Saying My Good-Byes

"Good-bye;" "See you later;" "Thanks for everything;" "I'll be back to visit."
These were a majority of the words that were coming out of my mouth this morning as I said good-bye to not only my room at the OTC, but my friends, the staff, coaches, and anyone else I passed in the hallways. I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to Denver and I can no longer consider myself a COS resident. Just as I did a few years ago, I've got to go through and update my address for all those important things like credit-card bills, catalogues, junk mail, and everything else that goes straight from my mail box into the garbage.
This past weekend I had a few occasions when I realized that there are some things that I'm going to miss about the OTC and COS. I started on this train-of-thought during my mid-day run on Saturday. I was jogging from the Training Center down Boulder Street to the Monument Vally Trail along the river (one of my favorite places to run) when Mark Fretta jogged by me. He had left the OTC a few minutes behind me and was also heading out on his long run. We acknowledged each other and made some fun comments before continuing on at our own pace. Ten minutes later I got to the MV Trail and saw Sarah Haskins running ahead of me. We also shared a smile and 'hellos' when I jogged by. No joke, another ten minutes later and I look up to see Manny Huerta running toward me. We laughed about the weather (two Florida kids bundled up in jackets and gloves) and then I kept on running North to my half-hour turn-around point.
I knew it was a popular location, time, and day for your average COS resident professional triathlete to be out training, but I'd never just happened to see this many people. As soon as that thought had entered my head, I came around a corner under the Uintah Street Bridge and almost ran face-first into Andy Potts. Our interaction was a quick two-finger wave because he was at full-throttle and barely even had time to recognize me before he was around the next corner. By now, I was beginning to chuckle to myself and I'm pretty sure that I was running with a smile on my face. I climbed back up to Boulder Street from the MV Trail and just grinned when I saw Jill Peterson and Justine Whipple descending the other direction. I wished them a pleasant run and made my way back to the OTC.
I haven't seen that many people running for the entire six months that I just spent in DeLand! It's such a different environment in the Springs...fitness is expected, not surprising. But, I am looking forward to making a move to Clermont soon because the triathlon lifestyle is very prevalent there as well. There are group rides that rival the Saturday and Sunday Springs rides, there are pools and gyms that are just as good as the OTC, the weather is good for training (just like the altitude is good here)...I could go on and on...but I have my favorite and least favorite things about both locations. Fortunately, I can come back out to COS and visit any time that I want and I can invite friends to come down and get some hot/humid Florida training with me!