Day 1 in Colorado

Well, the drive here went really well.  This is my third year coming to this conference, and what I remember is that coming up, the drive is great... Coming home... we all want to get home, so it seems to take FOREVER.  Plus, we gain an hour coming, but lose it coming home, so it takes about 12 hours coming home.  Ugh.

Every child I see reminds me of Benjamin and Emily, I sure do miss them.  I've spoken with Leslie a few times, and things seem to be going well at home, other than our credit card fiasco...

Leslie called me right about the time I arrived here yesterday and told me that Target wouldn't accept the American Express.  I called them, waited about a half hour to talk to somebody, and when the guy got on the phone, he explained that our accounts had been flagged because of 300 some bucks charged to gas, not in Oklahoma.  I explained that I was putting all charges for this trip on the credit card, because I'd be reimbursed later, so all seemed fine... Until I got another call from Leslie today telling me same thing happened.  I'm not looking to sitting on hold for another half hour for the same issue.. We'll see how that goes.

So, this morning I decide to run, especially since I've got my new toy.  I got up, got dressed, and headed down to the front desk.  The nine year old who I swear was standing on blocks behind the counter greeted me. 

"Hey, I want to run 10 miles, so can you tell me where to go out 5 miles so I can run there and back?"

"..."

"Okay, well, is there anything 5 miles out that I can run to and back?"

"Well," (he whips out a map), you can try ... hmm.."

Patience... Patience.. "I'm not picky, just point me in a direction that will take me five miles.."

"Well, there are a lot of hills out here, so I'm trying to find something flat for you."

"I can handle it, just tell me where to go."

"Well, there are hills... and the elevation will..."

Shh son, daddy's been talking now for a while, and you don't seem to understand.  I can handle hills, I do a couple of them a day back home.  "How about this one?"  (I randomly point at a road)

"Well, El Dorado, yeah, but that's a hill.. Then it runs in to 128 (or some state highway, can't remember what)"

"Does the highway have lots of traffic?"

"No, lots of bikers on that road through the hills."  (If he says that word again, I'm walking out of this conversation, after, of course, knocking those blocks out from under him)

"Looks good, thanks."

I head out.  About ten steps into my run Leslie calls to tell me she's taking Benjamin to the doctor for his 2 month appointment.  She asks me what's wrong.

"Man, I just started and I'm already pretty winded.. Weird."

"You are elevated pretty high in Colorado, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's probably why [panting], alright, call me when you're done with the appointment."

So, I hit the hill he was talking about.  What a rookie, this hill just goes around the corner just ahead and levels out.  I know there are Mountains up here, but they're over THERE, not by this hotel.. Sheesh.  Then I turn the corner and look at what appears to be a verticle climb for about sixteen miles.  Better than that, I'm crossing some business that is labeled, "Level 3."  Does that mean there are more levels?  If so, how many?  At this point I feel like I'm running backwards.  I look down at my new toy for mileage: 1.3 miles. 8.7 to go. This is going to be a long run...  Just as I was thinking this, I noticed an airplane taking off from a nearby airport.  It was reassuring to see that it reached cruising altitude, and leveled out, at about the same height I was on my little "hill."

So, I finally reach the peak of Everest, and head out on the highway.  Lots of bikers (huh, little kid was right..).  Scenery was great.. Mountains, open fields - then it flashed - I remembered last year running around some open fields and a large animal very near me scaring me to death... I started scanning the horizon for scurrying bodies and didn't see anything, and just then something darted out in front of me.  After I finished squealing a little bit, I realized it was a prairie dog, and as I looked over in the field, there must have been 20 of them running around.  Then my mind started visualizing all 20 of them coordinating attacks on me, then calling in reinforcements, and maybe even some air strikes from some bird friends nearby. 

Things were going pretty well at this point, and I was nearing what looked to be another corner to the back side of a "hill."  I noticed, however, on this curve, it was more like how they would build one of the turns on an indy car track, rather than a regular road.  I felt like I was going to fall over running almost on my side as I rounded that one, and just as I came to the other side, I looked at what I thought at the time was not unlike looking at the grand canyon for the first time... and not because of how pretty it was.  It looked like a free fall on the road for about a mile.  Even though I was almost half way done with the run, I had enough brain function left to realize what that meant: I'd have to come back up.  I look down at my watch: 4.2 miles.  Just .8 left to half way (just about to the bottom of the "hill").  Do I forget it, turn around and head back?  Well, that would have been the smart thing to do.. But I don't.  You can imagine the turnaround and coming back...

So, I finally hit the top of the hill that I managed to reach at the beginning of my run.  I started down the hill thinking "ahhh, I was waiting for this.. Pain going up, but smooth sailing going down."  Wrong again.  I spent the entire time pounding my feet on the ground leaning back as far as I could to keep myself from falling straight on my face.  I still can't tell you what I preferred, going up and feeling like I was going to die, or going down feeling like I was going to die.

And then the best part.  I was finally nearing the hotel, ready to finish my run.  I neared the front of the hotel and looked down at my watch.  10.0 you're thinking, right?  Well, it said 9.5 miles.  Somehow, even though I had turned around at 5.0 and followed the exact same path home, the world had shrunk just a bit in that time, and I was now a half mile short.  Rational thinking would have suggested at this point that my watch wasn't calibrated correctly... Did I just forget it and head in?  Nope, gotta see that 10.0 on my watch.  Well, as you can see by my run data on the left, I gave up at 9.89, knowing full well it was more than 10 miles.

As I walked back in the hotel, the kid was looking at me.  After a brief pause, he asked, "so, how was it?"  knowing full well how it WAS.

"Good."  I fooled him.  I am a good actor when I need to be.

"Flat route tomorrow?"

"Oh, I think this one was just fine"  Academy nomination.

"Well, I mapped out a flat route for you for tomorrow if you want to pick it up in the morning."

"I'll take it right now."  Oh well, I wouldn't have won the oscar anyway.  I noticed his smile as I entered the elevator.. Yeah yeah.. Whatever, I needed to go pass out.