Run Like the Wind…
That was the name of the 10k race I ran last Saturday in beautiful Allenspark, CO (elevation 8,504 feet). Let's just say I didn't exactly "run like the wind," unless the wind was a really slow and tired wind that huffed and puffed up all kind of hills (and there were a lot of hills). But I did finish in under an hour and wound up in 12th place (of course, there were only 36 participants). And I got - yet another - t-shirt for the collection.
Speaking of Colorado…
We just got back from 3 1/2 beautiful weeks in the Rocky Mountains. Weather was mostly in the 70's and 80's, though we did have a couple of cold and rainy days. Lots of beautiful hiking, and lots and lots of hill training at high elevation to help try to get ready for Mt. Lemmon. Also watched almost all of "The Sopranos" episodes (still have one season to go), finally got around to reading the Stieg Larsson trilogy (liked the Lisbeth Salander character, didn't care so much for the Mikael Blomkvist character - seriously, how many girls can fall in love with a dopey guy like that?), and saw a moose and several deer. All in all, it was a beautiful and relaxing couple of weeks. So we drove back to Tucson on Monday, which was an all-day, 14-hour affair, pulled up at the house, and all I wanted to do was order a pizza and crash on my couch. But no, that was not to be, because for whatever reason, our thermostat was on the blink and said it was 35 degrees in the house (it was more like 100). So I messed around with the thermostat, and tried to call the toll-free number (no one was answering) and checked on-line for solutions, and messed around with it some more, and cursed and sweated quite a bit, but nothing worked. So we finally gave up, went to Applebee's for dinner, and drove across town to Katie's parent's house, where we spent the night. That night, there was a big storm and power went out in our neighborhood for several hours, which must have somehow reset the thermostat in some magical and mysterious way, because when we came back home the next morning, the thermostat was working and the AC went right on, and it's been working ever since. So I guess all's well that ends well. And I'm not sure there's anything that's quite as nice as a working air conditioning unit in July in Tucson.
Another note on CO
This just in from the "it's a small world department." While on vacation, we spent a weekend with our friends Alan and Val in Vail/Avon who took us river rafting through Glenwood Canyon (brought back lots of memories of summer camp days) and then for a hike in the Holy Cross Wilderness area the next day. To get to the trailhead, we had to drive a couple of hours, including about 10 miles on a fairly rough dirt road. So we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So we set off on our hike, and about halfway up the trail, we passed a group of hikers coming down, and one of the guys saw Katie's TNT jersey and asked where we were from, and when she told him Tucson, he said, "Hey, do you happen to know Rick?" to which I said that I did and that I coached with him, and it turned out that he was Rick's best friend's brother. So he snapped a picture of us with his phone and sent it to Rick to freak him out. Pretty strange stuff.
Training Update
In addition to ramping things up to get ready for the epic climb of Mt. Lemmon (which I continue to have serious doubts about, but remain committed to) we're getting ready to kick off another TNT season in about a week. We've got a fairly big group signed up already for the Phoenix marathon and half-marathon, with lots of alumni, so it should be yet another great season.
That's all for this edition, so until next time, may your world remain manageable, may your hills remain climbable, and may the wind remain beneath your wings.
