Firsts
Yesterday was a first for me.
We got up early and made our way to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for the Run to the Shrine.
This is an incredibly tough 5K with a two mile ascent up this hill to the Will Rogers Shrine. Of course what goes up must come down so from the Shrine to the finish line is another mile followed by yet another mile back down to the parking lot.
The ascent is awful...the whole way I was wondering why the heck I was doing this again. It's not fun, there is nothing enjoyable about it. Last year when Mary and I reached the summit we took a look at the Shrine and toasted each other for making it to the top. This year we were moving along at a pretty good pace so there was no stopping for fun. We made the turn and headed straight back down.
I'm more of a walker than a runner, but I usually run for a couple minutes and then walk for a couple minutes. Yesterday, however, the goal was to finish in less than an hour so Mary and I ran the entire way back down that hill. We didn't quite make the 1 hour goal, but we were darn close. Mr. Beans finished in an impressive 38 minutes!
Here Mary and I are coming across the finish line hand in hand. I felt really good about our performance. This is the first time I've run an entire mile straight through. Woohoo!
Afterwards everyone was starved and Mr. Beans wanted to go to IHOP.
For the first time ever I got to order off the 55+ menu. Finally a somewhat reasonably sized plate of food! I know we Americans are used to our obscenely huge portions of food--as evidenced by our ever growing girths and poor health--but I am glad to finally be old enough to order off the "old people's" menu. I plan to be just like the 77 year old lady who finished the Garden of the Gods 5K two seconds ahead of me two weeks ago. I'm going to be that little old lady who runs her first marathon at 75.
Now Irv and especially Mr. Beans did not see the need for small portions. Mr. Beans had French toast, bacon, hash brown, and scrambled eggs and ate every drop of it.
It was a really fun day with some of my favorite people.
We got up early and made our way to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for the Run to the Shrine.
This is an incredibly tough 5K with a two mile ascent up this hill to the Will Rogers Shrine. Of course what goes up must come down so from the Shrine to the finish line is another mile followed by yet another mile back down to the parking lot.
The ascent is awful...the whole way I was wondering why the heck I was doing this again. It's not fun, there is nothing enjoyable about it. Last year when Mary and I reached the summit we took a look at the Shrine and toasted each other for making it to the top. This year we were moving along at a pretty good pace so there was no stopping for fun. We made the turn and headed straight back down.
I'm more of a walker than a runner, but I usually run for a couple minutes and then walk for a couple minutes. Yesterday, however, the goal was to finish in less than an hour so Mary and I ran the entire way back down that hill. We didn't quite make the 1 hour goal, but we were darn close. Mr. Beans finished in an impressive 38 minutes!
Here Mary and I are coming across the finish line hand in hand. I felt really good about our performance. This is the first time I've run an entire mile straight through. Woohoo!
Afterwards everyone was starved and Mr. Beans wanted to go to IHOP.
For the first time ever I got to order off the 55+ menu. Finally a somewhat reasonably sized plate of food! I know we Americans are used to our obscenely huge portions of food--as evidenced by our ever growing girths and poor health--but I am glad to finally be old enough to order off the "old people's" menu. I plan to be just like the 77 year old lady who finished the Garden of the Gods 5K two seconds ahead of me two weeks ago. I'm going to be that little old lady who runs her first marathon at 75.
Now Irv and especially Mr. Beans did not see the need for small portions. Mr. Beans had French toast, bacon, hash brown, and scrambled eggs and ate every drop of it.
It was a really fun day with some of my favorite people.
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