Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Week in Review (November 21 - November 27)

Tuesday (15,348 steps) - Peloton before work... where I already got my prize for winning the fitness challenge! I wasn't wearing the right shoes for it in this picture, but HR wanted a picture of me using it for the email blast, haha. This is a pretty cool gadget, and only minorly irritating to move out of the way when I would rather be sitting.
Gym during lunch for full body strength training - gonna feel that for a few days. Oof, when will I learn.
Wednesday (29,538 steps) - Work in the office. Walked on my new treadmill quite a bit while working. Was very happy the weather was nice for my run! Left work a few minutes early and headed to North Table. Ugh, as soon as I saw the parking lot I knew I made a mistake - nice weather equals WAY too many bikes. I used to run these trails all the time, and just hate coming here because 90% of the bikes are soooo rude and have no trail etiquette. There was a LOT of jumping off the trail because only maybe 5 bikes stopped, and only a handful slowed down. UGH.





Ben also got off work early, so he met me for a beer at New Terrain. Thankfully, we got a table near the door since there was also a live band. 

While I was running, Ariel took Olive to get a new outfit. OMG it is the cutest ever. Lambchop is her favorite toy, and now she can dress like her buddy. (As an aside, I'm glad I read the reviews since it runs very small - she had to get a large!)
Thursday (14,752 steps) - Up early since Kristin was going to pick me up for the Louisville Turkey Trot! This event used to be free with food/clothing donation, but it's up to $25. At least the money goes to a good cause. I had chosen bare legs because it seemed warm(ish) at home. Once we got to the start, it definitely was colder.
We wandered around the start area, used the bathroom and decided to go back and sit in the car until it was closer to time to start. We headed BACK out with about 10 minutes to the start (of the untimed, non-bib "race") to use the bathroom one more time. I lined up with Kristin and Lisa. There was, as expected, a TON of weaving around big groups of people and walkers in the first mile. After a few minutes, I spotted Larry! We ran together for a few minutes, until I pulled out ahead. (Optimistic, but didn't really work out for me. By the hill that started somewhere around the first mile, I was already struggling. I wanted to maintain my pace, but I did end up walking a bit. Shortly before mile 2, I saw this cute spectator:
I was finally comfortable (not too cold/warm) and thankfully the last mile is downhill. I did stop for this:
My (somewhat pathetic) "A" goal was to run under 35 minutes. I'm happy to say that I did that, haha. The course ran just a bit short, but average pace of 10:27.
Garmin distance - 3.06 miles
Mile 1 - 10:31
Mile 2 - 11:03
Mile 3 - 9:53
Mile 3.06 - 8:55 pace

Headed immediately to the Liquid Mechanic free beer, where I found Larry in line. We all socialized a bit at the finish line until we were all too cold and then dispersed. When I got home we took Olive for a walk before the weather came in. Brrr.
Deidre had invited us over for Thanksgiving, which was wonderful! They always have such delicious food (plus, we didn't have to cook!)
Pretty sure we watched a movie. Maybe this was the night we watched Descent 2.
Friday (10,750 steps) - "Slept in." Thankfully, a rest day as it had snowed all night and it was ridiculously cold. Went to get Dutch Bros. since they were giving a shoe charm (jibbitz). On the way home we stopped at the grocery store to get some necessities. We took Olive for a long walk and it was freezing.
Torchy's for lunch, then up to 4 Noses so we could do a flight of all the new stouts. (Thankfully we split all these, because I think they ranged from 11.5-15ish%. Oof.)
Another movie? Maybe this was Meg 2 night - which was actually a pretty decent/fun movie.
Saturday (19,630 steps) - Still snowing. I was originally supposed to have a 3+ hour run on schedule. Since the real feel was in the single digits, I switched with Sunday, at an hour-ish run. It was "fine" I guess, glad to get it done.

Took Olive for a walk, lounged around and in general the day just disappeared. We did go to Pho for dinner.
Sunday (29,202 steps) - Should've been doing a 3+ hour run. I made the choice to go to Rock Creek. Within about 10 minutes I decided we would max out at 10 miles, whatever that ended up being. The first part wasn't was bad, but man, the 4 miles or so towards Stearns Lake was miserable. The snow was not packed down and it was chunky and felt like a Herculean effort. I have no regrets about turning around sooner.
Smiling, but only because we are halfway done

The way back wasn't as bad because it's a gradual downhill, and it did seem a bit more packed down (maybe melting since it was actually sunny?) We stopped at Ziggi's so I could get a protein smoothie. Went to 4 Noses so Ben could get a beer. Home to walk Olive and shower while Ben went to Costco to pick up a pizza for lunch. When Ariel got home we all went to get the Christmas tree. Welcome to the house, Bruce the Spruce!


We started watching Fargo over the weekend and it's a pretty fun/interesting show.
Monday (19,487 steps) - How is it Monday already?? Work from home. Did some cleaning and waited a bit (it seemed sunny?) to head out for my run. I was worried I was overdressed, but I actually selected my clothing perfectly. 
I was undecided if I was going to try trails or not, and luckily the trails were actually perfect! Cold enough the dirt was not muddy and all the snow was packed down. It's been a bit, but finally an easy run that was easy! Turned right around to take Olive for a walk.
Ariel randomly was working for the evening and we still had not gone grocery shopping. I convinced Ben we should try the sushi restaurant down the street. It was REALLY good.
More Fargo.

