Week in Review (May 26 - June 1)

Tuesday (20,348 steps) - I took the morning off from work. A was given the Principal's Award for her math skills (which she did NOT get from me).



It was also the make-up day for field day. Since it had been raining pretty much non-stop all month, I was not optimistic that the new date would be any better. We lucked out with only semi-marshy field conditions and blue skies. (It did end up raining again in the afternoon).

 

45 minutes on the elliptical after work.

Wednesday (25,756 steps) - 3.1 mile run before work. I've been testing out the morning runs to see if I can get a quality workout in before work in lieu of going to the gym. If I get up early enough I can usually do 3-6 miles (usually around 4). On this morning, my blowdryer sparked and nearly caught on fire, which delayed getting ready a bit. Sigh. 45 minutes on the elliptical after work.

Thursday (15,610 steps) - A's last day of third grade! Like last year, she wore the same outfit on the first day of school and the last so that we could do comparison shots. I dunno, she looks a LOT older to me at the end of the year. Where did the year go??

A went to a birthday party at dinner time which gave me the chance to run outside. I barely missed yet another evening rain/thunderstorm and got in just over 3 miles on the Clear Creek trail.

Friday (17,010 steps) - 4 miles before work. Legs were very tired. This was not an easy run. A had gone to Boulder with my parents for my nephew's "graduation" to middle school. She ended up staying there all day and asked if she could spend the night with her cousins. I watched a scary movie and was in bed by 10. What a crazy life I lead.

Saturday (26,919 steps) - With A not at home I got up early to do a "long run" before I needed to pick her up. I picked Clear Creek trail again. Due to all the rain I have been starting a mile further down the trail to avoid the tunnel flooding and I got to run a section I have only run one other time. It was so pretty! I took this run VERY easy - basically just to get time on my feet, and I had a great time. Just over 10 miles.

 

I drove up to Boulder to pick up A and then we had to rush home and shower so that we could go to her Girl Scout bridging. Basically what that means is she is done being a Brownie (seriously, where has the time gone) and now she is a Junior. Weather was nice, we had a BBQ and they made tee shirts to wear for next year.



After THAT - we headed directly to my nephew's birthday party. Home for about an hour and then we went to see McFarland. Again.

Sunday (27,406 steps) - Up early again. I was hoping the trails would finally be dried out enough for me to really test out the Altra Olympus trail shoes I had bought last month. I went to North Table, thinking with the lack of trees it might be more dried out than other places. There were a few muddy spots but I didn't think it was that bad. I had planned on doing the "big loop" - only to discover the north side of the trail was closed from flooding/mudslide damage. That meant that I had to go back UP the glorious downhill on that loop - a half mile long hill at 15.8% grade. I hate that hill. Just over 9 miles done. Quick review on the Altras. I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATED THEM. They felt like clown shoes. All around they felt sloppy and being so high up I felt like my ankle was rolling with every step. AWFUL AND UNCOMFORTABLE.



After lunch A and I went over to Jessa's house to help her plant flowers. Well, A helped. I sat and watched. I have a brown thumb and don't like gardening. A had a blast.



Birthday dinner with the family for my nephew's birthday. Shortest/busiest non-racing weekend EVER.

Monday (18,029 steps) - With A heading to Yellowstone with my parents for vacation, that meant I could try to sleep in and do my running AFTER work. I was hoping the weather would be warmer so that I could actually get some "heat training" in. I headed over to City Park with an open-ended plan to run for up to an hour. There is a 5k loop that I did once and stopped. It was not nearly as warm as I hoped and it rained for about 10 minutes. My ankles feel wonky after the stupid trail run in the Altra's.

I drove home, took a super quick shower and then went to Arvada Tavern to meet up with Jessa for dinner, a few beers and adult conversation.

Stats

• 151,078 steps
• 34 miles run
• 90 minutes of cross training
• No strength... oops

Everything Else

• Finally have the last of the items for my stage race ready and/or on order. I can't believe it is coming up so soon. It seemed like I was really going to have more time to prepare and now I feel like I am not. At all. I have been looking at the extended EXTENDED forecast and I for real might die. Western Colorado is looking like mid to upper 90's, while Utah is low 100's. OMG!!!
• Still waiting on the bills from A's broken arm. I have only received the one from the orthopaedist, nothing STILL from the actually facility that diagnosed her. Funny that it can take them this long to send you a bill and they will want payment immeidately. And by funny, I mean NOT.

Week(s) in Review (February 3 - February 16)

Tuesday, February 3 (18,001 steps) Hill program on the treadmill. This was two weeks ago, I can't remember if it was awful. 

Wednesday, February 4 (21,910 steps) 6.1 super sweaty miles on the treadmill. The fact that it was longer than 3 or 4 miles must mean it was an ok run. Also did a squat video and some stretching.

Thursday, February 5 (19,968 steps) Another hill program, 3.5 miles. Less awful than the one earlier in the week.

Friday, February 6 (8,571 steps). Uh, nothing? Pizza?

Saturday, February 7 (12,762 steps) We went to the "donut" run club at the Runners Roost in Lakewood. It was HOT. I mean, maybe only upper 50's but it was WARM. Never going to survive the summer :(

Sunday, February 8 (35,691 steps). In the morning L and I ran the Ralston Creek half.

The start of Girl Scout cookie season. Can I say HOW MUCH I HATE THIS? They give the girls a "quota" of cookies to sell, based on average number of cookies sold in her troop the previous year and in surrounding troops. A is in a troop with a handful of other kids with parents who DON'T WORK. These kids sell upwards of 700-800 boxes a season.

The weather was nice so we actually went door to door to sell. We ran out of change before long so we had to stop (that and it got dark).

Monday, February 9(19,962 steps) Didn't feel like running so I did 40 minutes on the CrossRamp (I KNOW) and an upper body video.

