Tuesday Treadmill Run in Colorado

Altitude is altitude, I guess, whether it is indoors or outdoors.

Yesterday's trip to Elitch Gardens amusement and water park took the best out of both Waverly and I. She got to bed a little bit earlier than I, but we both slept in until about 7:45 a.m.

I just finished up an hour treadmill run, probably not the smartest thing to do given that I'm running a half marathon in the morning in Lander, Wyoming. However, I have to keep up with the Cooks. (I won't be able to keep up with Rick's miles, but I certainly can try to maintain his enthusiasm. Now if we can just pull Dwyer along....)

I was going to keep the treadmill run a little easy. I started out at 4.0 mph and a 1.0 incline and each five minutes bump it .1 mph. After going through the first 15 minutes at a 1.0 incline, I bumped the incline up .5 every five (5) minutes.

At the 45-minute mark, I had just completed five minutes at a 4.5 incline (remember, I'm running Leadville, Colorado on Saturday - it isn't going to matter, but I might as well let myself think it could help.) The last 15 minutes of the run was at 1.0 incline (as if on the roads) and at 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 mph.

Elitch Gardens had some pretty good roller coasters. Nothing world class, but respectable. However, I can see why Six Flags sold it. It was really nothing more than our former Astroworld; however, their Twister II wooden roller coaster - while a fairly physically punishing ride - wasn't the Texas Cyclone.

Their best roller coaster was The Mind Eraser, which was basically the same as the former Serial Thriller at Astroworld. (Although, it had a gutsy double corkscrew at the end that was pretty good.)

Their Tower of Doom ride was shut down, as expected, after the unfortunate incident at the amusement park in Kentucky where a young girl's feet were severed when a cable broke.

I normally don't go to an amusement park dressed to get wet (i.e. in swim trunks); however, Monday was a first. Granted, in the past, with much more weight on, I felt like I would have been Shamu at the beach (that's just me and how I felt about myself and not how I think about anyone else). In fact, I still feel that way a little bit with the above the waist weight that I still have.

They had a Shipwreck Falls water ride in the amusement park that left you completely soaked, which was good given that the temperatures were in the low 90s and threatening yesterday to push 100.

I normally am pretty good about roller coasters. I can ride just about any of them. However, two things happened yesterday. First, I got sick for the first time and second, I ran up against one I just really didn't care for. It was called the Half Pipe. (Go to their web site and check it out!) It was two circles of eight seats that spun around in circles while you were on a large skateboard - going back and forth. I didn't mind the going back and forth nor did I mind the spinning. I just didn't like the feeling of not spinning and getting pushed to the very end of the half pipe. The sickness, I think, came from the altitude and the coasters because it eventually passed.

I also went to the water park for the first time ever and had a great time! I still won't go on the speed slides that are open, but the tube that I went in that was closed hurt! Before I got on that my back problems had gone away, but by the time I got dropped through the last part of the tube, I was hurting.

Nonetheless, we had a lot of fun.

One of the things that we want to do on this trip is to take in one eating establishment per town that is local and not a national chain. Yesterday evening, we found one of Denver's best Mexican restaruants, by chance.

It was called the Blue Bonnet Cafe. (I do not know if there is a Texas connection or not.)

Chips and salsa were good (and standard, of course) and the enchiladas were greasy, but good. The service was excellent (as well as the scenery). Ask me some time about a couple of the establishments that I ate in in Vancouver, British Columbia. The best t-shirt of the day came from a patron though. It was from a pretty attractive woman - not magazine model quality, but I was guilty of a few looks here and there. Her black t-shirt simply read, "Yes, they're real," in white letters (sort of the same lettering style as the got milk? shirts.) Priceless.

I have a piece of social commentary to share, but I'll save it until later. Otherwise, it is time to shower, grab some breakfast and to head north to Laramie, Wyoming, where we'll be staying this evening.