Random Shots of Beauty

It’s always hard to leave the mountains behind in the
summertime, but at least this year I know I’m planning to return a couple more
times.  Of course, those are for the
purpose of running ultras, so it isn’t really the rest and relaxation that I
love so much about our family’s annual trip to the Sierras - but I suppose that’s
nothing to legitimately complain about.




On a similar theme, this weekend’s Random Shot of Beauty was
a coin flip between two shots from the past week, so I decided to just post
them both.  The first one was taken earlier
in the week:






A shot from a small island in the middle of Lake Alpine,
where my 11-year-old daughter and I parked our kayaks in order to indulge in one of our
favorite mountain activities: finding the biggest rock we can jump from, and repeatedly
plunging ourselves into the cold water.




The second was taken more recently:






The Stanislaus River at nightfall, as seen during a
riverside picnic on our last evening in the mountains.




I didn’t do very much structured training during the trip,
but with Leadville a mere 5 weeks away, it’s time to get back to business –
which is why I’ll begrudgingly set the alarm early tomorrow.  And I know the mountains will be waiting for
me to return.




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