A small request for rock-climbing aficionados in the Phoenix area: It's July, and if you're dead-set on showing up the rest of us with your exploits in verticality, the least you could do is join us in the comfort of the great indoors. Besides, something tells me the competition's a little better on the inside. Stack yourself up against rock climbing's best at the Climbmax Bouldering Comps Hothouse Classic at Climbmax Climbing Center, 128 South Siesta in Tempe. Physicality and fearlessness take center stage in the four trial rounds -- starting next Thursday, July 24, and continuing July 31, and August 14 and 21, from 5 to 10 p.m. Winners in beginning, moderate and expert divisions move on to the championship round set for September 16. For registration information or more details, call Mike at 480-902-0718. - Craig Wallach
HEAT SNEAKERS
Runners pound the asphalt despite the weather
Sun 7/20
Think it's too hot to trot? Not for the Arizona Road Racers, whose Summer Series continues Sunday, July 20, with a 5K race departing Tempe's Kiwanis Park, 6111 South All-America Way, at 6:30 a.m. Call 602-954-8341 or register online at www.arizonaroadracers.com. - Jill Koch
Flash Garden
View what occurs when the sun goes down at the Garden
7/17-7/31
Join the night club at the Desert Botanical Garden, 1201 North Galvin Parkway, where Flashlight Discovery Tours explore the desert's dark side, observe the occasional night-blooming cactus and track activities of nocturnal creatures. Offered at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through the end of July, tours are free with garden admission. Call 480-941-1225. - Jill Koch
