Week in Review (August 12 - August 18)

Tuesday (12,074 steps) - Walked Olive before going to work in the office. Went for a walk before going to the gym at lunch. Used the Peloton, did a full body strength workout and a quickie on the StairMaster. 

Did a delivery on my way to meet Ben at Costco to pick up groceries for the week. We tried a new dinner and neither of us liked it. Took Olive for another walk. Bosch.

Wednesday (14,542 steps) - Olive walk before work, another walk before going to the gym at lunch. I had planned on doing the 12/3/30 on the treadmill. Did you know that it's really hard work to walk that fast with that kind of incline?? I still did 1.5 miles of varying 12-13% incline, but couldn't quite get it done at that pace. Did a core video that was relatively tough. Did a few deliveries on the way home, put dinner in the oven and walked Olive. More Bosch.

Thursday (19,333 steps) - Work from home. Decided to go for a run, relatively early. This was awful. I guess I was due for a horrible run eventually. It was insanely hot and I walked a ton. Was sad to discover that one of the trails on the south side of the lake is now closed for restoration too. Boo!! Basically all that this was good for was time on feet.

Ariel called me when I was almost home to ask if I could meet her to bring her work shoes to her.... At least she bought me coffee for my troubles. Took Olive for a walk. Torchy's for dinner and Bosch.

Friday (15,457 steps) - Walked Olive before going to work in the office. Took her to work with me and we went for a few different walks during the day. As soon as we got home I went with Ben to Big O so we could get new tires for Shelly. Surprised they were able to get it done before they closed. We had to go back home to finish loading everything up for camping. Thankfully, there was virtually no traffic heading up to the mountains. Of course we stopped at Outer Range before going to our campsite at Prospector. This was our first time in a bit camping here, and it was nice to have a pull through spot - made setting up go a lot quicker. Hot dogs for dinner and we went to bed pretty soon after, a long day.

Saturday (14,082 steps) - I had not slept great, so of course we were up pretty early. Coffee and breakfast. 

I had suggested that we go to Buffalo Mountain. I knew it would be a decent amount of vert, plus the few people who had been up this year had all seen mountain goats! I wasn't super sure of which lot was technically the trailhead, and I was disappointed to see it was the small one at the edge of town. We ended up having to stalk someone to their car to get a spot, but at least we finally got one. I had estimated the hike to be about 6 miles round trip and close to 3,000' of climbing. The lower part is a section we run through when we do the loop, but we are usually coming from the other direction. 

Since I'm still trying to work on my climbing at altitude, I was trying to not take that many breaks, or at least take shorter ones. 

We had just crossed paths with a few gals and were in the woods when I saw something white barreling down the trail. I assumed it was someone's dog. Imagine my surprise when....

If you cant' tell, that is a mountain goat!! I screamed "holy shit" because I have never in my life seen a mountain goat ON a trial, especially below tree line and I had no idea what to do! Luckily, Olive is not the smartest dog and she had no idea what was happening.

The goat got within about 10 feet of us, stared us down, and then suddenly bolted and ran back up the mountain. We didn't see him again until we got to the boulder field - and there he was...

He definitely seemed intent on watching us, which made me a bit nervous, ever since I had done Mt. Evans with Lisa and Lucky and the ranger told us that goats can be aggressive to dogs. We spent a decent amount of time trying to determine if the goat would let us go by, when we noticed that there were some scary clouds over Ten Mile. 

We finally decided that maybe this was a sign that we should just head down without summitting.  Between the passive aggressive goat and an impending storm it seemed smart.

Adorable Pika!

We weren't even off the boulder field when we started to hear the thunder. We started to move a lot quicker since neither one of us had remembered to put a rain jacket in our pack. (Yes, we should know better, we are definitely more experienced than this).

The truly shocking part was the number of people we saw on the way down that were still continuing up. No packs, no jackets... Anyway, we got to about a half mile from the truck when the rain started. Luckily it was only lightly raining - the heavy rain started as we were driving away. We headed back into Frisco and went to Whole Foods for a pizza/Topo lunch before going back to Outer Range for the "Puppy Party." Back to the campsite for hamburgers and relaxation.

Ben had downloaded a few episodes of Bosch that we were able to watch on his laptop before we went to bed.

Sunday (10,175 steps) - Slept a bit better. Had some coffee before starting the journey to Leadville. Stopped at Dunkin for extra coffee. We parked in town a few blocks from the finish line. I used the bathroom and we found the rabbit tent before we went down the street to spectate the golden hour finishers. Josephine managed to find us and we had a great time watching everyone finish! Picked up the gear I wanted from rabbit before driving back down to the campsite to load up. Got out right on time at 11:59! Stopped at Outer Range for a beer and food from Bird Craft (which we ended up getting for free because the kitchen "lost" our order). When we left Frisco the map said it was going to be just over 2 hours. Unfortunately we got to Georgetown and it took two hours just to get to Idaho Springs because of multiple accidents. It was not a fun drive home. Stopped at Parry's for dinner. Got home and unloaded the camper and then Ariel went with me to walk Olive. Bosch.

