Running High

I'm sure most people think I fell off the Earth in the last week or so. I've been VERY busy with final exams and projects as I just finished the semester officially Thursday around 12:15 am. Then I slept for 4 hours, a typical nights sleep this past week (when I'm lucky) and headed to catch a plane to Lake City, Colorado. Needless to say, I've been exhausted and haven't had any time to post lately, so I'll give some of the highlights.

Last week's runs were really great. Despite being very very tired, I still got up and ran and was very happy I did so. On my runs I started off with the thought of just finish. It doesn't matter about the time, it just matters that I finish my miles for the day. On one day, as I was approaching the halfway point, I passed a runner I had met the previous week or so. I was a bit behind, so I picked up the pace and tried to catch him on my return leg. After about a mile I passed him going up the bridge. He was cheering me on and gave me a nice little push to help me climb the hill. As I neared the top of the bridge, there were 2 ladies who I've since decided they are official cheerleaders. They are always cheering for me when I pass them. They are complete strangers who don't know I'm training, but are there many days cheering me on. These few people along my trek make it a delight to run and I look forward to seeing them and enjoy that quick boost of energy that seems to come with it.

Now for a more literal "running high". I stated that I flew to Lake City, Colorado; if you google it you'll quickly find that it sits at an altitude of 8658 ft. Yes, quite a bit higher than the mile high city. Usually I plan to take it easy the first few days I'm here as I live at a mere 6 ft above sea level. But on this trip, there was no time to sit and wait. I missed my Wednesday run because I had an early final exam and I have been sleeping so little I couldn't give any up that night having gotten under 4 hours . Then I didn't run Thursday morning because I got up at 4am after sleeping less than 4 hours again, and I barely had time to catch my flight.

So after spending all day running necessary errands here, I got to Lake City and continued the fight to stay awake. As the afternoon was winding up and sun was winding down, a couple of us were going to go for a 1 mile walk, but I just couldn't stand to think that I'm going to be walking only 1-mile so instead, I got into my new cool weather running clothes and slipped out for my 4-mile run at 8658 ft. I ran up in the canyon with it's walls towering above me and the swift moving creek running beside me. I took it nice and easy, but was surprised at how easy the run was, even in my exhausted state, when surrounded by the beauty of nature. It was truly a running high, however you want to view it :)