Week in Review (October 15 - October 21)

Tuesday (11,305 steps) - Walk with Olive before going to work. Went to the gym at lunch - which was oddly crowded (although I did go closer to a "normal" lunch hour) and did my strength training and a short Peloton ride. After work I took Olive for a walk before driving for about an hour. Pizza for dinner and "Only Murders." We finished early, so we started "Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter" - which is funny because I swear there is a later movie in the series called the same thing.

Wednesday (18,009 steps) - Worked from home in the morning because I had to be home for our sprinkler blow out. I went for my shake out run, opting to make it a bit shorter instead of the hour I had on schedule. For the first time I wore a long sleeve race pace tee from rabbit (currently the short sleeve are among my favorites) and it was a bit tight. Ugh, I gotta get my weight under control.

The sprinkler guy was on time (early, even) and it didn't take him too long to finish. I took Olive for a walk before going to work in the office.

We finally went to a "new to us" restaurant for dinner - the Aspen Lodge. It was a bit... eclectic. I had a gyro sandwich that was pretty tasty.

Finished up watching the Friday the 13th movie.

Thursday (16,180 steps) - Up VERY early. I took Olive for a walk before showering and getting ready. Ben drove me to the airport at horrible hour of 5 am. There was virtually no wait at security and I was near the gate in no time. I walked around a bit, but before I knew it, time to board the plane. I initially thought I was going to watch a movie, but nothing really sparked my interest, so I mostly just read my book. Layover was in Baltimore, and I had a decent amount of time between flights. I picked up a salad and a giant cookie before boarding my flight to Manchester. No recollection of this flight, other than it was too turbulent for them to do any food/beverage service. Landed on time (I think?) and thanks to it being a small airport, I was on my way pretty fast to get my rental. 

I was upgraded to an SUV again, and had already mapped to a place to go for a walk before going to my hotel room. Falls Loop was outside Merrimack, and I thought it said it was a 1.4 mile loop. It was beautiful, and there were not that many people there.

After a while I was starting to wonder if I had gotten off track somewhere, so I pulled up Strava (thankfully I had enough coverage to use it) and realized that I had somehow gotten off the main loop. Found my way back without too much trouble once I had the map.

It was quite chilly when I got done with the walk and I was relieved I had found my way back before dark. I found the hotel without any issues, but was a bit annoyed with the sketchy parking garage. The AC didn't feel particularly cold in the room. I had plans to go to the gym and get my workout in when I realized... I booked a hotel without a gym?? That's a thing?? Ugh. So by this time I figure I'll just skip the workout. It's about dinner time and I realized I was pretty close to a highly rated brewery - The Lost Cowboy.

The food was delicious, but the portions were way too big for just one person. I had to toss about half of it. I stopped at Target after leaving there to get a few essentials. Watched TV in the hotel but was seriously annoyed with there not being a TV guide and the remote was very slow. (I know, first world problems).

Friday (14,090 steps) - Really glad that I gave myself an extra day. I stayed in bed ridiculously late. About the time I woke up I had a text from Tyler asking if I wanted to do anything for the day. I had looked the night before and had found a 4ish mile loop that I wanted to walk. I realized that the hotel I was staying ALSO didn't have free breakfast. I took a quick shower and ended up going down the street to get a smoothie because there was ALSO NO (FREE) COFFEE IN THE LOBBY, WTF. I met up with Tyler and Terri and we went on a quite lovely walk in the woods - the Horse Hill loop. We saw only two people riding horses and a few bikes. Otherwise, in over an hour, no other people. It was nice.

By now we were hungry, so we stopped at the Thirsty Moose for food and beer. 

It was a good time to sit around and chat for a bit. Tyler ended up having to go back to his hotel for a work call, but I was tired anyway, with a headache, so I was fine going to my hotel as well. I ended up taking a nap and woke up not feeling any better. By then it was already 5 and I had missed the start of the pasta dinner the race was hosting. I was not especially hungry, but figured I needed to pick up something for dinner. I went down the street to Aldi's and got a calzone and a burrito for morning. More TV and a beer before going to bed relatively early.

Saturday (128,157 steps) - Ghost Train 30 hour - recap to follow.

Sunday (96,065 steps) - Ghost Train ending. Initially I had planned to go back to my hotel (I had switched to the Hampton a half mile away), but when we were mapping places to go, it seemed that Lost Cowboy would be on the way, so I just met everyone there for a celebratory beer and snack.

Kristin and her brother and his wife had to head out to Boston, so festivities were cut short. I was exhausted, so didn't care. Checked into my hotel and took a shower. I called Ben but was so exhausted, I had to take a nap. I set my alarm for an hour and passed out. I woke up, knowing I would need to get food for dinner. Ben had Uber Eats deliver food for me (buffalo dip and fried pickles). Fun surprise! He was NOT able to get beer delivered though. I decided to walk across the street to Applebees, since it was the closest. I had two marginal beers, then decided I needed to be relaxing.

I went to sleep almost immediately after getting back to the room.

Monday (11,997 steps) - Didn't set an alarm and still woke up around 8. I decided I was hungry and figured I should go to the breakfast buffet. There wasn't anything too exciting, but it was free, so I was happy. 

I went back to my room and was suddenly very tired and decided to take a nap even though I hadn't packed yet. By the time I showered and got all my things packed it was time to check out. I had found another new place to go for a walk before my flight. When I parked at Mine Falls Park I was not optimistic at all as it appeared I was in the middle of the city. BUT - it ended up being a really beautiful trail - and I could have added a decent amount of distance and variation if I had wanted to.

Headed back into Merrimack and went to the Thirsty Moose for lunch and a beer before going to the airport. Both were delicious.

Stopped to get gas and returned the car without any issues. There were maybe a half dozen people in front of me at security, so I was there LONG before I actually needed to be. I decided I would watch "Modern Family" on these flights since I had never seen it - these are pretty good! I had a two hour layover, so even though I wasn't "starving," I got dinner. It was delicious!

I continued watching Modern Family, but turns out they only had six episodes and I went through them all. Nothing sparked my interest in movies, but I put on "A Cinderella Story" to pass the time. We ended up landing about 15 minutes early. Unfortunately we were at the farthest gate in C, so I had to walk to the train, which was packed. By the time Ben picked me up with was after 10. Got home just before 11 but then I still had to eat something before bed. LONG DAY.

Stats:

• 295,803 steps
• 103.03 miles run
• 17.52 miles walked
• 15 minutes of cardio
• 30 minutes of strength