Checking off the bucket list

Since we have lived in Colorado I have wanted to run in the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon.  It is always around the first week of August and I did not run last year for obvious reasons (I was birthing a child).  I did it this year on Saturday, 8/11!  It is such an awesome race!  It starts in the mountains in Georgetown, an old mining town along I-70.  It finishes in Idaho Springs, another mining town.  The course is along the frontage road, which runs along Clear Creek.  Most of the race is on the road but about 2 miles is on a dirt path.  It starts at 8,500 feet and eventually ends at 7,500 feet.  There are some ups and downs, but for the most part it is a gradual downward.  I drove to the race by myself and David and Austin met me at the finish line.  We ate at Two Brothers Deli in IS after the race.  I finished with my second-fastest time ever of 1:37:56.  The course was so pretty and I felt really good the whole time. Here are a few pictures from the starting line. 

On Monday 8/13, Lauren, David and I took off to climb a 14-er.  We left the house around 5:15 and drove to the Grays & Torres Peaks trailhead near Idaho Springs.  We were all ready to summit Grays peak.  It was much colder than we thought it would be.  I have climbed 2 other 14-ers (a peak higher than 14,000 feet; there are about 50 of them in Colorado).  It was sunny and mild both other times so I was not expecting it to be cloudy (especially since we left so early in order to finish before the afternoon mountain storms).  The sun never showed up.  The elevation gain of the hike was a total of about 3,000.  We parked around 11,000 and climb to about 14,200.  The only problem was that at about 500 feet from the top (about 45 min of hiking), it started to rain, then SNOW (lightly).  David was behind Lauren and I and he was informed by a search and rescue man that it was only going to get worse.  He had a radar device.  He advised us to turn around and head down as quickly as we could.  David was not shy in taking his advice to heart.  So we all made the decision to turn around, only about 45 min away from the top.  Oh well, we tried.  It rained on us on the way down (we were prepared with ponchos but somehow we all forgot to wear warm pants).  We made it to the car, stopped for some warm food (chili) in Idaho Springs, before heading home to see Austin and mom.  Mom was so kind to keep Austin and take him to school while we attempted to hike a 14-er.  Even though we didn't make it to the very top, it was still fun!