got O2?

Yep, we couldn't have had it any better for a long weekend trip! This is my buddy Jeremiah in the parking lot of the trail we ran on Saturday in Evergreen, CO which is a ritzy suburb of Denver. Weather came in the form of 12% humidity, 70 degrees F, & sunny!! Our entire run at this location was borderline difficult as you are between 7500 and 8500 vertical feet. A person gets a spectacular view of Mount Evans from the highest rock outcropping. Lots of mountain bikers shared the trail which is easy on the ascent since we moved up the climb faster than all of 'em but found everyone courteous on the descent too. We'd put in an hour and 23 minutes before deciding to save it for Sunday.

However, lets back up instead of proceeding any further as I neglected to mention something. Our friends Emily & Jeremiah live in a cute neighborhood a few blocks away from Tennyson Street that is an art district. The area has what they call "First Fridays" and it is essentially an art-walk thru all the galleries where you can shop, drink and eat FREE wine and hors d'oeuvres amongst festive goers. Lastly, we stopped into a popular joint that I had to return to at least twice a day until leaving Monday.....don't ask questions...just check it out.......the HOLE!!!

Sunday, following tons of Hops & Pie a night earlier which had delicious fare, albeit bitchy owner, we drove up to Boulder to play around on the flatirons. Jeremiah and I got dropped off @ OSMP and the girls went down to Pearl Street to meet Jen's cousin for an afternoon of shopping. Trails in Chautauqua are fabulous if you are an adventurous runner! After scoping out the Mesa and Bluebell/Baird in the heavy traffic of hikers we chose to go up in elevation. An individual can do a lot of running near a mile high if one wants that here. The focal point of this area is certainly Green Mountain and I wasn't leaving until I stepped onto its summit. Main segments of tread we followed were Amphitheater, Saddle Rock, Gregory Canyon(awesome views of Boulder thru it), Ranger(many snow-capped 14ers can be seen in the distance off your right shoulder up to west ridge), 8,144-foot Green Mtn, coming down on the Greenman Trail was an adrenaline rush as it was super technical and high risk if you went quicker!! Two hours and 19 minutes was spent out there but some of that time was looking at the map, plus, absorbing the atmosphere.

Despite a layover in Atlanta for our connector, it was a fun and busy worthwhile trip.