Durango, Colorado!

You beautiful gorgeous mountain town you. You were everything I wanted, everything I needed and so much more. A last minute flurry of work emails, a quick drive, a frantic search for parking, a BART trip, 2 planes and touchdown. You had me at "Frontier Airlines would like to welcome you to Durango."

5 days of trails, trail running, shagging, reading, mountain biking, coffee on the deck overlooking the mountains, good food, great company, golden colors, cold waters, sun drenched days and cool autumn nights, music, laughter, warmth, newness, altitude...and unaccountability.

I needed to reignite my running for our Grand Canyon adventure, needed to step away from work, from the accumulating stress of work, from rushing back and forth from one activity or commitment to the next always just on the edge of being late or tired; needed to get out of the fog and away from the traffic. Needed off the hamster wheel for awhile.

With Durango as the ideal setting, Ben was the perfect host; giving me the room I needed to do my own thing at my own pace and the support and company to keep me laughing and going 24-7 over more trails, into new adventures, along alpine streams and mountain meadows, naked in the sun, surrounded by 12,000 foot peaks and forests of aspen trees.

Special mention must be made of the adventure at the roller rink in Farmington where we managed to check our outdoorsy egos at the door, lace up the rollerblades and groove around the oval to Enrique Iglesias and Justin Bieber tunes while not completely embarassing Ben's 13-year old daughter. Oh yeah, you know I downloaded some new music the minute I got home! Baby, I like it, the way you move on the floor...

To wake up, enjoy coffee, a book and breakfast outdoors, to be fed and clothed and nourished and chauffeured, to be pointed in a direction and to think nothing beyond where and how far I wanted to run each day was a priceless luxury that re-set me: body, mind and soul.


So without going into great details about all the amazingness of Durango - hello, arguably mountain bike capital of the country! Who knew? Singletrack galore. Colorado Trail from here to Denver. And were it not for Ben cleaning up his Santa Cruz Blur so beautifully that I had no choice but to hop on, I'd be forced to explain how it was that I went to Durango and never mountain biked. My knobby buddies, I can proudly say I did mountain bike and it was awesome. Until it wasn't and then I was profoundly annoyed with my lack of ability and confidence. But then that passed and I was happy and proud of myself again. Ah, the tenuous strands of mountain biking fun.

But the real story was trail running, miles and miles of trail running. 20 on the Colorado Trail, a few 6 mile loops up and around Animus Mountain overlooking Durango, 14 under golden aspens along Cascade Creek, a fast, rolling adventure in the more mesa-like environment at Philz World, back out on the Colorado to a phenomenal overlook at Gudy's Rest. All at altitude, all under blue skies and all on singletrack. Oh, and the thunderstorm that rocked the town the night I flew in! The perfect late summer storm with thunder and lightning and the cool, sweet smell of rain. I listened, warm and sleepy in a pile of blankets, through an open window, as the trees whipped wildly about in the wind and the rain fell furiously. It was spectacular. An unexpected gift that left me immensely happy - almost giddy with awe. To anyone from almost anywhere else besides California, to a tee, you would all say you miss a good summer thunderstorm. This is how I began my adventure.

My last hours I spent laughing uncontrollably, reading, wrestling, lingering on the deck over breakfast, downloading music, running, mountain biking, taking pictures, changing in the car and dashing to the airport. I don't know if I could have sustained the same effort one more day. I'd been delivered from the maelstrom of my daily life, reshaped and reborn. I was ready to return. Sort of. I mean, I was and I wasn't. The real enjoyment of trips like these comes from the reality of having obligations, responsibilities, a job, a reason you have to be somewhere else. So while I certainly wasn't excited to leave, I was ready. But I'll be back Colorado. Go Demons!