What's this thing they call running?

I went for a run today.  Its been so long I almost forgot how.  It was a hot, sunny, windy day in the mountains but I got out there and put in a few pavement miles (4ish, I'm guessing).  And while it all kinda came back to me, it still felt a bit like I was doing it all in slow motion.  I'd like to blame acclimation, but at this point I have to realize.....I'm just out of shape.

Out of shape SUCKS in case you were wondering.

I've been consistent with my workouts this week and I'm hoping that trend continues.  But I do have a busy week ahead, with travel and driving included.  So we'll see.

One thing that's nice is that its pretty easy to be active here.  Just today I walked to work, then home.  Then went on a dog walk with a friend, that turned into my run when she turned back, then I walked into town for a meeting, then ran into a friend on the street while I was walking to the post office and went on an impromptu little walk with her to catch up.  Just 20 minutes or so.  But 20 minutes or so every couple days over a week, or a month adds up to a whole lotta minutes.  Add to that all that commute walking and well...it adds up.  I walk everywhere.  I don't see my car for days.  So even if I'm not getting in true sweat-fest workouts....I'm still staying active, which helps.  Because my off-season laziness is not playing well with jeans these days.  So I hope this pseudo-euro lifestyle pays off like all the research says it will.

In unrelated news, the aspens are finally budding and the new leaves are the coolest shade of green.  Every day I'm reminded in a new way of how beautiful this place is.

Ok, enough blog rambling.  The weekend's over.  I have work to do.  Happy Memorial Day!

Pre-work workout

So this morning before work I struck out on a little solo adventure.  A new trail, all by my big-girl self.  This particular trail happens to be named after a large furry mammal that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with and I'm not gonna lie -- I was totally pre-occupied with the fact that one of these said mammals might decide to eat me for a mid-morning snack.  Because, ya know, its just my luck.  I can see the headline now -- "silly midwestern girl tries to make it in the mountains, mother nature shows her who's boss."  Bear 1, Midwestern Girl 0.

But I survived.  I even ran part of the trail.  So dare I say this qualified as a TRAIL RUN?  Well, perhaps I shouldn't get carried away.  I did only run the downhill part.

I had to laugh though, just after I started running I came upon a couple making their way up (trail was out and back...all uphill on the way out, all downhill on the way back) and the guy takes one look at me running downhill, smiling, all geared up like the tough mountain girl I am trying to (fake) be....and he says, "impressive."  I chose not to remind him that I was going downhill to his uphill.  I also let him go ahead and just assume that I also ran the uphill portion.  Because I wanted to savor that word for just a few more moments.....impressive.

The whole trail was that, in fact.  Impressive.  Such a beautiful day.  The sun was warm.  I shed my jacket layer immediately.  I had the trail nearly to myself (as nerve wracking as that may have been, it was kinda nice).  The creek raged next to me the whole way, until the trail ended at a spectacular waterfall.  All the while surrounded by beautiful jagged mountains.

I didn't lug my big camera, but I did take the little one and played around with video.  I don't have time right now to try to edit so I'll just post a few snippits and some pics [um, just kidding.  the internet is so slow right now i'm giving up on video.  maybe later.  for now just pics].  Enjoy!

Just to rub it in

I can hike to this waterfall in under 10 minutes from my front door.  How cool is that.  I mean, its all uphill....but still, way cool.  I think I will have to go back soon for more pics while the snow is still melting and the waterfall is raging.

In other news, I made oatmeal for breakfast -- from scratch.  Like REAL oatmeal.  And guess what?  Its really not that hard.  I also added ground flax seed and peanut butter.  Yum.

I'm feeling pretty great after yesterday's hike.  My knees were sore and I was honestly a little worried about that.  But I took some Ibuprofen last night and I'm feeling quite awesome today.  I was going to hike this morning but as it turns out I have a whole lotta other stuff to do before work.  So I will hike tomorrow morning.  Lots and lots of hikes around to try.  Lots and lots of pictures to take.  Yay summer in the mountains!

Mountain girl, you're not getting any younger....

First hike of the season and my knees sure know it.  But when THIS is what's available to you just steps from your front porch....well, you've gotta get out and enjoy it.  

It was a gorgeous day.  Gorgeous.  Sun shining, blue skies, cool breeze.  Perfect for hiking in some light pants and a tank.  A nice little two hour hike to some unbelievable scenery.  Days like this kind-of make all the stress of chasing crazy dreams just melt away.  When this is literally steps from your new front door it kinda makes you think life's going be OK.  You look up at the blue sky, take a deep breath of crisp, clean mountain air and think....I don't know what's going to happen, but right now, in this moment, life is good.  And the rest, well, it'll just work itself out.

Oh, yes you can

Yes, you can....

bonk on your commute home.  From work, not a workOUT.  I may have prime mountain-view real estate now but no one tells you what that really means.  It means you live at the top of a huge-ass hill.  Add a few thousand feet of elevation to that big ol' hill-of-a commute after spending a few weeks just slightly above sea level eating frozen custard and yes, you can bonk on your walk home.  Your five minute walk home.  Its getting easier day by day, but that first day I really didn't think I could make it.  Within sight of my house I wanted to sit down in the alley and recover before tackling the last block.  I think someone's going to get her little booty in real mountain shape this summer whether she likes it or not!

You can also....

be decaffeinated.  For almost a month.  And live to tell about it.  Saturday will be four weeks caffeine-free for me.  I don't think I can go all summer -- at least not the way the summer is looking right now -- but I'm happy with a little month hiatus.  Because you don't realize how powerful a drug caffeine is until you try to quit.  It was a rough first five days.  And I would argue that it took me almost two weeks to really feel like I had kicked the habit.  But I did it.

And while we're talking about things you CAN do, lets talk about things I SHOULD do.....

like set some goals (fitness and otherwise), and go for some runs, and maybe even write some blogs now and then.  Tomorrow is my first day off since coming back to town after off-season so it looks like I'll have plenty to keep me busy.

All over the map

I don't even know where to start.....

It feels like yesterday that I was somewhere in the middle of northwestern Colorado, on a river, without contact with the outside world and without any idea what direction I was heading when we landed back on the dock of reality.

And now, here I am.  Reality for sure.  Sometimes the hard, stressful, decision-making part of reality.  Sometimes the how-the-hell-am-I-going-to-make-this-crazy-dream-happen-time-to-get-creative side of reality.  Both challenging.  And hopefully rewarding.  At some point.  Somewhere down this winding mountain road.

At any rate, you can't beat the view.

So ya.  I'll be here for a little bit longer.  I just wasn't ready to call it quits on the search for whatever it is I'm looking for.

Who has the time....?

No time for words.  How about some more pictures of the last week?

As I travel....

I'm taking time to smell the flowers.....and take pictures.....because I need the practice.  And also, because I really, really love to take pictures.  And shouldn't we take time to do things that we love every day?

I think so.