So, I think I feel so daunted by my pictures that I have been shying away from writing shorter, less detailed posts.  Probably at some point I'll explain the varying climates I photographed and why I was there in detail, but for now I'll just keep it simple.  And for now, I can at least explain that my recent hiking stint began, in March I believe, by waking up at 4:00 in the morning to leave Greeley at 4:30 (I wasn't the driver) to get to the trailhead by 6:30.  It's remarkable how much adrenaline can fuel you, even if you're going on a ~12 mile hike in the snow and precarious conditions.  My friend Beth and I ended up scaling the side of a rather steep incline of packed in snow to avoid a narrow, icy road on our attempt to hike Mt. Evans, a 14-er about an hour west of Denver.  We weren't able to actually hike it since the trail was so snowy, but we hiked a while up the road, which was closed, and did see some sheep (?) and lovely views. 

Since my roommate has been out of town, I've been mowing the lawn, and I think that I'm getting the hang of it.  Today was my third time with it, and I admired my work afterwards.  I also bought some arch supports at the running store today, which feel really strange in my shoe.  Hopefully they'll solve some of the problems I've been having, but the store's owner perplexed me more by suggesting that my problems aren't structural, but dietetic. Um...his advice was to go to a masseuse named Maria and get some bloodwork done.  I might do 1/3 of that, but first I'll just try some workouts that don't require my feet to make contact with the ground.  After Doug (the store's owner) left, another person working in the store told me that Maria was kind of scary and Doug a little crazy (he suggested that the other staff bike 45 miles twice a day to substitue for running 15 miles), and then we had a much less terrifying conversation about my injuries.  Then I got some books about running and cross-training at the library.

The week before last I went to a conference for professionals who work with youth through workforce development centers throughout Colorado - the conference was in Colorado Springs, home to Pikes Peak and apparently also the president's secret hide out (NORAD).  That's serious stuff.  The conference was great - I went to some great sessions on job readiness training for youth and government use of social media and I got to visit the Mile High youth corps' office for a group conference call (my program has once every 2 months) we had on Wednesday.  I had a good time with my coworkers - we spent quality time with staff from (hip, elite, organic) Boulder County, which, according to stereotype, is the exact opposite of (rural, agricultural, meat producing, flat) Weld County.  I might have danced.

So, those are a few things...I've been doing interviews with my supervisor/another coworker for our summer programs, which is very interesting to say the least.  I'm trying to replace my running and walking with something else substantial (swimming, biking, elliptical-ing) while I let my things (illiotibial band, shins) heal.  And I'm going to NOLA/BR in a week...so I'll see some of you soon!

The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs