The Final Push....

With just one week to go in our quest for 1600 miles I found myself becoming fatigued just at the thought of how many steps were left to go...between work and travel and just being busy it's been really hard to keep up the pace of 10K steps a day and I had some making up to do! Luckily (at least I think it's luckily) I had a lot of opportunities this week to make up some ground, as it were. Earlier in the week I had the good fortune to finally see my favorite band this year, The National, in concert in Denver. They're this insanely talented band from Brooklyn (where it seems that all insanely talented bands come from these days, other than Austin and UK). My wife and I took an extended stroll through our neighborhood on a beautiful crisp evening to get in our steps and remind ourselves why we love living where we do.

Then it was off to Baltimore for Natural Products Expo. Those of you who have not had the good fortune of walking a trade show floor for two straight days may count yourself lucky, it takes quite the toll on the body! It does, however provide ample opportunity to get in steps! It was great seeing lots of old friends from the Natural Products industry and of course, cracking open a bunch of Maryland Blue Crabs! We favor LP Steamers, a classic dive-y crab shack just steps off the Chesapeake Bay.














The entertainment at the show was provided by Gomez; a band a co-worker and friend of mine turned me onto a year or so ago. I was pretty psyched, since I'd happily pay to see them play and didn't have to! Not only that but I was able to secure a spot right against the stage. Score! If you haven't checked them out I highly recommend it. Good week for live music!















This weekend marked the change from Indian Summer to Fall in Denver, as the temps finally dipped into the 60's but the skies were still perfectly blue. It's the last few weeks of the farmers' markets, a bittersweet time for me as I know in a few months I'll be missing my weekly ration of sweet corn, heirloom tomatoes, fresh flowers, etc etc etc....one of the hallmark signs that fall has arrived is the unmistakeable scent of Hatch Chiles being roasted in giant drums. You can smell it the second you hit the market and it pulls me in like a tractor beam on the Death Star. I've been buying up bags of them for a month now and putting them in the freezer to get me through the lean months that are just weeks away. Strolling through the market, I completely forgot I was doing something good for myself too!



I managed a few good runs this week too - the one upside to travel is that the hotels always have a treadmill! And I finished the week in style, with a long bike ride through the neighborhood, enjoying the crisp morning air and the sight of trees starting to go yellow.....Fall is my favorite season by a mile!