running on empty

Here's the foliage - but a rather tame image that doesn't reflect how amazing the trees were. The reason being that this was on my drive heading to Aspen and I pulled over at this point in the road because a stupid jerk was on my back through the windy roads (even though I was going over the speed limit already! jeez!) and decided it was a sufficient spot to get a quick picture. So I did. But then about 20 minutes later the trees were so much more dramatic and beautiful, but at that point I was too lazy to stop and just wanted to get there already. So this is what you get, which I think is still nice looking.

As for the weekend - it was so great! Aspen had perfect weather, was a really cute town, and it was great to see Anna and her husband and their friends from Denver who were so nice. It is amazing that I am talking so much praise for the weekend because the half- marathon? Yep, not so much fun. Let me see if I can sum it up for you: first two miles - uphill. Like, a serious uphill hike. Up a ski run. My lungs were burning at the top. I was concerned at that point. The next 6 miles or so - gorgeous. Running flat or slightly downhill through the golden yellow leaves and it was along a hiking trail so you are only surrounded by beautiful nature. Then around mile 10 - a terrible cramp decides to accompany me for awhile and my knee began to feel like it was going to snap in two from running down hills, which I can tell you is not good at all for your knees. I was in pain. From mile 11 to the finish line was what I would describe as pure hell. Running through an ugly field of mini hills that felt like they were as steep as that uphill climb at the beginning even though they were probably just small bumps in the road. I was pathetic and delirious. I didn't know if I was going to be able to run through the finish line. But with Anna's encouragement, I ran/hobbled my way through to the end. I am so glad it was such a beautiful course because otherwise I would have hated every second of it. Next time - I will remember how important it is to train. Or rather, there will never be a next time. I have been sure to remind myself to never do this again.

But the rest of the weekend was so much fun - we enjoyed the cheaper (read: still expensive but not $40/person) restaurants. Ate at the Nobu there which was delicious. Hung out in the cozy cabin. Relaxed in the hot tub after the run. It was wonderful. Good company and good scenery. I am unfortunately incredibly sore so I am limping around town today, but with a plan for ambitious stretching, I have faith I will recover. And my 11 hours of sleep last night helped in the recovery process.

And I should have a few more photos in a few weeks - I actually took one of the guy's small cameras on the run with me and snapped some of the shots so I'm waiting to get them so I can share it with you. So stay tuned for that.