After landing we proceeded to meet up with Lisa’s parents and head out for some food. One thing that I’ve noticed is how much a two hour time difference feels weird. It’s not like when I went to China and everything was just totally reversed, but it’s enough of a difference that it feels odd. 

Our first stop was a small casino on the way back to Henderson, NV. We got some food and played a few games before realizing we were getting quite exhausted, and that on MN time we were looking at midnight. So we headed back to our room and collapsed into bed. 

This morning we started out the day getting up slowly. This was good because the first thing on our agenda was a run. Because we were sick this week we’re low on miles so there’s no way we could skip running this weekend, with a race coming up next Saturday. We headed out and quickly realized that all the hills we drove down last night were not in our imagination. It’s a solid climb up to get out of here. I managed 7 miles back and forth, however the first half was incredibly slow and included a total of almost 600 feet of climb. Many of the hills are super steep as well, so even on the run back I couldn’t just go all-out, I had to control my run and slow it down so I didn’t just fall into a barrel roll down the hill.

On the upside, this is my first visit to the desert, and the chance to run in scenery that was completely foreign to me is amazing. I was surrounded by a type of environment that I’ve never run in before and it was fascinating. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t see more wildlife, but considering that many of the creatures I could have encountered might have been slightly danerous I guess I’ll be happy. Overall, the run was slow and a bit of a slog once the hot sun started to push the temps up, but given that I just left 8 inches of snow behind I won’t complain.

In fact, as I’m writing this I’m relaxing on our balcony, enjoying a beautiful day. It’s a bit of a break in what will be a somewhat busy evening visitng The Strip. I’ll post about that experience later tonight, or tomorrow.