90%; 186lbs; $88; 16x400m

I have expertly estimated that I have removed about 90% of my personal belongings in the past week. No kidding...we are talking about a serious case of the "Don't-need-it-then-throw-it-out!-syndrome. I am finally down to a few necessary items that will get me thought my last few days in COS. I spent the better part of mid-day carting my over-stuffed, over-weight, bulging-at-the-seams boxes down to the shipping department and sending them on their way to sunny Florida.
I happen to be a very bad guesser, especially when it comes to weights and costs of things. I was guessing that my five boxes were topping the scales at 350 pounds and that I was going to have to shell out somewhere between $400-500 to get them home. I can't say nice enough things about the staff in the shipping offices here at the OTC...Mike made me speechless when he totaled the DHL costs and announced that I owed a whopping $88 for my entire 186lbs of Stuff (remember, we are down to just ONE capital letter for Stuff).
I actually walked out of the shipping department wondering why I got rid of so many things when I could have just shipped another big box for a few extra dollars. But then I had a second thought and realized that if I decided I could part with it two days ago, I can still live without it today (even after knowing how cheap it is to ship:). I even got my desktop computer heading south, smashed between towels, blankets, and 50 race t-shirts that I couldn't part with. Why pay to ship Styrofoam and packing material when you can use what is on hand?
Even though the shipping escapades are my big story of the day, I actually started the morning with a great running workout down at the track. I did a total of 16x400 meters on 2:15...this was after a nice long warm up on the trails and I finished the session off with a long cool-down on the trail. I was very pleased with the times I was holding on the 400s...nothing to write home about, but it was a confidence booster (considering that I haven't been at this elevation in six months) and the day was perfect for a hard run.
My previous mentioned shipping escapades did get in the way of my afternoon training...an easy swim between 2 and 3pm...because those are some of the few hours that you can mail personal packages. I hopped in the pool at the end of the session for an easy 1200 meter swim and then hung out with friends and caught up on some computer work for the remainder of the afternoon.
I am currently sitting on my bed with my laptop perched on my very happy and full belly because I just got back from dinner at the Loop, a Mexican restaurant in Manitou, with Katie, Debbie and Scott. I should be heading to sleep in preparation of my favorite workout session in the morning: swim/bike bricks on the pool deck!! At 8am I will be setting up my bike on a wind-trainer and getting ready for whatever the coaches have up their sleeves (actually, if I just went on Training Peaks, I could probably read the workout, but that would spoil the surprise)!