Six Hundred Fifty-Eight

June 29, 2017
7.13 Miles in 1:09:54
Mood: Feeling good and loving the orange flowers
Soundtrack: 99% Invisible / What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law / Beef and Dairy Network / Jordan, Jesse, Go!

After a brutal Tuesday run, I actually felt pretty good out there this morning. I feel like last night's sleep was the best I've had in two weeks, my feet and legs didn't hurt, and I was moving really well for most of this morning.

Best site of the morning was these orange flowers in the sun. My friend Deb informs me that they are Day Lilies. I was thankful for the info, as I am kind of a flower idiot. I just like em cause they're orange.

Six Hundred Fifty-Seven

June 27, 2017
6.18 Miles in 1:00:56
Mood: Plum tuckered.
Soundtrack: The Long Winters "Putting The Days To Bed" / Caroline Smith & The Good Night Sleeps "Backyard Tent Set"

I have definitely achieved a level of tired which affected my running this morning. I was tired, and it was hard to sustain myself along the way. I had to stop and walk a lot, and only ended up getting in a little over six miles. Still, I saw this tree adorned with wooden birds and got this cool photo of one of them. I am trying to catch up on sleep, and hope to be back to closer to myself soon. Oh well...not every run is going to be amazing.

Six Hundred Fifty-Six

June 25, 2017
7.30 Miles in 1:07:45
Mood: Good to be back in the groove.
Soundtrack: Green Day "American Idiot" / U2 "No Line On The Horizon"

My body and soul were a bit beat up after a wonderful but exhausting week at camp. My body was beat up because I participated in a Zoomba class at camp on Thursday afternoon which helped me discover muscle groups that I didn't even realize could get sore. My soul was pushed to close to it's limit by caring for some vulnerable kids who have had a bit of a raw deal in the foster care system. Despite being a bit run down, I hadn't run in a week and I was desperately in need of a few good miles.

I found myself in City Park because it was a Horsea nest, which was far superior to the nest of Cubone at my usual haunt of Wash Park. City Park is pretty, but it's really a step down for a runner from Wash Park...something I was reminded about as I circled around it a few times. The roads are a bit more beat up, and rather than smooth gravel trails, there are jagged flagstone paths just begging to trip you up. I survived unscathed and actually felt pretty good as I finished, but I was reminded why I so rarely hit up City Park for a run.

Six Hundred Fifty-Five

June 18, 2017
7.42 Miles in 1:08:27
Mood: Anticipating camp to the exclusion of most everything else.
Soundtrack: Counting Crows "Films About Ghosts"

It was a stupendous morning at Wash Park, and I was in a very good mood. I was trying to get one more good run in before camp, and it was a fabulous morning to do so. I was only hours away from leaving for Royal Family Kids Camp, and I was about as ready as I was going to get. My energy level was high, and I had a solid run even though mostly what I was thinking about was getting to camp. I pushed hard as I knew I wasn't going to get another opportunity for a week.

Six Hundred Fifty-Four

June 16, 2017
7.33 Miles in 1:11:02
Mood: Who can remember?
Soundtrack: Tyler Stenson "Some Days I'm A Lion" / Ben Rector "Brand New"

I love this picture, and the greatest thing about it is the two ducks. The clouds are nice too. It's been far too long since I did this run (over a week), so I remember very little specifically about this run for the writeup. I feel like I was probably a bit involved in thinking about going to camp. At least I got a good photo at Ketring Lake.

Six Hundred Fifty-Three

June 15, 2017
7.00 Miles in 1:06:56
Mood: Buggy
Soundtrack: Temples "Sun Structures" / Matt Nathanson "Last of the Great Pretenders" / Jewel "Pieces of You"

Ladybugs have the best PR agents. How many insects are getting their very own playground equipment in their image? Mosquitoes? Forget about it. Stinkbugs? No way. A Fly? Not a chance. Maaaaaybe a rolly-polly, but only because they have a cute name. Yet Ladybugs are almost universally beloved, which is hard to pull off for a bug.

