Life's journey has taken Maria and Laurie to different locations for the next year. But have no fear, the mango escapades will continue! We will simply be having our own escapades in our separate locations and sharing them with each other and you. This will be the first of separate escapades:
Laurie's Escapade:
Last weekend brought the 2nd Annual Hellacious Race at Palmer Park in Colorado Springs. After having so much fun at the race last year I knew I wanted to do it again! I was again pleasantly surprised by the low entry fee and got another free pair of North Face flip flops just for signing up.
Packet-pickup was at Boulder Running Company where I received another very nice North Face draw-string bag, 2 race t-shirts, 2 energy gus, and $15 towards any North Face item in the store. What a deal!
Race morning came, and it was a beautiful, warm day. We all gathered at the starting line where we had a brief pre-race meeting. It was mostly to warn us of the bear that had been sighted the day before. But they were quite confident that with so many runners the bear would probably stay away and we wouldn't have any problems. :) So with our bear warning, they shot the starting gun and we were off!
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| It's like playing "Where's Waldo?" except now it's "Where's the Mango Girl?" |
Last year we got a little off course right at the beginning, but they made sure that didn't happen again this year. We stayed on track and headed up into the hellacious terrain as planned.
It's a great course because it's a good challenge and it's a beautiful park. It constantly has you going up to great views of the city and mountains and down through the trees and flowers. The trail is quite an adventure which keeps you focused mostly on where your next step should be instead of how tired you may be feeling. Trail races are so fun!
As I came into the finish I had great fans cheering me on: mom, Meredith and Scott! I had given it my all trying to catch the two ladies in pink ahead of me. So I was happy to see some familiar faces to celebrate with at the end.
The post race consisted of a lot of great snack food: granola, fruit, trail mix, bagels, and much more The best part, however, was probably the free massage! It is so nice of them to come work out our muscles for us after a good run. The running community is full of some great people that I really enjoy meeting.
It was a small race again this year which meant I was able to walk home with an award: a North Face sports bottle and gift certificate to Boulder Running Company. I love small races!
After a little recovery, froyo sounded like a great idea! My favorite shop in town is iTopit.
It is all self-serve and they have a great variety of flavors and toppings. One of their flavors is, of course, MANGO!!!
Plus they have fresh mango for topping. Absolutely delicious! I think I might be addicted; I want to eat it every day. Mango fro-yo = escapade complete!
