Eleven Hundred Sixty-Three

August 28, 2020

8.39 Miles in 1:26:34

Mood: Slow and steady makes the miles...eventually.
Soundtrack: Trampled by Turtles "Stars and Satellites"

I felt like I was doing well on this run, but then every time I looked at my running app, I felt incredibly slow. Oh well, at least it felt good! Went to Sterne Park on this run, as I hadn't been there for awhile. The small lake at the park seemed quite lovely today, especially as I approached it running down a hill running south from Littleton Blvd. I eventually made it home after exceeding 8 miles and completing enough distance to earn my 13th straight 100 mile month, which feels like an accomplishment, even though I've got a long way to go to equal my 51 month record. One month at a time, right?!?

Eleven Hundred Sixty-Two

 

August 25, 2020

7.12 Miles in 1:13:41

Mood: Enjoying sunrises and discovering unimpressive bodies of water.
Soundtrack: The Killers "Imploding The Mirage"

The Killers new album is pretty good, and although I'm sick of smoke from forest fires, it makes for good sunrises. I decided to run east on this particular morning, although I'm not entirely sure why. East is generally the worst direction to run from my house, so I rarely do it. Too many hills and too few good trails, but there are a few cool places including this cool sculpture at the South Suburban Golf Course. I also discovered that there is something called the "Englewood Reservoir" which is barely a trickle of water and is massively over represented on maps as if it's a giant body of water, but it does in fact exist in a place I have been many times, but never noticed the tiny bits of water amongst the weeds. 

Eleven Hundred Sixty-One

 

August 23, 2020

8.46 Miles in 1:24:35

Mood: Social commentary and fake squirrels
Soundtrack: Kendrick Lamar "To Pimp a Butterfly"

That cutout in the shape of a dog has truly frightened that cutout in the shape of a squirrel. Also, that is a weird thing to want in your front yard, although as with all weird things people put in their front yards, I am thankful for it. This run was dominated by me listening to an important album that I had never really experienced before. I had heard some Kendrick Lamar before, and generally I hadn't liked it. However, I'd heard SO MANY people proclaim it's excellence that I had to check out 2015's "To Pimp a Butterfly" for myself. Turns out, they are right. It's very good. Not sure it'll make the regular rotation, but I am glad I spent some time with it.

Eleven Hundred Sixty

 

August 21, 2020

6.03 Miles in 1:03:28

Mood: Too smoky for me. 
Soundtrack: Bright Eyes "Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was"

The smoke from wildfires nearby is causing weird sunrises and sunsets and smoky days. I'm over it. We could use a downpour, to put out the fires and damp down the smoke. For now...red sunrises. I ended up with only 6 miles because I both ran out of gas and got a low blood sugar. Since I was only running circles at Southglenn, it was at least easy to get back home when I was done. 

Eleven Hundred Fifty-Nine

 

August 20, 2020

8.02 Miles in 1:28:04

Mood: Hittin' the Park(s)

Soundtrack: Nada Surf "Never Not Together"

Lovely hot morning in August to run to the park. Cherry Knolls, DeKoevend, Milliken, Ketring, and Gallup to be specific. Then just as I was finishing up, I saw a shark. 

Eleven Hundred Fifty-Eight

 

August 18, 2020

6.94 Miles in 1:12:09

Mood: Still occasionally annoyed by "The Ranch"
Soundtrack: The Mountain Goats "In League with Dragons"

I once again purposefully went to Highlands Ranch. I've been spending more time there playing Pokemon Go from my car with my friend Lorin, and so I'm less annoyed by it than I used to be. Although I can definitely still get annoyed by it, as I was this morning when I went into a grocery store to try and get a Gatorade, and didn't find a single cold sports drink, but three different fridges filled with energy drinks which felt very Highlands Ranch for some reason. Still, it was a pretty nice run. Slow, but I blame that on how much uphill running I had to do to get into Highlands Ranch. Today's photo comes from Arapaho Park, because there is rarely anything good to take a picture of in Highlands Ranch.

