Hello CO!

This is my first week in my new (but indeterminately temporary) home of Lyons, CO. Lyons is situated about halfway between Boulder and Estes Park, at 5375' elevation. It's a small and quaint town, but has the essentials: one brewpub (Oskar Blues), one pinball hall, 2 liquor stores, one bike shop, 2 little grocery stores, and at least 2 coffee shops. It was pretty hectic this week, first with driving/sleep deprivation and catching up on sleep, then unpacking and shopping and making our little basement apartment into a home of sorts. Also the altitude seems to have gotten to me a little bit; I was noticeably fatigued, and I'm hoping that the slowness of the 2 runs I got in this week are a product of adjusting to the altitude, and not just me being a tub o' lard.

6.20.2011 - 6.26.2011

Monday: Off. Last day in Pasadena. Said goodbye to the lovelies Perrin and Best with a dinner at Daisy Mint. Oh how I will miss your curries! And your pumpkin thingy.

Tuesday: Michael and I drove, in our separate vehicles, the 1030 miles between Pasadena and Lyons. Our cars were packed crazy full, but we somehow managed to survive the drive. Sideview mirrors are really all you need... Also our bikes survived with nary a scratch! I'm happy to have a reliable bike rack. (Sidenote: Happy Birthday, Mom!)

Wednesday - Thursday: Unpacking, shopping, etc. A little freaking out. It's a pretty huge shock moving from Los Angeles to a mountain town of something like 1000 inhabitants...

Friday: No running, but Michael and I scoped out the Heil Valley Ranch Trailhead, which is really close to our apartment. Maybe 2 miles of walking. We were alerted of this trail by the owner of Redstone Cyclery, who seems like a pretty cool guy. I might have to invest in a mountain bike.

Saturday: Ran an out and back on the Picture Rock Trail at Heil Valley. This is a rather well-maintained single track trail, mostly used by mountain bikers. It's really exposed, and deserty (Lyons is a high desert sort of climate), but offers some amazing panoramic views of the foothills and the Rockies, and the town of Lyons. At some point I caught a glimpse of snow-covered Long's Peak (on which Michael's cabin will be built). Doing this run in the late morning on a Saturday was not ideal, as there were a lot of bikers on the trail (the Redstone guy warned me of this), but the bikers were courteous and friendly enough. The heat and altitude contributed (I surmise) to a slow pace of something like 10 minutes/mile. But hey, it's a start. I'll have to bring a camera on this run some time. My internet is being slow right now, so I'm not going to link to my Garmin stats, but the say 42:50, 4.22 miles, 296' gained and lost.

Sunday: I was planning to run the Lyons 5k River Run, but I didn't register in advance, and sort of thought it might be full (they limited it to 800 runners), so I lacked the motivation required to get out of bed at 6:30 in the AM. Slept late and ran Picture Rock again in the late afternoon. This time my pace was a little better, maybe because the sun wasn't directly above me. 9:53/mi (still quite pokey). 41:17, 4.10 miles. Oh also, I only encountered one cyclist this time. But 2 horses.

Sum: Around 8 miles. Hopefully next week will be better!