I was invited to attend the Wanderlust Festival 108 in April 2015, my daughter had been reading about it and we signed up. The travel arrangements needed to be made, we would fly to Phoenix on Friday April 21st and stay at The aloft hotel, site see in Scottsdale Friday and Saturday, then early Sunday morning, after listening to the rain for two hours, we got some breakfast and headed to Tempe to the Tempe Diablo Stadium for a 5k run, a large scale 90-minute yoga class, and  a guided meditation led by top leaders.http://phoenix.eventful.com/events/wanderlust-108-/E0-001-081908915-6 We had unusual seasonal weather for Phoenix while we visited, although it couldn't have been more perfect what we were there for.
 Now, I had to train for this event, I read up on meditation and did some yoga videos. I also got my daughters dog to help train for the 5k run. I had been walking before and after work for several months. Now I had to pick up my pace and run, Marley would be the perfect training partner, since the Vet has been asking us to help him loose some weight. By the way, this year both him and I have lost over 10 pounds together.
 The trip was a lot of fun, we also made it to a couple brewery's while visiting, and not being one for beer, I had to be talked into that part of the trip, in the end I did actually enjoy it. I was given a chance to try a beer brewed from pine cones, tasted kind of like grapefruit. Wilderness brewery serves their flights on a log, we sat outside and enjoyed tasting beers for an hour after lunch, after the triathlon, Madison was pretty tired and we called it quits before she could finish her drinks. Headed back to the hotel to rest up, one last day of site seeing in Scottsdale before flying back home Monday afternoon.

The following week, I saw another 5k being held right up the street from us, in fact at the park where I and Marley trained for Wanderlust. The Derby Dash for Hope House would be the following weekend, Madison and I signed up and ran that next Saturday. It gave me the chance to run now in Colorado in a timed race, it was about half the size, and there were venders after the race, food and fun. Marley enjoyed being there cheering us with Jack there too, he held our things while we raced.
http://hopehouseofcolorado.org/index.cfm/id/4112/
 Later that afternoon, the Derby race was on the Television, Madison made a Derby Hat for work at Braun, all the girls were wearing them, I went in for lunch and a mint Julep. Then later watched the race, American Pheroh won, good race. Made a southern cooked supper for Jack and I to end a good race day.

 I was beginning to miss the Yoga, I continued to do the videos at home and signed up for a Yoga Triathlon, Madison and I showed up for three hours, one of Pilates, one of Yoga and one of modern dance movement. Along with fifteen others we moved and stretched for hours, I wasn't sure how I would feel afterward, surprisingly I really felt good, I went to a place I hadn't been in years with my body, I was healing.

Now I was really feeling like I would like to do another 5k, so I signed up for the Running Wild
Run at Regis University. http://runningwildagainstextinction.org/race-day-details/ This one I would run alone, with Jack there to support me. It started early 8 am, this was another small race compared to Wanderlust, this had 85 participants, and it would be a timed race with results. I was 51 out of 85 runners, 28 out of 57 female participating, I ran this rac in 40:17, there was a large hill at the end, my minute mile pace was 13:00, not my best time, I was also distracted by the large turtle that came our on the trail, midway and I just had to stop and take his picture.
 I went shopping afterward, stocked up on running shorts and t-shirts. I hadn't splurged on new running shoes, I was still running in my most comfortable  and they were just fine for now. I did most of my training in the morning walks that I was doing commuting to work, I would get a mile in in the morning and another in the afternoon. This kept me in shape and encourage me to continue racing.

  The next couple months I was biking quite a bit, I spent a week in Glenwood with my bike Club
DBTC.org I biked and hiked over 100 miles in 5 days. We some of the most beautiful days, with swimming and dining out and music in the park, it was a great trip. No pressure just pleasure.  I made new friends and completely relaxed in the mountains, even made an acquaintance with a bear and her two cubs, that was the closest I had come to a bear in the wild, our pace back to the lodge picked up quite a bit after that adrenaline rush. A couple men came across her just after we arrived, they helped us get by her safely, she stayed there for sometime, another one of our club riders said he came by half an hour later and they still were in the path. Afterward we went to the Farmers Market and got a quick bite to eat, that was a 58 mile ride day. I needed some rest before finishing the rest of the week.
 After all the training, I thought a trip to Evergreen would be good this year, I rode 18 miles, then stopped in to see a couple good neighbors, I hadn't seen in years. We shared storied and enjoyed the afternoon on the deck with Charlie's Mom. I enjoy riding Evergreen once a year, the bike needed some repairs after last year, that was a difficult ride and something needed to change if I was going to do it again. New chain, new tires, ran like a breeze. Good time all around and no rain.

  Well I didn't plan on another run, and I hadn't been running with Marley much for the last couple months but when I found this next race I couldn't turn it down. The Ronald McDonald House has a 15k/5k run called Hot Chocolate 5k, I had to do this run, it sounded to good to be true. Showed up early to run the streets of Downtown Denver starting at 7 am. With 5,193 other runners I was assigned to a corral which was D, and it took us over 7 minutes from the start to get over the start line. It was a good race, the city shut down and streets were blocked by runners for up to an hour. I ran it in 35:32 with a pace mile at 11:27, which was my best this year, it put me 1,891 out of 5,193 and 86 out of 293 women 50-54years old. Now I am running in the top third of my age group and finishing in the top half of all runners.
http://www.hotchocolate15k.com/denver/race-day/

 This race was well organized and the results with a video of your individual time was posted the next day. 
http://ramracing.enmotive.com/results/index/545aaaed-bc6c-49e8-b429-3d47c0a86526?_ga=1.48678180.326471976.1445191981. Registration included a hoodie and prior race day registration and pick up. Venders with all kinds of shopping including food, clothing and sporting goods.
  After the race the runners enjoyed hot chocolate and chocolate fondue with a banana and treats. Pictures and post rase music festivities. Jack was there to cheer me on, after ward we had to find our way out of the city while the 15k race was still taking place. 

Now I was only doing this for the fun of it, I had been able to run my race at the pace goal, the run wasn't the big deal, it was being with the crowds, the fun and just doing something with so many others. The race organizers were getting better at what they were offering, and it was easy to show up run and just enjoy the whole lot of it. 

Well the latest run was the Scream Scram held in Washington Park this last Friday. All participants dress up in Halloween costumes, for a pre race costume contest and then a 5k in the dark. Well my bus ride home happened to be going right by there, so I put a costume together, I went as Charlie Chaplin, then took the bus from work. Registered when I got there, entered the costume contest, watched the dance performance by Cherry Creek Dance, then the kids short race. Then 678 participants ran. I finished 96th in my division and 233 out of 678 racers. My overall time was 36:42, just a little bit slower than the big race in Denver a month earlier. 

To find races near you, or to see results of races in Denver see this site:
http://www2.purelocal.com/Video.aspx?videoid=LRS6ZzTD1Dg&slk=5k+denver+2015&cid=30581647760&kwid=294698855378&akwd=5k+denver+2015&uq=hot+chocolate+5k+denver+2015&nid=3&term=5k+denver+2015&vx=0  

This is a great way to enjoy your community and support local fund raisers. Enjoy the run for it.......