Ouray

Clint decided on Monday that he wanted to run the half marathon in Ouray, CO the following Saturday. He hadn't been training for that long of a run, but the race was on Saturday (most of them are on Sunday) and the entry fee was only $30, so he couldn't pass it up. We rearranged our plans for the weekend, got reservations for Friday night, and Clint loaded up his MP3 player with a lot more music. We left early Friday morning and got to Ouray 6 hours later. Ouray is beautiful. They call it the Switzerland of America because it is surrounded by 13,000 ft peaks on three sides. I had read about a beautiful waterfall, Box Canon Falls, just south of Ouray where we headed first. Before going to the falls, we hiked the rim trail. Since it was rather steep and not very long, I hauled Haden up. I didn't want Clint to wear his legs out before his race the next day. Clint was rather embarrassed and repeatedly offered to take Haden. It didn't help that at least one other hiker commented that shouldn't Clint be hauling my heavy load!





The trail led us through a narrow tunnel. Clint was making growling noises like a bear that echoed fabulously throughout the tunnel. Regan told him to stop; she gets scared rather easily. Clint stopped, but Haden started and continued even after we were outside the tunnel. I told him that he was going to be hoarse, so then he started signing horse. He kept his hand on his head for another several minutes. I frequently wonder what is going through his head! The falls were unlike any I have ever seen, but there wasn't really a good angle available for a picture.



The next day we walked Clint to the starting line. He stretched and was off. The course was beautiful. It wandered around Ouray and ended in a park in Ridgway, CO, just 9 miles up the road. Despite Clint's lack of training, he did very well. He came in 5th in his age category and 22nd overall with a time of 1:40:57.


Regan also participated in the kid's one mile fun run. I ran with her. She ran all of the first of three laps and most of the second two laps. After all the motivating I did to keep her going, I thought she would stop running after each lap, but she finished the entire mile in 16:40. There were a couple of kids her age, but their dads gave them piggy back rides for majority of the race. Everyone else was several years older. I was so proud of Regan for finishing, but she says that she doesn't want to do any more races!



Haden was drawn to every dog we saw. Most of the owners were very gracious and let Haden play with their dog. Clint keeps threatening to bring one home for him...

It was a fun, but very quick vacation. Clint is already planning on running it again next year...I'm going to have to work on Regan!