Week in Review (December 30 - January 5)

Tuesday (13,423 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work. Went to the gym at lunch and did StairMaster, strength training and a mile at 12% incline. 

Ben and I met up at Costco, which neither of us enjoys doing. Took Olive for another walk when I got home, stretch and sauna time! More Welcome to Derry.

Wednesday (14,859 steps) - Took Olive for a walk and then sadly had to go to work. Only nice thing is basically zero traffic. Walked to REI at lunch so I could try something on, only to discover it was not even available in store. Not a totally wasted trip, the weather was really nice, especially for December. 

I got off at 2 and did a few deliveries. Tips were really great for once. Met up with Ben at 4 Noses for a drink (still NA for me, and a Topo). Went home to start dinner, took Olive for a walk and more sauna time! 

Welcome to Derry since we couldn't find any streaming service that was actually showing anything for New Years. 

Thursday (30,867 steps) 

Took Olive for a walk before going to Morrison for the 6th (!!) annual New Years Day run I've organized at Red Rocks. This was probably our biggest turnout since the inaugural year. 

Ben was hoping to run, but he threw out his back a few days ago and gave up on running and did his own thing after about a half mile. 

We had unforeseen issues with our route when we discovered that Red Rocks was having some construction done and every access point was blocked off. 

We had about 40 minutes of wandering around and looking for other ways to get where we wanted to go, including going up the backside of Dakota Ridge. I never mind going on trails, but I wasn't wearing the right shoes for it at all. 

Only Jandy and Maureen were up for the full route we had planned, so we continued on. 

Last group picture before we all went our separate ways

I actually felt way better than expected on the last 3-4 miles. Almost all of us walked over to the Holiday Bar / Mill Street for the tradition of burgers and beers, although just a diet coke for me. When we got home I took Olive for another walk before more sauna time. I am just loving the convenience of having this, and I really think I'm getting my money's worth. More Welcome to Derry, although this finished up the show for us, already. Ariel joined us for a short time for charcuterie before she went to home. 

Since Ben has now watched the prequel, we of course had to watch It, since he had not watched it previously. 

Friday (11,059 steps) - Once again, sad I had to go to work. Took Olive for a walk before we went into the office. 

Just like I expected, it was very slow and no one was working. Went for a walk at lunch. 

After work I met up with Ben at 4 Noses for happy hour. Headed home to take Olive for a walk and then sauna. Cannot remember what was for dinner, and pretty sure we finished It and started Chapter 2.

Saturday (29,192 steps) - Down to Lakewood for the season opener of Runners Edge! I had mapped out a few different route possibilities, but my main goal was to get double digits. Ben planned on starting with me and then walking whatever he might need to if his back started to act up. 

Only picture I took...

The loop was 7 miles, and he managed the whole thing! Right before I got back to the store I turned around to do the back half of the loop in reverse. I got in just over 10 miles at a much faster pace than I normally do, so I was happy about that. The store was offering 50% off all apparel, so I shopped a bit - even though I really AM trying to weed through my closet and stop buying things. UGH. Went home and showered, walked Olive. We stopped to pick up Panda Express on the way to Rails End. Stayed there for a bit and then pack home for sauna time. Watched Final Destination: Bloodlines with A. After she headed out we finished It: Chapter 2. 

Sunday (18,845 steps) - It was really nice out, so I went for my run while Ben went to pick us up Dutch Bros. 

It's actually as warm/nice as it looks!

After I showered we took Olive to the dog park. It was insanely crowded and we had to stalk people to find a parking space. 

On to Rails End. 

We got a snack and stayed until the Broncos game started. 

Pretty much right when we got home we got a phone call from Ariel that her clutch was overheating. I didn't even know that was a thing, and in all my years of driving, and 6 vehicles that have had a stick shift, I have never had a clutch got out. Thankfully she was with a friend and they were able to hang out at her house while we waited for a tow to get the car up near us. Unfortunately that was a whole "thing" and it took over three hours. UGH. Did my stretches and sauna time. Started watching a new show "The Following" - although I definitely was getting a sense of deja vu that maybe I have watched this before, but can't remember it well enough to stop watching. 

Monday (17,693 steps) - Work from home. Shortly after the shop opened I got a call from the service manager that Lucy will definitely be needing a new clutch and flywheel. Since they were closed for 10 days over the holidays he wasn't sure if he was going to get a full diagnostic done, but this wasn't good news for any of us. UGH!!!! We literally just paid for new brakes and rotors in November. Took Ariel to Dutch Bros and then went on my run, where I also had my first big fall of the year, scraping up my palms and knees. 

Took Olive for a long walk after. Ariel needed my car to get to work so I wasn't able to go driving. Instead, took Olive for a walk and then read and used the sauna while I waited for Ben to pick up pizza.

More Following.

Stats:

• 135,938 steps
• 28.75 miles run
• 19.56 miles walked
• 35 minutes of cardio
• 61 minutes of strength (11+ minutes of planks)
• 190 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (December 31 - January 6)

Tuesday (20,314 steps) - Rower and Olive walk before going to work. Gym at lunch, where I did the StairMaster (Transamerica Building) and a full body strength workout.

