Real Lakes of Orange County

I was on my way to Whiting Ranch for a hilly 3 mile run with a friend from work when I got the voice message. My friend couldn't make it. I was just then passing by Lake Mission Viejo, so I pulled off the road and parked my car. One lap around the lake is just over 3 miles and I have not run here for a long time. Why not?

This was going to be different. There is no single track, no real trails, in fact no dirt at all. It's 100% sidewalk. There are no real hills either, just some gentle rollers. And by my reckoning it's not a real lake, just a man-made depression filled with tap water! Perfect. At least I could pound my legs on some real concrete for a change.

After warming up with an uphill start, I settled into a pace just over tempo which felt great at first, but was becoming a little uncomfortable by the end. My completely uneventful and friend-less run statistics: 3.17 miles, 298 ft. elevation gain, 29:11 at an average pace of 9:12 per mile. Below is an image of the so-called lake showing my concrete route.

"Real Lakes of Orange County"