5 miles at 5,280ft is h-a-r-d

This will be quick. A few photos of our whirlwind weekend in Denver. And, random thoughts on our time there...

• it's cold, really cold and when it's cold and there isn't even any snow to show for how flippin' cold it is, you might get a little pissy and whiny
• it's brown, really brown and when it's brown and there isn't any snow to cover up the brownness you have a hard time remembering why the heck you thought it was such a beautiful place to live
• then you look west and you suddenly remember why when you see a wall of smiling mountains begging you to come play with them
• if i could have taken one thing with me to atlanta, aside from the mountain wall, it would have been washington park where charles and i used to run everyday (read: every once in a while). i remembered every corner, tree, "hill", house and pond around the park. it was like i had never left and have never ran anywhere besides there since i left. i especially liked seeing the tree charles used to stand at waiting for me to finish and cheering me on because he ALWAYS finished before i did.
• running a mile above sea level sucks. it took every ounce of strength i had in my body to ignore my screaming lungs, pounding heart, streaming eyes and nose, and stinging cheeks, fingers, nose, chin and forehead and continue with my 5 miler on saturday. when i finished i could barely talk.
• having good friends in another city is awesome...we had a lovely home to stay in, plans every night (thanks to a few serious planners), free ski tickets, yummy breakfasts, cozy fires and mulled cider. not to mention great conversation and lots and lots of catching up.
• it's really strange to visit a place that used to be your home. i've never had that experience before. when we lived in denver and would fly back to visit atlanta, it never felt weird because i still considered it home and knew that i would be back eventually. it would be a little odd to drive on a familiar road and see a brand new subdivision or new gas station, but it still always felt like home versus feeling like a tourist in what once was my home. that's how denver felt. it was strange to drive around, not knowing exactly how to get somewhere and then all of a sudden your mind clicks into gear and leads you exactly where you need to go. everything just came flooding back - where the closest Target is, what's the short cut to get to the interstate, that there's a Noodles on every corner (as there should be everywhere). driving up to the mountains to snowboard felt just like driving up to snowboard any of the other thousand times i did it while i lived there. i remember my first time heading west on I-70 in high school with mouth agape and eyes wide open soaking up every detail of the drive. now, it's so familiar and a little ordinary.
• i miss my old co-workers. within 5 minutes of being at my old office i was watching dick in a box on someones computer and chatting with my old boss and co-workers about smashing boobs against a glass shower door. needless to say, that behavior is a bit frowned upon at the big behemoth.
• i think moving back to atlanta was the right thing to do. i remember leaving denver and thinking that perhaps we had made a huge mistake by deciding to leave. looking back on the decision and seeing where we are now and who we're surrounded by and what we have, i think we made the right choice and, even though we miss our friends/mountains/park/(non-existent) snow, atlanta is the place for us...right now at least.
• thank god, i still know how to snowboard
• drama abounds...when you think your group of friends is too wrapped up in stupid, insignificant drama, chances are so are everyone else's group of friends. it was fascinating to listen to all the crap that has gone on with our denver friends since we left and made me realize that the petty stuff that goes on here is completely normal and maybe even less frequent and less severe than what others are dealing with.
• sometimes it's worth the fear of a potentially awkward situation if it means you can repair a relationship with good friends

and now, pics! enjoy!