Day 6/ June 11/10 Friday
7:45 and no one is awake. We had previously agreed to wait until T.J. got back from class. Wally and I both wake up around 9:00 just in time to see T.J. leaving for class. While the couch is comfortable enough it does not promote sleeping in. Max is the next up and Sam follows suit a short time after. The morning is spent eating and lounging about. Luckily the World Cup begins today on ESPN so we all gather around and watch a couple games while we wait for T.J. When T.J. comes back from class we are all itching to do something so we lace up are shoes and head off on our run.
Run (Skip to here if all you want to read about is our runs)
Just like every day up in Boulder there is not a cloud insight as the five of us wide are way through campus away from the mountains. Today everyone’s assignment is similar yet again I am assigned the least, 30 min. The pace is controlled but as we wind through the campus and the person on the inside of the turn gains the extra step on the outside the pace increases. I quickly decide that this pace is not advantageous for me to run on a recovery day. The ever-present thought of my first run over 45 minutes in a long time keeps me in check. As the distance between my four teammates and myself increases I cannot help but let the negative thoughts creep into my head. “Wow you haven’t gotten any better in the past year and all four of your friends are now miles ahead of you,” or “Am I just being a sally and not trying my best right now?” These thoughts are shoved out of my head as my teammates circle up to come get me and we close the run at a swift but comfortable pace that I have come to consider recovery. Running with a group is so much easier for so many reasons but today my teammates helped me to push the negative thoughts out of my head. With their help I look to be in the best shape of my life come August and then with the addition of the whole team I look to be in top notch racing shape come November. Writing this I realize that this is not so far away… Longest run yet tomorrow and I feel as nervous for that as I did for every work out freshman year.
After the run T.J. goes to lift at the CU rec center while Max, Wally and Sam come with me to One Boulder Fitness. As a member I am allowed three guests to come with me three times. Fortunate huh? Anyway Max takes on the task of my lifting partner for Back and Bi’s day while Sam lifts a little bit of everything and Wally decides that this place is not worth the time. Wally goes outside to walk around downtown Boulder while he waits for us. Max is one of the most naturally strong runners I have ever seen. I have been lifting for almost two years now and Max is lifting weights that I took a year to build up to. We go through the lift and bump into Sam every now and then. Sam looks like he is getting a good work out in and it looks like he might get a pass with Max and I. We finish our lift and both of our arms are exhausted so we decide to punish our abs. At this point Sam decides to go outside and look for Wally, and even though Wally drove the four of us to One Boulder Fitness he and Sam end up walking home since I had his keys in my pack. Max and I complete the ab work out that T.J. gave me last season and we our cashed. We shower up and leave One Boulder to find Sam and Wally.
No one answers their phones so Max and I head up Pearl Street to check out restaurants and shops. I end up buying a CU Buffs T-shirt and finding several bars and grills that look like good places to eat. After about a half hour of walking around Wally calls to inform us that he Sam and T.J. are all back at home. Max and I drive Wally’s car back to home base and we all eat lunch.
Later in the day we all decide that it is time to visit the infamous Boulder Running Co. I drive in the rain the three-mile drive to get to the store and we all head inside. Max is the only one to buy shoes however we are in the store for a long time. T.J’s Love of shoes compels him to try two different shoes on while Wally talks to a store worker who knows Huff. The Store is very big, much bigger than the Dick Ponds in Carol Stream. The store is divided in half, women on the right (west) and men on the left (east) with miscellaneous running gear in the middle surrounding the cash registers. Max ends up buying some pair of mizunos, straying from his usual DS trainers. After the store we drop Max off on some corner for a drug deal… just kidding we dropped him off so he could buy some bike that Sam found for him. It is raining heavily now but the corner is on a main road so we cannot wait with Max for the bike. The rest of us drive home and start preparing dinner while we wait for Max. About a half an hour after we dropped Max off Sam gets a call. It is Max and he has successfully purchased the bike however on the ride home the chain had slipped off the big gear and was inoperable. Max walks the bike home and we all eat another delicious dinner. Wally is a very good cook and I feel like I am eating very well. This was a big concern for me in coming out here however I have no complaints. I wash the dishes and then we are off to meet Amanda and Shannon for an improve show hosted by some CU students.
The show is very funny and lasts a little more than an hour. After the show we say goodbye to the girls and head home. It is a little after ten and everyone only stays up for about an hour more. Tomorrow is our first long run out here together and we have agreed to get up at 8 and drive out to the Boulder Reservoir. Another successful day in Boulder!!
