Week in Review (September 13 - September 19)

Tuesday (17,902 steps) - Since I had skipped my run Monday, I decided to set my alarm and see how I felt and if I would go out. I decided to run, and when I got outside I saw it had rained. I skipped running to the lake and did the loop around the neighborhood. I consciously ran slow and steady and it turned out to be a pretty good run.

Leaves, they are a-changing!

During lunch I went to Laura's barre "Fuzed" class again, and it was just as challenging as I remembered. A lot different than regular classes and I was sweating like crazy when we were done. After work (and soccer for A), took A to gymnastics. She had a substitute who didn't seem to mind spotting the kids (unlike her regular coach). She has really gained a lot of confidence! Dinner at home, A fell asleep when we were watching TV after.
Wednesday (24,332 steps) - Instead of going to run club after work, A and I headed over to Bear Creek for the Lakewood Trail Series race. A did not want to run, but I figured I would go for the "long" distance, which was about 5.2 miles. The race was only $25, and the weather was perfect.

I gotta say, I have gotten so slow, I'm way out of my element! I started towards the back, and was getting passed by pretty much everyone right of the gate. My legs/butt were a bit sore from Laura's barre class, and my calves were tight.

The course was pretty great, until I realized that we were going to have to go up and around Mt. Carbon! I had to do a bit more walking than I would have liked, and I was concerned that if I got to the base of Mt. Carbon that they would make me do the short course since I was slow. The organizers said they didn't want anyone out on the course in the dark (and I hadn't brought my head lamp).

As dusk came in, I could hear the coyotes, and I was totally alone when the girl I was chasing turned off for the short course. There was a bit of congestion when I was going up and the faster runners were coming down. I felt a LOT better on the way down and managed to run most of the way back, stopping only briefly to get a picture of some deer, and some quick walk breaks maybe a mile out.

I was, I think, the third to last finisher in 1:04:47. We stayed at the finish while Mo finished her beer, and then we headed home.

Thursday (17,211 steps) - When I went downstairs in the morning I noticed a large amount of water pooling under my water heater. I took pictures and sent them to Carl - he told me to clean up all the water, and if it was still wet when I got home to call him. Yippee.

Went to a barre class with Meredith, small, only two of us! Which basically meant that she worked us to death. After work/school, we went down to Belmar to walk with Mo on the last night before her surgery.

A won the first raffle (but they don't let minors collect at the Belmar store, so *I* actually won) - a pair of CW-X compression tights!

We went to Rocko's after for nachos, leaving around 8 for homework, etc. Turns out, water heater still leaking. After face timing with Carl, he determined I needed a new water heater. FANTASTIC.

Friday (12,367 steps) - Spent the morning trying to get a hold of someone that might be able to swap out my water heater. Got a quote from a friend of Heather Baxter's. I ended up leaving work around 3 to home to meet up with the guy, he swapped them out in just about 90 minutes, all for the lovely low price of $1,165. Womp, womp, womp. Picked A up from school, then went grocery shopping. Only to realize I had left my wallet on the coffee table after paying the guy. Whoops. We got all our gear ready for hiking the next morning and went to bed around 9.
Saturday (19,665 steps) - 3:33 wake up call. Finished grabbing all of our stuff for hiking and picked up Lisa at her house around 4:15 am. The drive to Fairplay was uneventful, until we couldn't figure out where to turn for the trail head. We found it eventually, then drove the 11 or so miles on the dirt road (not as bad as some of the dirt roads we have been on), ready to start our hike just before 7:00. We were dressed for cold, as it was only in the mid 20's. We had picked Mt. Sherman for A's first 14er. It was only 5.25 miles round trip, and was deemd "easier" than others. I, of course, forgot 1). the map (again), and 2). my sunglasses!! I was so sad when the sun came over the horizon and I had nothing to wear. Dang it!!

We stopped about a mile up and had our first snacks. Shortly after that was when we got to the saddle and it got a bit colder and super windy. A sort of freaked out when we got to the last section where we had to scramble a bit and the trail got more narrow. Due to the wind gusts, she was afraid of being blown off the mountain, so she wanted to stay super close to me.

On the saddle

 

Luckily, when we got to the top, the wind stopped. We were able to enjoy about a half hour on the summit before heading down.

You know what I wish I had? SUNGLASSES.

Thanks Lisa, for letting me borrow your sunglasses for this picture!

The first 20 minutes or so on the way down were SO MISERABLE. It was even windier than the way up and it was COLD. I was for sure concerned that we might get frost bite! We even huddled behind some rocks to get a break from the wind and try to warm ourselves. When we finally got down below the saddle the weather/temperature improved immensely.

We got back to the car in only about 4.5 hours! A did totally awesome and said she would be up to doing another one... next year.

Changing leaves!!

We went to the South Park brewery, where we played a game of Clue and had lunch. Lisa and I enjoyed S'mores Stout beers, and A had a root beer. We dropped Lisa off around 3:45, then went over to Heather's house to pick up tickets for the Rockies game. By the time we had dinner and watched some TV, we were both exhausted and were in bed before 9.
Sunday (22,653 steps) - Got up around 7:30, getting over 10 hours of (much needed) sleep. A made eggs and pumpkin pancakes for breakfast while I cleaned up the house and finally bagged up all the items we were planning on donating. We left the house around 10:15, dropped off everything at Goodwill, then drove down to Bear Creek where A was doing some horseback riding with her Girl Scout troop.

While they were riding, I went for a run. I picked a bad time to go, it was the sunniest ever and over 80 degrees! For whatever reason, I retraced my steps from the trail race earlier in the week and ran up Mt. Carbon. Still hard, every time.

A and the troop were done by 12:30, and we headed over to Coors Field for the Rockies game! Sundays they have brunch in the clubhouse, and I managed to control my starvation, only having a burrito and a few other items. Not nearly as much as I normally have. We were only able to stay for the first 4 innings, as we had a barre class at 4:15.

Andrea was doing her last free class, so A got to join me. It was pretty challenging and fun.

On the way home we stopped at Target for a few more grocery items. Homework, dinner, in bed pretty early.
Monday (15,375 steps) - Rest day! Uneventful day at work and school for both of us, and luckily, a night of nothing to do (except homework).

Stats:

• 129,505 steps
• 12.3 miles run
• 3 barre classes, walking and hiking (again!)
• Current weight - 122.6. I've been pretty careful about not pigging out. I think it also helps that I went the entire week without having beer (except for ONE the day we went hiking). 

Everything Else:

• Replacing a water heater is freaking expensive. So annoyed that when Carl visited that he didn't think I needed to do it any time soon. Had he installed, it would have saved me like $600. Grrrr.
• Related: I'm out of money from the house proceeds. Really need to get back into having a budget. WHICH FUCKING SUCKS.