Crested Beautiful

We had a wonderful weekend with Gandma Kathy in Crested Butte.  The leaves were beautiful, the days sunny and warm and the evenings cool and crisp.  It was the perfect fall weekend.  We headed up on Friday morning and arrived in the early afternoon.  The drive up was very pretty, Kenosha Pass was past peak for the aspen, but still beautiful, and Monarch Pass was stunning.  We relaxed for a little, but by that evening I was feeling stir crazy, so set off in the Jeep to drive up Red Lady mountain to check out the trees and the sunset.  It was a nice ride in the Jeep, not real tough, and very pretty.

On Saturday we packed the whole family up in the Jeep and headed for the Crystal Mill.  We drove out Schofield to the Devil's Punchbowl 4X4 road.  This road is notorious for a terrible accident 30 years ago where an entire family in a Suburban plunged off the cliffside.  I had walked down the road with Mike Ogburn during a previous trip to scope it out, and felt confident that I wouldn't have any trouble with it, as long as we took our time.  The trail follows the crystal river down a steep gorge, the devil's punchbowl itself is a series of waterfalls.  The photo I have doesn't do justice to just how pretty this was.  If you look carefully at the photo on the right you can see me down in the river taking photos.

We stopped on the way to the "town" of Crystal and the Crystal Mill for some beautiful portraits in the warm golden light.

The Crystal Mill itself really was very nice.  Erin and I were both hoping that we would get a chance to explore the millworks and see how it operated, but it was on the other side of the river and it didn't seem like visitors were encouraged to go inside.  Nonetheless it was a great photo opportunity and I am very pleased with the picture that I got there.  After looking at it I thought it would be really interesting in black and white too.  Let me know what you think.

After our visit to the mill it was past time to head home and get the little boy home for a nap.  Erin spent some time doing some homework and I decided to head for a run. 

One of our hopes for the summer was to hike through the Maroon Bells Wilderness, you can do a day hike from Crested Butte across to Aspen, and we were really interested in doing that.  Unfortunately it didn't pan out, but I have been really interested in at least doing a little exploring in that area.  So, I headed out for West Maroon Pass.  It was about a 4 mile run one way, with 2500' or so of elevation gain.  I was getting a pretty late afternoon start but I really hoped that I would be able to make it to the pass.  Just as I started out, I met a couple and their 1.5 year old son who had done the entire hike from Aspen that day.  They looked tired, but thrilled with their accomplishment, when I told them it was only 100 more yards to the trailhead.  It was a really inspiring way to start my run, and started me off with a smile on my face.  The trail was glorious traversing the high alpine meadows and the afternoon sun cast a beautiful glow across the mountain peaks.  I was starting to get a little nervous about time, I didn't want to be stuck out after dark, but as I was starting to think I needed to turn around soon, I rounded a bend and saw the pass close in front of me.  It was a surprisingly easy last push to the top and I spent a few moments enjoying the view.  There was a group of campers setting up for dinner down the other side of the pass and I enjoyed the distant sounds of laughing and camaraderie from my perch high above them.  Just before the sun set  behind the mountains, I left the top of the pass and headed back down the valley.  I got back to the trail head still with plenty of light left in the sky.  It was one of those runs that is good for the soul.

The next day Kathy and I took Xander for a hike to Judd Falls.  It is about a mile hike in and very pleasant.  The falls are beautiful and there is a nice overlook to enjoy them from.  The light was no good for photos of the falls, but we took some time to get a couple of pictures of Xander instead.

In the afternoon we decided to head out towards Pearl Pass in the Jeep.  We had a dinner reservation at the Ginger Cafe so we didn't expect to make it all the way to the pass, but we thought we would head out a ways.  It was a very nice drive, and gave us a chance to do some exploring in a new direction out of Crested Butte.  We even made it back in time for our dinner reservation!

Grandma Kathy spent lots of time playing with Xander during our trip, and was able to teach him how to catch.  Now, he is certainly no pro yet, but he has started to be able to actually catch a soccer ball when you toss it to him!  So exciting.  Xander had lots of fun showing off his new skills.

If you have been following our blog for a while, you also know that Erin has really been wanting that "perfect" aspen shot.  This was of course a great opportunity to try to get it, so naturally every time we saw a promising stand of aspen we stopped for photos.  We got lots!  Now the trouble is narrowing down which one is THE one.  Here's a sampling of some we particularly like.

Let us know what you think!

It was an incredible weekend that we all really enjoyed.  Fall is probably my favorite season, and I can't imagine a more perfect fall weekend.

-Jake

These are a few of my favorite things

Xander's Favorite things, people and places...

Xander's "Crew" 

Xander, Anna, Jack, Alex and Leah



Playing at the park with Best Friend, Jack!

Eating.... especially fresh tomatoes and beans straight from Mom's garden!

