we had a good day

Several amazing strokes of luck aligned for Lloyd and me yesterday: the Parents’ Day Out program at a local church was both open and had space for our 2 goofballs (5 hours of freedom for only $44; feels like a bargain to me!), the soaking rains that have been hanging around for over a week relented for the morning, and neither of us had anything else pressing to do.

So, we headed out for a run/hike along the Wheeler trail here in Breckenridge. I’m thinking about attempting the Breck Crest half-marathon September 5th and have hired Lloyd as my coach/consultant/mentor. Lloyd did the full marathon last year and took me out today to expose me to the hardest part of the course so I would have a sense of what I might really be getting myself into with this (and just how insane I am if I really try it).

The trail starts at about 10,000 feet and pretty quickly climbs over 2,000 feet, over approximately 3 miles. It is a bit humbling; we ran the flatter parts and hiked a lot of it. But oh! Breathtaking. Shockingly beautiful. Excessively gorgeous and amazing.

The photos are chronological. Thank you, new camera! Your photos are so much better than our old clunker, at the end held together by a rubberband but refusing for months to finally bite it.

Lloyd likes this one because I’m in the middle of exclaiming (again) how effing beautiful it is. My hands are trying to emphasize the point.

Self-portrait; I made Lloyd doff hat and sunglasses for it. I think he was worried about his hair? Just kidding honey! But you do look a little serious.

I love cloud shadows on mountains. Don’t you?

Cairn with a tree branch on the left, me small and distant to the right of that.

Here I am, small and distant again, in an area with a lot of little streams and marshy spots.

That’s me! That little vertical speck on the trail down there! You can tell who mostly carried the camera….

Lloyd warned me running the steep descent would be the hardest part; indeed, my quads are feeling it. He has told me (several times now) that mountainous ultra-marathons with lots of steep descent often result in “blown quads”. I hate that idea. What does he mean, blown? Is there a popping noise? Or more like a whoopie cushion? Yuck.

At the summit, looking west.

Lloyd doing “”contemplative”, per my directions.

Beer usually makes me smile! Not sure why I seem to be taking it so seriously here! On the deck at Kenosha steakhouse in town, where we enjoyed buffalo burgers and a pint. Glorious! The rains arrived shortly after we started eating and chased us inside to finish. What a day!