The Concrete Welcomed Me Back... Bah!!

I took a week off from running. The last time I ran was last Wednesday at the hotel in Denver after my manager's meeting. This morning I finally convinced myself to get dressed and get out the door. After my warm up walk the first song that came on my phone radio was Let's Get is Started by Black Eyed Peas. What a perfect song to get me going!

Why did I take time off? Well, I was just exhausted! I was unmotivated. I did paint a few walls in my house so I wasn't a total dead beat but I just didn't feel like getting out there! Then I started my period...which didn't help my motivation. This morning before Michael left he came to wake me up to say Good Morning like he typically does (which is really sweet). He asked me if I was going to run this morning. "I don't know...I don't know" was all I said. The last few mornings have felt like there was a weight holding me in bed, glue holding me to my pillow. After he left I looked at my "100 Kicks in the Butt" article from Runner's World to see if something would inspire me to get my lazy butt out of bed. There was a quote that basically goes, "Am I going to be a wimp or am I going to be strong?" Well... how can you argue with that one? So, I got up. Found my running clothes and went for a run.

As I was working on mile 3 I totally tripped! The sidewalks in my neighborhood are anything but smooth. Usually I am able to avoid tripping because I pay attention to the horrible sidewalks but this morning...my first morning back in a week, I totally biffed it and fell. I tried to catch myself halfway down but gravity made sure I went ALL THE WAY to the concrete!! Ouch! Well, I got back up and kept running. Neon Laces, another runner in my neighborhood, ran by me on the street. I thought to myself, "Yeah Jessica, see how he is running on the street?? Ya dummy!" Oh well, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

I guess it was good that my quote this morning was "Am I going to be a wimp or an I going to be strong?"

Now, the question on my mind is...do I go to Zumba to night? I guess we'll see how the day goes.

The Manitou Incline has been DEFEATED!

I defeated the Manitou Incline one bloody stair at a time!!! Death felt close but I pulled through!!!

 The Manitou Incline is an extremely popular hiking trail here in Colorado. Mike, Dave and I challenged ourselves to the 2,000 ft vertical incline today. There were several times on the trail when I thought I was never going to reach the top! The slope of the trail reaches 68% at one point which makes it the perfect strength and endurance test. The average slop up is 40%. This test just proves that I am still a weakling and have a LOT of work to do... What a trip!

 Here is a photo of the stairs:

This trail is like an endless stairway to heaven! Oh man, my legs hurt just looking at those rail ties. This railroad was built in 1907 for the hydroelectric plant and its' waterline. After that service was done it was turned into a tourist attraction boasting a 16 minute ride to "scenic splendors." Technically sections of the incline are owned by U.S. Forest Service, Manitou & Pikes Peak Railway Co., and Colorado Springs Utilities and is not open to the public.  This doesn't stop the flood of people hiking up the trail!!!

I would walk about 20 steps then stop, 20 steps then stop, 10 steps then stop etc... This a difficult trail! There were a couple spots where I dumped my water on my back to cool me off. I'd look up on my breaks and think, "damn! there's sooo much more!" Of course my language was not that great, the only words that really formed in my mind were curse words. I trudged on and made it to the top!!!

There is a Bailout Point at about .6 of a mile up the trail. Boy, I am glad I didn't know about the bailout point! I may have taken it!!! My legs hurt! Or I guess the feeling in my legs would be described more as jello than pain... Few! The hike up to the top of the stairway to heaven...or hell was .9 of a mile. This is where the second link to the Barr Trail is. The total mileage of our loop was about 3.7 miles. The Barr Trail was great! I think I would like to look into going back and just doing the Barr Trail start to finish instead of the incline.

How long did the whole trip take me? I finished the incline in about an hour and a half and made it back to my car within hours. I didn't keep a good log of the times we made, I was focused more on finishing the challenge I gave myself.

On to the next challenge! Anyone have ideas on what I should do next? Where should I go? Are there any trails or anything that you would suggest I try??

http://www.manitouspringsgov.com/library/documents/general/incline/MANITOU_INCLINE_Brief_Overview.pdf

http://www.colorado-springs-vacation.com/manitou-incline.html

http://www.manitouincline.net/main.htm

Look at these happy folks. They get the easy trip up! :) This photo was taken in 1914.

Oh my, oh my.

"Oh my, oh my. I'm heading into Zumba but to be honest I'm still feeling beat from Saturday! Here I go!" I said as I went into Zumba last night.

I made it from 5:15 - 6:20 at Zumba. It felt great and gave me some energy to finish out the evening. Thankfully, my wonderful boyfriend made our dinner tonight! Fish no less! Mmm it was yummy!

Now it is Tuesday morning and I am feeling tired and a little tight. I didn't sleep well last night. I have several mosquitoes bites from my trip to the dam and they are all inflamed and itch like crazy. I never get just one bite, right now there are 5 on my left leg alone. 2 of them are huge. That is what I get for not bringing deet along with me on my ride.

To help my tightness, I need to do a good segment of yoga to loosen my muscles up. I have been stretching as I move around but I really need to commit at least a solid half hour to some yoga. Perhaps tonight after work I will be able to take a half hour to stretch so that tomorrow morning I can go for a run. The only downside to loving Daily Mile's graphs is that when there are no miles on the week, it is disappointing. I just have to remind myself that I did a ton of miles on Saturday and did Zumba yesterday. It isn't like I am just sitting around!

Time to finish this cup of coffee and get this day started.

Ride the Rio and more!

July 30th was an amazingly active day! My body is still recovering from how much I did on Saturday. I ran 5 miles in the morning then at 2pm Mike and I joined some cool people for a Ride The Rio-Party Bike Ride.

My run was excellent!!! I had my Black Eyed Peas station pumping up my motivation as I added miles behind me! I always feel like I could take on the world after my runs. I couldn't run 5 miles in one session 3 months ago and now I can! It has been an interesting journey for me as I slowly add miles each week.

Our bike ride was about 22 miles total, including riding to and from home. Along the way there were a couple places to swim. The second spot had a pretty strong current and I swam back and forth several times to jump off a wall. Oh man it was a blast however, my poor little weak arms are sore! Apparently I need to do more work on strengthening my arms since even moving my water cup hurts today!

What I love about days like July 30th is that it proves I can do it! I am an active chicka! I got out there and challenged myself. Sure, I know most of the people we were hanging out with do way more biking and other activities. One of them has even biked across the US. They bike all over the city and beyond. This is an extremely active crowd! However, for this girl who is typically sitting behind her desk, a day like Saturday proves to me that I have what it takes.

I even came away with some war wounds, if I can call them that. LOL! I have a cut and bruise on my knee from climbing the rocks at the second swimming stop. I also have some scratches from running into Mike's bike and crashing. On our way back from the Dam, Mike and I were just cruising along when all of a sudden two girls from our group, Rita and Kristy jumped out yelling "boo!" Mike stopped right away but my realization of what was going on was slightly delayed. There was a group of people coming from the opposite direction so I was looking at them and not the fact that Mike stopped. So, I crashed into Mike's bike. It all happened so fast!! It was a pretty funny scene! :) There I was cracking up while sitting on a pile of bikes.  I wish we had taken a photo!

What an amazing day crash and all!


Mike and I on our matching bikes. Meet Ol'Betty and Rusty. :)



This was the ad describing the event.





Having some beer to cool off.