Back in Colorado

I’ve made it back to Colorado. While I was biking with friends in the mountains around Breckenridge last summer I said that at some point I’d make it back to the Rockies and make Colorado my home. At that point I didn’t think it would be this quick, but it’s a welcome surprise! I’ve been bad about keeping up with my blog lately with graduating, moving first to Cedar Rapids Iowa and then very rapidly out to Colorado Springs, then being busy with finding a place to live and getting moved in. Now that the dust has finally settled I’m realizing it’s been months since I updated this and I really have no excuse and should immediately fix that issue.

Anyway, I think a brief explanation of where I’ve been is in order so here goes. I graduated at the end of winter quarter in March from Ohio University. A week before I left I was offered a six month internship with the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Cedar Rapids Iowa. I then left for a week of spring break/ graduation trip to San Francisco and Sacramento with my mom and grandmother. After getting back to Ohio I spent a day in Athens packing then drove out to Cedar Rapids. While I was at school I found out that a job had opened up at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs as a photographer and that I was being considered. I started work in Cedar Rapids that Thursday only to find out I got the job in the Springs. I stayed in Cedar Rapids for two weeks then moved to the Springs where I have been ever since.

Here’s some stuff from the past few weeks hiking in Garden of the Gods and driving up Pikes Peak- enjoy!

Pikes Peak Marathon

The Pikes Peak Marathon is like no other marathon I've ever seen. Runners start at 7 am in Manitou Springs and head for Barr trail up Pikes Peak. They sprint up the mountain with an elevation gain of almost 6,000 feet and back down again. Thats 26.21 miles up and down one of Colorado's 14'ers. The only thing more amazing than realizing people actually do this is finding out that the winning time this year was 3:36:54 (which is apparently slow).

Hill Climb 2008

Hill Climb Fan Fest

Sky Sox and Hill Climb

Thursday morning my alarm clock went off at 2:15 am and after dragging myself out of bed, at an hour that many people around me were just calling it a night, headed off to Pikes Peak for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb practice. The Hill Climb is a race up to the top of the peak along the road that visitors drive daily making the ascent in about an hour and a half. The racers do it in around 10 minutes. Despite being deprived of sleep it really was worth getting up to the 16 mile point of the race to shoot as the sun was coming up.







Sky Sox