Colorado Trails

This morning for the first time in months, I decided to head out to our trail. We are fortunate to live near the Cherry Creek Trail which is an out and back trail near Denver and happens to run through our town. When I was training for the NYC marathon I would run miles and miles but this morning time was limited.

The heavy, gray clouds threatened to release a downpour but I was lucky to have this storms hold off for the time I was out on the trail.

The Colorado trail system is outstanding with over 39,000 miles of trails throughout the state with those miles scattered on 17,000 trails. What this means for residents of Colorado is that pretty much anywhere we go, we have access to a paved or dirt trail.

When we first moved here and were training for marathons, many of the local races we ran were held on the trail system. What a difference it was to run a race with about 100 people on trails versus running NYRR races in Central Park with thousands of runners. It was humbling because with so many people in the NYC races, I was usually middle to back of the pack. With only about 100 people and running at fairly high altitude I was always back of the pack.

Today I got out for about a thirty minute walk. I go North as I like to see our little burbling creek at about the halfway point.

Walking back from the creek I spotted a lonely little cactus sitting apart from its other cactus friends. It made me think of Jim and me, currently separated from friends and family, and not exactly where we should be, but hanging in there, trying to thrive where we are and trying to figure out where we should be. Until we do, I will continue to seek out the beauty of the area where we are and be thankful for what we have.