Hmmm….this view looks familiar.

Yep, it’s Sunday afternoon and we are headed to the mountains. Okay. We may have a slight addiction to clean crisp air, pine trees, and mountain sports, but who is judging?

Mr. B and I are attempting the Elk Meadow trail run again. Remember, what happened last time? Dehydration, hunger, rain, soreness, and a map navigation fail. So, not fetch. In order to avoid catastrophe again we came prepared.

Hydration: CHECK

Map Navigation: CHECK
(notice how Bret is checking the map, and not me….)

Chi running on mind: CHECK

To our surprise it was warmer than we thought when we started on the trail head. Even though we have lived in Colorado for over three years now, sometimes I forgot how intense the sun can be. Eh, details.

We walked about a half mile on the rocky trail to get our blood pumping. I was feeling really motivated to get a farther distance in because I have only been attempting 2 to 3 miles of running  at a time lately to work on my form and to give my hip a break.  I was ready to rock out!

And rock out, I did. After we got through the switchbacks, which are always a pain in the butt to run, we reached some small hilly rollers, and let’er rip. I finally felt my whole body align. It was W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L. At that point I knew this trail was mine for the taking.

When we finished the 5 mile run, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. For one my hip wasn’t hurting. YAY! Two, I finally felt that runner’s high. Oh, runner’s high, how I have missed you.

I feel as though I am back, but still have a lot of work in front of me to do. But today, I will appreciate this small victory. At least this past month and a half hasn’t been a huge waste of time.

Who knows, maybe a marathon is in my cards?