1200 Miles West

Had my tank actually been empty, I think I would have spent at least $60 to fill it up!  When I bought my Jeep five years ago, I could fill it up for between $25 and $30 bucks…where did those days go?

Today, Sara and I proved that we are Iron Girls as we participated in the Iron Girl 5k run/walk at City Park in Denver. It was another early morning, but thankfully it was much warmer today. After finding each other somewhere around 16th and Steele we proceeded to check in. This was by far, the best organized event that I have been to in a long time.

We took some time to walk around the tents, got our Aflac ducks and then decided that we didn’t want to carry our t-shirts and what not with us during the walk so we jogged back to the car to ensure that we didn’t miss the start of the race.

It was a beautiful day for a walk and we averaged approximately 15 minutes a mile. Not back for a Sunday stroll. After the race we walked around a little more before we the following picture was snapped.

For those of you who heard me talking about the event ahead of time, I was hoping that I’d end up with a shirt that had the Iron Girl logo and the duck, but this was even more thrilling as Sara and I got to pose in front of a giant one with our race medals on!

Check out this brightkite link to a picture that Sara snapped with her camera after the race - this sums up the day perfectly!  (At some point I need to learn how to use brightkite!)

Looking forward to next Sunday when Mike, Sara and I participate in the Home Run for the Homeless which is another 5k run/walk that will take place at/around Coors Field. Although, if Sara doesn’t figure out if she’s registered or not, it may just be Mike and I…I hope I don’t have to walk alone!

No, I’m not talking about the Kentucky Derby even though it did take place yesterday.  But what fun is it to watch a bunch of horses run around a track with tiny men on their backs?

What I’m talking about is roller derby! The Rocky Mountain Roller Girls were back in action last night and unlike the first game we attended, they CRUSHED their opponents by more than 100 points.

If you remember my post from our last trip to the Derby, Mike wasn’t especially happy as he had to stand the entire bout. This time we were fortunate to have chairs to sit on. Thanks go out to Sara for reminding us of the event, even if we did show up before her and save her a seat!

Also, I should mention that we also attended a Tercero de Mayo party hosted by Cris and Jen. While we were only able to stay for an hour or so, I have to say that I sucked down three of the best margaritas I’ve ever had. Plus, Cris and Jen cooked some excellent tamales and one plate was all vegetarian! Yeah for me. Thanks guys for inviting us over…I promise we’re going to have a party soon.

Indigio walked today. It was for a great cause and we had fun.

The day started out a little chilly, but it warmed up as we set-up the tent and started to pass out bracelets to the other walkers. If you’ve seen the yellow Lance Armstrong bracelets, then you know what I’m talking about, except ours were blue and were inscribed with the following:

Get Inspired! Get Involved! www.indigio.com/cares

They were a hit, plus it never hurts to get your name out there.

Here’s some snapshots from the walk:

Here’s my favorite…

A good time was had by all, plus we raised over $6000 for the Colorado Chapter of the MS Society.

I’m already looking forward to next years walk!

The above is a picture from Tuesday’s hockey game at the Pepsi Center.  For those of you who don’t follow hockey, the Wings took a 3-0 series lead that night and will hopefully finish off the Avs tonight.

It all started last night…sometime during the evening hours we got a note from Sara letting us know that she was going to be taking Mike and I to an upcoming Rockies game to celebrate his birthday. In her note she said the following:

Happy birthday, Mike! In celebration of your birthday I have 3 tickets to the Rockies game next Wednesday night at 6:35pm. I have no idea who the Rox are playing but I do know I’ll be treating you to all the beer you can drink.

And by all the beer you can drink I mean 1 beer.

After thanking Sara for her thoughtfulness, Mike decided that he was going to ventured out to the local Game Stop to pick up his reserved copy of the new Grand Theft Auto IV. Oh, and did I mention that the game wasn’t available until midnight? That’s right, while I was fast asleep Mike picked up and proceeded to come home and play his new game for two hours. He was lucky to be out of bed when my parents called at 6:30am MT to wish him a happy birthday!

Once we got to work, Mike was surprised by a Thomas the Train helium balloon (which thankfully didn’t cause any traffic issues for Sara!) that was tied to his monitor and a post on the Indigio blog wishing him a happy birthday.

Later in the day a FedEx ground box showed up with gifts from Michigan. Inside were two golf shirts, two pairs of shorts, a Tigers t-shirt, a U of M t-shirt, a wine opener, a U of M license plate holder and this sweatshirt which Mike will be wearing to the hockey game tonight.

We’re off to see the the Red Wings play the Avalanche tonight. Hopefully we don’t get beat up!

Dale was ran out and picked up a fabulous cake to help the team here at Indigio celebrate. I’m not sure what kind of cake it was, but it was good!

I should also mention that Mike received Home Depot gift cards from his Mom and Jim, his Dad and Claudia and even Grandma Kelsey. I’m not exactly sure what he bought with them, but yesterday he showed me a drill with a light on it, so I guess that was the latest and greatest option.

I can’t speak for Mike, but I think he would agree that he is lucky to have friends and family that love him!

Don’t be confused by the title…the reason why we’re wondering asking about grass is that we’re not sure if we’ll have any before September.  This is due to the fact that our water district does not allow new sod to be installed after May 15th or before September 1st.  Doh!

I called our landscaper in a panic today to see if we can move our installation date up.  Keep your fingers crossed as I don’t want to get stuck with a dirt backyard until fall arrives!

We’ve moved the section once since it was delivered and while the house is out of sorts due to the chaos of getting new furniture and installing the first of the two cabinets that Mike built, it’s starting to feel homey.

I just learned that there is a new West Elm here in Denver, so between that and Scandinavian, I should be able to find something.

Here’s a sneak peek at the cabinet’s that are still under construction…

I’m not going to compare my time to Mike’s, but I will say that while I didn’t run the Cherry Creek Sneak the walk was just as fulfilling. I think the last time I walked 5 miles without stopping was last Summer, so it had been a while. The time flew by as it was a beautiful sunny day here in CO and I enjoyed some good conversation while hoofing it around the course with Sara.

After the race we met up with Mike and Angie to check out the vendor tents. I stocked up on vitamins, power bars and these chewy things with caffeine.

On Saturday, I spent the day downtown with Sara at the Colorado Women’s Expo. We enjoyed talks given by both Suze Orman and Bob Greene. We also enjoyed lunch at Cooks Market, a trip to the nail salon and a peanut butter caramel apple. What more could you ask for on a Saturday?

This morning Erin and I joined our good friend Sara Pacheco for the Cherry Creek Sneak. We all participated in the 5 mile run/walk with me running and the girls walking.

It has been awhile since I have run an organized race but I was excited about the event. I used to really enjoy and place fairly well in 5K races because I was constantly training them for them. A large part of that was due to the Marine Corps physical fitness test being a 3 mile event.

As I get older, I have found that my body prefers longer and slower runs so the 5 mile seemed like a good event as I transition to 10K (6.4 mile) races and maybe even a half marathon. Most of my training runs have been between 5-8 miles as well so I knew how to pace myself.

There were 3801 people that participated in the 5 mile race this morning - 1647 Male, and 2154 Female. When they say that Denver is America’s fittest city, I believe them. Besides the great attendance for the race this morning, as soon as the weather has warmed people have been out running like crazy people.

I placed 604th out of the males and 123rd out of my age division (34-39). I’ll even admit that 189 women finished before I did. The cynic in me says that I have become mediocre in my old age with the results of this and my GMAT but the reality is that I feel pretty good to have placed in the top 37% of the men that participated.

I had a great time and my thanks to Sara for getting us out for this event. I look forward to more races this summer.