Humble beginnings:
I moved to Boulder at the end of Jan. 2010, jobless in unfamiliar territory. I had a few friends in Denver and was slowly building my acquaintance list in Boulder. My days consisted of a daily regiment of job applications and rigorous triathlon training blocks. With my sister I had signed up for a Half Ironman 70.3 in Syracuse 9/19/2010 on a whim but had plenty of time to become an endurance athlete. One of the first road blocks I ran into here in Colorado was the altitude. I had thought I was an athlete before I moved here but the altitude is debilitating and on top of that you are surrounded by other extremely fit individuals. I would get on the treadmill at the gym at 8 min pace and only make it 800m until I had to call uncle. I think my buddy Chris said it best, "I hide it, I dont tell people im a skier or a runner, I just say that I sometimes hang out at the mountain and join the occasional nightly run club." The standard here is much higher. The bar having been raised, I tried to go out on runs forcing myself into uncharted waters on routes over 3 miles. I was running 6 min pace for a mile in NY but out here I couldn't even better 8 min pace. I loved the fact that I was able to run outside in January as I took to a bit of trail running/photography sessions. A goal setter, I wanted to reach the goal of 2:30 or better for an Olympic Triathlon and @4:30 for my first Half Ironman. These are ambitions goals as it turns out and I needed help from someone who knew what they were doing. I had never been a distance runner, frankly I never understood it, I always got bored with my thoughts after 20 mins and in order to reach my goal of becoming an Ironman I had to indulge in this new culture.
I began to look into those run clubs that Chris mentioned. Fleet Feet running store in Boulder had a team and a night group run. Its a chain running store, and I was familiar with the name at least. I tracked down Kylee who was a legit runner in college and broke contact with her. I think right away she understood what I was up against and immediately took me under her wing. She was just as eager as I was to meet new people to run with so we met a few days later for what would be my longest run to date 5.8 miles. I knew ahead of time that this was going to be a death sentence, that she was going to show me up and run me into the ground but I did it anyway. No not out of desperation, but out of the same love for the sport that we later found a commonality.
As predicted, her "easy" pace almost killed me. It definitely brought me back to reality, however the endorphins must have been spiking for this coed post run because after running my ass into the ground she asked me if I would like to join her to the film festival in Boulder. We agreed to a drink prior to that as well. We parted ways for a few hours, I got in a nap to recoup and we met up at the Mountain Sun Pub.
I greeted her out front with, "You clean up nice" which is a great quality to have as a female athlete. MSP is sort of like a brewery, in that it only sells craft beer and up till now I had not experienced much of the local tastes. I soon found out that Kylee was a Stout girl (stout month at MSP is in Feb.)
After some introductory conversation (since I couldn't really talk that much on our run) we headed down the street to the BANFF event. Being in a room with so many other outdoor enthusiasts both men and women alike justified my move halfway across the country in search of like minded people in one fail swoop.
This stunt was unvailed and had us all in awe
At the conclusion of the film I was overwhelmed with feelings and ideas of jumping my car over or off something. I was excited and my adventurous spirit had been reawakened. I was home, that home where your heart was waiting for you to find it. I realized this after watching more then half the crowd mount their bikes parked out side and ride home into the night. This wasn't necessarily a date but it was definitely the beginning of a beautiful friendship and partnership that is very fitting for the first entry in this blog.
**This video epitomizes the thinking that will undertone of my adventures with my adventure buddy. Now get out there and have some fun.
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