Week in Review (March 24 - March 30)

Tuesday (17,503 steps) - Olive walk before going to work. Went to the gym at lunch to get in my StairMaster workout.

45 minutes is a long time... Got a little bit of work done and then went for a walk, just to get outside. Work is so horrible right now with an additional attorney on my desk. After work headed home and took Olive for a walk. We had to work on A's car for a bit to see if we could figure out why her car seems to be leaking oil still. 

Dinner and Good Wife.

Wednesday (18,239 steps) - Having to deal with Ariel's car meant that I switched my in office days. I had no idea how I was going to be able to squeeze in my run. Much to my surprise, I found out that the Boulder trailheads open at 5 am daily? What??? I never knew... I had made plans to actually run before work, which I hate doing. I will say that this run was rather enjoyable. Perfect weather, felt good and saw basically no one until I was on the way back to my car.

Got started on my work. Ariel headed to Big O first to get her tire replaced and then I drove down to pick her up after she dropped her car off at Black Canyon. Ariel joined me and Olive for our walk to the lake. We ended up doing Torchy's, which was definitely a change for us. Good Wife.

Thursday (10,421 steps) - Peloton before taking Olive for a walk and going to work. Another insanely busy day and it was weird being in office on a Thursday. Gym at lunch.

Took Olive for a walk when I got home. We didn't know what to do for food and since Ben had to run out for some errands he picked us up Chili's for dinner.

We definitely seem to eat out more with Ariel not being at home. Good Wife.

Friday (10,296 steps) - Olive walk before going to work. Took her for a walk late morning while I was waiting for a big appellate filing.

Unfortunately, most of the day ended up being a disaster. So busy and things were not ready on time.

While I knew I was going to have a tough time with the filing, we ran into SO many issues. I am normally off work at 4:30 and Olive and I were still at the office after 5! Ariel's car ended up not being ready (UGH), so I headed home after I finally got off work. Ben and I went down to Parry's for dinner.

As a random aside, this marked 100 days since the last time I had alcohol. Am I quitting for good? Who knows, but after hitting triple digits I am definitely thinking more about if I'll have it again. It would have to be something absolute amazing. Good Wife.

Saturday (38,249 steps) - With a big workout on schedule, Ben and I were going to be on our own. I took Olive for a walk before we headed up to Boulder for a long vert day. It was already feeling relatively warm, which wasn't great news since I expected to be out for five-ish hours. We started near our normal spot at the base of NCAR/Skunk.

A large number of people on the trails. With this being my last big effort before my next race, we were doing a lot more hiking than running. I also was carrying my full pack - complete with extra water/snacks for Ben since he isn't using a pack right now.

Did a detour up Fern and down Shanahan Ridge before continuing on Mesa toward Shadow Canyon. 

I feel like we do this climb once or twice a year and it is ALWAYS a kick in the ass. It is hot and STEEP. According to Strava, we climb over 1300' in one mile. ROUGH.

We took a break at the saddle to have something to eat and mentally prepare for almost half our route still remaining. 

I also always seem to forget how much I loathe a steep and technical descent. At least at this point we finally had some cloud cover and a slight breeze - making things much more manageable.

By the time we got off the really steep stuff I could tell that our run/hike was going to be taking about an hour longer than I had planned. I was trying to get Ben to do some occasional running just so we could be done with it but he wasn't really having it.

When we got down to the Bear service road I finally decided to just run to the truck. He knew where I would be! We made plans to meet up with Tyler, Terri and Larry at Murphy's for a drink and a snack. We didn't stay too long because Larry and Terri both had plans. Tyler joined me and Ben at 4 Noses for a little bit more socializing before we went home. Took Olive for a walk and Ben ordered in Thai food for dinner.

Good Wife.

Sunday (20,469 steps) - Did some things around the house while Ben went to pick up Dutch Bros. before Ariel went to work. Up to Boulder for another vert day! 

On the way down we talked to a volunteer and he gave us some good information about who to contact about Olive's voice/sight tag. It's been nearly a month and we still haven't received it. We stopped at Rails End for a snack. The new, slow guy was working so didn't stay as long as we planned. We did have a good snack/lunch though.

Dropped Olive off for her grooming appointment and went to Costco to get our weekly shopping done. Had just enough time to shower and walk to Emily's to pick her up. She looks very cute!

No recollection of what did later. I assume dinner at some point (leftover Thai?) and Good Wife.

Monday (16,729 steps) - Thankfully, a work from home day. Crazy busy trying to get caught up with everything I did not get to on Friday.

Took Olive for a walk to the lake at lunch.

