Running in the Desert

This week finds me back in my former home of Phoenix, Arizona ('96 - '99). Fortunately it's March so temperatures here are much as they are in Colorado in late May.

This is a working trip so my workout had to wait until the end of the day, just as it would if I were home.

Once I checked in, unpacked and got settled, it was time for a six mile run. The Arizona Biltmore where I'm staying is situated on a 2 mile stretch of road that is an ideal place for a run. While there's some traffic, it's minimal. And the views...well you could call this one the Real Estate Tour.

I began right out in front of the hotel.

And then it was off into the sunny afternoon. It's funny, when I lived here, palm trees quickly got to be no big deal. Now that I've been away for several years, they have again conveyed a sort of sense of the exotic.

One of the things I love about this neighborhood is that there's such architectural variety. While in much of the city, stucco and tile roofs dominate, in this enclave, you'll also find Tudor mansions.

Since the Biltmore, along with a lot of other buildings of note were designed by Frank Lloyd-Wright, it only makes sense that you'd see a long flat place like this one:

Alas, the purpose of this run was training, not photography, so many of the near-palaces I passed went un-captured. Here's proof that I really was running not doing it all from my rental car. See the shadow?

Okay...here's a little more proof:


Tomorrow's plan is to hit the pool. Hopefully that won't prove to challenging at a resort where I suspect the emphasis is not on exercise!

Thanks for reading!