Because Being Ordinary Is Boring

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Week in Review (October 13 - October 19)

Tuesday (11,454 steps) - Up early for a Peloton ride. Did a live class since it was a milestone for me and I ACTUALLY GOT A SHOUT OUT!! Technically, I got two of them - thanks Bradley Rose! (And the best part is this was a good class I would actually take again. Walk with Olive before going to work. Gym at lunch for strength and a treadmill hike. Olive walk after I got home from work. Ben picked up pizza for dinner, yay! More Carrie (this show is actually quite crazy).

Wednesday (15,812 steps) - Olive walk before going to work. It was chilly and drizzling. I didn't have it in me to figure out a good hill for my workout, so I moved things around again and just did my run near work. Not too bad!

Also got my Pilates video done after that. Not in the mood for another walk with Olive when I got home because it was raining pretty heavily. Finale of Carrie!

Thursday (16,007 steps) - Only a short walk with Olive. Had to drive to Black Canyon to pick up Ariel while her car was getting worked on. Later I had to drive her back and then go directly to my dentist appointment. Did my run at lunch, with Ben joining for the first 20ish minutes, which was nice. Hill repeats I had not done on Wednesday. I don't know that this was quite steep enough of a hill, but I felt strong and it was a good workout.

Another quick walk with Olive. Robin was ready for pick up, which I did after work. Didn't realize we were getting ceramic footprints (we got two of these hearts) and little vials with her fur. :( : ( :(

Lawn people came by to blow out our sprinklers for the season and after that we went to Torchy's for normal Thursday date night. Managed to catch a new show on Peacock, Crystal Lake. This is a prequel to the Friday the 13th movies.
Friday (11,304 steps) - Our first very cold morning of the season. Ben went with me for an earlier morning walk because I didn't want to be out in low 30's with wet hair. Olive and I went to work and took her for an early walk because I had multiple signings in the afternoon.

Took Olive for another walk when I got home. Tyler stopped by to borrow some drop bags and we made plans to run together in the morning. Dinner and Crystal Lake.

Saturday (27,184 steps) - Wish we were able to sleep in, but the animals just don't allow it. Took Olive for a walk and headed out to meet Tyler in Golden for our jaunt up Chimney Gulch to Lookout. Probably a bit beefier than I should have done, but it was a nice morning and I am not sure I have ever gone all the way up to the top from town.

Turns out Ariel was at the house doing homework, so we headed that way. After a quick shower we went to Corona's for lunch.

Took Olive for a longer walk, and then it was couch time. Finished up Crystal Lake.

Sunday (15,500 steps) - I had originally planned on doing some things around the house and going for our hike later, and I got a few things done while Ben and Olive went to Dutch Bros. Up to Boulder for our favorite loop.

On to Rails End, which we haven't been to in a while. Tyler joined us and we ordered in Fuzzy's for a snack, although I basically had a full meal. Took Olive for a short walk and gave up on being productive. Decided to re-watch the early Friday the 13th movies (got through the first couple) and Crystal Lake did a really good job of matching up a lot of things.

Monday (23,394 steps) - Walk with Olive to the lake before starting the work day.

In between work things I vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, did laundry and gathered most of my stuff for the weekend. Went for my run at lunch, a pretty easy workout. Another awkward picture trying to get my Halloween shorts in the picture. I

Another walk with Olive. After work we went to Costco to pick up a few things and grab a pizza for dinner. Finished up through the third Friday the 13th until we could no longer find them for free on any of our streaming services and started the original Scream movie.

Stats:

120,655 steps
25.26 miles run
15.75 miles walked
20 minutes of cardio
45 minutes of strength
0 minutes of sauna

Friday, October 16, 2026

Week in Review (October 6 - October 12)

Tuesday (10,888 steps) - Peloton ride and Olive walk before going to work. Robin has not been doing well, so I spent the morning researching options for end of life, which was really traumatizing. Gym at lunch for strength training and a hike on the treadmill. Olive walk when I got home. Ben had a work meeting go late so he ordered Mod Market for dinner.

Carrie miniseries.

Wednesday (17,926 steps) - Olive walk before work. I switched my running workouts so I could just get my run done on my lunch hour. Run was fine.

I really hate the .5 selfie, but only way to get my Halloween shorts in the pic!

