Colorado

I found this in my documents folder. Written Mid June (?):

Today I am forcing myself to take a day off from working out. My stomach is just not quite right and I haven’t been getting enough sleep to properly recover. It is a beautiful day outside (80 degrees and sunny) and so I’m hoping I don’t screw myself by not taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Instead of working out, I thought I’d channel some energy into blogging. I have a few half written posts that I will get up soon but in the meantime, I thought I would write about Colorado….

I never realize just how much stress I sign myself up for. Really, who moves to a new state a million miles away where they don’t know anyone to start studying for possibly the biggest test of her life? All of this 2 weeks after returning to the US after 10 months away. It hasn’t been easy. The cold and rainy period was really icky after I had been promised beautiful summer weather (where it would be warm by 9 or 10am). Right.

On the bright side, I’ve scored some great deals on puffy jackets and other warm weather gear to keep me warm. Driving from Denver to Gunnison, I saw more snow than I’ve ever seen before. And this was in May. Not prime-time snow time for Colorado.

Other things that are different:
-Hills and mountains everywhere. I’m trying to get over my mental block about biking up hills, but it is coming slowly.
-Altitude. From sea level to 8000 feet. Yeah, it takes some getting used to. Coupled with the hills, some days I feel like my lungs are going to explode (or collapse). Other days, I look around and really enjoy the view
-Flowers: The wildflowers are starting to come out. Man, I miss tropical flowers. Poppys are popular here Mostly everyone has the same 2 or 3 kinds of flowers in their yard. They pop out amidst the green grass and bright blue skies. Not quite hibiscus style, but they will do for now
-The River: it flows right behind our backyard. I’ve sat on the back deck thinking that if I tried hard enough I could make it sound like waves, but I never can. The river is fun though. The dog enjoys cooling off in it and I’ve enjoyed rafting down it.

In case you didn’t get the theme, my list involves everything relating to the outdoors- that’s because the outdoors is what people do here. Sometimes it is intimidating when it seems like everyone here is in better (physical) shape than I will ever be able to achieve. However, it is really spectacular to go mountain biking with rockstars (including semi-retired pros) all the time. I love it so much that last week I spent 15 hours playing outside. That 15 hours of work/play (not including driving time, etc.).

I miss the beach. A lot. And I feel sort of guilty for this, but I’m sort of glad I’m not sweating it out in FL right now where it is 110 degrees.