The Little Chemist That Could: Half vacation week

In town for the first half of the week but then taking a mini-vacation with the family in Colorado! Scott has a work trip the first part of the week, then D and I are flying out to join him on Wednesday afternoon.

Monday

Did: 1 mi run, 1.3 mi walk

Took it easy today - still feeling very tired from the weekend's crazy event. Did an easy run then walk around Cleveland park after dropping D off at camp.

Tuesday

Did: 6.84 mi @ 9:08/mi avg

Ran with the Rockers Run Club after work - no theme tonight (sadly) but still a fun crowd and got to see lots of folks who had been at the Reaper Challenge the previous weekend. Took this run slow due to the heat, but thankfully some clouds rolled in to keep the sun from being too harsh.

Wednesday

Did: 1.35 mi @ 9:56/mi avg

Just a quick mile-ish around the park after morning camp drop-off.

Thursday

Did: 4.36 mi + 0.72 mi hikes + 1.3 mi run

First up on our Colorado mini-vacation, we headed towards Boulder (from our stay in Denver) through some very windy roads to get to Hessie Trailhead for a hike to Lost Lake. We saw some amazing snow-capped Rockies in the distance as we drove!

VERY curvy

Snow capped peaks!

We parked at the sign that told us we were a 1/2 mile from the official trailhead... apparently there are some vehicles (Jeeps, perhaps) that can get there but we chose to leave our Nissan Rogue where most other cars had parked and hiked in to the start of the trail.

1/2 mile hike to get to the trailhead... or drive a very sturdy 4-wheeler

This was the "road" for the suitable vehicles to drive to the trail.

Starting pretty high!

The hike began just below 9000 ft. elevation and it became evident pretty quickly as we were huffing and puffing our way up the trail. Not too bad but definitely noticeable! There were a significant amount of wildflowers and green around due to the large amount of rainfall they'd had in the past month.

The official trail began just across a creek which looked more like a river to me. Beautiful cool rushing water!

Wildflowers and green under blue sky!

Made it to Lost Lake!

Feeling the cold cold water

Hike was a little under 4.5 miles total with max. elevation of just shy of 10,000 ft (9825). Pretty amazing views!

After lunch we visited the Flatirons where I thought I'd go for a nice short jog loop... except everything starts UP and I quickly realized I would not be running any part of it. So I hiked up for 3/4 of a mile (gaining 460 ft) then ran a lateral/downward loop to get a little over a mile. The Flatirons are beautiful though!

I think I found my mountain tattoo... 🤩

Friday

Did: 2.1 mi @ 9:42/mi avg

Short loop from the hotel to Confluence Park in downtown Denver. Love a city with great pedestrian infrastructure!

Not to mention the low humidity - what a treat.

Saturday

Did: 3.18 mi @ 7:24/mi - RiNo 5k

Decided once we knew we were vacationing in Denver to find a local race so I could mark Colorado off the list of states where I've run a race. Found the RiNo 5k which was hosted in the Denver arts (River North = RiNo) district and ran around some lovely flat streets. I think if I hadn't been feeling sick since the day before (congestion, sore throat, fever) I probably could have run a PR here due to the low humidity and flat course, but I ran pretty well nonetheless and napped the rest of the day.