Red Rock Canyon - Perfect Day for a Trail Run!

December 23, 2013 (Las Vegas vacation)

Dale's Trail   205 metres elev gain  10.5 km

Coach A and I started trail running this year, the plan is simple - we choose a hiking trail and off we go as best we can.  Time doesn't matter.  This is the part of running I enjoy most, it is purely fun.  We've visited Red Rock Canyon many times on vacation and thought this would be a great chance to enjoy the sun and check out trails we weren't so familiar with.

All set!

We were supposed to run a virtual 10k for Big Brothers Big Sisters last weekend with a friend from work, it didn't happen thanks to flu (not much of anything happened that week) so today it is.  I haven't run at all since Dec 7th.

This trail required focus as it had loose rocks, sand and cactus around the edges.  There were a lot of minor ups and downs (total 205m gain) and a couple of areas where we lost the trail.  This is primarily because we don't know what we're doing and I'm quite clumsy.

This happened which entertained me a great deal.  Kev smacked it with a rock until it relinquished its grip.

I'm excited about running in my Brooks again, while I was having the IT Band problems I could only wear my Altras.  Now I can change it up.

Me and a cactus, spiny buggar

We stopped frequently for photos.

We basically ran the trail connector from Ice Box Canyon to Pine Creek Canyon, with a detour into Pine Creek and up the hill toward Oak Creek to see if the view changed.  This was a nice spot for a break.

The red/orange/white in the rocks is amazing, the foliage is green and blue which makes it simply stunning.  We were crazy impressed to be running in shorts after leaving snowy freezing Calgary.

It was not a speedy run!  Some of them are best not to be so we can absorb the beauty of everything.