I know it’s Wednesday and the weekend is long past, but I just got back from skiing in Colorado with SpeedyKate and it was fantastic! Snowcapped mountains, sunshine, skiing, and copious amounts of Mexican food miiight just equal my ideal weekend experience.
We went to Copper Mountain and Breckenridge with her parents. The conditions were “spring” to say the least – meaning a bit warm in the afternoons and a bit icy/crusty in the mornings, but overall it was pretty freaking glorious. The number of words needed to express and explain my love for skiing would fill many a blog post…so let’s just say that I love skiing a lot and leave it at that for now.
Luckily SpeedyKate lives up to her name in skiing as well as running. Not that I wouldn’t have waited for her at the bottom of every run, but it was really nice that I didn’t have to! (That sounds incredibly arrogant, but let me explain: I ski raced instead of going to high school, so I’m pretty speedy on the slopes.)
We kicked off the weekend with delicious Mexican food in Denver. Real Mexican is one of the very best things/things I miss most about the West. Tamale me please! And we went for a second experience in Breckenridge because why not maximize the chips and salsa and mole? For Mexican #2 we met up with one of my summer camp friends. She lives and works in Colorado and is currently strategically planning (i.e. it’s a choice on purpose) to live out of her truck and rock climb and then get her EMT license. Conclusion: laid back in DC vs. laid back in CO are two completely different plains of existence. In addition to days up and down the moguls, SpeedyKate and I got up extra early in the mornings to run pre-skiing. I’m sorry to report that I was a bit of a whiny-pants. Despite my summers spent running at 9,000 feet, the altitude really got to me this time! The scenery was gorgeous, but at 9,600 feet, a morning run in Breckenridge may have been the worst 28 minutes of my life (pure exaggeration there, but you get the idea). Every step felt like the very end of a race, and I may have thrown a (mostly) internal runner’s tantrum…sorry SpeedKate…
After running we started the day with a hearty breakfast (thank you Ken and Linda!!!) before heading to the hill. We skied until the lifts closed every day (like the intense people we are), with just a brief lunch break mid-afternoon. The runs were pleasantly empty considering it’s mid-March, which was ideal. Duck-and-weaving around unpredictable skiers and snowboarders can get a bit scary. We also met up with Amy, one of my college track teammates, for a run in Denver (oh the relative luxury of 5,000 feet!). We looped around a park just like old times in Boston, except this time we were accompanied by an adorable dog and I was gasping for breath.
The long weekend ended far too soon and we were both so sad to leave. I am currently trying to figure out how to move DC closer to mountains so I can work in my field but also be a semi-ski bum...any ideas?
