Lost again

The conference wrapped up Tuesday afternoon and I headed back to my room for a nap. I woke up and took a six-mile spin around the river trail again, careful to mind the bums throughout the park, out and back to the main street downtown. It was pretty hot and dry. When I came back to the hotel, our new president’s inaugural ball was in progress, and when my coworker told me about the food selection- delicious roast beef and a variety of vegetables, I hurried upstairs to get dressed for it.

I had a delicious White Russian that hit me pretty hard, thanks to my dehydration. That, plus my post-exercise euphoria and boosted energy thanks to my nap made me positively giddy, AND THEN I discovered the ice cream bar. I loaded some melty vanilla with tiny m&ms, strawberry sauce and chocolate and went toward town.

I woke up early the next morning with a route written on my arm to get me 14 miles and up onto one of the surrounding foothills to the south. I ran clockwise around the Reno-Tahoe Airport until I got to Mira Loma Road and followed it to the neighborhood surrounding the Hidden Valley Country Club. I followed the road there south and looked for the intersection with Alexander Lake Road, which would take me into Huffaker Hills, where I could get my view of the city from a hilltop. I moved away from the neighborhood and onto a remote looking road, and figured I was right on track. Then, the houses started popping up again. I saw two familiar-looking walkers, and then a sign for Mira Lorma. I knew that road ran south, so I thought perhaps I had gone too far, but as it turns out I had run around the circumference of the golf course and was back where I started. It was too late to keep exploring—an ice bath was probably out of the question and I would need to rush back to be ready for my flight.

I followed the rest of my route clockwise around the airport, and at times seemed to be going way out of my way, but it was a certain way back to the hotel. I ended up running 1:43, but had to wait until I got home to find out how far it was. It turned out to be a little over 16 miles, so I averaged 6:28.

This is how the road was supposed to look...

I also had a chance to look at a more detailed map when I was on my computer. It turns out Alexander Lake was connected to Short Lane and Hidden Highlands Drive. I passed Hidden Highlands, but to the right, it looked as though it ended.

After another day of traveling (I made my flight), I got back to humid, stuffy Virginia, with its trees and shade that does no good in stopping the moisture. I did an easy four miles at 7:28 pace and hit the sack.

Thursday morning I ran 6.75 at 7:58 pace around the Park ++ loop. It was rough, running in the brunt of the humidity. All told, I ran 83 miles in the five days I was in Reno, and that wasn’t bad. Now it’s time to test my legs at the Crystal City 5k Saturday night, help pace Pokey in his half marathon, hopefully add enough distance Sunday morning to make 20 miles, and see if I can keep this volume up when I don’t have dry air making it seem so easy to run.