Half Marathon

Nine days until race time. On the fourth I'll be running a half marathon. Today, I ran 12 miles and it was a tough run- quite a few inclines but I guess there were also some good declines.

I become more and more grateful for running as the weeks pass. One reason for this is that my long runs tend to take me to beautiful parts of the city that I wouldn't usually get to see. As summer really hits it's stride this becomes increasingly delightful. I also, value the time to and for myself. It's a really wonderful thing to have some time dedicated to your own well being.

Outside of running, I've been working a whole lot and volunteering a bit. Today began another 4 day streak of working which will be followed up with one day of volunteering and then 2 magical days of freedom (one of those days my friend's band is playing so I can really enjoy my free night). That's the light at the end of the tunnel right now. I should go back to a 4 day work week after that. We'll see what happens. If I get tired of working I just remind myself of those 5 months of working 10-14 hours a week and realize how good I have it now.

I hope you all are doing well, I need to get some food in me asap before I crash from this run.

Cheers

Rising with the sun

6:30am is the time I've been getting up for work the past couple of days.

Needless to say, I've been tired and grumpy. Waking in the early AM is not really my cup of tea (although speaking of tea I've been drinking it to survive the mornings). Thankfully this early wake up time is because I've served the past 4 shifts that I've worked so I can't complain too much.

Today, I get to volunteer and hang out with my friend, Monica, who's in town. She actually just called. Hurray for visitors!

I'll try and keep you guys caught up on what's going on but things are starting to get busier here so be patient with me.

Side Note: Shout out to dad for a belated Father's day. I love you Dad!

Keeping it busy

Wow, The last week or so has flown by.

When I got back into town from some delightful family time, I went straight to work. After work I set into getting my house ready for my guest Jamie.

That was Friday.

Saturday, after work, Jamie got into town and the festivities began. Sunday I worked some more (luckily Jamie had to work every morning he was here anyways so it worked out well). We did all kinds of things in our free time though. We made dinner together (I made him make my household banana bread). We went to the highest point in the city and looked out over the beautiful vista while eating delicious sushi. We got food from food carts, we got $2 local beers (and I almost convinced Jamie to go to a Hamercize themed dance party). We went to the Rose Festival and saw a show. We visited Voodoo Donuts and tried three different kinds of donut-Bacon Maple, A little Voodoo doll one, and a vegan oreo one.

Now after working the today and yesterday and running my long run (10 miles) I am off to a Prom Bike ride. Yay for Pedal Pallooza!

City of Roses

They don't call this town the city of roses for nothing. And that's what I learned upon returning to Portland*. My yard, which is generally a little unkempt, was filled with beautiful blooming roses! I shot some pictures and meant to have them up for you yesterday but got distracted as my buddy, Jamie, arrived in Portland yesterday.

Bunch of roses on the side of our house

A couple of roses in the front of our house

Rose from the back yard

Huge rose (like 4 or 5 inches in Diameter) next to our back gate

*The city of Portland is actually, called the rose city because of the existence of it's famous rose testing gardens where a variety of roses found no were else may be growing at any given time.

Now, I'm off to get ready to work. I'll see you on the flip side.

Back at home: a summary of events

Today, I made it back to Portland. It was a good time I had in Breckenridge and the surrounding areas with the fam. But I am glad to be back at home to earn money and get the house ready for my the parade of guests that I'm going to be having in shortly. Here are some pics to document the good vacation times.

Petrified Redwood stump (this thing was huge)

On a pass these mountains are really high.

I think this picture pretty much perfectly summarizes the general color scheme of Colorado.

Both of my brothers got on this big rock at Boulder Creek

grasses

Statues in Breck

Mom and Dad posing with these statues

A side note that Dad and I did my long run today from Breckenridge to Frisco and it sucked. Altitude training blows. But, I'm very happy to have had someone to run it with and to have it out of the way as tomorrow is a very busy day.

Best to all.

Aspen-Breckenridge: a journey

After a loud show and a lovely evening in Aspen we woke up to a continental breakfast and then a beautiful, if slightly perilous, drive to Breckenridge.

Continental breakfast in Aspen

Mountains on the drive to Breckenridge

Aspen trees made a tunnel to drive through

but I only got the end of it in picture

Shout out Katelyn for driving, and the family for hanging around in the middle of the day to let us into the lodge in Breckenridge.

Canyons and other adventures

Hey! Hey! Pictures. Yep, I've got something special for you.

Yesterday Katelyn and I went to an awesome canyon while Stephanie was at work. Yay to visiting sisters who live in awesome places!

Then last night, after the work day was over, we all headed over to Aspen to meet with Stephanie's friend Jenny, eat an overpriced dinner, and watch a kinda strange show. Sorry, I don't have pictures from the show. I forgot to bring my camera there. But, here's the canyon

Black Rock Canyon (see that little river down there?!)

Some of the high peaks inside the canyon which was crazy deep

Rocks, bush, and the sky at the top

Lichen on the rocks at the canyon

Stay tuned for more great pictures. It's vacation baby!