 



Xander just loves being outside and cries when it is time to come in.  No surprise, his mom usually feels the same way.  Here's Xander playing in the garden, pushing his wheelbarrow, and showing Jake around his "kingdom."

  Xander really really wanted to climb the tree but wasn't quite so sure what to do when he was up there!

(For those out there worried that we left our kid to hang out in a tree alone, if you look carefully, Erin is in the background hiding...  you've seen this trick before!)

Playtime with Dad is awesome and Xander gets really excited when it's time for Jake to come home.  Best times of all if he can combine time with Dad, a ball, and his best-buddy and dog, Blitz!

The call

Xander got the news that he is going to be a big brother.  First came shock, then excitement!

Working up an Appetite

It seems like fall is on its way to Colorado.  The leaves are just starting to fall a little down here on the plains, and I hear that the aspens are turning in the high country.  I'm looking forward to seeing the beautiful foliage this year.  I'm still trying to get that perfect aspen photo for Erin, and maybe I'll get a chance to do it this year in Crested Butte.

With the leaves falling, there is yard work to be done, so Xander and I spent a little time this afternoon raking the yard while Erin was doing homework with her team on a conference call.  Xander was an enthusiastic and very serious little helper, he got all of his garden tools out to try to help me rake the yard.  We raked all the leaves up into a pile, but sometimes he just couldn't help falling into the leaves or running through the pile giggling.  So we raked them up again, and then ran though the leaves again!  Eventually it was time to bag the leaves up, and Xander though that was pretty fun too.  He even managed to get some of the leaves into the bag.

After all that Xander had worked up quite an appetite.  We cooked beef stroganoff together (Xander watched while I cooked) and he ate 4 plates full!  After that it was time for a bath and bed.  That makes for a pretty good day.

-Jake

Iron-Dad

Erin here!

I just want to add a little something to Jake's post.  We are all quite impressed that a guy who 8 months ago drug his feet along the bottom of the pool while flailing his arms wildly and who exhausted himself before getting one length completed has learned to swim well enough to not only complete but COMPETE in a half-ironman distance swim.  We are not surprised at all that he made up so much time on the bike and the run.  I, for one, am incredibly proud of how hard he worked towards this goal, the many many hours spent in training, and the sacrifices he had to make.  I am selfishly enjoying the benefits of having such a buff husband and quite pleased that I'll have a little more of his attention and time now that he is "only" training for a sub-3-hour marathon in Boston. 

But what I'm most impressed with is the way that Jake has continued to balance, life, work, and family.  Jake is such an amazing father for Xander and always makes time for him, even when he is exhausted.  After the Tri, I needed to do schoolwork with my team, which meant Jake really didn't have any time to rest after getting home.  The poor guy didn't even get a shower before I told him he was in charge of not just Xander, but Jack Fossum as well.  He put his game face on, told me not to worry about it, and played with the boys until I could take over again.

So, I am taking this opportunity to name Jake an official "Iron-Dad" and tell him how much I appreciate him every day!

Exceeding Expectations

I completed my first triathlon on Sunday.  It was the Harvest Moon Half Ironman here in Aurora, CO.  I decided to start with a half ironman distance because I needed a triathlon that was long enough for me to make up time on the bike and run for my poor swimming.  In the end, I think that this strategy worked out pretty well.  My goal was to finish the race in 6 hours.  My stretch goal was to finish in 5:30.  When I started the race I thought that I'd probably finish in 5:40 or so, if everything went really well.  My actual finish time was 5:09:48.  I was 13th out of 35 competitors in my age group and 99th out of about 400 compeitors total in the triathlon.

For you tri folks out there, here's the stats:
1.2 mile Swim: 48:30 (375th place)  Yuck, but what I expected.
T1: 2:27
56 mile Bike: 2:43:14 (124th place) This is a 20.5 mph average.  Not bad for a very hilly course.
T2: 1:16
13.1 mile Run: 1:34:23 (31st place) This is a 7:13 min/mile pace.

I couldn't be happier with how I performed.  I trained a lot for this and the race really went well.  My swim time was pretty poor, but I finished it, which was my goal, and even after biking 56 miles hard I was able to run a boston marathon qualifing pace for the half marathon in very hot conditions.

I can't help thinking about how much better I could do though.  If I could shave 15 minutes off my swim time and bring my bike speed up 2 miles per hour, I could have finished in 6th place for my age group with a time of 4:40.  Of course, the winner in my age group finished in 4:12 with a swim of 29 minutes, bike speed of 24.8 mph and run pace of 6:34 min/mile.  I just don't see myself ever getting that fast.  Oh well.

Next goal, sub 3 hour boston marathon in April 2011 and then maybe another half ironman in the summer.  After that, maybe, just maybe, a full ironman in 2012.  We'll see.  It is a lot of training, but after this I feel pretty confident that I could do it.

-Jake