Took Olive for a walk after work and hoped to do some deliveries, but it wasn't very busy. We ended up going to Parry's as our New Year's Even dinner/beer. I have plans on doing at least dry January again)

Watched more Yellowstone and I took a look at all my final numbers for the year. Most impressed, honestly, with all the reading that I got done. I had a Kindle many years ago that I sold because I never used it. Ben got me one last year and I've used it a TON.

It appears that I was higher in every area EXCEPT running. I think I was a few hundred miles shorter than last year, but that's not really a surprise. I was getting burned  out after FRUD and cut back to 4 days of running a week.

Steps were up this year also!

We finished up the night with our mug club bottles from 4 Noses. At the time, 14.2% beer seemed like a great idea...

Wednesday (26,427 steps) - Until I had to get up early so that we could go to Morrison for our annual New Years Day run. Curse me for being in charge and having to show up!! We got there a couple minutes late and discovered that only Kristin, Pete & Janet had committed to the day. Pete and Janet were planning on doing their own thing, so that left me, Ben & Kristin to do the route we've done since 2020.

I felt absolutely horrific at the start of this run. Very heavy legs, labored breathing and a pounding headache. It thankfully wasn't nearly as cold as we thought it would be.

Even saw a herd of deer on the road to Red Rocks.

Shortly after finishing all the climbing I mentioned that I kind of wanted to cut the run short (by cutting over near Dinosaur Ridge). We all decided that would be a good idea. Probably because I was moving at basically a brisk walking pace.

Even running down the hill on the backside of Dino Ridge didn't feel great, and I had to stop and use the bathroom at the visitor center. 

I did, thankfully, start to feel a bit better by the time we got to the bike path. We weren't fast, but we ran basically the whole segment. Kristin had finished up a few minutes before me and Ben, and Pete and Janet arrived not too long after. We decided to continue our tradition of going to the Holiday Bar in Morrison. They charge for parking now, so we parked at the free parking, which is 1/3 of a mile from town, if you were wondering. Ben got us some NA beer (yay, dry January!) and we had delicious burgers and fries.

We talked for a bit before dispersing for the day. After getting home and showering I took Olive for a long walk to the lake since the weather was nice. 

Thursday (10,647 steps) - Work from home, so did a long walk with Olive at lunch and a Peloton ride/strength at lunch. I still really like playing lane break on the bike.

Drove for a bit before going to Torchy's for our weekly dinner. Took Olive for a walk after we got home.

Friday (15,043 steps) - Wash Park with Olive and the gang - with another gorgeous sunrise!

We went to Costco and got some groceries for the week & picked up a pizza for dinner.

Saturday (26,176 steps) - Procrastinated going out for our long run. Finally we headed up to Boulder around 10. We had planned a pretty good loop, but once again, I felt horrible. It was very foggy and humid and COLD. I hoped to have run a lot more of this, but ended up hiking quite a bit. I hope if I can continue with not drinking for a bit that some of this fatigue will eventually go away.

At some point we were on the upper Goshawk Ridge Trail and we missed the "right" road to complete the loop and had to use Gaia and offline Strava to get back on course. Stupid. I have done this section dozens of times. But also... come on Boulder, put a freaking sign there. We decided after completing the loops that we would just back the way we came instead of doing the big loop we had planned.

Can you tell I have windburn from the cold?? And frozen hair?

Ben is doing "damp" January, so we went to 4 Noses afterwards so he could have beer. I got an NA beer and a Topo. We were pretty hungry and got Gyro bowls from the food truck.

Took Olive for a walk when we got home, then showered and proceeded to sit on the couch for the rest of the night.  Watched 1883!

Sunday (18,821 steps) - A needed to move back into her dorm room, but we didn't really have a timeline. I took Olive for a walk while Ben picked us up Dutch Bros. 

A was finally ready around lunch time. We helped her get everything to her room and then went to South Table to get our recovery run in. Definitely felt like I overdressed a bit, but at this point in winter, I would rather be warmer than cold.

I didn't feel quite as bad on this run, but still wasn't great. We did see a coyote, which is always neat.

We decided to forgo our normal lunch/post run food/drink options and went to Rock Rest Lodge. I didn't think I had ever been there, but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot I recognized it from one of Heather's birthday parties years ago. They had a great deal on sliders and fries and we watched the first half of the Broncos game. Ben made pork chops and veggies for dinner (delicious!) and we watched more 1883.

I took Olive for a walk and slipped/fell on some black ice. Have I mentioned how much I hate winter recently?

Monday (17,946 steps) - Work from home. 

Took Olive for a walk. Put off my run for a decent amount of time. It wasn't as bad as I feared, and I mostly dressed pretty well. My hands got warm and I abandoned my gloves after probably 1.5 miles. One of the slowest times I've ever done this route, but just happy to get out the door. 

Did some driving after work. I had noticed that Olive had been slightly limping after our lunch walk, but still took her for a walk when I got back. She was limping more than earlier, so she will be on "bed rest" for a few days while it is feeling better. I can't see any trauma, but if I put too much pressure on the top of her paw, she yelps. Ben made chicken tortilla soup for dinner (yum!) and we finished 1883 and started 1923.

Stats:

• 155,374 steps
• 29.55 miles run
• 19.22 miles walked
• 60 minutes of cardio
• 46 minutes of strength