Monday (19,972 steps) - Blah. Supposed to be another very hot day, so I went for an early run. I had no real plan and made some route changes. 

Had some numb feet again which had me walking for a bit, but after the walking and some stretching I was able to finish my run without too much other drama. Took Olive for a walk after that. Did some deliveries after work. Ben made dinner and I spent the evening on chat with Xfinity over an issue with the trade in we had done for our phones. Not a super fun night. Bosch.

Stats:

• 105,632 steps
• 15.68 miles run
• 15.19 miles walked
• 18 minutes of cardio
• 30 minutes of strength

Week in Review (August 24 - August 30)

Tuesday (11,396 steps) - Work in the office. Busy enough after my first day in person since before Bigfoot that I worked through my lunch. Left a few minutes early so I could get my scheduled run/walk done before A got done with practice.

Wednesday (5,874 steps) - Work in the office. Did a 30 minute upper body video during lunch. After work I did a Peloton ride that I really enjoyed - all Lady Gaga songs!

Thursday (12,492 steps) - Work from home. Took Pika for a walk at lunch, then did my "power hike" workout after work.

Friday (12,825 steps) - 45 minute Peloton ride before heading to Wash Park to meet up with the gang for a walk. 

Work in the office. Happy hour at Jeramiah & Stephanie's house after work.

Saturday (35,114 steps) - Dropped A off at school before 6 am so she could catch her bus to Vail for her first cross country meet of the season. Met Jeramiah in Boulder to do South Boulder & Bear Peak. It was tough, but honestly, after Bigfoot, nothing really feels THAT bad, and I know it's at least not going to last for five days, haha. 

Stopped at REI to pick up some things, then home to walk Pika. 

Discovered that the water heater finally DID crap out when there was not hot water in the shower. 

I love how much food I have now that I work with Abby!

Had lunch and sat around waiting for Ben to get off work to see what we maybe could do with the water heater since all the people we had talked to were booked out for a bit.

Sunday (21,973 steps) - Slept in. Ben called Rheem in the morning to find out if the water heater was under warranty, since it was manufactured in 2015. It was! Once we had that piece of good news we headed to Mount Morrison so I could get the rest of the vert I needed to finish the Leadville 100,000' climbing challenge. The climbs were pretty tough, but not as bad as I remembered. The descents were actually way worse. 

We stopped at the newer Barrels and Bottles location in Golden for a beer and some food before heading home. 

Rest of the evening was spent screwing around with the water heater to drain and remove.

Monday (8,194 steps) - Up early to get A to school. Since Ben was off work he headed to Home Depot to exchange out the water heater. Of course he ran into complications, even though he had the email from Rheem and had been told by Home Depot there would be no problems. He spent all morning there fighting with staff and calls with corporate with no immediate resolution. Took Pika for a walk at lunch. Day three of not hot water, and none of us are amused. 

The leak coming from the ceiling was really the most fun part of the whole experience

When I went to pick A up from practice I convinced Ben to head back to Home Depot to see if someone different was working in customer service. Thankfully, there was, and he was able to get it resolved with minimal complications. Jeramiah came over to help Ben get the new water heater into the basement and installed, although it was after 10 before we were able to get to bed. What a headache.

Stats:

• 107,868 steps
• 19.41 miles run 
• 75 minutes of cardio
• 30 minutes of strength

Week in Review (August 17 - August 23)

Tuesday (95,911 steps) - Bigfoot 200. By the time I crossed the finish line it was after 6:00. We stayed at the finish line until the last runner crossed, so another couple hours. All of a sudden it was getting dark and we still had a LONG drive to get to our AirBnB, which we had booked in Tacoma. I finally was able to fall asleep in the car, although I was also the one navigating, so I wasn't in a deep sleep. We had a beer before heading to bed. LONG DAY, haha.

Wednesday (3,940 steps) - The day of nothing! Our BnB was pretty neat, it was in the port and right on the water. We didn't do much all day, but we went into Tacoma and hit up a brewery for lunch before spending the rest of the day lounging around. 

Zach and Ben took the kayaks out, and I... slept? Did nothing? Who knows.

Glare from inside, but you get the general idea of our view from the living room!

Thursday (7,949 steps) - Cake for breakfast! 

