Almost outta here...

That post title sounds a bit cavalier, but not sure what else to put up there for this one.

In less than a week I'm going to be driving out of Colorado and not coming back for the foreseeable future.  I've got incredibly mixed emotions with regard to the undertaking, but the winds of change have been blowing hard the past year and a half.

I have a fantastic job and a really quality boss, but over the last couple of years my productivity has diminished to the point where if I am not actively repairing a computer, solving a network problem or wiping a virus, it's hard to notice that I'm doing anything at all.  In short, I'm tired of what I've been doing for the better part of the last decade and it shows.  Throw on top of that the potential for my wife's career to blossom into something truly meaningful, and a decision is almost made.  The final clincher was the opportunity to be a stay at home dad to my (less than 2 year old) son in a distant warm place (Bolivia)...

Homey is moving with us and is excited to report that he will eventually be moving into a house that has both a Mango Tree and an Avacado Tree in an honest to goodness back yard.  The house is on a dirt road on the periphery of Santa Cruz where I expect we'll be running together quite a bit.

In fact, I've made it a goal to log at minimum 365 runs of at least 30 minutes in 2011.  There will have to be 2-a-days in there to reach that goal, but my hope is that Homey will accompany me on 90% of my efforts (anything less than 2.5 hours for sure).  At one point in time he could knock out 15 miles in the mountains without problem, I hope to see him back in that kind of shape (besides he'll help with Jaguars)...

Since mid-October I've been quite the slacker.  I went for a Thanksgiving day run of almost 12 miles in Vermont, but that was my most significant mileage in the better part of 3 months.  I could make excuses, but if you read Brandon's Blog, I'd come off like a little whiner.  With that hip, finishing Leadville is quite remarkable.  Anyway the truth is:  I was enjoying time down, working on upper body strength 12 oz at a time.

I've started getting back into the swing of things running wise.  Jackson and I have gotten out for runs each of the last 3 days and today I went on what perhaps was my last trail run in Colorado for the foreseeable future.  Homey and I hit the first trail we ran together - Rabbit Mountain.  The trail is a lariat, with magnificent views both North toward Fort Collins and South toward Boulder.  If the trail is dry, it's horribly rocky and not suitable for (me anyway) minimal gear, but with snow on the trail it smoothed out enough that the Treks were in effect.  We actually knocked out the loop in just over 40 minutes which is my second fastest time out there - That's with snow and me not caring about the timing.  Even with a bunch of 12 oz curls in the last several months, I made some real progress on my fitness this year...

Given my impending exodus, it's hard to know what I'll do race-wise this year.  I will train to run a virtual Boston Marathon in April, and then make a decision about coming back to Colorado for the Steamboat 50 in September: is it realistic?  is it financially feasible?  would it be possible to convince family that visiting Colorado in September is a good idea?  Lots of stuff...

Anyway.  I've been dark over here for a bit, but expect that the next few months will provide more than a few things to write about.  I hope that I have the time to scratch some stuff out.
Thanks for reading,
J