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August 18, 2004
Back in Denver
Being back in Denver, and at altitude, is nice. I finished orientation around 3:00 pm EST yesterday, got a ride from a friend to the airport, and luckily was able to catch a 4:25 pm flight back to Denver on standby. Since my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until almost 8:00 pm, this was SO GREAT. It was especially awesome because I had thought the 4:25 flight was full and was pretty sure I'd be spending four hours in the airport... and for anyone who's ever spent a lot of time in Dulles, that is not a very happy prospect!
The flight was slightly delayed but we were still on the ground around 6:35 pm MST. This was so great! I was originally supposed to land at 10:00 pm!! One of the things I am liking about the travel so far is that I feel like I'm finally getting to a point where I have positive adrenaline in the airport rather than negative. Meaning that it is exciting to try to make a flight instead of terrifying.
The flight from Dulles to Denver is a little over three hours which is moderately tedious but not too bad. I spoke with the person responsible for sending me to my first project today and it looks like I may need to get used to flying to the east coast - it is probable that I'll start working in New Jersey within a few weeks. I don't really know how I feel about that - the other possibility is in California, working for a guy I interviewed with and really liked, so that is also a good option and a shorter flight. However, I love the east coast so I think New Jersey could be pretty cool. I have yet to determine if New Jersey means Newark (yuck) or somewhere nice, however.
On Sunday I bought myself a going-to-work present, Reading Lolita in Tehran. I would really like to plug it here - I am almost finished with it already and would recommend it really highly. It is really thoughtful, interesting, and poignant, as well as being just a good read.
And yes I actually run too...
This morning I woke up, got coffee and read my book (see above), stubbed my little toe so hard that I am wondering if I broke it - seriously - and went for a run. I went down to my old high school stomping grounds again since I was on the way to my mom's house and although I had planned to run 7-8 miles, ran 11. It was really fun and I did some exploring of new trails, including about 12 minutes of running in sand which I hate. But I figure these things make me a better runner in the long haul, right?
It was a good run and I didn't feel like I suffered from being at sea level for two days. I am kind of dreading trying to run long runs and workouts on the weekends when I'm spending over 50% of my time at sea level, but for now I just can't worry about it, and I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing until I have to stop. In other news I am planning on running a 10k up in Fort Collins (when I get a faster internet connection I'll try to find the race on the internet) the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. This should be fun, it's been a while since I've raced and Fort Collins is really flat. Darren seems to think I can run about 40:00 - if so I will be really excited, although I don't think that I'll really make it. My all time 10k PR is 40:55, so I would honestly be happy with something under 42:00 right now. Not that I won't try to break my PR but it may be a bit optimistic.
Anyway that is the news for right now. I am actually sitting here halfway dressed after finally showering, then I'll be off to the grocery store in a few minutes to pick up ingredients for either Lasagne Bolognese or a chicken stir fry (most likely the stir fry as I am feeling lazy). M. is coming over for dinner and we will probably watch some Olympics.
Nice to be home!
Posted by barb at August 18, 2004 03:24 PM
Comments
Wow! That's big news about your job. I'll have to get the full scoop on exactly what it is you're doing sometime. Good luck with all the travel and let me know if you end up in New Jersey... Maybe this will mean more opportunities to race at sea level!
Posted by: Alison at August 18, 2004 06:25 PM
Thanks Alison! I am pretty excited about it :) I'll definitely let you know if I end up in NJ, if so maybe one weekend I'll come visit!
Posted by: barb at August 19, 2004 04:48 AM