Steamboat Half Marathon - Saturday

This post is continued from here. Start there!

After a solid night's sleep, I think we all felt much better on Saturday. In to town we went to eat at Creekside Cafe. Holy cow. This place was beyond awesome. You know how sometimes, you walk into a restaurant and just smell something and think, "What's that? I'll have that?" This was that restaurant, except that smell was everything mixed together and positively mouthwatering! And, you could smell it a block away! We ate outside by the creek and had a very difficult time deciding on our meal. I went with the breakfast burrito. Yes. It was delish. Yes. It's a full pepper on top. Yes. I cut my own bangs before we left. Yes. I cut them too short. Yes. I had on two sweatshirts. I digress...

All of us decided we would be back the next day, post-race, to share the Nutella and whipped cream waffle. Next up was a drive up the mountain a bit to the Fish Creek Falls trailhead. We needed to burn off that breakfast! 

First, we took the paved path to the viewing point of the falls - it was only about 1/4 mile. Nice photo op though! Soon, we would be at the top of those falls and then some.

Then, we journeyed down to the bottom of the falls for more photos and the start of the long trek uphill to the top. This is the bridge at the bottom of the falls.

We headed up and up and up. Turns out, we climbed about 1,200 feet (to 9,000) and went about 2.5 miles each way for a 5 mile round trip hike. We were careful to take it slow since we were running 13.1 the next day. I was surprised at how often I needed to catch my breath in the middle of talking. Maybe I was talking too much. :)

This was probably the most difficult hikes I've done. I'm not saying it was hard, but the most rocks and elevation I've done anyway. Don't laugh. I took a picture of these animal droppings to ask Tom about later because we kept seeing it. His analysis? Deer or elk. I guess elk because it looked too big for deer. 

This grove of trees had us wondering - Aspen or Birch? I guessed Aspen and Katie guessed Birch. After further Googling, we've determined it's very hard to tell the difference. I'm open to expert interpretation. :) Either way...beautiful!

Snow!

The last little portion of the hike was a bit treacherous. We all agreed we would have been extremely nervous to have our kids with us on this one.

It did provide the most beautiful views of the hike though.

Finally, we reached the falls. Only took us about an hour and a half. :) Beautiful. Peaceful. Serene. I could have slept here for hours!

I took a few pics on the way back down. Round trip it was 5 miles and about 3 hours. 

And, finally, a little Instagram collage of the hike.

Back to the condo and outside basking in the sun to get some reading in for the afternoon. Claudia and I have book club on Tuesday night, so we had some reading to do! We picked an Italian restaurant for dinner - Mazzola's - and headed out around 6 or so. We sat outside again and the food was SO good!!!! Redeemed ourselves from dinner the night before! 

Caprese Salad - there are tomatoes and mozzarella buried under the arugula and basil! 

They brought out flat bread and a hummus and olive oil dip too.

I ordered the spaghetti with a meatball. A huge meatball! It's hard to see in this pic, but it was ginormous. And delicious! 

Post Carbs :)

The evening was rounded out with a trip to Safeway to pick up bagels and almond butter for the pre-race breakfast. I had Katie drive up close to this bird to get a good photo. We saw these things everywhere! Turns out it is a Black Billed Magpie. Pretty birds!

Sleep didn't come easy for me that night. But, the next day was race day so I tried to rest the best I could! To be continued...Click Here.

Steamboat Half Marathon - Thursday/Friday

Well, half marathon number six is in the books! This was absolutely my favorite race so far, between the scenery, the trip out west, the company and, did I mention the scenery? I had read a lot online before going out and again once I was there but nothing prepared me for the sheer beauty of the course and the pictures here will not do it justice either. I will do my best!

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.

14 Things We Did This Weekend

What a weekend! It's hard for me to remember a three day weekend in which we had virtually nothing planned outside the house. We tackled project after project after project. And, had a lot of fun on the side!

So, here's what we did.

1. Partied!!! (Family style) Friday night was a party at the neighbors. Josie swam for a bit and then went out in the field with the music blasting and danced her little heart out. She was too far away to get a good video, but it was priceless. Tessa got in the pool at 5:30 and didn't get out until 10! She was playing with the middle school/high school girls and they happen to all be cheerleaders. They were putting her up in mounts and then tossing her. Needless to say, she was in Heaven.

2. Slept!!! Saturday morning, we all slept in until 10 and we had to wake Josie up at 11:20! I guess we all needed it! I slept in until 10 again on Monday morning and lounged in bed with coffee until 10:30 thanks to Tom. 

3. Painted!!! The whole deck needs stained, but we started with the porch floor. The kids helped and Tom and I supervised and touched up. I'm pretty happy with the results. Tom thinks its too gray. I think we just need a rug and we'll be all set! (The porch furniture was my Mother's Day gift except for the wicker looking stuff which we found at a garage sale.)

4. Planted!!! We picked up flowers at Home Depot for Tom to plant. My favorite annuals are Wave Petunias. They seem to just take over where you plant them. This year, we went with my favorite color too. They make me smile. Now, we just need some new mulch.

