Week in Review (July 2 - July 8)

Tuesday (13,015 steps) - Peloton before working in the office. Did my strength training at lunch. Nothing else?

Wednesday (31,205 steps) - Work in the office. We thankfully got a (slightly) early closure for Independence Day. I headed up to Louisville to do my run before run club (since I planned on being slow and hot). I had mapped out a 6 mile run and it wasn't the WORST, but it certainly wasn't great.

Ben met me at the store and we walked with Larry. We planned on a few miles, but Larry somehow tricked us into doing over 3... we went to Murphy's after (for much longer than I would have liked).

Thursday (37,202 steps) - Big plans for the 4th! Ben and I headed up to do our (almost) annual loop of Buffalo Mountain. I had hoped to be starting around 8, but we were later than that. Thankfully, we were still able to get a spot in the small lot. No matter how many times I do this route, the first few miles are really strenuous!

We noticed some blow downs early on, and even saw the forest service doing work to cut down obstacles on the trail. 

Some of the water crossings seemed really big this year. I certainly don't ever remember this one from past years.

Once we got to the top of Eccles Pass we encountered more snow and mud than on the other side, and not nearly as many wildflowers as we have seen in the past. It also got cold with the wind and both of us put on our sun shirts as a layer. Still super pretty though!

At one point we came to one of the water crossings that I remembered falling in a few years ago. I made a point of telling Ben "not going to get me THIS time," and then I promptly slipped in the water. Ugh.

The only wildlife we saw on the top was an adorable marmot that actually let us get pretty close for pictures. 

LOTS more water crossings (faster moving water and wider) and then of course some fairly catastrophe downed trees that looked like they had been there for a while.

It was getting pretty warm and we were both ready to be done. Finally did some "real" running as we got closer to Lily Pad lake. 

The big excitement was when we were less than two miles from getting back to the truck and we were running across a bridge and there was a moose right next to us. It moved pretty quickly and we didn't really get a clear picture of it. But we saw it! We went to Outer Range for a beer and lunch, as we were both starving.

Ben's bowl was too spicy for him so he didn't eat a lot of it. I still think he should have asked for a replacement. We left after one beer and headed down the mountain, stopping at Parry's for more food and a snack. Had hoped to get home with enough time to walk Olive, but the kitchen was really slow. By the time we got near the house our neighbors were setting off illegal fireworks in the street (that we nearly ran over). Over the course of the evening we had a confrontation with them and the people at their house got really aggressive and we ended up having to have the police involved. That was really nice for when A got home with some of her friends for a sleepover. (These are the same jerk neighbors that use a snowblower and plow all the snow from their long driveway into the cul-de-sac, making it next to impossible for the Minis to drive. Upon asking them to please not do that they cussed us out and said IN 20 YEARS NO ONE HAS EVER COMPLAINED. They still do it.)

Friday (15,998 steps) - Bonus day off from work! I slept in until some crazy hour like 8:30 and then after getting everything ready, Olive and I headed up to Square Top for a fun hike/run.

Olive doesn't really do selfies yet. Maybe she never will.

Across the road, Bierstadt was packed, but we only saw maybe a few dozen people the whole afternoon. Initially, Olive was dragging a bit.

There was a TON of wildflowers on the lower trails, specifically, my favorites - Columbines!

There were sections of the trail that were a little muddy, but in general, the trails were in good shape. Olive seemed to perk up a bit at the first body of water she could cool down in. 

I have hiked Square Top before and had no desire to summit. The goal was just to get to the lakes, and hopefully find some snow for Olive.

We found two separate snowfields that Olive ran and played in for quite a while. (No pictures, I only took a video). 

Probably her best selfie, but of course I'm holding a poop bag (eyeroll)

We decided that just going to the lakes was find and we headed back down. She was much quicker going down and we even did some running. As an aside, I finally wore my Topo Traverse shoes (touted as a hiking shoe). When I initially put them on, they didn't seem like they would be that comfortable, but they worked great.

It was already getting late, so after cleaning her off, we started the drive down, stopping briefly for the one sheep we saw on the side of the road.

We stopped at Cabin Creek for lunch and a beer. Service was pretty typical, but I don't think I had to wait as long for a check.

Dinner at Torchy's!

Saturday (35,315 steps) - We stayed local and opted to do (almost a replica of ) the route I had done in May with Larry and Terri. Figured that parking in any of the public lots would be a disaster, so we started in town.

I rolled my ankle a few miles in going down the steps (that I've done a million times). I like the new sunglasses I got, but I think the lenses are too dark for anything in the shade as it seems like my depth perception is off. At least it seemed to not be too painful. 

I'm glad that I had loaded the route on my watch. Even though I have run on these trails a ton over the years I still get easily confused and am never entirely sure I know where I am going. There had been a TON of growth over the last month - everything was so big and green and leafy.

No matter how much climbing I do, Shadow Canyon ALWAYS SUCKS. It is 1.3 miles with 1,500' of technical gain. I always feel like I am going to pass out when I am climbing. I had my poles in my pack, but not sure they would even be beneficial on such technical climbs?

I always forget about the last bit of climbing to Bear Peak. The week of climbing definitely had me clumsy and tired. 

We had the excitement of coming up on a big snake. Ben jumped. 

We did more running on the downhills, with brief stops to take pictures of some of the prettier flowers. 

Even though I knew this HAD to be the way we had come the last time, nothing really looked familiar. And this section was SUPER overgrown.

Finally, I knew where we were. Just thankful we didn't have to go another 5 or so miles to South Mesa.

We did more running just to get things over with. We stopped at Runners Roost so Ben could get new shoes, and then we went to Illegal Pete's for a snack and a beer. We rushed home so I could take Olive for a quick walk and shower, then on to take her for her grooming appointment. We waited at 4 Noses for her.

She is always SO happy to see me when she is done. I don't know what magical products they use, but she always smells so good and is so soft after these appointments. 

Sunday (23,568 steps) - We somehow got Ariel to join us for the annual hike at Herman Gulch! We took separate cars to the carpool lot in Morrison because she was going to have to go to work early. We ended up with a decent sized group, and most of the climb up was me, Ben, A, Mo and Pete. We met up with Sheila nearer to the top when we were waiting to see how far back everyone was.

Never comes out great in pictures, but the columbines were AMAZING this year, I think one of the best years yet! So many of them!

We didn't have a ton of time when we got to the top, but Olive played in the snow and was a little hesitant to get her feet wet in the big lake. 

The whole group wasn't up yet, so we were going to do a quick selfie to get everyone we could before we needed to head down.

As we were walking, we saw Lisa and her friends, so we did another quick photo.

Ariel found the rock that she will take for the "M" climb next month. I can't believe she carried it for like three miles.

We hit some traffic on the way down, but still got A to her car in enough time for her to go work. We headed to New Terrain where we would meet up with Mo. There were a ton of people there, and we had to stalk people to get a table in the shade. Olive was also exhausted from her day.

Ben randomly bought movie tickets at Alamo so we could see Despicable Me 4. It was a pretty cute movie.

Monday (18,419 steps) - Slept in, instead of going for an early run. The weekend DRAINED me. I did go for my run fairly early, fully expecting it to be horrible, but it actually wasn't that bad. Shocking after a lot of miles and like 11,000' of climbing. 

Took Olive for a walk. A ended up having to work, but we met at Torchy's when she got off for a quick lunch.

Stats:

• 174,722 steps
• 49.97 miles run
• 15.5 miles walked
• 45 minutes of cardio
• 40 minutes of strength