Week(s) in Review (December 30 - January 12)

Gah. I promise I am finally getting caught up on my blogging and I will get back to doing these once a week. It is way too hard to go back in time to get these done this far back.

Tuesday, December 30 - Still. Driving. To. Texas. I had stopped for the night in Lamar because it was too damn scary driving on a blizzard on a two-lane road with a f*ton of semis zooming past me at 70 miles an hour. Anyway. I got up and left at the crack of dawn. I had about 650 miles to go before arriving in Dallas. It was STILL snowing. And cold. See? FROZEN DOOR.

In fact, it snowed ALL THE WAY TO AMARILLO.

I stopped for breakfast at Denny's - HOPPED UP ON COFFEE after having probably 100 ounces over the morning. It did not stop snowing until about 30 miles south of Amarillo. I made packet pick up for NYD about 30 minutes before they closed, and then I met my ex and A at the hotel I had booked in Dallas. (PS - when you see a Ramada for only $40 a night, THERE IS A REASON FOR IT. Spent the extra money to stay somewhere else). We went to dinner with the ex at a Mexican restaurant before he drove back to Austin and we picked up some last minute things before the our first race.

BELIEVE ME, this was NOT the worst part of the room. O.o

Wednesday, December 31 - New Years Double "Eve" races. 5K with A, then a half marathon solo while A volunteered.

I was FREEZING after we finished. And hungry. We went to IHOP to reload. A got a gigantic hot chocolate with a ton of whipped cream and I had like 4 cups of coffee.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the hotel room... watching TV. And packing. I was feeling a cold coming on, was tired and sore. We hit up Chili's for dinner (really, I just had a salad), and then a NY Eve celebration:

We were in bed before 10. Old and lame....
Thursday, January 1 - New Years Double "Day" races. I've already relived this enough times. It was cold, horrible, and I feel cold just thinking about it.

Since we had already checked out of the hotel room, there was no way to take a scalding hot shower and dry off. I ended up stripping a Whataburger bathroom (which took a really long time because I was still mostly frozen and soaked). We started the drive back to Denver right after lunch, making it as far as Amarillo. We had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings (another salad), and in bed fairly early (in a MUCH nicer hotel room).
Friday, January 2 - Up early to get on the road. Breakfast at the hotel was entertaining:

And really, other than stopping for coffee and the bathroom, our only stop was at the Colorado/Oklahoma state line:

Yes, A is wearing my shoes. Hers were still saturated after being in the pouring rain and she only had the one pair with her

We got home late in the afternoon. We had to buy some groceries since I hadn't been home in weeks. One mile in the inferno to work out travel kinks.
Saturday, January 3 - L wasn't picking up H until afternoon, so she convinced us to go to her "run club" in the morning. I definitely was getting sick and I was tired, but A wanted to go, so we headed out for a few miles before the snow came in:

A taking a fake photo of the geese :D

Wasn't able to get a "real" run in, so I went to the gym before lunch and ran another 4.6 miles on the treadmill. Must have gone shopping or something in the afternoon. Who knows.
Sunday, January 4 - Don't remember the morning. Had to pack and head to the airport around 3:30 to go to Phoenix for job training. Had a salad and beer for dinner at the airport. By the time I got to the hotel, it was already 9. I did a quick run on the treadmill and then got everything ready for my first day. INCLUDING IRONING (I never do this by the way). My room was really hot because the AC didn't work :(
Monday, January 5 - Up most of the night last night because cold is full blown. So tired. Breakfast at the hotel was awesome (Embassy Suites) - and then I walked over to the office for training. The corporate office is so big they have their own building!

Had a full day of training. I was training with two other women, and it was one piece of information after the other. We were supposed to be done at 5, but training went late and I ended up not getting out until after 5:30, which cut into the daylight I was hoping to have for a nice run. I still managed just about a 1.5 mile before the sun started to set:

I went to the Cheesecake Factory for a celebratory slice of Oreo cheesecake and a beer (and a small sandwich):

Tuesday, January 6 - Poor night's sleep again. This cold is kicking my ass. More training, worked through lunch. Had to leave just after 2:00 to head to the airport. By the time I got back to Denver it was after 7. Quick run in basement inferno before bed. LONG DAY.
Wednesday, January 7 - First day at work in the new office!!! Parking on the 7th floor of my ON SITE parking, PAID FOR MONTHLY BY THE FIRM (yes, I am crazy excited for "free" parking for work):

Busy day. The woman I am replacing is retiring, but our time overlaps by about a week, so I was busy trying to get as much information out of her as possible. Plus, meeting with the attorneys and getting to know their cases, their habits, learning the computer softwares, etc. HEAD EXPLODING WITH INFORMATION. After work I met up with some folks from the old firm for a "going away party" for the Partner that gave me the reference that helped get me my job. 3.5 miles on the treadmill at the gym.

Thursday, January 8 - Another busy day at work. Hard to say after just a few days, but everyone is so nice, and NOT crazy. Liking it a lot so far!! 3.5 mile run on the treadmill after work.

Friday, January 9 - Finally getting to my "real" schedule. 9-5 with a 30 minute break! LOVE coming in later. However... about 10 minutes before it was time to leave, we had an emergency filing for one of our out-of-state locations. I didn't have all the documents I needed and I scanning and uploading took FOREVER. Most of the secretaries use their "extra" time to leave early on Friday's, so I was the only support staff left. Luckily, two attorneys stayed to help me. SO APPRECIATED. I even got a text from one of the Directors thanking me for staying late. Already going for employee of the year :D

Saturday, January 10 - Polar Prowl half marathon! Slower (by a couple minutes) than the last time I ran the course, but the weather was perfect (even though the trails were ICY), I had mostly a good time and felt decent:

Went grocery shopping and... have no idea what else. Had trouble falling asleep AGAIN. So congested. This cold is THE WORST.

Sunday, January 11 - A and I got up early to go to run club at the Runners Roost in Aurora. We ran over 2.5 miles, probably one of A's longest training runs. It was cold (sun never came out), and pretty icy in spots. No complaining, and we had a good run.

They made pancakes afterwords (plain, blueberry or chocolate chip), and A was very helpful in cutting up bananas for toppings and flipping the pancakes. We stuck around chatting and waiting for the raffle drawing. Although we didn't win, the guy who won didn't want the Brooks Pure watch in the bag and gave it to A. She loves it. We went shopping (I need more long sleeve dress shirts), and A got a Minecraft lego kit. TV in the afternoon. I also made a new kind of bark:

Seriously, the inability to lose the 6+ pounds I've put on since October is A MYSTERY. Caught up on reading some blogs and getting mine done.
Monday, January 12 - Not so great 5K on the treadmill after work. Need to get back into the strength and stretching. Incredibly tight calves the last few days.

Miles Run (W/E January 5) - 44.10 
Minutes of Cross Training - None
Minutes of Strength/Stretching - None
Miles Run (W/E January 12) - 28.00
Minutes of Cross Training - None
Minutes of Strength/Stretching - None

Weekly Gain - 0.6 pounds (128.2)
Weekly Loss - 1.0 pounds (121.8)

Everything Else

• New job is going great, keeping me VERY busy, obviously, during the day. Everyone seems really nice and helpful. Fingers crossed that this is the norm!
• I won an entry to a race of my choice in the HPRS... I may or may not be considering the 100 mile, although with the way my running has been going lately, not sure it is at all intelligent to be doing that. I have a while to decide...