5. Visited!!! Our good friend from Ohio, Wayne, visited with his girlfriend on Saturday night. It was so nice to catch up and meet Debbie. Sometimes, you just have friends that you won't see for a long time and then get back together and it's like no time has even passed. Wayne is one of those friends. They ventured into the Snake Pit at the Indy 500 on Sunday and it was fun to hear their stories. We all went over to the neighbors to visit with their friends also in for the race. After hearing their stories, I'm finally ready to go to the race next year. 

6. Swam!!! The kids were able to get in the pool twice this weekend thanks to our neighbor's pool heater. It was not super warm outside but the kids didn't care one bit. Even Jack ventured into the pool. He found two high school girls to take him around on Sunday. I've never seen a happier kid.

7. Partied!!! (6-year old Style) Tessa turned 6 on Sunday! We hosted 7 five and six year olds for a party on Sunday. Everyone had fun and it was even nice enough to play outside for a bit. I was a little nervous as we had nothing planned, but the girls just played and played. I made our lives easier by having Tessa pick out a cake at Walmart instead of making one. It was definitely worth the $8. :) And, the theme was Monster High. Not a huge fan of the ghouly little dolls, but Tessa is in love with the dolls (I think there's a show too but they've never seen it) and I feel like the pretty little butterfly cake evened things out a bit. 

8. Hung!!! Tom hung two hammocks down below our deck. Not too bad for $12 at Big Lots! Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to nap in one this weekend, but that is on my list for summer!

9. Painted!!! Again!!! This time, Tom and kids painted/stained the wooden outdoor furniture that my parents gave us when we moved to Indiana. This stuff looks awesome when it's freshly stained! Not to mention, our table was pelted by hail and had to be sanded down to get rid of the polka dots. It all looks like a million bucks now!

10. Laundered!!! Love a photo of a clean bed even if it's missing the fancy pillows. I got all of the laundry washed, dried, folded and put away. This NEVER happens! This would have made a successful weekend in and of itself!

11. Purged!!! After finishing up laundry, I cleared out my closet and drawers. Not only did I switch out my winter clothes for summer clothes, but I got rid of a ton of stuff. Next to laundry, this was my most feel-good task of the weekend. Here's the Goodwill pile! And, that's just my stuff...

12. Decluttered!!! I didn't get as much done here as I would have hoped. But, I took a full laundry basket full of stuff out of our bedroom that did not belong there and a full trash bag full of stuff there too. I tackled the pile of stuff in the kitchen on Friday too. This may not look like much, but the little area between our dressers seems to just collect stuff. So does the tops of our dressers. Not anymore! (For now anyway...)

13. Ran!!! I wanted to get in 7 miles, but only managed 4.5 yesterday. I'm blaming it on the heat and humidity. It really felt bad and I was very slow, but I'm not letting that get in my head. The Steamboat race is less than a week away and the forecast is looking awesome! It looks like it will be cool in the morning but nice during the days for sightseeing. 

14. Slept!!! Oh, did I mention this already? Well, I crawled in bed last night at 9PM hoping to read for a little while. I drifted off after about 2 minutes and just gave in. It wasn't even dark. Must have been a good weekend. :) 

She Doesn't Ask for Much

Tessa was bored yesterday so I told her to make a birthday list on her whiteboard. Here's her list... (Translated)

Baby Doll
Monster High Doll
A Mini TV (for her room)
Tree House (a real one)
My Own Doll House
More Barbies
Big Screen TV
A Fireplace in my Bedroom
(I have no idea what this one is)
More Clothes
Play House (again)

My favorite is the fireplace in her bedroom. No big deal. :)

Running Update

After a weird virus last week (self-diagnosed of course), I feel 100% better this week. I attempted four miles on Monday and Tuesday last week and barely huffed it through two before throwing in the towel. Finally, on Wednesday, after an awful headache (migraine?) I gave in to the sickness and went to bed for the night at 5:30PM. After 13 hours of sleep, I was on the upswing by Thursday.

Sunday, I hit the Pennsy trail for 10 miles. It was very hot - over 80 I think - but I got through all 10 miles and even included some hills in Riley Park. I like running on US 40 through town and through the park. It was a very nice change of scenery. However, I was SLOW!!! I think I had a 10:15 pace. At one point, I read some article about how much your pace slows down per degree of temperature but I can't remember it now. In any event, I was slow but felt fine.

I was surprisingly sore yesterday and today but got out there tonight for three miles at a good clip. Then, Josie joined me for a good cool down mile. (She's up to three with me and one with Tom.) She keeps about a 11:30 pace, so that felt nice. She said she loves running with me and I love it too. It gives us a chance (albeit only 11 minutes and 30 seconds) to get unplugged and away from it all and talk. I hope it continues.

I have another half in less than two weeks in Colorado. I'm super excited for the trip but not quite there yet for the race. I'll get there though. The 10 day forecast isn't up yet but it looks like perfect conditions. And, the course looks gorgeous! Although, today I was thinking, why didn't I just sign up for the 5k? :)

That will make number two for the year and I plan to do the October Indianapolis half too. Plus, I think there's a few 5k's around that I want to try. I guess, little by little, I'm becoming a runner. Who would have guessed? :)