Weekend Update

Last weekend, we took advantage of a friend's timeshare and went with 4 others to Solvista Resort for a whirlwind couple of days.  It was amazingly fun EXCEPT for my Sunday morning 8 miler taken after a night of beer, lasagne, more beer, and very little sleep.   Beer/heavy food/tiredness + high altitude distance running = PAIN.  Lesson learned.  The hard way.

Other than that, we checked out a free music festival, went swimming, took advantage of the hot tub in the condo, hung out on the deck and enjoyed each other's company.  

Some besties and I checked out a  hippie music festival in Winter Park-beer! sun! hairy armpits!

The only black mark on the trip was a dead body on the side of the road between Winter Park and Granby- There was a cop car with blinking lights, a motorcycle on its side and a body with a sheet over it.  Couldn't help but think about all the lives that were just drastically altered in a split second...  Scary.  And we were seeing motorcycles zip up and down that stretch all weekend, weaving in and out of the traffic at high speeds...Those things scare me anyway, even without a such a somber reminder.  Wear helmets, folks.

Ask a policeman if you can tase someone!

Having been a devoted reader for years at this point, I can safely say that I love this woman.

Here's to being furiously happy.  And the zombie apocalypse.

My Favorite Things: Summer

The things that stop my heart, bring tears to my eyes, a smile to my face or just feel damn good right now:

1.  Ice cream.  So good after a long walk/run/car ride/sleep...YES, PLEASE.

Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone has the BEST ice cream.

2.  Finishing my 2nd half marathon.  Even though I was sick with sinus/ear problems, I busted out a 2:02:30 in my hometown's July 4th race.  It was a breathtakingly beautiful morning and the course took us over rolling hills through farmland and valleys with amazing mountain views.  Love.

Main Street, Lander, WY

 
3.  My better half.  He is my favorite person ever.

Sunset at the Madison river junction in Yellowstone

4.  Watching my son enjoy the same things I did when I was little. Like throwing rocks in a river with cousins and yelling so loud your own voice echoes off the mountains.

Love.

5.  Adding to my summertimelove soundtrack.  How is it that I JUST discovered the Wailin' Jennys?????  Beauty.



What's making your summer?

Playing hard.

My Monday morning Facebook posts have had a similar theme so far this summer...something along the lines of "I need a weekend to recover from my weekend."  This weekend was no different and while it was fun as all get out, I'm now gritty eyed and pretty sure I still smell faintly of charcoal smoke and bug spray.

On Saturday, I did something completely reckless in that I attempted an 11-mile trail run up at Happy Jack BY MYSELF.  Every other time I've done a long run up there, its been with a girlfriend and those who know me know that I don't have the best sense of direction and find it nearly impossible to keep the image of a map in my head.  (What is this?  Lack of spatial memory?)  But the night before my run, the Husband and I sat down with a printed out map of the trails and a magic marker and carefully mapped out a route.

I was slower than I would have been on the road, having to stop at junctions and make sure I was turning 20 yards PAST the huge rock that looks like a foot etc. but I totally rocked that shit and made it back to the parking lot just in time to meet the Husband to do kiddo-swap so he could get his mountain biking miles in.

Otto brought his biking stuff and for my cool down I walked beside him as he mountain biked on his Strider on a short trail.  He did a muddy water crossing all by himself!  It was a day of firsts.

Here I am, post run, so very proud of myself for not getting lost:

Basking in my own glory: I'll check for ticks later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Word.

 That night, after we'd showered and packed our car completely full of gear to spend JUST ONE NIGHT ON THE GROUND (!?) we headed back up for some good old fashioned car camping.

All the campgrounds were full though, so we ended up kicking it old school in the middle of nowhere.  (Read:  no toilets.)  It was fun, even if the spot we found was full of broken glass and shotgun shells.   Oh, and I found half a dead elk when I was peeing behind a rock.  This IS Wyoming.

It'll do.

Waiting on dinner.  Which took forever.

Nice butte.

Gorgeous views.

