Strip: Las Vegas, that is

I just returned from a six-day conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  It was my first time in Vegas, and boy, was it enlightening!  I had two main concerns about my running in Vegas:

1.  I couldn't pack a bunch of running gear.  How would I get by on two bras, two pairs of socks, two shirts, and running shoes?



After some thought, I decided to try to wash my running clothes in the bathtub and hang them there.  Luckily for me, my roomie said this would not gross her out.  Just today I found out that there is a laundry soap (I think it's Tide) designed to hand wash in the sink.  Too bad--I used bath soap.  It worked ok; I was able to rinse out most of the horrible stink.  Problem #1 solved!



2.  I knew I would be keeping late hours (the conference usually started at 7 am and finished around 11 pm with networking activities), so how would I be able to work out on very little sleep?

This is exactly how I look after only 4 hours of sleep.

After the first night, I went to the gym at the Venetian and ran four miles on the treadmill.  I HATE the treadmill.  Then I had to complete part of the 30-day ab challenge.  The second day I did the elliptical, since I had never tried it before.  The elliptical is for coordinated people, so I had NO BUSINESS trying it.  The third day I ran on the Strip, and that was AWESOME!

The Bellagio

New York, New York

Excalibur

Looking down the Strip

After Day 3 of workouts, I was D.O.N.E.  I wanted to run the Strip again, but I was getting less than three hours of sleep a night.  Plus, I ditched the 30-day ab challenge, which means I have to start over on Monday.

Also, another interesting point:  While I was running the Strip, a bike policeman pulled up beside me and said, "You may not want to go as far and and hard as you usually do because you're probably not used to the smoke."  He was absolutely right.  Cigarette smoke is EVERYWHERE in Vegas.  Really, it's the only fault I can find with Las Vegas.

Today I  suffered for neglecting my workouts by running nine miles with the Turtles.  We had to run the Bike and Hike because the floods in our area shut down the Towpath.  There was no flooding in Vegas, btw.

I leave you with a tip I learned from fellow-Turtle Rosie today.  End a hot run with a washcloth soaked in ice and sprayed with aromatherapy spray.  Heaven!