Colorado

Got into Denver just after 7:30 on Friday night, just in time to catch the last bit of sunlight fall behind the front range....Lauren's friend from Memphis, Bryn and her boyfriend John picked us up from the airport and we went to the best Mediterranean restaurant I have ever been to....I got the veggie platter which had the most incredible fallafel I have ever eaten....after eating we all decided we were pretty tired and headed back to Bryn's apartment to chill for the rest of the evening...

Saturday morning Lauren and I woke up before Bryn so we decided to go down the road a bit to a park to run....Denver is an incredible city when it comes to active recreation...Nearly every area of town has some sort of trail system within a short distance and many of the trails even interconnect....We hit up a neighborhood trail system called the bluffs which was basically trails of rolling hills about as wide as the trail on the Patriot Lake loop but they were made of a hard packed gravel so it was much easier on the legs....put in just over 5 miles and called it a day....definitely felt the effects of the altitude even though Denver only sits at just over 5000 ft...

After the run Lauren and I went by Panera's Bread (I try and avoid chain food places as much as possible but this place rocks!) and got bagels and coffee for everyone to take back to Bryn's....later in the afternoon we went to Whole Foods to pick up some food to take to Beaver Creek....I have always heard good things about Whole Foods from others but never experienced the Whole Foods goodness myself....it is a store very similar to Wild Oats (actually they just bought out Wild Oats)...however the selection is way better, they have loads of samples throughout the store, and they have their own brand that is actually affordable...being the health food freak that I am, I absolutely loved this store....I could have spent hours (and $$$$) perusing the aisles....

Left Denver around 4pm and arrived in Beaver Creek around 6....I went out for a quick 40 minute run and got my ass kicked by the altitude...my Garmin never picked up but I estimate it was just over a 3 miler.....

Sunday we woke up and went on a day hike to Beaver Lake...a nice little lake about 3 miles up the mountain from the Beaver Creek ski area....chilled up at the lake for a bit while Lauren's cousin and friends fished....came back into Beaver Creek for lunch and then I decided to go on a trail run from Beaver Creek to the ski village a few miles west....the hardest part of the run was the 1.5 miles out of Beaver Creek (BC)....very steep grade, hardly runnable...at about the 1.5 mile mark the trail forks off to the West and cruises with very little elevation change through a beautiful aspen forest...after cruising through the aspens the trail opens up alpine meadows with scenic views of snow capped peaks in the distance....Eventually the trail makes its way to Batchelor's Gulch...the ski village just to the West of BC...at this point I was at the 6.5 mile mark and I was feeling pretty tired from the day hike earlier in the day...Decided to catch a shuttle back to BC and definitely glad I did as the sky was starting to look pretty nasty....

Monday, Lauren, her cousin Mike and his buddy Matt decided we were going to go backpacking...we picked a trail that Lauren and I had some experience on last summer but we were also planning on adding a new section...we figured we would encounter some snow on the ground but it turns out the route we intended on taking was completely snowed over still...there were actually skiers skinning up it....so needless to say we had to change our plans on the fly and decided to hike to another lake on the map, in hopes that we could camp there...

Hiking to our new destination proved to be a challenge as well...much of the trail was snow covered so it was very hard to follow...it was pretty exhausting too because when crossing the snow your feet would sink in sometimes all the way past your knee or more...we finally arrived at the lake and set up camp for the evening....unfortunately the clouds were pretty thick and we did not get to see a sunset over the mountains....just about the time it was getting dark it began to rain....It rained steadily all night long and I really hoped it would quit by morning...not the case...woke up this morning and it was still coming down pretty good....broke down camp and got back on the trail for a wet and cold slog back to the car.... got in to our room in BC not too long ago and warmed up....the rest of the day is looking pretty bleak...its 48 degrees and raining....but on a good note, the rest of the week's forecast is great!...we are planning on hiking a 14,000 ft. peak on Friday....not sure what tomorrow and thursday will bring...looking forward to some veggie enchiladas tonite...Lauren and I are cheffing it up for everyone in the condo...

I'm surprisingly sore from our 1 day backpacking trip...I guess it comes from trudging through snow with weight on my back....I was thinking about going out for a run this afternoon but I might just lay low...I'm not terribly concerned with racking up mileage this week because I'm tapering for my stage race in Chattanooga that begins a week from Friday....


I love Colorado...it's always soo hard to come home because I know this is where I want to be....one day soon.....