Running the Rainbow

The Boulder Peak Triathlon is one of the countries longest and most well-known triathlons. I did it last year and loved it. This year, I wanted to do it to prepare for Toyota Age Group National Championships in Milwaukee in August. Toyota Age Group National Championships is a Sprint distance triathlon and is half the distance of Boulder Peak Olympic Triathlon.  I thought that by doing an Olympic distance, (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) it would be good training for a Sprint Triathlon (.5 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike, 3.1mile run). The night before the race, I was dreading doing it. I remembered how bad it hurt last year and my body was already exhausted and sore from packing and carrying boxes. I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go, so I dragged my butt down there early on July 10th. It was so hot that I got in the water to cool off before the race. This helped tremendously in my swim. I was relaxed, calm, and fast. I swam 1 mile. ...

Estes Park was the perfect place to get away from fireworks. Our campground was perfect and was full of families so we got peace and quiet, even on the 4th of July. There was no fire ban so we spent a lot of time sitting around the fire and talking.  I truly believe that these trips bond our family closer together. I heard about Connors friends and how he absolutely loves high school.  He said, “I really like my life” which warmed my heart.  I heard about Carlys goals for swimming and how her friends are changing at school.  I heard about how Camilla wants to grow her hair long and she is looking forward to freedom in high school.  Lloyd and I shared stories of our high school years.  Our campsite had nice clean showers for us to use so we never got super dirty.  Our neighbor camper had a guitar and Connor talked to him a bit about guitars.   Lloyd, Connor, Camilla, and me all went on a 8 mile dirt loop trail called Bibl...