Six Hundred Fifty-Two

June 13, 2017
7.52 Miles in 1:10:04
Mood: Motivated to hustle.
Soundtrack: Cold War Kids "LA DIVINE" / Matt Nathanson "Some Mad Hope"

Summer schedules get all wonky, and often times that means that I need to leave work earlier than normal. This was one such day, so in order to get my run in, I knew that I needed to make it quick. Nothing like motivation to make me have a better workout. I ended up stopping much less, running faster, and getting finished way earlier than normal while still getting in seven and a half miles. When I know I can't lollygag, I don't lollygag.

Despite trying to hurry on this run, I had to stop to take a picture of this Alaska license plate BECAUSE IT HAS A BEAR ON IT!! It's almost enough to get me to move to Alaska just so I could have these plates on my car. Not quite, as I hate cold and snow, but almost.

Six Hundred Fifty-One

June 11, 2017
7.86 Miles in 1:16:01
Mood: Nostalgic
Soundtrack: Dr. Dog "Fate" / Mumford & Sons "Wilder Mind" / Garden State Soundtrack

I grew up with Glenwood Springs as my mini-vacation headquarters. When I was a kid, it seemed we would make at least one trip a year to this little mountain hamlet to hike, play miniature golf, shop at the Sioux Villa Curio Shop and go swimming in the giant Hot Springs Pool. To say I have a load of memories of this place would be a huge understatement, it's a part of my childhood.

Going there as an adult always makes me think of being a kid, and taking my kids makes me feel like the tradition lives. I like that I am giving them a little piece of something in their childhood that was also a piece of my childhood. Circle of life, and all that...

Anyway, in all the many many times that I have gone to Glenwood, I have never seen the pool completely empty. It opens at 7:30 in the morning, and stays open until 10 PM, so it does make sense that I wouldn't have seen it without a single patron. On Sunday morning, I was up and running by 6, so when I crossed the bridge overlooking the pool, the sun was rising over the mountains and the pool was completely vacant. It was weird, but also very peaceful. I knew I'd be taking a dip in the water later in the day and that it'd be a hubbub of activity, but it was cool to look at it empty and think back to all the times I've been there and how much that stinky water means to me. It was an emotional highlight of a run that also included finding a secluded park, hitting up a cool paved trail alongside the Colorado River, seeing a multitude of car guys descend upon a park with their fancy sports cars to show off, and seeing parts of Glenwood that I've never before experienced.

Although I've done a lot of things in Glenwood over the years, this is the first time I've run through the town, and as I have discovered in many places...you see different things when you run in a town than when you only experience it via a car. I'm glad to have deepened my relationship with this town that has meant a lot to me.

Six Hundred Fifty

June 9, 2017
7.58 Miles in 1:11:27
Mood: Green
Soundtrack: The Head and The Heart "Let's Be Still" / Hey Marseilles "To Travels and Trunks"

I like this piece of sidewalk art next to the playground in deKoevend Park. It reminds me equal parts of a Van Gogh piece, a child's art project, and symbolism for the Illuminati which is quite an amazing amalgam.

I wore my green shorts with my green running shirt in an outfit that makes my wife call me the Jolly Green Giant. I don't wear these items together all that often because it is an overwhelming amount of green, but it does seem like every time I do go out in my "Jolly" gear something memorable happens. In today's case, I passed by three different runners who were dressed head to toe in green which seemed an almost inconceivable coincidence.  Two of them were slower runners that I actually caught from behind, and I chased both of them, I couldn't help but think how weird it was to see so many people wearing so much green on a day that I had to double check the calendar just be certain that it wasn't Saint Patrick's Day. It isn't. It's June 9th, and that is March 17th. Weird.

Six Hundred Forty-Nine

June 8, 2017
7.87 Miles in 1:13:02
Mood: So focused that only giant pink flowers could derail me.
Soundtrack: Of Monsters And Men "My Head Is An Animal" / Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness "Zombies on Broadway" / Cold War Kids "LA DIVINE"

These pink flowers are maybe the biggest flowers I've ever seen. Shimmering pink in the sun they were stunning, and I had no choice but to stop and take pictures of them because WOW! The fact that they were dew laden made them look even cooler. I took about seven photos hoping I'd get a good one. I was very pleased this one came out as well as it did. Such a cool shade of pink contrasting with the green. Love it.

