Do you want to run to Arizona? Sure!

One tumbler of coffee, two PBJ sandwiches and some running gear later and we were on the road to Boulder City, Nevada. Bound for the parking lot below the old Lake Mead Visitor’s Center (closed for restoration), we knew today’s run would be fun and inspiring…and maybe require a post-run Advil.

Part trail run, part historical journey, part manmade wonder of the world, this 8-mile trek took us…

• along Lake Mead (beautiful, too low, chilly looking)
• through five 1920s era railroad tunnels (eerie, dark, and one with a Mammoth footprint, we swear!)
• through a power substation (DON’T SNEEZE!)
• down steep switchbacks to the Hoover Dam parking lot
• onto the majestic canyon road of Hoover Dam (Art Deco 1931-1935 memorials, gilded gold elevator doors, ghosts of the past, sweeping concrete civil engineering feats of wonder, plus the new Tillman Memorial Bridge, an expanse to behold)
• past the Nevada and Arizona time clocks, and onto the Arizona side

Getting there was fairly easy. We maintained a good pace, chatted it up and remarked on the beauty that is Boulder City. It’s getting back that’s the bitch. It tested our calves and hamstrings. We breathed hard. Our noses ran. We even whined a little. Why? The return journey takes you up and out of the canyon rapidly, as you climb stairs, switchbacks and high-angle trails that seemed oh-so-breezy on the way down.

This run is no joke…the perfect training for our upcoming Calico Racing Red Rock Half-Marathon in March.

The best motivator? The World Famous Coffee Cup is just a few miles away.

Calories burned = 800.

Calories consumed = 1,250.

We should have enough energy to make it home.

RMFR

By Tara Maras

Tags: Boulder City, Coffee Cup, Hoover Dam, railroad run

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 8th, 2012 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Runs, Trail Running, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.