Friday, December 21, 2012

Merry Christmas!

How quickly summer turned into winter! My last post was right around the first of fall, and here I am not writing again until the first day of winter. Despite my lack of writing, we have been on a couple adventures in the last few months. Not nearly as many as over the summer due to my extreme dislike of the cold, but nevertheless, a few...

In early October, I participated in the Second Annual Black Canyon North Rim 20K and 8K race (I did the 8K). Back in June and July I began to start getting into running, and did my first 5K in Aspen (which I posted about). Well I'm not really sure what motivated me, but I kept it up, and soon I was running up to 5 miles on any given day!  So when I saw a poster advertising the Black Canyon 8K, I knew I had to sign up. I've been wanting to check out the North Rim of the canyon for awhile now, and what better way than this!?


It was an absolutely gorgeous day! Beautiful weather and beautiful views!

Which brings me to my next topic - I've officially signed up to run the Canyonlands Half Marathon on March 16, 2013! I'm very excited. Moab is such a unique place, I think it will be a truly gorgeous race! The course actually boarders Arches National Park! I've been pretty good about exercising about 4-6 days per week and have been working up my mileage, having gotten to 10 miles without stopping. My goal for the race will be to complete all 13.1 miles in less than 2 hours, 10 minutes (which is just under a 10 minute/mile pace). I think it's do-able, but it means no slacking for me once the holidays are over!

Other highlights of the last few months include a visit to Oklahoma in October to meet my new niece, born September 19th. Then for Thanksgiving my family came over from Denver again this year. I got them all to participate in the Turkey Trot put on by the San Juan Mountain Runners. There was a 2 mile walk/run, and a 4.2 mile run. My family all did the 2 miler, and Scott and I did the 4.2. It was a lot of fun!

In early December, Scott and I headed up to Telluride/Mountain Village for a "Christmas Weekend." I LOVE Christmas, but it had been so warm out, it just hadn't felt like the Christmas season yet. So Scott and I made a spontaneous decision to go check out the ski area of Mountain Village (located over the mountain from Telluride). We rode the Gondola from Mountain Village into Telluride for dinner, went ice skating, and enjoyed the Christmas lights. We even woke up the next morning to a winter wonderland with freshly fallen snow!


Unfortunately with freshly fallen snow and cold weather comes ice, and on the way back home we ended up in a car accident. We were about half way between Telluride and Montrose when we hit some ice, lost control of the car, and ended up in a ravine about 30 feet down from the road. Luckily neither of us were injured, other than Scott's Nissan Xterra, which was totaled. So now we're in the process of car shopping!

I believe that covers all of the highlights over the past few months. Now we're just looking forward to enjoying our third Christmas together with our adorable puppy!


Flattop Mountain & Hallett Peak

I've been wanting to hike to the top of Hallett Peak ever since I found out it was the gorgeous mountain towering above Dream and Emera...