Skiing!!

(L) Glenwood Springs Hot Springs Pool! Best place to relax at night after skiing!

Here I am looking slow on the ski slopes!

I had my first ever skiing experience in Colorado at Sunlight Mountain. We went up to Glenwood Springs for 3 nights and went skiing 2 of the days. Once I got myself a pair of ski boots and borrowed skis, goggles and helmet we headed to the mountain. Since Bryant doesn't have the patience for teaching me to ski, we purchased a group lesson which ended up being a private lesson. I had an amazing teacher and I caught on fairly quickly on how to shift my body weight for turns, how to stop and most importantly how to stay upright! I had a great time - but even on the green hills I had my fair share of wipeouts! Good thing Bry was there to 'rescue' me a few times! Even though my first day was rough, I felt pretty good overall. So much so that we bought tickets for a second day the following day and ended up going back! I did even better on Day 2 with the exception of Bryant taking me on one of the 'blue' trails by mistake. I ended up sliding down half of a steep hill on my bottom and running down the rest of the way!! Overall it was an amazing time and I couldn't have been happier and luckier to have the husband I have!!

Frozen Foot 5K

Well, this was my first race back after doing the Marine Corps Marathon back in October. I took the rest of the fall/winter to hone in on my strength training and interval running and cycling workouts. I ran this race on the campus of Colorado University's Boulder campus in Boulder, CO. Bryant and I were in Colorado for a winter vacation to include some time at my favorite place - the hot springs at Glenwood Springs and my first skiing experience at Sunlight Mountain!

The 5K was fun and probably one of the first 5K's that I have done in a long time. Overall it was a fun race, small field of runners but that's to be expected when it's about 20 degrees and there is snow and ice on the ground (the race definitely lived up to it's name!) I ran the race in 29:32 for an average pace of 9:30 min/mile. Not too bad considering the conditions. I was definitely starting to get winded halfway through - I'd only had 2 days to adjust to the altitude. I made a mental note that when I come back for the half-ironman in August that I give myself plenty of time to acclimate to the altitude.

My wonderful husband came out with me in the cold and snow and took the pictures above!