Stats:
  • 138,707 steps
  • 30.3 miles run
  • 30 minutes of cardio
  • 30 minutes of strength

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Week in Review (November 14 - November 20)

Tuesday (14,662 steps) - Quick Peloton ride before a big day... MY BABY GIRL TURNED 18!?!?! First we went to breakfast - shocking that her request was IHOP - she has always loved pancakes.
I mean, I like pancakes too...
Then we went to Ziggi's so she could claim her free birthday coffee. It was the biggest coffee I've ever seen - 32 oz??
Went to Costco so she could get her own card. A big letdown when a). we found out they changed the age to 16 a few months ago and we didn't know and b). the dumb photo machine was down (again). We picked up some random stuff for Olive while we were there. And onto the "big" adventure of the day - going to the new Museum of Illusions downtown. It was a lot of fun, and pretty similar to the one that we went to in Poland.







Went to the Costco by us and the photo machine was working, so A was able to get her card. By the time we got home it was basically time for A to get ready for practice, so I took Olive for a walk.
A was planning on spending the rest of her birthday with her friends (which was fine, and we had discussed already) so Ben and I went to Parry's.
Wednesday (27,346 steps) - I had taken this day off as well... just because. Since I have unlimited PTO at work I try to make sure I use *at least* what I would have gotten before, and when I was going through my calendar mid-year it didn't seem like I had "enough" days off. This coming from someone that historically had to fight for every minute of time off. Anyway... I lounged around. Took Olive for a walk.
I finished reading my book and then FINALLY headed out to do my run. I chose going to Boulder since I had 90 minutes of "hilly terrain" on schedule. It felt hard right from the start. BUT, for the first time EVER, I ran the entire loop without walking ONCE. It felt like a Herculean effort, but pretty proud of that!


I ordered my "half birthday" reward from Tokyo Joe's and picked it up on my way home.
Before I knew it, it was time to head to Boulder for run club. I had plans just to walk with Olive and see what the sales were.
It was a surprisingly nice evening and I didn't end up buying anything. It was also REALLY crowded, so we didn't stay that long. Ben was at 4 Noses, so Tyler and I met him there for a beer. We got really sad news (for us) from Tyler - that he is moving to Florida for a year :( :( 
Came home to find I received my Katy 225 buckle in the mail! It's a REALLY nice buckle.
Thursday (17,809 steps) - Work from home and had to dig out from time off. Lots of emails, but turned out I didn't have to do much with any of them, thankfully. Went for my run early, and it wasn't bad. Originally I had a longer run on schedule, but I told Greg I felt like I needed to ease my way back into training, so I only did an hour. Took Olive for a walk.
A left early to go to the airport for her trip to Phoenix with her team, so Ben and I went to Parry's.
Friday (18,701 steps) - I had COMPLETELY forgotten that A was going to be gone and did NOT have a dog walker, so I skipped my Wash Park walk and took Olive for a very long walk before I went to work.
A ridiculous new purchase of a puffy coat ($10 from Costco!)
Went to work - and it was actually another pretty busy day. Walked on the treadmill at lunch and read my book. Also put my new Squish on display at work.
Ben and I went to Torchy's for dinner.
Saturday (25,051 steps) - Didn't sleep as late as I would have liked. Ariel had an amazing race and got a new (HUGE) PR - 21:18. What a great way to end her high school XC career! It also was freakish weather and apparently poured during their race. Anyway, super proud of her for that!
Ben and I went to South Table for a run. I haven't run there much and we started at a weird trail head that I had never been to so had to create a map on the fly. It was a pretty nice morning, and the run went pretty good. A bit longer than we had planned, but it worked.

Took Olive for a quick walk and then... REGISTERED (waitlist) for the new Summit 200!! Really excited for that one. Went to 4 Noses to celebrate, and then finally put up our new (and only) holiday decorate. I *guess* it makes more sense than the 12' Jack.
Sunday (23,088 steps) - Neither of us could seem to make a decision of where to run. I only had an hour and Ben said let's just run by the house. I declined that since I always run there during the week. We headed up to Rocky Flats since Ben had never been there. He saw the little barn and house and even though I had mapped it earlier and "knew" it would be longer than an hour, we went that way anyway...
It was a little windy, but not terrible. Stopped at Resolute on the way home. Just had the one beer, and it was just ok. Their beer isn't my favorite. 
Took Olive for a walk.
Ben and I went to Costco (SAD) and it was not a lot of fun because it's the last weekend before Thanksgiving and the Broncos game was later, so it was crowded. We did get A her "birthday" cake though. Happiness all around!
Monday (17,268 steps) - Work from home. Got coffee and (finally) a haircut. I had a run to do and literally put it off all morning because I didn't want to run in the rain or wind. By the time I finally went out I was cold for the first part of the run but it was actually fine. As an aside, I hit 2,000 running miles for the year during this run. Crazy! Took Olive for a walk afterwards - she sported her nifty puffy coat again.
Ariel invited me along while she got her belly button pierced, even though she is officially an adult now, that was fun. (And fast! I swear when I got mine done 25+ years ago it took forever and was pretty painful).
No recollection of the rest of the evening.

Stats:
  • 143,925 steps
  • 31.6 miles run
  • 30 minutes of cardio
  • 0 minutes of strength

Week in Review (April 16 - April 22)

Tuesday  (43,134 steps) - the end of Southern States 200 ! After I loaded up my drop bags I was suddenly exhausted. I knew there was no way ...