Week in Review (September 30 - October 6)

Tuesday (14,328 steps) - Peloton ride and Olive walk before going to work in the office. I was on the fence as to whether I wanted to run or just do inside gym stuff. Ended up doing a brisk few miles on the treadmill (walking, not running) and some weights. After work went home to let Olive out before meeting Ben at Costco for a long overdue grocery trip. Dinner and Wednesday! Dressed Goosie up for Halloween, isn't she adorable??

Wednesday (17,446 steps) - Up early and walked Olive before going to work. Went for a run at lunch, doing intervals. 

Stopped at REI mid run to check out the dry bags that I might use for my next race. Spoiler: they are going to NOT work at all. I'll have to return. Ben and I took Olive for a walk. Only Murders in the Building

Thursday  (17,299 steps) - Work from home. Ariel called to let me know that her tire light is on (AGAIN) so I met her down at Big O. We ventured to get "coffee" from Ziggi's since we both had coupons and took Olive for a walk while we were waiting for her car to be done (it was just the sensor, but we didn't feel the need to spend $90 on a new one).

Did my run at interval run at lunch, it wasn't bad, but another activity where I'm ever so grateful for the bathroom at the trailhead! Took Olive for an afternoon walk and then met Ben at Torchy's for dinner.

More Murders!

Friday (16,711 steps) - Wash Park with the gang! I wasn't sure if I was going to go because I've been really tired and lethargic all week, but since I woke up before my alarm, off we went. I was glad to see everyone. Skipped Stella's so I could get to the office a bit earlier. Olive and I walked to REI at lunch to return the dry bag I had bought earlier in the week. It was hot hot hot, unseasonably warm, nearly hitting 90 degrees today!

After work we met up with Ben at 4 Noses for happy hour. I had their new NA beer and it was not the best, so we left pretty soon after that. 

Saturday (19,369 steps) - Up early to take Olive for a quick walk - although we ended up doing a bit longer than usual since the sunrise looked like it was going to be extra pretty, we headed east instead of our normal west route.

We headed over to Golden so that we could run the Homecoming (Blaster) 5k! Last year we didn't register in time and missed it, so I was much more on top of it this year. We found everything pretty easily and had plenty of time to use the bathroom before starting. We found Ariel and her friend/roommate Margaret before the start and got this picture with adorable Blaster! 

Could Blaster BE any cuter??? Wearing the race shirt and his own bib!!!

I had told Ben we should do our own thing for the run, so I had one earbud in so I could listen to music. I knew the course was going to be relatively hilly and I had a (lame) soft goal of sub 35 minutes. Well, the course starts as an uphill and I took my first walk break like a half mile in. There was some crowding on the bike path and this stupid woman was running with her two kids, holding at least on of their hands and taking up most of the trail with zero situational awareness. Second break maybe 1.5 miles in, shortly after I saw Blaster (yes, he ran the whole 5k!!) and Ben. Ariel and Margaret caught up to me and we walked together for a minute. I started to run again around 2 miles in and did pretty well until the last hill up to the finish - what a cruel finish!! Official splits 11:04/11:01/11:41/10:21 for a 34:39 finish. 

Finisher pic with Blaster!

That felt stupidly hard. Trying to give myself a break since I haven't done speed work in AGES and I have been sick for a week or longer. Anyway. Ariel and Margaret finished just a few minutes after me. We got a sno cone and a burrito to take home for later. Ariel had to head out for additional Homecoming activities, and we had to head home as well. Did some reading while Ben took a nap and then took Olive for a long walk before we headed down to Bear Creek for our volunteering shift at the Bear Chase races! Bear Chase was my first 50 miler in 2011 (!!!!) and I ran varying distances there for years up until Covid - this was my first time back since! We arrived right on time at 1:00. The weather seemed to already be rolling in and it was cloudy and windy when we arrived. Stella was volunteering, as was Jim. Well, it was quite an adventure out there. The wind only got worse as time went on. We ended up having to tape everything down because full containers of food would blow off the table. We even got some rain and I wished I had brought more clothes!!

By mid afternoon the wind had gotten exponentially worse - to the point where all four of us were hanging on the canopy to keep it from blowing away. 

We were able to head out shortly after the last runner at 8:45 pm. I cannot believe how exhausting this was! Had hoped to get food on the way home and we were way too tired. Ate some leftovers and sat on the couch for a few minutes before bed. What a long day.

Sunday (22,920 steps) - Definitely exhausted when I woke up. Crazy how much volunteering takes out of me! Took Olive for a walk and then we headed up to Louisville for our long run. I didn't look until after we got back home, but it was my longest training run in MONTHS. 

Apparently the only picture I took all run

Pretty sad that I haven't run double digits outside of a race in who knows how long. Guess this means I need to get back to work on base building, as 9 miles seemed REALLY tough towards the end. I had worn long sleeves for this since it seemed chilly when we left the house. It was partially perfect, but any time the sun came out it felt really warm. On the way home we stopped at Torchy's for lunch/snack. Went home and took a shower, read for a bit and then went out to do some driving. By the time I got back it was raining so Olive did not get an afternoon walk. Ben had Panda delivered (YUM) and we started "No Time to Die" but between Ariel showing up for a surprise visit and the length of the movie, we weren't able to finish it. Goodbye weekend?

Monday (18,227 steps) - Work from home. I had to run to the obgyn to get my IUD replaced, fun times. Picked up a coffee from Dunkin' as a reward. Took Olive for a walk before taking her to get groomed. I went for my run on the US36 bike path. Really not bad at all! I also had to wear tights and long sleeves as it was pretty chilly. Never gonna survive winter!! After work I did a few deliveries and then took Olive for a walk before dinner. Ben ordered Domino's, which we haven't had in ages. Finished "No Time to Die."

Stats:

• 126,300 steps
• 25.95 miles run
• 16.43 miles walked
• 15 minutes of cardio
• 5 minutes of strength