a quick trip to Colorado!

Bret was nice enough to stay home and watch over the garden and the puppy so I could go to Colorado for  a lovely, long weekend!

I got to stay with my good friends, Kirsten and Matt, at their lovely home just under the Flatirons in Boulder.  We were able to enjoy a beautiful hike in Boulder’s open space right from the back door!  Of course, I forgot to take any pictures.

I also got to revisit many of my favorite places and reconnect with fabulous friends that I have not seen in much too long.

The main event was a trail run in Golden Gate State Park.  We had to get up pretty early to get there in time to take a shuttle about 9 miles from the parking area to the race start. Shuttles were supposed to run every half hour from 5:30am to 8am for runners and spectators, but the first shuttle did not show up until 7:15 (the second one never actually showed up)!  Lucky for us, we got there around 7, so we did not have to wait too long for the shuttle bus. The shuttle bus driver was a pretty adorable old man who had no idea were he was going.  Needless to day, the 8am start time for the race was pushed back about 20 minutes to make sure that all the runners were able to get to the start line.

Kirsten and I before the race.

The race itself was really gorgeous!  It was a little crowed right at the start, since it was about a mile of single track with about 100 other 10k runners.

The first three miles were pretty tough… about 1100 ft uphill!

The last three miles were all downhill though, so I was able to take in the scenery and not just concentrate on breathing the oxygen-deficient air.

I took this selfie.

and a second later, did this

oops… probably should pay attention when running on rocky trails!

After the race, Kirsten and I were happy to sit in the shade for a bit and drink our post-race beer.

We were not quite as happy about the long wait for the shuttle bus to get back to the car.  Turns out the adorable old man bus driver got lost between the parking lot and the trail head (one turn).  Luckily, they started loading up suvs and shuttling people back to their cars.

We finally got back to Kirsten’s car around noon!  A bit of a long day for 10k, but it was worth it.  We were still feeling good, so we drove uphill a little further to Avon, Colorado to have lunch with another friend from my colorado days.  It was a super blue sky day, so the drive was really nice.

Sunday, we had a nice lazy day of brunching, lounging in the shade, and swimming in the pool before I had to head back home.

It was, of course, great to get home to these guys (old pics).