The Kiddo and the dog slept awesome and the Husband and I laid awake trying not to breathe too loud or move too much and dreaming of the day we can afford one of these to eliminate the need for a tent.

The next day, we rocked out some bacon, eggs, bagels and cowboy coffee on the ol' Coleman stove before heading back into town.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend and pretty typical of summer weekends for us.  But holy shit, I'm tired.

Self Talk

**

 I do a lot of this kind of self talk and visualization lately.  Whether I'm in a shitty-ass work meeting, parenting my sweet, yet independent minded, three year old, navigating life decisions with my husband or running...I'm having to coach myself along.  "You can do this."  "This will all work out."  "DON'T SCREW THIS UP." 

It's exhausting. 

Lately, I'm also trying some preemptive visualization/meditation:   I spend a couple minutes before the meeting, seeing myself in my mind making thoughtful, intelligent contributions...Envision a night of peaceful cooperation and fun with my kid before I pick him up from daycare...see in my head my Husband and myself making good financial decisions (we just cancelled our cable- FINALLY)...visualize myself busting out a 40 minute 5 miler...This kind of visualization does seem to increase the likelihood of success.  If nothing else, it provides a few moments of calm purpose to my otherwise chaotic day.

Now, if I could just visualize myself blogging more, that might actually happen too.



**This quote was emailed to me via Taro Gold's Daily Wisdom.  The picture is trusty ol' clip art.

Ah been fixin' to...

As they would say in Texas, where I just spent the last five (hot, humid) days, I've been fixin' to update this here blog but ...sidetracked?  Let's just say that some semblance of Summer has FINALLY crept into our lives and suddenly there is so. much. to. do.

-At work, I got a new office.  Yay!  It's the first one I've ever had all to myself and I'm really enjoying the privacy.   (And the rockin' view of the parking lot.)  I don't have much up on the walls but I'm kind of enjoying the non-cluttered feel of it. 

I need some bobble-heads a'la The Office, no?

-Over Memorial Day weekend,  the Husband and I got a much needed weekend away thanks to his kind parents who stayed with the Kiddo.  We ran, biked, ate sushi and mexican (not at the same time) and drank WAY TOO MUCH tequila.  We got a nice hotel and just really enjoyed eachother's company if you know what I mean wink wink.  It was the first time we'd both been away from Otto overnight but everything went without a hitch.  It's all to easy to become disconnected from each other during the day-to-day grind and we needed some time to remember WHY we're in this crazy boat together.  Yes?

-And as I mentioned, Otto and I just got back from Cemetery Day in Texas.  The flight out was infinitely better than 2 years ago which was the last time we went.  There was food, visiting, lizards in coffee cans (see below), cousins in kiddie pools and general merriment.  It was HOT, though.  I busted out a 10K race on Saturday morning and it was 82 degrees when the gun went off at 7am.  Ouch.  (Got 3rd in my age group though- 52:35!!  Another medal for the rack!)

It's a REAL LIZARD, Mom!

And now, we're back, facing mounds of laundry and full in-boxes.  Fortunately, we've got another week off scheduled for around July 4th.  Summer, I love you!!

...and part of every day.

Stuff that's happening right now:

1.  I'm getting ready to have my very own office for the first time ever at work.  I've always been in a cubicle but we're remodeling/expanding and I'm getting a room with a window...and a door!!  I'm gonna need some pictures of something for the wall!  Who's got fun office decor ideas?? 

2.  Ruby's hair is slowly coming back from her yearly shaving.  I forget how incredibly skinny she is with no hair.  She's still my faithful running buddy and we're liking the increasing number of nice days.

3.  Speaking of, we've had some nice-ish days, but lots of snow lately which makes me old before my time.  I know its the same story every year but oy veh.  It wears on me.  Today, however, looks pretty so...yay!  I think the weekend is supposed to stay above 60 and sunny so maybe we can get outside.

4.  My son's favorite band is KISS.  I'm not sure how it happened but we're all enjoying it.  Rock and roll all night!