Colorado

At the request of a few, here's a quick update:
So Colorado has been great so far. We got here at the beginning of June and were in an apartment until July 5th. That's the day the movers brought our stuff to the new house. It's been a slow and stead process for unpacking, cleaning and adjusting. Mainly the only places left in the house that need to be straightened are the basement and garage. The basement is not too bad, no boxes, just stuff not organized; really the same is probably true about the garage.

The biggest adjustment to moving here was all altitude based. Exercise for the first 2-3 weeks was a little uncomfortable when I would try to put any real effort into it. I walked around with constant dry mouth for at least the first month as well. My fluid intake increased by about a liter/day during that time period in attempt to stay hydrated. I'm finding now that my fluid intake is about 2.5-3 liters/day depending on the exercise duration for that day, so that's a normal range for me now. Another altitude adjustment was fatigue I think. Around week 2 here, I just felt beat up and had no energy for 2 weeks. I was not sick, just couldn't do anything.

Despite the "abnormal" weather everyone keeps telling us that Colorado is experiencing this summer, the higher temps really are nothing to turn your head about. When you come from a place where humidity is above 75% during the summer months and temps are above 95, then coming here where the humidity is only 5-15%, it's really wonderful every day. Besides, there's not much weather wise that can ruin the view of 5 layers deep of mountains every time I turn my head westward!

Ryan started first grade yesterday and Brayden will start Pre-K 3 half days/week at the same elementary school on Monday. They are both excited about being able to meet some kids. It seems the only bad side to the neighborhood is the lack of children (and younger couples for that matter). Although, coming from our old neighborhood of 30 kids ranging in age from 1 to 21 in a span of 9 houses really sets a high standard. We've got both boys signed up to start soccer next week and then swim classes should start in another month or two.

Gabby is in full force; she's babbling a lot more, walking/jogging with much better balance and stability, learning to keep up with the boys. She loves them to pull her around on blankets and even tries to play ninja spinners with them. She's got a great personality still and aside from the occasional crankiness from me trying to keep her awake too long, she's wonderful!

I'm looking for little odd jobs to keep myself occupied and to try and meet some people. I'm working out about 5-6 times a week now, mainly running with a spin every once and while just to mix it up. My mileage has steadily increased over the last month and my times are looking pretty good for me when you take everything into account. I'm keeping everything pretty aerobic, not really pushing paces right now, but I feel really good with it all! Maybe I'll try some speed work later into the fall or winter and then try a few road races next year. The competitive part of me misses racing, but I'm just not very motivated right now to do anything other than the relaxed "training" that I'm doing. But mostly it's adding the other two sports to the mix that I'm not ready for.

Tim has been getting solid training in for about 2 months now, he's got a 70.3 in Aurora CO in 3 weeks that he's getting ready for. We settled in Longmont CO, which is about 20 miles north of Boulder where he works. He's been biking to work 3 days/week, which is a great ride not to mention the gas savings!! Depending on how this race goes, he's contemplating the IM attempt next year.