As I got out of bed first thing this morning, my sleepy wife informed me that my son had a baseball game at 5:30 this afternoon. I was glad she informed me, as if I had taken my usual leisurely pace I would have gotten back at my normal time and would have had to stay at work late and would have missed his game. Instead, my morning became laser focused on getting my full run in but getting home much quicker. As a result, my pace was faster than a typical Thursday, I took much fewer rests, took many fewer pictures (other than several pink flower photos), and ended up getting back home earlier than I have in months which means that I will get off work early and will get to the baseball game in time. (And I even managed a respectable 7.87 miles!)

Six Hundred Forty-Eight

June 6, 2017
8.01 Miles in 1:16:30
Mood: Happily non-descript
Soundtrack: Father John Misty "I Love You, Honeybear" and "Pure Comedy"

Not a whole lot to say about this one other than the trees were very pretty and I took several photographs of them. I saw a cute and friendly dog and said "Hi Doggy!" while completely ignoring the human holding him as I ran past. Also, I think that the new Father John Misty album released in January of this year is not very good. So...not much going on, but in the very best kind of way. Just a nice solid Tuesday morning run in short which felt great.

Six Hundred Forty-Seven

June 4, 2017
7.50 Miles in 1:17:38
Mood: Feisty without reason, but at least there were pretty pelicans.
Soundtrack: Neil Young "Rust Never Sleep" and "After the Gold Rush" and "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"

Pounded out three 1970's era Neil Young albums on this run, and while they are far from what you'd use to get yourself pumped up, they made surprisingly decent running music. Plus, I have to hand it to the man, he was very good at naming albums in the seventies. Look at those album titles! So solid.

As I was listening to Neil and taking photos of Pelicans, I also found myself feeling a bit feisty and competitive. At one point, after stopping to select a new Neil Young album, a woman in what I would guess to be her mid-thirties ran past me. She was going very slowly, but I was standing still at that moment, so she flew on by. I picked "After the Gold Rush" and then began running and quickly caught up to her and passed her. I thought this would turn out to be something of no consequence, but I was wrong. About forty-five seconds later she came flying past me, pace severely increased as if there was malice in it. For some reason, this got me going and it was ON. I revved up my speed to keep pace, and for the next mile I kept trying to pass her and she kept trying to make it as difficult as possible for me to do so.

After far too long in this epic struggle, I decided to just sprint past her. I had been going much faster than my regular speed for about a mile, and I was getting tired, but I was going to get past her. I might fall down in exhaustion immediately afterwards, but I was going to win a contest that was completely meaningless. I went up to my full speed and blew past her, and went about another two tenths of a mile before I realized that I could not sustain this pace and it was foolish to have tried. I took a side path that led to the middle of the park, ran until I was safely hidden between a large grove of trees, and then stopped and heaved oxygen into my lungs as quickly as I could in a desperate attempt to catch my breath. After about five minutes of rest, I continued on at a much more maintainable pace, laughing at myself at how I can be unreasonably competitive with no real good reason.

Six Hundred Forty-Six

June 2, 2017
7.18 Miles in 1:11:34
Mood: New streets, new mailboxes, jello legs.
Soundtrack: The Avett Brothers "A Carolina Jubilee" / Bear's Den "Islands" / Barenaked Ladies "Rock Spectacle"

I decided to head east to change things up, and ended up on a few streets I may have never run before. I always enjoy the feeling of new exploration, even though I don't get it as often as I could if I didn't frequent my favorite haunts as often as I do.

The downside of going east is that I hit so many hills, and as this was a second day of a back to back, my legs were definitely feeling it. My pace was slow and my legs were jello, but at least I was able to see this killer mailbox. I'm pretty sure that the family that lives at this house has the last name of Mondragon, but even if that isn't the case, I love this mailbox so much.

Six Hundred Forty-Five

June 1, 2017
7.75 Miles in 1:14:28
Mood: Positive and art appreciating.
Soundtrack: The Hamilton Mixtape

Goodson Rec Center has a new art piece out front, as pictured above, and I really like it. Getting to see it, along with getting out on the Highline Canal trail after not running for four days and weather that was amazing made for a gorgeous run. Plus, I was in the perfect mood for the Hamilton Mix tape, so everything kind of worked together to make for a glorious late spring run.