While working the West End 3K running race in Boulder on Thursday night I treated myself to three delicious, thick, gooey pieces of pizza from Papa Romano’s Pizza on the Hill.  Eight hours later I woke with a blazing headache, nausea, and dizziness.  It stayed with me for the entire day, though the headache gradually wore down to a dull roar.  Initially I thought it was food poisoning, until I heard that no one else who ate the pizza was sick.  Rather, it was my own form of food poisoning; I have a gluten sensitivity and didn’t listen to my body.  The pizza smelled great, looked fantastic and I forgot to bring my own gluten-free yummies.  The upside to all this is that my extended family got an up-close-and-personal look at me in utter misery due to gluten ingestion.  I have a feeling those that were holding out waiting for my gluten-free “phase” to pass will wait no longer and consider making gluten-free food at family gatherings.  Yay.

Fast-forward to Saturday.  I was thrilled to be upright and mobile on Saturday morning, considering the fact that I spent the previous twenty four hours flat on my back with a cold cloth over my eyes moaning in agony.

Our Saturday morning running group met at Chautauqua near the Ranger’s station.  We discussed the route, as there were several options.  After consulting the handy-dandy trail map, it was decided that we would head up the Flagstaff trail to the summit and loop back down again.  I didn’t listen to the discussion of where we were going since I planned on trailing of the group the entire way in deference to illness-related weakness. 

I brought Kirby and my new Nikon camera as a way to slow myself down in case I had any illusions of running fast.  I’m glad I had the camera, because even though I was upright and running at a snail’s pace, my memory of the morning isn’t that great.  There were lots of pretty flowers still blooming, even this late in July when the mountain should be brown and dead instead of wet and colorful.  I remember chatting with Missy as we ascended the first hill and noticing the sogginess of the ground beneath my feet.  We coasted across a few bridges, ascended a few more hills, and ran down the mountain.  Kirby was a happy companion and more than willing to enjoy the photography breaks to munch on the abundant grasses and wildflowers.

Here are a few pics to commemorate the morning.