Day 7/June 12/10 Saturday
Run (skip to hear if all you want to read about is our run)
8:00 in the morning and Wally is driving us to the Boulder Reservoir for our morning’s long run. It takes about 15 min. to get there and when we pull in the man in the toll booth tells us that it is six dollars each person. Pardon my French but fuck that. We all decide to go park on the other side of the road in a neighborhood that consists of only two roads and a sheep farm… whatever. We all get out and start our run. T.J. and I lead past the same kid in the booth who told us to pay, but we are moving to fast for him to say or do anything. Again I have the lowest assignment and am only doing 50 minutes while Max has 60, T.J and Wally have 70 and Sam rounds the group out with a 80. Right from the get go the pace is very quick and Sam does not want to do the long run at this pace. He is off the back but still runs a great workout only a couple of seconds behind us. I find Sam’s running courage to be the biggest out of anyone I have ever met. It truly is a testament to our team that we have this many hard working people and the hardest worker award would split votes in so many ways. Sam works harder than anyone I have ever met and pushes himself everyday, today is no exception as he goes hard even though he runs essentially the whole workout by himself.
The pace is so quick because the hunt is on. Not an actual hunt but a hunt for other runners on the trail. There is a triathlon today in the res. And they are currently on the running portion of the race. The path is made out of gravel and is very soft today giving very little return because it has been raining all night and into the morning. The path is as wide as the prairie path back home and we run counter clockwise around the 5 mile loop. T.J. and Wally have once again established themselves in front of max and I respectively and we continue to pick the struggling athletes off group by group. Everyone in the group wears a shirt except for me because it is cold, however it is raining so the shirts gain weight with time, I am satisfied with my decision. We clip off miles in the 6:45 range and the path is the flattest we have run on all week. With this said it is not completely flat but no one is breathing as badly as we do back in the foothills of boulder. This is the first time that my legs feel good and I have yet to begin searching for breath. My form finally feels good and I feel my stride start to elongate. I quickly correct this as I do not want to put to much stress on my shins. I make my stride only a little bigger than Max’s and settle in to the pack. When I was injured and spent all that time on the bike I watched peoples forms and how they stuck the ground and then kicked back up. Max has a flawless form and I strive to run in the smooth fluid motion that he does. His feet are on the ground for a very short amount of time before they flash back up.
As the run continues Wally and T.J. get into an argument about the pace and Max and I decide that we can settle their argument quite easily. We make are move around the 35 minute mark and stay in front of our teammates until I peel off as we pass our car. Running the last 5 min. by myself I feel accomplished about today’s run and truly feel that I can get back into shape quickly as I still have a lot of energy left. I stretch for 10 min. and Max comes back to the car. It is very cold out and my hair which is now extremely long is sticking in front of my eyes. I decide to wait inside the car for the others to finish as it is so cold outside. Everyone finishes the run and says how good they felt, a great run for everyone. We all decide to skip out on a gate analysis we have been invited to by Newton running. Apparently every Saturday they have free gate analysis for everyone and we will try again next weekend. Instead we all head back to the apartment to watch the Europe USA world cup match and to eat breakfast.
It rains all day and we end up staying inside for the whole day because of the rain. It is a great soccer match even though I would rather watch hockey. To pass the day I look up information on housing and teaching in the southwest and also read more stories from my short sci fi collection. I have yet to find a story that is truly mind blowing however there have been a couple which have made me think. The others pass the time in there own ways. Max can be heard laughing to himself as he watches seasons one through three of How I Met Your Mother. Wally, T.J. and Sam have unlocked the secret powers of some computer game which they play with Musty online. Apparently they are making quick work of this game as I can here Wally saying that he and musty are “Doing work!!!”
The day continues the same way and we end up passing out rather early. One more day in paradise.
Day 8/June 13/10 Sunday
Everyone wakes up surprisingly early even though only Sam is running. Sam logs a quick thirty and then he and T.J. head off to church with Amanda. Wally continues to play his game with Musty while Max and I enjoy a couple matches of the world cup. The rain again forces us to stay inside all day. We do take a break and go to target to get some more food for our house. The day ends the same way that it started and we all go to bed early. Cant win them all!!
Day 9/June 14/10 Monday
Run (Skip to here if all you want to read about is our runs)
7:45 and we are heading west on the Boulder creek. The pace is comparable to Saturday’s long run. Sam again elects to run slower at the beginning but matches our pace for the whole run by increasing his pace throughout. Again it is Max and I following Wally and T.J. as our group of four winds its way through the mountains. The creek west is a hard run because it is all uphill on the way out and never once flattens out. No one complains about the pace today and no one really talks, we are all working hard today there is no denying that. I reach my turn around point and run the 22:30 back to home base by myself. My pace back increases even though I am by myself simply because of the downhill. Sam and I wave hello as we pass and that is that last sole I see on my run. Apparently even the supper athletes of Boulder can get held back by the rain. Everyone else finishes their runs ten to twenty minutes after I have and we all stretch inside.
T.J. is off to class while Max and I drive to One Boulder to lift. Again I am amazed at Max’s natural strength. On bench he is only lifting 20 pounds less than me and I have been lifting for almost two years now. We close out chest and tri’s day with some abs and drive back home to find everyone doing the same thing they have been doing for the past two days. We settle into our normal routines and pass the rainy day away. Forecast calls for no rain tomorrow!!!
Days 10, 11, 12 tomorrow!!
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