Eleven Hundred Fifty-Seven

 

August 16, 2020

7.05 Miles in 1:09:38

Mood: Getting in the miles
Soundtrack: Barenaked Ladies "Stunt"

Did three workman like spins around Wash Park. Barely made seven miles, as I was super tired by the end, but I got the miles in. I almost forgot to take a picture, but just took one on my last lap. It's my default Wash Park picture when I don't have anything else interesting of which to take a picture. 

Eleven Hundred Fifty-Six

 

August 14, 2020

7.12 Miles in 1:14:23

Mood: Staying close to home.
Soundtrack: The Avett Brothers "Closer Than Together"

I didn't really want to get too far from home as I have had a lot of low blood sugars lately, so I ended up spending most of my time in or near DeKoevend Park. I have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to great places to run that are super close to home. DeKoevend is truly a great park. 

Eleven Hundred Fifty-Five

 

August 12, 2020

7.09 Miles in 1:10:58

Mood: Needing the Highline Canal Trail. 
Soundtrack: The Shins "Wincing the Night Away"

I just stayed on the Highline Canal the whole way on my first run back at home. Had to take a picture of these wooden love birds that make this partial stump much more lovely.

Eleven Hundred Fifty-Four

 

August 9, 2020

5.00 Miles in 52:11

Mood: Catholic Churches and blazing speeds!

Soundtrack: Better Oblivion Community Center "Better Oblivion Community Center"

This Steamboat run was cut short by a low blood sugar, but not before I ran into town and got some cool pictures of a hundred year old Catholic church which has some very pleasing architecture. I also ran past a radar gun that was pointed at a road, and somehow I showed up on it. I laughed so hard when a "6" popped up on the display. I pass those types of signs all the time, but I've never had my speed register before, that was awesome.

Eleven Hundred Fifty-Three

 

August 7, 2020

6.02 Miles in 1:02:04

Mood: Appreciating one of my favorite gardens.
Soundtrack: Hey Marseilles "To Travels and Trunks"

The family went on a short vacation to Steamboat Springs, which is probably my favorite Colorado mountain town. One big reason is the place where this photo was taken, the Yampa River Botanic Park, which is just an amazing little free botanic garden in Steamboat. It has cool art and awesome flowers, and did I mention it's free? I think I went there at least 4 times in the four days I was there, including a tour we did on Sunday morning where we spent an hour listening to the president of the gardens lovingly describe the whole place and being invited to eat a flower. (The flower was spicy.)

Eleven Hundred Fifty-Two

 

August 6, 2020

7.18 Miles in 1:12:35

Mood: Too lazy to run back into the house to get earbuds, but not to lazy to run 7 miles
Soundtrack: Ambient sounds of the world

I noticed that I forgot my earbuds almost immediately after I left the house, but I decided to just go without rather than head back in to the house to get em. I took a picture of our new hanging lights on our deck which looked cool in the morning light and then ran to Ketring Park and back.

Eleven Hundred Fifty-One

 

August 4, 2020

8.15 Miles in 1:23:10

Mood: I love flowers!
Soundtrack: The Avett Brothers "I and Love and You"

I barely spent any time at Southglenn during this long loop around Centennial, but I did head there right at the beginning, and the flowers there are really good!

Eleven Hundred Fifty

 

August 2, 2020

8.08 Miles in 1:16:30

Mood: Feeling good. 
Soundtrack: The Decemberists "The King is Dead" and "Long Live the King"

I hadn't just run around Wash Park without meandering off in another direction for awhile, and I felt good, and the park felt perfect, and I ended up doing eight solid miles with a respectable speed. Plus I bumped into an old friend named Lisa that I used to work with and said hello, so all in all, it was a pretty great run. Lisa hadn't seen me in probably 10 years, and she said I looked like a different person, as I was a lot fatter 10 years ago. So that also felt good.

Eleven Hundred Forty-Nine

 

July 30, 2020

7.56 Miles in 1:14:19

Mood: Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl!
Soundtrack: The Mountain Goats "The Life of the World to Come" and "All Eternals Deck"

This run pushed me over 100 miles for July, and gave me 12 straight 100 miles months, PLUS I saw someone has the queen on their backseat window for some reason?