Colorado- 2012:

Saturday May 19 4:30 am....The alarm sounds "I'm Sexy and I Know It".... Time to get off and get the coffee brewing just 30 minutes until we leave or the airport to catch our 7:40 flight into Denver. Going through security was interesting. They saw a small metal piece in one of my tennis shoes and had to investigate it. Turns out I wasn't a terroist or killer after all. That little metal sliver was just a bobby pin...oops! After that I got my usual grande quad skinny carmel macchiatto from starbucks and waited to board. On the plane I enjoyed my book Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World. And after awhile of reading i nodded of into a peaceful sleep. After about a two hour flight we landed! Next stop Caribou Coffee and then off to get the rental car. ? Just about two hours later we got to my Aunt Karen and Uncle Scott's house in Colorado Springs where we would be staying for the next couple of days. Its really the cutest little house, not to mention the view from my bedroom window which is just gorgeous. After having some soup for lunch it was time for a run while my mom took a nap. It was a little raining and chilly so I suited up in my Under Armor and my Nike windbreaker and was off. I ran down to a cute little out door mall about 3.5 miles away and shopped for a bit of course before running back home. I got a smoothie from good ole Smoothie King after my run and enjoyed the company of the fam while stretching. Then it was off to take a nice hot shower and catch up on some Gossip Girl before falling asleep.

Sunday May 20th: First stop the coffee maker. Then onto a protein shake for breakfast before heading out for the next adventure. We went down to the Garden of the Gods to get my dad the petrified wood he requested (he is so weird sometimes lol). We unfortunately didn't to get to rock climb like we had hoped, but that's ok because it still turned out to be an awesome day! We went down to Pikes Peak next and went up the Manitou Springs incline. It is about a mile in all stairs (actually they are old railroad ties) up the incline. I'm not gonna lie it is tough. The steep incline combined with the high elevation was a breathtaker. Not to hard but definitly a good challenge. After reaching the top and taking a victory picture I jogged down Barr Trail while my mom followed behind walking. It was about a 3.4 mile jog down the trail to the base. What a beautiful run! I did eat dirt on the way down tripping over a rock but all was well and I just ended up with a minor battlewound on my knee. Nothing to serious at all and frankly falling is something I have come to expect out of my clumsy self. We went back to my Aunt's house showered and then headed off to Mackenzie's Chop House for dinner. It was super nice and the food was amazing. I had the house salad (spinach, lettuce, walnuts, balsamic marinated apples and grapes) and the best salmon I have ever tasted paired with mushrooms and asparagus. It was devine! Such a great dinner. Now I'm just sitting here typing this before I hit the sack for tommorow the big day of visiting Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Should be an exciting day!

See you at the top of the Mountain,
Nicole


Manitou Incline