Then I got my run in. I just love taper so much. 45 minutes just flew by. Ariel showed up right as I was making lunch (flautas in the air fryer) with bad news about her car - turns out the minor problem is back up to being a bigger problem again. After work we headed down to Black Canyon to pick her car up and scheduled the bigger work for two weeks out while I am gone so she can use my car. Will it never end? I got a few minutes from the house when she called to say she had to pull off the highway because her car was overheating. OF COURSE IT WAS. Waited for Ben to get home and then we drove down to Golden (in separate cars in case she needed mine back) to figure out the issue. It was seemingly an easy fix - she just happened to be out of coolant. Sigh. We went to New Terrain since we were just down the street before getting home and having an incredibly late dinner of Panda delivered. Barely time for an episode of Good Wife before bed. 

Stats:

• 131,906 steps
• 27.3 miles run
• 12.86 miles walked
• 75 minutes of cardio
• 55 minutes of strength
• 0 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (October 31 - November 6)

Tuesday (12,750 steps) - Work in the office. Somehow, I slept through my alarm and woke up SIX MINUTES before I needed to be at work. I guess that's what true exhaustion does. I can't even remember the last time that happened. Walked on the treadmill at lunch and read my book. After work I took Olive for a walk and then met up with Ben at 4 Noses with Olive (since she was in costume). On the way home we stopped to see Kristin and Doug. Sadly no trick or shot this year, but they still fed us. Awkwardly, Obi and Olive were wearing the same costume.

Wednesday (13,695 steps) - Work in the office. Walked to Target to buy lotion for our tattoos, and then another walk at lunch on the treadmill and read. After work I met up with Ben at Parry's. Since we were solo for dinner, we got food. Yum!

Thursday (11,194 steps) - Work from home. Ariel took me to get coffee. Yum for holiday flavors!! (I don't care that these are barely "coffee," they are delicious.

Took Olive for a walk at lunch. I worked "from bed" in the afternoon and watched a stupid movie and took a nap. Took Olive for another walk after work. Zero recollection of the evening.

Friday (17,116 steps) - Wash Park with the gang. A beautiful sunrise, but just getting into the really chilly days. 

Coffee at Stella's before going into the office. Walked on the treadmill at lunch and read my book. After work headed to Ariel's XC banquet at the school. She got the Heart of the Panther award and was recognized for being a team captain. I had multiple parents come up to me and tell me how appreciated Ariel is and how much of a help she has been to her teammates. 

Ben and I went to Parry's for a beer. Never again on a Friday night - it was SO crowded and loud.

Saturday (36,412 steps) - Up semi early for the Backcountry Wilderness half (recap to follow).

Headed home to take a shower and I had hoped to take a nap, but that didn't work out. Ben and I went to Torchy's for lunch before heading to pick up Tyler for our adventure! First we stopped at Over Yonder for a beer. Their beer is uninteresting, but it was close to our final destination...

Headed up to Red Rocks for the Deadmau5 tickets Tyler got us for Ben's birthday. Tyler was pretty fun in his onesie and a string of lights. (Ben and I were NOT fun), haha.

So I have never been to an EDM concert. There was SO much pot smoke and it was SO loud (but thanks to Ben, I had ear plugs). The openers were fine, but by the time Deadmau5 came on I really wasn't feeling that well. Maybe it was a combination of running long in the morning, the noise, the smoke, and beer, but I felt pretty sick. 

Finally I couldn't take it anymore and I told Ben I needed to leave, so unfortunately we all headed back to the car. I was dizzy and ended up throwing up in the parking lot. There is NO way that I had too much beer, so maybe I was just coming down with something. Sad way to end the night.

Sunday (13,722 steps) - Thankfully I had woken up in the middle of the night and taken ibuprofen, I felt "ok" when I got up. Ben and I went to Dunkin for coffee and breakfast. Did a quick Peloton ride to keep my streak alive and then Ben and I took Olive for a long walk to the library so I could drop off my ballot. We were finally both hungry, so we went to BJ's for lunch.

On the way home we stopped at Costco for groceries - ugh. Then I took Olive for another walk. Daylight savings seems like a nightmare this year. Ben and I watched a few episodes of Homeland but went to bed pretty early because it got dark so early it just seemed late. 

Monday (10,335 steps) - Work from home. Ariel and I went to Dutch Bros. for coffee before she went to school. Picked up my grocery order from King Soopers. Ariel and I went to Costco to get pizza for lunch and she thought it was really funny that I was freezing in my puffy coat and joggers and she was wearing a tank top.

Took Olive for a walk at lunch. Work was really busy all day since I was covering for Nicole and her desk is always insane. Took Olive for another walk after I got off work. Another early night.

Stats:

• 115,224 steps
• 13.14 miles run
• 5 minutes of cardio
• 0 minutes of strength