1200 Miles West

For those of you who aren’t from Michigan, when Mike and I go to AA were in Ann Arbor not at a meeting with 12 steps.  Although after we leave AA we may want to attend a meeting…

Lunch was great as we were joined by ex-CareerSite friends at Grizzly Peak.  While we only spent an hour catching up, it was good to see everyone.

Later in the day, we met up with more friends at the Pub next to Grizzly Peak.  Here are my favorite pics from the night.

David snapped this picture of Mike and I early in the night.

In return, I snapped one of him and Emily.  In August, their family is moving to Indy as Emily took a teaching position at a university down there.  Indy’s not too far from Ann Arbor, so there’s a chance we may see them next time we’re in town.  Otherwise, they need to head out to CO with the kids to go hiking and camping with us.

The boys of CareerSite - Shaun, David, Mike, Eric and Chris.

I’m not sure who snapped this one, but Emily and I were chillin’ while the guys played pool at the Monkey Bar.

I’m not sure what to say about this one…other than the fact that I have a hunky husband!

On Saturday Laurie-Anne and Dave had a deck party and while we only spent about half of the time on the deck (hot and muggy in Michigan!) it was great to catch up with some old CareerSite and PowerOne co-workers.

I traveled 1200 miles from CO to Michigan, but Kristen also gets kudos as she drove in from Chicago to hang out with us.

Towards the end of the night we broke out the Wii and I am disappointed to say that while I was able to beat Maya (Laurie-Anne’s daughter) I was no match for Kristen who knocked me out in round 2!  I guess this means that I need to stay on her good side, otherwise I may be in trouble.

After arriving home on Friday and spending some time with my parents, I headed up to Gaines to hang out with two of my best friends - Todd and Monica.

Ethan (who turns 2 on June 13th) and Addison (9 1/2 months) were excited to see me.  Ethan took his time checking me out, but after a few minutes he was on my lap and we were reading books together.   Addison is already pulling herself up and will no doubt be walking soon.  Where does the time go?

Hugs to the Ackers…can’t wait to see you again soon!

On Sunday, we met Sara and headed up to Mt. Falcon for a hike.  Originally Sara was going to take us to Herman’s Gulch, but no one was able to verify the snow levels at 10k feet and above, so we’re going to save Herman for another weekend….possibly in July.

When we first arrived at Mt. Falcon, I wasn’t sure what to expected, but Sara mentioned ruins and pieces of a story related to a Presidential Summer Home.  So, we headed down Castle Trail to figure out what was out there.

I was surprised by the number of bikers and trail runners out that morning and after hoofing it up some of those hills, I have a greater respect for the athleticism that it takes.

The first ruins that we came to were that of the house that John Brisben Walker built.  It burned to the ground after being struck by lighting in 1916 after his second wife Ethel died.

After checking out the ruins, we continued down Castle Trail until it intersected with Walker’s Dream which took us up to the second set of ruins.

Looking out from this point, you could see the ruins of the Walker home.

We headed back out to do some more hiking which included Old Ute Trail, Devils Elbow and Meadow Trail.

Somewhere along the way we ran into a wild bird who seemed friendly at first and then proceeded to “attack” Mike.  I thought that it was going to peck his leg, but thankfully he just got tangled in his feed.   Here’s the culprit…

Sara had her pedometer on and we walked something like 16,000 steps or close to 6 miles.  It got a little challenging at the end, but we all pushed through and rewarded ourselves with a little treat afterward.  Sara and I had a salad and Mike had a cheeseburger.

We’re already looking forward to our next hike with Sara!

Below are the updates from Brightkite that Sara and I submitted via our phones during the 5k. You may want to start at the bottom and work your way up!

Also, sorry the quality of the photos aren’t that great…but what do you expect from when we used our Crackberry?

Last Wednesday we were treated to a night out at the ballpark by Sara. For Mike’s b-day she bought us two tickets to the game and two beers!

It appeared to me that there were more St. Louis fans in the audience then Rockie’s fans, but during the bottom of the 7th inning the team took charge of the game while down 0-3 and pulled out a 4-3 win!

We participated in the Home Run for the Homeless 5k this weekend and by doing so we each get two free tickets to future Rockie’s games. I wonder who we’ll take???

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.

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?

Our day started at the Dushanbe Tea House where we enjoyed a light lunch and some wonder green and oolong teas. For those of you who haven’t visited the tea house, I highly recommend it. We sat on the patio by the stream and enjoyed the April sun while chatting. It was definitely a great start to our day in Boulder.

After finishing up with lunch, we strolled through the farmers market. I have to say that it’s one of the better outdoor markets that I have been to. We even found gluten free chocolate cookies that we enjoyed later in the day.

Next we headed out to Pearle Street to do a little shopping.

While shopping we stopped into JJ Juice and Sara enjoyed a broccoli, carrot and apple juice, while I had a mango flavored smoothie.

By the end of the day we had walked 6,200 steps, however we still stopped to smell the flowers!

Hugs to Sara for spending the day with me!  It was fun and I can’t wait until this weekend when we head out to the Colorado Women’s Expo and then the Cherry Creek Sneak on Sunday.