Colorado Ragnar 2017

I am so lucky to have run another beautiful Colorado Ragnar with some of the most lovely, strong, hilarious and inspirational women!  This weekend is definitely a fun running event, but it is also like a mental health retreat for me with some of my favorite ladies. 

I loved every bit of it:

• From the frosty early morning at the starting line sending our Runner One, Diana, off into the gathering light, to our Blue Man Group-ish revitalizing mud masks at our condo after-party.
• From the bottom of the mountain in Frisco climbing up up up to Copper Ski Resort where there were so many people with cheers and celebration bringing Van 1's first legs to a close, to creating a team tunnel to tearfully welcome Shireen to the finish line.
• From running beneath the Milky Way through Gypsum with Paula's husband, Steve, riding along for safety, to sleeping soundly (but for the passing train) under that same band of stars on the baseball field in Glenwood Springs.
• From our kind police friend who did not give me a ticket for (accidentally) driving with my lights off and not being the driver on the rental agreement, to each happy exchange of the sweaty slap bracelet.
• From the start in Copper to the finish over 200 miles later in Snowmass.
• From Runner Six's 7.9 steeply up, to 5.2 slightly down, to 3.3 slightly up.
• From waiting in a parking lot for an interview that never happened, to spotting a Golden Snitch we did not want to catch at the finish line.
• From mentally motivating ourselves, to cheering via text and in person at exchanges for our friends' accomplishments.
• From from all the laughing and laughing and laughing, to much learning about ourselves, each other, our own strength, the strength we have together, our determination, our friendship and our faith.

I don't Ragnar because I love to run, I Ragnar because I love the time with these women.  As the medals say, together we CAN accomplish anything! 

This needs to be said???!

Don't catch that Golden Snitch!  His number was pinned to the front.... 

Shevtiz Time!

We were so glad to be included in the Shevtizes' mega-cross-country-road-trip to bring Hannah out to her first year at her new boarding high school, the American Hebrew Academy in North Carolina.  We love any time we get to spend with them, letting the kids connect and have fun, and it felt like we got a little bit of Washington here in Colorado, since we didn't go out there this summer.  Especially because we had a lot of rain while they were here!  The kids were mostly happy to just play at the house, Max and Jake hadn't had many toys to play with after being on the road for over a week before coming here, so there was a lot to entertain the four little boys.  But Jen did take the whole crew swimming the first day so Hannah and Josh could get a workout and Tommy, Max and Jake could splash it out, while Luke recovered from the stomach flu at home.  Josh and Hannah spent a lot of time talking, laughing and catching up on the seasons of The Flash.  Unfortunately, Ben was gone for a lot of Hannah's visit, between High Adventure and XC Camp, but he was so happy to have a day with her to talk and chill, even though he was exhausted.  She will always be such a special friend to him!  We did get the crew out to CityRock the day before they had to get in the car for three long days of driving.  Gotta get those wiggles out!

After getting Hannah oriented and settled in, they came back through on their return drive.  We lost Hannah to NC, but gained Dave.  Ruby and Adam, in particular, were so happy.  We all had a filling dinner at the all-you-can-eat sushi place, and then Jen and I caught a late showing of The Glass Castle.  My boys had to head to school the next day, but Jen and I spent the day together, she helped me with a few pre-Ragnar errands, and Dave kept the boys happy with a walk to the park and bike riding in the neighborhood before I had to leave for Ragnar.  They left early the next day for the last two days of their epic road trip.

We love you guys!  Thanks for coming!