresh out of the blocks:

Impressive, no? I was glad Clark could be there to get these pictures of Matt--I'm always too busy cheering to focus on my camera, and he's always moving too fast for my little point & shoot to take a halfway-decent picture anyway.

After all that hard work, Matt definitely deserved the 4x4 meal he ordered at In-N-Out late that night. I'm not sure my sitting+cheering efforts were really worthy of the cheeseburger, fries & strawberry shake I devoured, but they sure were a great ending to a lovely little vacation.