Had to pack and get everything ready to go to be out of the BnB by 11:00 am. Started the drive towards the airport, although we had a LOT of time to kill. Stopped at another brewery near the farmer's market. They didn't have food, so Ben walked over to another brewery (that apparently didn't have good beer anyway) to pick up lunch for us.

Flight home was delayed a bit, and when we landed (late) everything was a cluster. A bunch of flights landed at the same time and picking up our bags took a while. Somehow we had convinced Kristin to pick us up, and the passenger pickup was backed up so far it took over a half hour for her to get us.

Friday (9,427 steps) - THANKFULLY, I took the day off from work. I didn't get to sleep in, however, because I still had to take Ariel to school. I kept falling asleep throughout the day, apparently it's going to take a while to get back into a regular sleep routine.

Saturday (10,469 steps) - Ariel had her fundraiser run in the morning at the school, so I dropped her off and then finalized packing for the weekend. We started the drive up to Leadville as soon as she was done, with a stop in Outer Range for a beer. 

We arrived at Twin Lakes shortly before the aid station closed for the outbound runners, only to find out that Tyler was injured and was going to be dropping. We met up with him in hopes it was something that we could help him with, but it was a no go. 

Also, apparently the only picture I took all weekend?

We still planned on staying in the mountains for the weekend, so the rest of the day was spent getting food and watching stuff on Netflix.

Sunday (9,032 steps) - We got up relatively early so we could head to the finish line. It's always so inspiring to watch the last finishers come in. No real recollection of the rest of the day. More food, Netflix and naps.

Monday (8,080 steps) - Up EARLY so that we could head back home, it always is a better option than trying to fight mountain traffic on a Sunday. Got home with plenty of time to get Ariel to school and for me to start my work day. Thankfully it was a work from home day, so I was eased back in after vacation. I didn't have nearly as many emails as I thought I might, so that was good news. Took Pika for a walk at lunch. No recollection of anything else that happened.

Stats:

• 144,808 steps
• Around 38 miles run (last part of Bigfoot 200)
• 0 minutes of cardio
• 0 minutes of strength training

Week in Review (August 13 - August 19)

Tuesday (19,445 steps) - Strength class during lunch. REI was having a big sale, so I finally picked up my Micro Puff (that will hopefully get me a). through Tahoe and b). Through winter in general).

Forgot my running shoes, so I was only going to be walking again at Milk Market. I did do a few sections of jogging to break up the monotony of walking, however. Food was random and delicious (pesto & peaches on bread?).

Wednesday (21,856 steps) - Core class during lunch. Runners Roost Boulder!

Super hot night again. Run was hard (is it ever NOT?), but still managed a fairly decent pace. First time I've actually run the whole route in a while.

Meant to start packing, and didn't (really).
Thursday (15,278 steps) - First day of 8th grade for A!

Left work early for volunteering with BMA & OSMP. A decided that she was too tired to go, so I drove alone to Boulder and met Chelsea at the free lot. We then drove back down to the Flatirons lot, where we were transported by truck most of the way. We still had to carry pickaxes and water, but it wasn't nearly as far as if we'd walked all the way from the lot. Work was a lot harder this time - pickaxes are heavy! We were gathering huge rocks and then digging holes for them to create "rumble strips" on a downhill to help with erosion and bikes going to fast. Late night.

Chelsea is having an awfully good time watching this guy play Tetris with rocks

Friday (10,967 steps) - Core class during lunch. After work rushed home to grab A and a handful of things to head up the mountain. Heavy traffic again, and we decided on Noodles for dinner. A bit of a headache trying to find Velcro for Ben's gaiters, but we managed to get some from Lowe's, and got to his house around 8. In bed way too late for an early wake up.
Saturday (26,149 steps) - Up at 1:00 am. Yes, 1. Initially I told Ben to wake me up around 2:15, but once he was up, I was too. He is really... slow moving on a race morning. We enjoyed coffee and breakfast, and then he finalized all his packing. Still had to get gas on the way up to Leadville. Crazy that we still were parked (only a few blocks from the start line) with about 20 minutes to spare. Plenty of time for the bathroom and a pre-race pic.

I ran into quite a few friends at the start, but at 4 am, I wasn't too keen on sticking around for a long time. Grabbed Oza's info on the house, then drove BACK to Ben's house. Had hoped to get a few more hours of sleep, but I was too cold. Up before my alarm, showered, had breakfast, and then A and I grabbed the last of our things and headed into Silverthorne for some coffee. Not more than a minute after leaving, I got a text from Ben - "I'm hurt. Lost some blood. Moving. Running. 911 called but I kept running." AND THEN HE DIDN'T RESPOND TO ANY FURTHER MESSAGES. "Luckily, he made it to the next aid station and a mutual friend of ours was working the medical tent, and she sent me a pic and message. He certainly did eff himself up.

