The highlight of my trip was supposed to be my 5K race with Mary. But if you’ve been reading my blog, you know that my flight last Friday was cancelled and re-booked for Saturday.  That meant that I missed the race!

DNS

Since Mary signed up because of me, when I didn’t arrive, she decided not to run it either.

After many delays, 14 hours later I arrived in Palm Springs!

After feeling the sunshine and warmth, I immediately changed from a bad to a good mood. And it remained that way, the whole stay.

view in Mary’s community

Saturday morning, we set out early to hike up the Bump N Grind Trail. It was forecast to be 90 degrees and was already warm when we left.  Fortunately, it is the dessert and a dry heat.

on the way up

Mary climbs this all the time but me, I was doubtful that I was in good enough shape.

I struggled and we went slow but I did it!!

at the top

Then came the fun part.  We ran down it!!!

It was awesome.  This was the most fun I’ve ever had (almost as good as running a half marathon along the water.)

After our hike, we went to La Quinta Art Festival.  it is supposed to be the best in the US.

It was really interesting.  I saw a lot of beautiful art.

Then we took a drive because I wanted to see the wind turbines. There are thousands of them!!

That evening and all the rest of the evenings of my stay, we ate in, Mary cooked something healthy (followed by ice cream) and we went to bed early.

Unfortunately Mary had to work all week. She teaches Special Ed in Cochanella Valley.

So each morning, I went out for a run. On Monday, I ran 2 laps of her community which was about 3 miles.

On Tuesday, I ventured outside the community for 3 miles also.

It was so nice to be running in the sunshine with a skirt & tank top on.

how appropriate to see this on a run

Mary lives across the street from the Indian Wells Tennis Center which was hosting the BNP Paribas Open.  I love tennis so this was perfect.

The downside is that there is a wall around her community so you have to walk almost a mile to get out and then another mile to the Tennis Center. Good exercise, right?  (But it was sooo hot!!)

So Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I walked over and watched the tennis pros practicing, some qualifying matches and on Wed. the women’s round one.

Kei Nishikori whose coach is Michael Chang

Stan Wawrinka

my favorite Roger Federer

cool, huh?

It was awesome!! Much bigger and better than I could have imagined.

Tuesday, it was so hot that I walked home and sat by the pool.

Mary worked until 8 pm so I walked back to watch more tennis in the evening.

On Wednesday, for my last day, Mary & I  went back to the Bump N Grind Trail in the evening.

It was a little easier this time.

And we celebrated with French desserts!

Thursday, I left and it only took 8 hours to get home with no airport waiting time and no flight delays.

Despite missing the race, it was a great trip.  Mary was a super hostess and I hope next time, we can run a race together.

Happy Running! Have you had any fun vacations lately? Did you run or race during them?