As a reminder, I got myself signed up for this trip when I told my friend, Claudia, that I would run Colorado with her when she was ready. She has a goal to run a half in all 50 states and this race was number 19, I think. I truly enjoyed having an excuse for a girls' weekend and another half. Not to mention the fun we had too! Claudia is an awesome travel partner and I always enjoy seeing our Colorado family.
Claudia and I headed to the airport on Thursday night around 6 or so. Our flight was delayed and a bit bumpy, but not too bad really. We spent the first night at Katie and Jason's (Tom's sister and her husband) since we arrived so early. I didn't sleep great but woke up early feeling refreshed and ready to go for the day! We visited with the kiddos and Jason for a bit, and were able to have a hearty breakfast of Jason's pancakes before heading over to Amy's. The girls are getting so big and gave Claudia and I lots of snuggles after they warmed up a bit. I'll admit, I asked them to hold hands. :)
Clark seemed beyond old too!
The triplets are getting so big!!!! Evelyn is sitting up almost 100% by herself and Levi is almost there too. Jesslyn is not far behind and they can all sit and play really well. Evelyn showed us how she can sit and play with her toys which makes her seem so old!
Evelyn and I
Evelyn Playing
Evelyn's faces crack me up! All of babies liked to look at themselves in my phone's reverse camera.
Levi on Aunt Katie's lap.
Jesslyn has just the sweetest little face!
After all three of us fed some babies, which was a nice change from feeding our own children, we hit the highway around 11AM on Friday. We knew it was about 3 hours to Steamboat but weren't in a huge hurry. We were three moms on vacation without kids! :) The drive on 70 was relatively uneventful and we passed by my favorite exit, Silver Plume. Years ago, we were on our way to Breckenridge and were caravaning with my brother's friend's family. The two boys had walkie-talkies and one of the call names was Silver Plume. Always makes me smile.
We exited the highway at Silverthorne for our journey north. After a quick stop at Chipotle, we were on our way. If we hadn't stopped for lunch, it would have been for the bathroom. We guzzled water on this trip in order to counteract the altitude, let alone prepare for the race. Water bottles were in hand at all times and I managed four days without a Diet Coke. :)
We passed a nice butte on the way. I was surprised I remembered that term from geography, or some class like that.
It wasn't long until we started seeing snow on the mountains.
And then, we started to see the snow up really close. See it on the left? I read somewhere that we crested 10,000 feet on the drive. The ears were certainly popping!
We got into town around 3 or so and checked into the condo a bit early which was nice. The Eagle Ridge Lodge was a great place and had a great rate for the race promo code. We didn't stay in the room long and realized we could still hit packet pick up on Friday so as to not have to worry about it on Saturday. It was at the base of Howelsen Hill which has an Alpine Slide and a huge ski jump. You can kind of see the jump in this photo.
Then, we cruised around town a little and walked along the Yampa River.
We then had dinner at a not-great BBQ restaurant. All of us girls ordered the same thing, so maybe it was just a bad dish, but either way, it was not good. At all. We did manage to sit on the front porch and enjoy the ambiance. After a little dip in the hot tub, we were down for the night. I think the altitude got to Claudia and I more than Katie (she is more acclimated) and we were more tired than usual, despite the highly increased water intake.
This is when I started getting nervous about the race. I was tired and had a headache and was thirsty all the time and really out of breath just on one flight of steps. To be continued...click here.
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