Is it REALLY September?

Wow, I can't believe it's already September. The past 7 months have flown by. Things are still rolling right along here in Boulder and it seems as if a lot has happened over the past few weeks. Hmmmm....where to start. As most people know I was training for a marathon that will be taking place on Sept. 30 but hurt my knee a few weeks ago while running. Unfortunately, it is not healing as quickly as I had hoped and I found out this past week that running the marathon is out of the question. While i'm completely bummed I'm also feeling good about the fact that after some time for my knee to heal I will be good as new! I had an x-ray that revealed no permanent damage so aside from really traumatizing it and pulling/straining/spraining various ligaments and muscles it's going to be just fine. As of now I am cleared for biking so I borrowed a co-workers road bike and have been trying to ride everyday. I am enjoying having a bike but I can't lie...I am defintely more of a runner than a biker.

Last weekend Keith and I joined Josh and Ashley for a backpacking trip to the Sangre de Christo range in Southern CO. I was soooo excited to get out and my knee was starting to feel better so I was stoked. The trail up to camp ended up being a jeeping road that is known nationally as "Colorado's toughtest road". It was heinous!! I still can't beleive that vehicles make it up. Along the way there were plaques honoring people who had lost their lives trying to ascend which gives testimony to the toughness of the terrain. It took me a long time to hike the 3.5 miles to camp and by the time I arrived my knee was killing me. We all began looking for campsites and setting up tents just as the rain began. The next morning Josh and Keith went to climb Mt. Blanca, Ellingwood and Little Bear while Ashley and Ryan (one of Josh's co-workers who joined us for the weekend) hiked separately to the top of Blanca. Apparently they all met up on Blanca where they joked that I was most likley already finished with at least one of the bottles of wine Keith had hiked up with.

From there Ryan joined Keith and Josh and Ashley began the descent back to camp. While hanging out at camp with Cota, I met some incredibly nice "jeepers" who invited us to join them so while everyone else was climbing I spent my time resting my knee and jeeping! I got back to camp about an hour before Ashley returned and upon her arrival opened the first bottle of wine. We managed to get through the bottle before everyone else returned. We spent the remainder of the day finishing the other bottle of wine and the beer we brought up. Good times. The next day we hiked out and Josh ended up driving the 4runner a good ways up the road as I was hobbling down and my knee began to swell. Overall, I would call this trip the most interesting backpacking adventure I've yet to have.


Josh keeping Cota warm at camp.

Other news, Alison Hyde just arrived in Boulder. Alison was a friend of ours in Oregon and it's so cool to have yet another friend here. It's ironic that withthe arrival of one friend I would be experiecing the departure of anther at the same time. One of my favorite co-workers and good friend Melinda just moved with her fiance back to Vermont. Below is a photo of she and I along with my partner at Crocs on one of Melinda's last nights in Boulder.


Melinda, Sinead and I enjoying a beer at the Southern Sun.