Visitor Welcome Center

I’m getting settled in our new home. I love, Love, LOVE it here. Sure, it’s not the big city, but it’s big enough and has everything we need. All the creature comforts: decent restaurants (even Thai and Vietnamese!), Whole Foods, REI, farmers markets, breweries, meat markets, you know, all the things yuppie/hipsters/people without kids need. My mantra all week was, “I can’t believe I live here!”
“Look at the mountains!”
“It’s so pretty, I can’t believe I live here!”
And on, and on, and on…

The view in The Springs!

I have been here a week and have adjusted well, I think. Way better than when I was here looking for a place to live at the beginning of the month. I only had a headache for one day and I only had one morning where I woke up super-early. Otherwise, I’m sleeping to or past 6am. AWESOME.

Saturday I did my first “real” workout. I’d been here less than a week and K strongly advised against it. He wanted to go to Garden of the Gods for an easy jog/walk on their trails. But, when I found out a friend’s boyfriend was going to the Manitou Incline…I couldn’t resist. I knew it would be bad. Nothing about this was a good idea. I negotiated and told him that I’d only make it to the Bailout point (about 3/4 of the way up, where it crosses a trail). <– Check out that video!! I would go as slow as I needed to to make it safely there. I brought my inhaler and we agreed on that plan. He mostly waited for me, would climb ahead, then wait…I’d catch up and he’d ask if I was ok, then he’d go on and repeat. And repeat. Made it to the Bailout and only used my inhaler once. Felt ok since I was going slooooooow. I knew if I felt ok that I’d never quit at the Bailout. He was going to keep going, so of course I did too. And…I made it! Haha.

Not dying.

I was one of the last to finish in our group, but I have to say I felt pretty great. Yes it was really hard, but I really took it easy since I didn’t know how my lungs and head would feel. So at the top we waited for almost 45min for the last guy in our group, took pictures, people watched….people do this in jeans and cowboy boots and flip flops….insane! Very much a mix of locals, people really training (like us), tourists, and families just on a stroll….a 1mile very uphill steep stairclimb stroll. Crazy.

Group photo…Pikes Peak in the background.

The way down the Incline is a 4 mile jaunt down the Barr Trail. This trail goes all the way up to Pikes Peak. It was very groomed (and crowded), but it’s steep enough for an awesome run down. Walking is fine too, but we let it carry us and I ran the whole way down. SUCCESS! Sure, it was high (6500-8500 feet), but I felt great. I’m very pleased that I handled the whole day better than I thought. I’m on the upswing and it’ll only get better!

Sunday I went to the Denver Botanical Garden for the Cactus & Succulent sale with Bridget. It was a really nice break from unpacking and living in amongst boxes. I’m totally into these little plants right now and love that there are so many neat things to do here!

My new project. Any succulent/cacti ideas?! Yes, that’s a desert alligator.

Back to the climb…since I felt like I handled the climb well, I told K Saturday night, “I think I’ll go back and do the Incline 2 more times this week!” *PAUSE* “Well, maybe I should see if I can walk tomorrow.”
Today is Monday and while I am pretty sore, it’s tolerable. Mostly my hips and lower back (bad form!). I’m really glad my quads and calves don’t have any feelings of soreness. I will probably wait until Tuesday-Thursday to go back. No need to push it.

I’m planning on trying out our CrossFit gym this week, and hopefully do the Incline at least once. Otherwise, I’ve been walking in our neighborhood and doing small active things without pushing too hard. Can’t wait to be 100% acclimated!

Even Whole Foods sells a version of “Bulletproof” coffee! So do the local cafes.

Now, hopefully back to a regular blog schedule…