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 (November 16 - November 22)

Tuesday (5,824 steps) - Work in the office. Took Pika for a walk after getting home. She hasn't been feeling well so she needs to go outside more often. :( Also... I'm already over how dark it is at 5:00 pm.

Wednesday (11,811 steps) - Work in the office. After work I headed up to Boulder. Initially, I had planned to just go for a walk, but after I realized how cold it was I decided to just do a short run. Part of the bike path was closed for construction, so it ended up being a solo choose your own adventure route. Actually pretty enjoyable, though. 

The store was doing their VIP sale/party, and I picked up a few things before heading home for dinner. 

Thursday (10,234 steps) - Work from home, and it was a CRAZY busy day. Did a Peloton ride and took Pika for a walk. Then, I had to pick A up from school, take her to the post office to get her passport renewed. Worked a bit more and then had to drive her and a teammate to the airport so they could meet up with their team in Arizona. LONG ASS DAY. On the way home I met Ben at the new Tap n' Burger. Neither of us was even remotely impressed with this place. You now have to pay for street parking in the "new downtown Westminster," they automatically add 20% tip and the food was EXPENSIVE. We won't be back.

Friday (14,401 steps) - Had hopefully my last Friday morning run at Wash Park - I reminded Steph I like to have it as a rest day! 45 minutes that was... not bad. 

Did the last 10-15 minutes with the group before going to Stella's for coffee and muffins for Christy's birthday! Work in the office. After work Ben and I decided to use our gift certificate for Malone's. Unlike yesterday, we REALLY enjoyed just about everything about our experience.

Saturday (27,795 steps) - Got up semi-early so that we could figure out how to live stream Ariel's race, the Nike Cross Regionals Southwest! We had major buffering issues, but it was REALLY cool watching her on the big screen. Not to mention, her teammate actually won the heat they were in.

These results are just for her wave. Over 1000 girls ran and a time slower than 22 minutes didn't even get you in the top 500. Insane.

Still needed to get a run in and it was supposed to get windier and colder as the day went on, so we rushed out so we could finish in time to walk Pika. I had mapped out a loop in Boulder that would give us a climb/descent/climb route. Really feeling out of shape since I haven't been concentrating on climbing lately. Run started out pretty warm, but a few miles in things definitely cooled down and I was glad I'd brought a long sleeve.

Decided that we would let Batman join us on the walk. He was meow-y the first bit (when in the neighborhood), but really seemed to enjoy the sun and lake atmosphere.

After showering we met up with Kristin, Doug and Tyler at The Bluegrass (to finally use my gift card from my birthday). Fun afternoon!

Sunday (23,920 steps) - Slept in (as much as I ever do) and then went for my run. I had 8 miles to get done and I created a modified loop around the neighborhood. The one bad part about doing a "road" loop near me is that the end is ALWAYS uphill. I was trying to take it easy, and for the most part, it wasn't bad, although my heart rate still doesn't reflect "easy."

Our walk with Batman had been so successful yesterday, that we opted to take him again! Unfortunately, we did NOT have as much luck this time. He had another "incident" in the backpack, which wasn't especially fun for anyone.

Batman expressing his displeasure with being covered in poop - I'm trying to clean out his pack as much as possible with poop bags. Sigh.

He handled the bath pretty well

I started baking my "famous" pumpkin cheesecakes, since we have plans to do an "early" Thanksgiving. It's really my favorite dessert ever. (And exponentially cheaper than buying one from the Cheesecake Factory - did you know it's over $60 for a 10" cheesecake?! I think it costs me about $12 to make two, but I'm not sure on the diameter).

Ariel invited a friend over and Tyler stopped by to hang out and have a beer. How is the weekend over already.

Monday (11,456 steps) - Work from home. Walk with Ben and Pika at lunch and did a Peloton ride. After I got off work I wrapped some Christmas presents while Ben and Ariel finished making Thanksgiving dinner! 

Maybe the best cheesecake I've ever made. AND NEITHER OF THEM CRACKED!!

Stats:

• 105,441 steps
• 26.36 miles run
• 90 minutes cardio
• 0 minutes strength