As most of you know, I tend to do a fair amount of traveling for my job --- about 10-20 trips a year. This week I’m in Phoenix for a three-day conference and am staying at the Arizona Grand Resort, replete with golf courses, pools, and a water park. It’s quite a nice venue, so nice in fact, that the Arizona Cardinals stayed here last night before their big game tonight against the San Francisco 49ers (it’s a real site to see 330 pound offensive linemen and 250 pound linebackers walking around your hotel).
Anytime I travel for work, I try to get in a few runs, and this trip is no different, except for the fact that Phoenix is basically located in the desert. There’s lots of cactus, palm trees, and golf courses. There’s also lots of little creatures wandering all over the place that I’d rather like to avoid --- snakes, scorpions, things we as runners normally don’t have to contend with running the DC area.
Somehow during yesterday’s run, I managed to avoid all those nasty little critters. I did, however, see some beautiful rock formations and lots and lots of golf courses. There are also tons of strip malls and retirement communities. My impression of Phoenix is that it’s sort of like Florida, only in the desert. Bring on the 3 pm early bird specials!
I have found that running while on travel provides me an opportunity to see and explore a new city or area, and I normally take away something memorable from each of my runs. In Seattle it was the beauty of Puget Sound, in San Francisco the impressive Golden Gate Bridge, and in Chicago the amazing skyline. What I’ll remember most from my runs in Phoenix is the sign I saw outside a church yesterday, which read: HEAVEN IS NO TRICK, HELL IS NO TREAT. I bet most kids avoided that church on Halloween.
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