Tuesday, February 10 (19,220 steps) 3.3 miles of hills.

Wednesday, February 11 (13,187 steps). Run club! I picked up A so that she could run too, and then after they let her set up a table to sell cookies.

Thursday, February 12 (19,685 steps) 4ish on the treamdill, not terrible. Once at home, I made BARK. A crazy combination of all the leftover bark ingredient I had left over - white and milk chocolate, Heath toffee chips, peanut butter chips, graham crackers and caramel chips.

Friday, February 13 (11,543 steps). Nada. Went to my friend's house for a Friday the 13th party.

Saturday, February 14 (16,809 steps). HEAT WAVE. Ariel and I went for a run around the lake near the house. 

We went to Dunkin for coffee and then we went to the 5K that L was running down the street. Ran into Heather and Dan as well. Along with my dad, we all went to lunch at Fuzzy's Tacos. We decided we would get some pizza for dinner, which turned out to be right down the street from Voodoo...

Sunday, February 15 (20,698). Got up early to hit the trails before the weather changed. As you can see, sunny at the start, starting to be stormy by the end:

We had a lunch date with Jessa and Lisa at Vine Street. Hours of good beer and good conversation. I miss these ladies!

Monday, February 16 (13,109 steps) NADA.

Miles Run (w/e February 9) - 28.5

Weekly Steps (w/e February 9) - 136,865

Minutes of Cross Training (w/e February 9) - 40

Minutes of Strength/Stretching (w/e February 9) - 47

Miles Run (w/e February 16) - 18.4

Weekly Steps (w/e February 16) - 114,251

Minutes of Cross Training (w/e February 16) - 0

Minutes of Strength/Stretching (w/e February 16) - 0

Everything Else

• I guess I am still doing this "challenge" with L and Heather. No tracking, and I have no idea if I  have gained weight, maintained or lost. Still a few weeks left I think. I might not be logging calories but I am sure taking a lot of pictures of my food.
• Work is going great.
• I may write a more detailed post about it in a few days, but as my Facebook friends know...  I got scammed out of about $5,000 over the Internet. I posted months ago about how I was really excited to be going to Africa to run a marathon at Mt. Kilimanjaro. Turns out I was scammed through a website offering packages. Now before you ask... how dumb are you... know that I researched online. Found no evidence of fraud. Posted on Facebook in groups (including Marathon Maniacs) and multiple people vouched for this woman and her event. Since everything has come crumbling down around me, this story gets more and more unbelievable. More to come on this, but in the meantime, I have started a GoFundMe in hopes of raising the money to possible go next year to Africa.... 

MY GOFUNDME PAGE

Basically where things are now is that people are STILL claiming she is legit and to "email her" through the email on the website. WHICH IS FUNNY, because that is the website and email I got scammed through. I have yet to hear from the "real" race organizer and my pleas for help contacting SOMEONE with this organization have gone unanswered. I have filed reports with the FBI Cyber Crimes divison, local police department and my bank. I have placed fraud alerts with the credit bureaus. These hackers not only have my money, they have a copy of my passport. More information is listed in the GoFundMe page or you can email me if you have questions or if you can help. So far, it seems no one can/will do anything. squirrelgirl44 at hotmail dot com.

So. There's that.

Week in Review (October 21 - October 27)

Trying to catch up on blogging... I'm sure I'll forget something.

Tuesday - Still working on the Fitness Blender Challenge. This was Day 2 - which didn't feel overly hard... weird. Also ran a few miles at the gym at a fairly speedy pace.
Wednesday - My parents are out of town and the kids had a half day so I took the whole day off so I could pick them up after school. I did the Day 3 video before I took the kids to school. After dropping them off I went for a run on Table Mesa, where I ALMOST GOT BIT BY A RATTLESNAKE. Even writing this 2 weeks later, the terror is still there!!

Showered, picked up the kids and had a quick lunch before heading to Anderson Farms in Erie. I had never done a corn maze before. It was a lot of fun and Ariel is a great navigator.

Dropped Hannah off with my sister and then Ariel and I went to run club. Ariel squeezed in a 2 mile "training run" for her upcoming 10K. What a busy day!

Thursday - Did the Day 4 video during lunch, with an easy 5 mile run at the gym after work.
Friday - The final installment, Day 5. So. Much. Jumping. 1.5 miles on the treadmill - just enough for an extra slice of pizza!
Saturday - 6 easy miles on the treadmill. Dropped Ariel off for a Girl Scout field trip. When she was done, it was time to go to a Halloween party! The hosts had tons of food, games and prizes. Only got one picture, but A was dressed as a pirate and I #ateallthethings

Sunday - Kooky Spooky 10K!

Sad, sad, SAD attempt at baking some zombie cookies. For whatever reason the batter was so sticky. We were unable to get any good ones.

Spent most of the afternoon on the couch in preparation for the Beer Mile. It sounded like a good idea at the time - well, until I actually had to do it. It is NOT as easy as it sounds...

Ariel is cleverly dressed as Batman Sour

We went out for a quick dinner with some friends before heading home. A made a new best friend:

Monday - Nothing. Did this day even happen?

Weekly Miles Run - 31.29
Minutes of Cross Training - 113
Minutes of Strength/Stretching - 0

Weekly Gain - 2.4 (120.8)

• And with this gain (over 5 pounds in the course of about 10 days), I'm done. I don't even know how this is possible. HOW can a person even gain that much?
• I didn't go totally berserk, and YET... (but then I looked at my collage and maybe I did go a little crazy)

Everything Else

• Monday night rolled around and I realized... at some point I should PACK for NYC. It has been so long since I have traveled. This turned out to be a ridiculous 5 or so hour adventure. When will I learn???