Colorado was awesome! Let me back up to the day before so I can tell it in order.
Audi and I ran our first 5K on Thursday, June 25th at 8:30pm in Tawawa Park. I had no expectations going into the race except that I was going to run the whole thing. During one of my practice runs, I had completed a 5K within my time limit for the day in 39 minutes so I knew I could run it. I had a good time. (Who has a good time running a 5K, honestly? It’s so bizarre.) Audi and I didn’t run together - he runs way faster than I do - so he came back to meet me at like the 3 mile mark. Jayden came with him, and we ran in together for a time of 35:36. Not impressive, but I was smiling!
We said good bye to the kids who stayed with Tod and Pam during our trip, and I cried the way home. We’ve never been anywhere for any duration of time over a few hours without the kids. We went to bed and got up at 3am to make it to the airport in time for our 6am flight to Denver. The flight went well, and Cory picked us up and drove back to Colorado Springs. Later that day we hiked up Mt. Culter, a hike for people who don’t hike, which was more like an inclined nature walk. It was cool. That night we went out to dinner for my birthday, which was a bust, but we got to met Breanna, Cory’s girlfriend, who is very cool and personable. :) We had a good time talking and gettting to know each other when the boys weren’t around.
The next day we hiked Mt. Rosa after an hour of driving half way up the mountain and deciphering incorrect directions to the trail head. We started at 10,000 ft. and hiked to 11,500 ft. I’m not sure how long it took us, but I didn’t slow the gang down too much. It was quite an accomplishment for me, and I know Audi was psyched about it also. He got some great pictures up there, and we signed the register before we came back down, which took us significantly less time. Imagine that? We were almost to the cars when it started sprinkling, then raining, then hailing. It was cool, but only because we had just climbed a mountain and were on the way home. That night we ordered pizza (delicious) and bought a chocolate cake, which was sooo good to celebrate my birthday since the restaurant the day before didn’t pan out. We played euchre and hung out and had a great time.
Sunday we got up early and drove south to go white water rafting. It was amazing. I had such a good time and didn’t fall out of the boat. Yeah! We’d definitely do it again sometime. Afterwards, we went to Chile’s for lunch - a first for us - and chowed down. Good food. I was exhausted by the time we got back to Cory’s so we ate some more chocolate cake and popped in a movie to relax. That night I had a major meltdown I’ll attribute to stress (I hadn’t done any homework during the trip) and anxiety (I missed the kids). It was completely embarrassing, but what can you do? I went to bed and felt much better after sleeping in.
The next morning Audi and Cory went on a hike, and I (once I forced myself out of bed) went about the apartment cleaning and tidying and packing. It was nice to have the apartment to myself and do some chores that made me feel at home. I’m such a crab (astrologically, speaking - a homebody). We packed up the car, got some ice cream and went to the movies (Star Trek - legendary!) before our flight left that night.
It’s good to be home and back in the swing of things. I’ve got two more weeks of class for A term and then we’re off to the Cincinnati Zoo, Newport Aquarium, and CoCo Key Water Resort for the weekend to unwind with the kids. Then, it’s back to the grindstone for B term and 15 credit hours. Wish me luck!
View from Mt Rosa
