I’m typing this a 10:30 on a Monday morning while I drink coffee. Next week at this time, I’ll be frantically putting finishing touches on my classroom, readying it (and myself) for my twelfth year of teaching. I report back to work on Wednesday of this week, and kids come on Wednesday of next week, and so here we are: the end of summer. It’s been a darn good summer, though, and I’m lucky to have the flexibility to enjoy summer so thoroughly. I’ve blogged very little this summer, choosing instead to enjoy every moment as much as possible. I feel that a photo dump of my summer adventures is the best way to catch you up, so here we go!
The first week of summer was packed with fun. Summer started for me on Memorial Day weekend. Graduation was Saturday, so Jordan and I hiked up to Bridal Veil Falls outside Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday:
The next weekend was the Skirt Sports ambassador retreat, culminating in the Skirt Sports 13er, which I won!
The following Thursday, my friend Kelly and I climbed my first 14er, Quandary Peak, Words cannot do its beauty justice, so check out these pictures, courtesy of Kelly:
I went from 14,000 feet to 0 feet in just over 24 hours, heading to Cabo San Lucas that Friday for a long weekend with my college girlfriends. A lot has changed since we met at age 18, but when we get together, it feels like no time has passed at all. I’m not posting any pictures of us except the snorkeling one, because in all our pictures, we’re wearing swimsuits, and as adults with careers, we don’t want that stuff on the internet. So take a look at the ocean instead:
My adventures slowed down a bit after that first week, but I still got to spend a lot of time in the mountains. J and I camped, hiked, and rode our bikes in RMNP and Estes Park:
I won my age group in in local 5k on the Fourth of July:
I ran a lot of trails and made new friends along the way:
We visited my parents and grandparents on the Western Slope, and I didn’t take pictures because I’m the worst.
We camped in the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness with my family to celebrate my dad’s birthday (and I didn’t take a single picture of any family members, just this one of myself, because I’m narcissistic like that):
And I celebrated my birthday and the end of summer with an epic day in the mountains with some more new friends. (Just this one picture today, because this run deserves its own post):
Yep, summer has been good to me this year. My trail marathon is September 15, so I still have a few trail days in the coming weeks, but these will need to be more focused, on-a-time-crunch training runs — probably no more full days in the mountains, jumping in alpine lakes and taking long photo breaks. But that’s okay: I’m looking forward to meeting a new group of students and trying to make year 12 the best one yet!
What has been your best summer adventure so far this year?
When does summer end for you? Are you on a school schedule or a real calendar?
Rural Running Redhead 