Across the Country and Back - Pt 6

When I left Grover I planned to take smaller roads to drive to Colorado Springs and avoid I-70 so that I could see places I had not seen before. It turned out to be a good decision and I enjoyed new scenery. I stayed the first night in Great Bend and intended to drive straight to Colorado Springs and get in fairly early. What I didn't plan but did was stop at the Sand Creek Massacre site. Despite living in the Springs for 25 years and even teaching Colorado history at one time, I had never visited the site. The site itself isn't very impressive but knowing the story and reading more about it while I was there and seeing the actual location and being able to imagine the terror the Native Americans must have felt, it was pretty emotional. In all honesty unless I was on the way somewhere, I wouldn't drive out of my way to visit but if you have an interest in American history and Native American history in particular it is worth stopping.

When I got to the Springs I checked in to my motel and my room had a lingering smoke smell from someone smoking. I was most upset because the lady checking me in made such a big deal about asking me more than once if I smoked. I called to complain and she apologized and said she would send someone down with something to remove the smell. Long story short -- she did nothing. The next day I brought it up again with housekeeping and she brought me a can of room spray. I don't know why I stayed there the whole time instead of getting a different room.

While I was in Missouri I made a decision to walk the Greenland 8 mile trail race. I knew that I couldn't run but I figured that I could walk it o.k. and because there was also a 25K and a 50K I knew I could finish before the finish line shut down. So I had to go downtown to Runner's Roost to get my race packet. While I waited for the time I decided to visit a used bookstore that I always enjoyed visiting, The Book Warehouse. Boy was that a disappointment, I don't know if they changed ownership but the place was so poorly organized and almost impossible to find anything.

I had hoped to make the Greenland race a "reunion race" but I knew with the short notice it probably wouldn't work out. Gerald is the only other one of our "reunion group" to run that race. Walter already had a previous race commitment, Joe has an injury and is actually having knee surgery in July and Robert actually intended to come down Friday to spend the night and then walk it with me but his car broke down on the way down. Joe came by and we had some pizza and beer and visited and caught up. The snow started that night!

I was up at 5:45 the next morning and surprised that it had snowed so much over night and was still coming down. I was supposed to get together with Luke for lunch sometime that day so I just hung out and did some reading while I waited to see what his schedule was going to be. When he called we decided to meet at On the Border at 1:30. It is funny how being away for 4 1/2 years can change your whole perspective on driving in the snow. I almost canceled lunch but then I knew that if I was going to walk the race the next morning that I was going to have to get out early and drive in it so I might as well try to get comfortable. I left and gave myself plenty of time knowing that Mardel's bookstore was close to where we were eating. 6 books later, we met for lunch and talked track for quite a while.

"On the Border" the snow was still coming down.

Walter and Gerald came by to visit and we were hoping that Robert would make it but we'll have to hopefully all get together the next time we do a "reunion run" that involves more planning. As of now, we're looking at Labor Day. 

 

 When I got up and looked out the window just after 5:00 the next morning I was glad that I "bit the bullet"was going to have to have to drive north and go over Monument Hill. The drive didn't turn out to be bad and the fact that the roads weren't crowded helped. I saw Gerald and Kari briefly at the starting line but told them not to hang around for me to finish. I knew I was going to take a while. It was hills, cold, wind and snow and I was going to have to walk even more carefully than I normally would because of my knee. They had to leave to drive to Ft. Collins for the Colorado full and half Marathon the next day.

After the race I said that it was the toughest race (event) that I can remember ever doing. Looking back now about six weeks later I still feel that way even though I have done the Pikes Peak Ascent twice and had to drop out halfway through Double Dipsea because of illness. The difficulty was compounded by the fact that I was so conscious of not injuring my surgically repaired knee every time I slipped in the snow. The footing would have been bad without snow and was horrific with the blowing and drifting snow. I was just 78 days post surgery and 26 days off crutches so it probably wasn't the brightest thing to do but I am glad I did it because I know that I can at least walk races until I find out when or if I'll be able to run again.

That night I got together with Ron Payton for dinner and we had a really good time catching up on friends and reminiscing about all the years that we coached together. Then Joe came by so we could visit because even though I was staying one more day his schedule was going to be full. As it turned out I was going to meet Walter for coffee but I decided that I was just going to hang out and rest before the drive home. I did a lot of reading and reflection based on both what I was reading and how I was feeling about this Colorado visit in particular and whether I was going to be visiting the Springs in the future. I wrote a lot of the reflections as the came up in a notebook that I kept on the trip but I don't think I'm ready to share them here.

I had hoped to see Ken and Kristy in Albuquerque on the way home but they were in Ruidoso and even though they invited me down I didn't want to deal with more snow and I was ready to get home to my dog. While driving and listening to sports talk radio I heard an interesting interview with Ryan Leaf, former NFL quarterback who had legal and addiction problems that led to his "disgrace". He said something that I only hope I can remember when I need to; "Whatever people think of me is none of my business"! I stopped that night in Flagstaff and drove home the next day.