Hello friends – what’s new?
Today was a day. Mondays don’t usually get to me in the traditional “Manic Monday” sense, but today was a doozy. I logged on to my work email this morning only to find that my email storage was near quota and therefore disregarding messages. Not good for the busiest morning of the workweek! Then, after fixing the email issue, I discovered that my AOL instant messenger account was suspended. I called their customer service number to try and get the AIM account back in order, and it sounds like that despite not having being an AOL member for 15+ years, my username finally expired. So long, FLCgrrrl (I chose this screen name as a teenager – remember the Fun Lovin’ Crinimals?). Hello, boring and more professionally-appropriate future screen name.
What else is new… ah yes, I visited Annie in Colorado again! It was a great weekend. Some highlights:
Trinity Brewing's Flo IPA
My gorgeous sister!
And we did this:
Manitou Springs Railway Incline
That's a 68% grade... yup...
Sisters!
Once we arrived the top, I had the fantastic idea of trying to find the summit of Rocky Mountain, and after a good hour of hiking we summited Mt. Manitou instead. But what we found more than made up for the mistake:
A stunning view of Pikes Peak, at the summit of Mt. Manitou
Then, we promptly lost the trail. Oops!
One hour of hurried trail running later, we descended via the Barr Trail and were only tens of minutes late to meet our friends for brunch.
YES.
That would be the P.W. Busboy special at Adam’s Mountain Cafe in Manitou Springs. I have since dreamt of their pancakes.
It was a great weekend with my favorite girl!
This week, I am preparing for the half marathon at the Ice Age Trail 50 on Saturday. My legs feel ready, and mentally I’m just about there as well. I have no time goals, I’d just liked to get out and enjoy the race (and observe the ultra-marathoners at work!). The course looks like this:
Credit: IAT50
Which, um, freaks me out a bit. There are loops, and I’m sure once I’m running I’ll understand, it’s just that I don’t want to get lost and end up on the 50 mile course. Ya know?
You do the talking: Let’s ask some fun questions today 
Pancakes or Waffles? I used to be a Belgian waffle FREAK, but now pancakes are more my style.
Trail races or road races? I love the thrill of a packed road race with lots of spectators (case in point – Bastille Days 2012), but am curious about this Saturday which will be my first trail race.
P.S. When grabbing a link for Fun Lovin’ Criminals, I was surprised to see they are still active and touring! Wow! If you have no idea who this band is, please go watch this video as soon as possible. Then, time travel back to 1997 and the 9th grade version of myself and you can rock out together. Coincidentally, my friend Sarah and I saw this band perform at the Riverside Theater that year, and guess what? I work there now!
Also – my internet application quit while I was saving a draft of this post. Another technology failure!
