Striking Gold in Colorado

I know that every-so-often you hear of people striking gold and getting rich, well this weekend we did just that. It started with a birthday party for Jackson with 21 of his friends, family and neighbors. We had a great time and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. Jackson said that "This was one of the best birthday partys I ever had". Job well done Mom.

The next night was Halloween and this year we had Harry Potter, Batman, and the most beatiful Butterfly I have ever seen. Josh and Jackson came home with 7 and 9 pounds of candy respectivly. They decided that selling the candy for $1.00 per pound was more fun then eating it. I guess we will be saved from finding half eaten candy and wrappers around for the next three months.

The Colorado trail was our next challenge. Beth put together a trial run that went 3 segments and totalled 41 miles if you ran all 3. I took the first leg which was 16.5 miles and started the day with 20+ other crazy kids at 7am. Anne made plans to see us at the end with the kids and then switch and run segment 2. I felt great the first 6 miles as we ran up Waterton Canyon and did really well the first 2 miles of the Colorado trail single track. I tried to stay with the lead group as they continued to climb to the top of the mountain. I was behind 7 or 8 other runners and as they would run and then walk up steep parts and then start running again it would nearly break me trying to keep up. I finially decided that if I was to enjoy the next 8 miles I was going to have to slow it down. Barry stayed with me and we slowed it down and made our way to the top. As the trail leveled off we hit the sun and had a great 7 miles down to the end of segment one. Barry paced us really well and I finished strong and in really good spirits. We heard cheering as we were coming down and I hoped that it was our group. I was kind of emotional as I ran the last mile feeling great about what I was able to do. Jackson ran up the trail and caught us as we were on our last few turns and ran with us to the group. I loved it and want to do a repeat when time allows.

Anne, Michele, Andrea, Julie and Nicole started the second segment and looked great. Andrea, Julie and Nicole had done the first segment so they split up a few minutes into the run. This was Anne's longest run ever and to do it as a trail run was super cool. She looked great coming in and really enjoyed the 11.6 miles she ran. I was able to get a very cool shot of her and Michele running in.

The weather made the weekend perfect. It was fun to be out on Halloween and be in a light jacket. It was fun to run in shorts and tee shirts. We really did strike gold this weekend and it proves again that Colorado is really the best place to live.

Tell next time,

Love you Anne,

T

PS if your interested this is what the Garmin said of the Colorado trail.

Tyler: 16.26 miles - 3:32 hours - 13:05 pace - Average HR 159 - Total Ascent 3946 ft - Total Descent 3240ft

Anne: 11.4 miles - 2:47 hours - 14:40 pace - Total Ascent 3224ft - Total Descent 1588ft