He wanted to continue running and insisted he was fine - so I messaged him that we would see him at Twin. Now of course THAT was also an ordeal. By 9:30 the line was so long for parking that I opted to drive all the way to the road to drop Ariel off with Ben's giant 400 pound bag. Ended up having to park nearly two miles away.

Found A with no problem at Becki Lynn's tent. Socialized with everyone while waiting for runners to come in. Everyone seemed to be coming in later than expected. Ben was in good spirits when I finally saw him, and he looked a lot better once we took a few minutes to clean him up and get him into a clean shirt.

I walked him out to the road and told him we would be at Winfield. WHICH WAS ALSO AN ORDEAL. New this year, was needing to take a bus. As a conservative guess, we waited nearly two hours for a bus. We hadn't had a chance to go to the car (since it was two miles away), so we didn't have water, snacks or sunscreen. By the time we did get on a bus, they were overfilling them, so I had to share a seat with 2 people and A had to stand. FOR AN HOUR.

We finally arrived at Winfield. Hot & sunny. Chatted with Jeramiah, Andrew, Lisa A. and Koltin, while waiting. They really had us worried, but everyone came in about a half hour before cutoff. I actually got Ben out of the aid station pretty quickly, and Becki said she would take good care of him on Hope Pass.

Ben looks happy and I look like I have a double chin - walking him out of Winfield for his second trip up Hope Pass

We were there to watch all the people get cut that didn't make the cutoff, and I surprisingly emotional watching athletes get their bracelets cut and not being allowed to finish. Shockingly, the bus back was no better. We waited well over an hour for one, and when we got on, there were hundreds of others behind us. (Rumor has it some were still there at 9 pm!!)

Luckily, the bus driver was pretty helpful and stopped along the road near Twin and dropped us off, so we didn't have to walk as far to get back to the car. This time, we were only a little over a half mile away. Went back to BPCO's tent and thankfully Margo was there and made us some food. We were starving!!

As it got darker, we obviously got more concerned. Becki had sent her husband a text asking to give me Tylenol for Ben when he came in. Shortly after that, A got a text that Tyler wanted to drop and they probably wouldn't make the cutoff.

Once we were getting down to the wire (about 9:40 pm) - we walked over to the road and watched as runners were rushing to make the 10:00 pm cutoff. Yet none of them happened to be Ben. Once our watches read 9:55, we knew there was no way that he could be in and out of an aid station in that amount of time (we were probably at least a quarter mile from then aid station by now). Ugh. After all that work, Ben was going to miss a cutoff. A decided to go back to the tent to wait for everyone, and I planned on hanging out until I saw them.

It would be a while, nearly 45 minutes, before I would see them (and they were only minutes behind Jeramiah and Tyler). For missing a major cutoff and now a DNF, he seemed ok with it. We headed to the aid station to check in with medical and tell a race official that he was done (but accounted for). Both Becki and Ben were freezing, so we stayed in the tent a while for them to warm up. Probably around 11:30, we finally headed out. I had offered to give people a ride to their car because the thought they were about three miles away.

Ben after 64ish miles & Becki still adorable after 14+ and 8(?) water crossings

Thankfully, we had enough service to map to Tyler's place in Twin, as the thought of trying to get down to Ben's was daunting. His parents welcomed us in, and we were treated to some beer, pizza, and most importantly, a shower and a bed to sleep in. Lights out after midnight - but still earlier than any of us planned.
Sunday (5,071 steps) - Clearly, I did nothing. We were up early. Had coffee and decided to go into Leadville to watch the last of the finishers come in. By the time we go there, we only saw the last two official finishers. Spent some time at the Roost tent, congratulated Lexa, then went over to PB, where we remained with various groups of friends for a while. Went to Safeway to pick up some last minute food, then headed back up to Tyler's place at Twin Lakes.

Monday  (7,669 steps) - Made the decision at 3:30 am that there was no way I could drive to Denver at that hour. Slept a little later, helped Tyler clean up, then drove into Frisco to take Ben to have his head looked at. A even got to go back with him for his catscan. 

Actually looks worse than it was, X-ray didn't pick up anything. Just a bruise.

Thankfully, he did not sustain "serious" injuries from his fall (no brain bleed, breaks or fractures), although he was diagnosed with his second concussion of the year. We went back to his house for a few snacks and some relaxation before heading to Denver late afternoon. 

Took A to her Scout meeting, went home to shower & do laundry. After her meeting we went to Outback (thanks, Sharon, for the gift card). 

In bed early-ish.

Stats:

• 106,435 steps
• 6.6 miles run (huh. Well, I was supposed to pace Ben, so I guess I'm missing those miles, but wow, I didn't realize I didn't run.... at all.)
• Three gym classes