Colorado fun

Colorado was a lot of fun. I always have mixed emotions about going on vacation. It is such a chore to pack and get everything ready and then to travel to get there. . . I always think to myself that it would be much easier to stay at home, save the time from packing and not miss any workouts.

We left for Colorado at 4:30AM Monday morning (2-16-09) and I wasn't really looking forward to the trip. . I don't mind car trips, but this would be Kloden's first real trip in the car and I think we were anxious to see how he would do. Plus, Amy woke up sick with the flu. . . luckily it was gone the next day, but it came back later in the week to visit the rest of us.

We arrived in Grand Lake at around 4:30 PM mountain time and got everything unpacked. Amy hit bead to try and recover from the flu and the long trip. Now I have to confess my secret, I took my bike and trainer and set them up in the garage. It was cold in the garage (probably about 40 degrees or so) but I had to do something since I had been cooped up in the SUV all day long. My legs were very tired and stiff from the 19 mile run that I did the day before, but when I was done, it felt good to get at least something in.

Tuesday: I slept horrible Monday night, probably just from being in a new place and I was worried about Amy and Kloden, hoping they were doing all right. Woke up early at about 5:30 am and decided to go out in to the living room and see if we had any additional snow. There was a few snow flakes, but nothing major. A couple of hours later I put on the running gear and decided to get in a run. Running at 9500 to 10,000 feet is a challenge to say the least, plus throw in some cold and snow and you have yourself a good ole time. I decided to run up the mountain to the trailhead and then turn around. It was basically 3 miles up and 3 miles back down. . . Here are some pics of the trek.

Tuesday night I hit the trainer again, no pictures, plus, pics of me sitting on a trainer in a cold, dark garage isn't that exciting.

Wednesday: I hit the road again, this time I decided to run around the "block" and then up the highway to the next condo complex to see what was up there. . . no snow showers this day, but cold and altitude help to keep the ego in check. At least the sun was out today. While running I had the idea (for the next day) to run into town. Town is about 5.5 miles from the house and basically all uphill. Plus you have to watch out for snowplows on the highway. . . they can be tricky at times. We also went down to Sol Vista ski resort on Wednesday. Jen, Lisa and Ashley all went and we had a great day on the slopes. We actually had about a foot or two of fresh powder on some of the ungroomed trails.

Here is a pic of Lisa and I trying to teach Ashley how to ski.

Thursday: Run to town/coffee shop. Thursday, the plan was for me to run along the highway into town. This is basically a 6 mile uphill run that takes me along the shores of Grand Lake and then into town. I would meet my brother and sister in law at Grand Lake Coffee shop (see very first picture). A great little coffee shop that I love. They have a ton of cycling stuff there and come to find out the guy working is an avid cyclist, so I spent some time after my run talking with him about cycling in the area. I feel a fall training camp coming on . . . It was a great run and great just sitting in the shop drinking the hot chocolate and looking at the internet. Grabbed the bike and hit the trainer again. . . no pics. . .sorry.

Friday: A run and then some X-Country skiing fun. I hit the road knowing this would be my last run, so I decided to hed down the highway in the opposite direction of town. I noticed right away it was a tad cooler than normal. Come to find out the actual temperature out was -10 degrees. .. no wonder my eyelids froze over and I had ice all over on the outside of my clothing.

Amy and I headed to the local X-Country ski park and decided to try it for the first time. I really enjoyed the sport and while it does take some getting use to, it is a great workout and a great way to be outdoors. At one point it seemed as though we were out in the wilderness all by ourselves. Although I knew there was a house just on the other side of the hill. Here are some pics. . .

Saturday: Starbucks and Chinese then the great escape. . . After a trainer bike ride in the am we headed down to Winter Park to get some Starbucks from the lodge and then do some shopping in town. We ended up eating lunch at a great Chinese place and then did a little more shopping. This was our last full day, so we headed back to Grand Lake to pack up. We were planning on leaving Sunday morning, but when we got back to the house, we found out that Brian, Ashley and then Jacob got sick with the Flu that afternoon. Andrew had been sick on Thursday so it was apparent that it was spreading. After Jacob got sick (their smallest one) we decided at the point to vacate the house and head back to KC. At least get away from the sickness. Well, the car couldn't travel that fast, we got to Limon, Colorado and in the morning after staying at the beautiful resort hotel Econolodge, Andy (my father in law) and Stephanie (my mother in law) were sick. This left me with the driving duties, so we loaded everyone up and headed east. They seemed to get better as the day went on, but as we got closer to KC, I could feel my own sickness coming on. By the time we hit our house, I was really bad. I basically walked in, upstairs and got into bed with the worst case of chills I have ever had. .. .luckily it was only a 24-36 hour flu thing.

AHH, it is good to be home. :)
Here are some more random pics.