I won't hide it..I went back to see the goats, and it was just as wonderful! They are so freaking cute.
But after that, Jon and I made a last minute trip to Boulder, Colorado. I have only heard good things about Colorado...Boulder in particular. We have dabbled with the idea of living there since the cost of life in the Bay Area is astronomical and starting to get a little depressing.
We flew in Wednesday and arrived at night, just in time to swing into Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery in downtown Boulder. I had to do a double take when they told me that although they only take cash or check, that if you don't have either they will happily send you home with a Karma Envelope and you can mail in the payment later. How incredible is that?
The beer flight we ordered and the giant burgers we downed were downright delicious. Perfect for a late night dinner after a long flight.
We checked into our hotel and I peeled myself out of bed at the butt crack of dawn to squeeze in my 20 mile run. I don't know if this was a great idea. Usually my long runs are reserved for Saturday but since Jon was going to be in meetings all day I decided I'd take the opportunity to be a loner and get the dreaded run over with.
Well that's not fair, I didn't completely dread it, but I knew it was going to be hot. The temperatures in Boulder were unusually high (from what people tell me) and the day was looking to be in the mid 80's.
I was looking forward to checking out the trails. I found a nearby trail that goes through the entire city called the Boulder Creek Bike trail. It is rather flat, and scenic, winding parallel to the Boulder Creek through the city and then ending the last couple of miles on a dirt path through the mountains. I loved everything about it except the bugs. SO MANY BUGS.
One of my favorite parts was seeing the wildlife. While I wasn't fortunate enough to see any majestic deer wading through the fields, I was unfortunate enough to be attacked by a large crow. I saw some great little birds, and a squirrel that looked like a bat. After looking it up later, it was an Abert squirrel. So cute! On my way back, once the sun was out in full force, I noticed the ground was heavily sprinkled with prairie dogs.
There was also no shortage of amazing graffiti painted in tunnels and under bridges. I wish I had taken more photos of them, but you'll have to see them for yourself.
My knees have been iffy lately. I think I may have done some damage, and running 20 miles on them didn't seem to do a whole lot of good. It wasn't terrible though.
When I got back from the run I had some more time to myself so I decided to swing by a popular breakfast place downtown called Snooze. I really hate going to restaurants alone, but luckily they seated me in a nice cozy corner. I ordered a self congratulatory bloody mary off of their intense list of breakfast drinks. I got the spicy one and had no regrets! It was amazing! So good that I went back there again with Jon the next morning and tried the Vine Ripe one. It was not as good in my opinion but still pretty tasty.
Saturday morning Jon and I decided to go on a hike. I was not really sure how my knees would hold up but I really wanted to get a glimpse of the flat irons up close. We ended up getting a little lost and doing a path that was much more difficult than we anticipated. My knees were NOT happy, but we scored some great views.
We finally were able to get back on track and head up toward the flat irons. We found a trail that went up to the 2nd one, but it wasn't exactly easy getting there. I had to maneuver over rocky paths, and at this point there literally were grandmothers passing me.
When we finally reached the base, we noticed that there were a group of climbers ready to ascend. They say a lot of trail runners actually "run" up these things and resole their shoes to have a climbing shoe grip but a running shoe upper. That way they can run to the base, climb up, and run back down. The record times for these feats are mind blowing.
It was sad leaving Colorado. We both felt very at home there, and loved to be in an environment full of nature loving/endurance monsters.
We flew back towards CA later that day. I loved that the skies were clear enough for me to check out the mountain ranges from a bird's eye view.
Around 8:00 we made our way back to San Mateo. We downed some pho and then I prepared myself to run the San Jose Rock n Roll early the next morning *cue exhausted sigh*. We have done this race numerous times, and I really like it and usually look forward to it. While I'm getting tired of road races, I never really get tired of seeing the runners and spectators of a large race. The spectators in particular are amazing and so supportive, always with giant smiles on their faces despite hours of cheering. This to me is the greatest beginner's race, as it's flat, fast, and has a lot of course entertainment.
One of the highlights for me was seeing the elite runners come back at the last mile. Meb Keflezighi was there, and was neck and neck with Jordan Chipangama. Jordan pulled ahead at the end, finishing only two seconds before Meb, but Meb still managed to get the US Half Marathon record for Masters runners. Incredible! I went to shoot a photo, but ended up taking a slow motion video instead. Not too shabby! Their times were 1:03:00 and 1:03:02.
Oh, and my race was unsually slow. One of my slowest, but honestly I am just glad to have my knees in working order still. I went a 10 minute pace, and the heat was starting to get to me at the end. I think I'm going to maybe take the entire week off this week and get some cross training in to let my knees recover. Feeling bummed, but I think I can turn it around. Wish me luck!
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