Back to Center...

We've been back from our Western Road Trip for about two weeks now. We had a great time hanging out with family and friends along the way. Check out more details at the family site. A few highlights aside from good time spent with my Grandma, Mom, and brother were our first visit to Moab and Arches National Park. There was a ton of snow in Colorado and the temps were still on the chilly side. Good thing we'd all only brought one pair of pants each for the trip. Hanging out in Frisco at Amy's brother's vacation house both ways was stellar. It actually snowed on us while we were there the first time. We did do some fun short hikes with the kids at most of our stops. Carter is a great hiker and really pulled out all the stops during our second time in Frisco when he hiked up to Mt. Royal overlooking the town. That was a pretty serious uphill slog for a four and a half year old. Arches was fun as well with short hikes out to some of the formations that the kids seemed to really get into.

The big awakening on the trip for me was the complete lack of motivation to do any running. It's not that I could blame this on anything but myself. I just started to realize that there were choices to make. I'm sure Amy would have watched the kids if I had really wanted to run, but I also wanted to get out and do some fishing as well. In short it would be pretty selfish to expect her to just take on the kids all by herself several times each day. So instead I chose to fish and just hang out as a family in general. We were on vacation. Another factor was that I didn't really have anyone there to share a run with or help stay motivated. By the time we reached Ogden I was feeling pretty slothful and vowed to get back on the stick of running. However after a paltry 30 minute run our first day there I couldn't seem to be able to psych myself up for it. Enjoying my coffee in the morning while Amy went out for a walk or a jog was just too nice to give up. As we worked our way back into Colorado I found myself wistfully looking up at the mountains wishing our timing was different and that we were able to indulge fantasies of climbing some of those peaks. Alas we just didn't have the time or maybe I'm just making lame excuses but whatever the reason it just didn't happen.

As we came back across the flatter midwest and finally home, there was alot of processing going on. The trip felt strange and awkward and Amy and I both struggled to put our fingers on the reasoning behind it. The conclusions I have come to deal with a slight imbalance in this past spring. There was running and almost nothing else. I was able to get out and climb with Jasyn a few days after getting back to Boone. It had been over a year since I'd been on the rock. We just did Hindu Cush at Ship Rock but as I was laboring through the awkward crux I was realizing just what the imbalance had cost me. I'm not saying I regret any of the accomplishments in the past year. I am recognizing that they did not come for free and that the cost of a well balanced mountain life is a hefty price to pay for them. I'm obviously no super man and in order to run distance it takes a fair amount of time commitment to train and prepare. I learned much in the process probably most importantly that it is not in me to get out of distance running what I get out of other activities and so it is time to shift back to balance. It's time to do some more climbing with good friends. It's time to go fishing so that as Jasyn put it, " We get to have a good time without dieing." It's time to do a trail run because it's fun not because it's part of training for something bigger and better. It's time to stop comparing the height of our mountains with those we came across on our trip and create my own adventures in my own back yard. There are plenty to be had. And most importantly to find those adventures that can be shared with my family which are equally plenty.