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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