Olive walk after work. More Carrie and spent the evening making sure Robin had the best night - lots of lap cuddles.

Thursday (24,445 steps) - Olive walk to the lake before starting work for the day.

Did my hill repeats early so that I would have more time with Robin before her appointment.

Ariel arrived before lunch hour and we both worked in the kitchen to be near Robin. We even took her outside in the yard to see if she would enjoy the grass, but she seemingly just wanted to be inside lying in the sun.

After lunch it was time to take Robin in. They took very good care of her, but it was still gut-wrenching. She was the sweetest baby and we will miss her very much.

Quick afternoon walk with Olive before dinner at Torchy's, which Ariel joined us for. Did a small amount of packing, but mostly just sad couch time watching Carrie.

Friday (22,269 steps) - Walk with Olive to the lake before starting my workday.

We had hoped to be out the door by 9, but it was closer to 9:30 before we left. Stopped at Dutch on our way out of town. Detour in Avon because Ben had some work to do at a job site. Olive and I went on multiple walks in the area while he was busy.

We drove all the way through to Moab, only stopping to the use the bathroom at the rest stop just inside the Utah border. We made a quick stop at HQ in town, hoping to buy a hat, but the merch tent was closed. Confirmed our job with Brian and then drove to the aid station at Shay, same as last year. We got there right after the sun started to set and we were able to get the truck and canopy set up right behind the aid station - much closer than we were last year. Took Olive for a quick walk since we had all been cooped up in the car.

We helped to set up the walled canopies and tried to start organizing the kitchen/food tent. Finally decided to go to sleep around 11(?) before the first runners were supposed to show up.

Saturday (19,835 steps) - Ben woke up well before our alarm was scheduled to go off, but Olive and I stayed in the truck until maybe 4. While it hadn't rained overnight it was definitely chilly with the wind. Our first runner was in and out pretty quickly, maybe around 5 am. I planned to go for a run on the course and figured I should get that done before the runners really started to come in. I headed out around 8:15. I was surprised at how dry the road was, although there were definitely sections that were muddy. This was a deviation from the course we had in 2020 and it was GORGEOUS.

I ended up run/hiking up a little over 3 miles to false summit before I noticed the dark clouds and decided I better head back before I got poured on.

While I had a few raindrops land on me, the weather held up. I got within maybe a mile of being done before I saw some of the runners coming up the trail. Glad I got this done early! Took Olive for a very quick and short walk before it was really time to get to work at the aid station. We weren't super busy for hours, which was nice. It was definitely windier than last year, so that was a challenge. We mostly had Olive leashed to the truck hitch because she was wanting to wander.

We knew the rain was coming and we had to move quickly to relocate the drop bags that were obviously not waterproof. I'll never understand why people do this!! We got done just in time and the rain started around 3 pm. From then it was on and off... for the rest of the race. Runners were coming into our aid station telling us about the flooding that was occurring before the climb to Shay. We didn't really know how bad it was at this point. Ben was working nonstop with various medical issues and I was working to check runners in and out after two ladies finished their shift. Continued doing that for a few hours until replacements came in. There was going to be a lull in runners and Olive was getting anxious with the weather, so I loaded her up in the truck and we planned a nap.

Sunday (10,422 steps) - I know for SURE that I had set an alarm on my watch, so I was very surprised when I eventually decided to get up and realized we had been in bed much longer than I intended. I opened FB to check on runner updates and that is when I found out that approximately 70 runners were being held at Bridger Jack (the aid station before ours) because of unsafe trail conditions and flooding. Getting back out and helping runners was triage. They were cold and wet and the wind was making things even worse. The rain had come down so hard during the night that just about everything was soaking wet. Sometime before sunrise I was going back and forth between the truck and aid station and I heard Olive crying so I relocated her to the kitchen tent so she wasn't alone. We were not under the tent for very long before a gust of wind uprooted it and blew it away! It only stopped because our canopy and Ben's truck was there. Since we were at the tail end of runners (with the back of the pack being stuck at Bridger Jack and not being allowed to continue) we had to pack up all our stuff. Olive and I helped tear down the aid station - starting with the canopies that we had determined were no longer secure. We headed out maybe around 8 to go to HQ and figure out what our next assignment was going to be. We talked to Brian and found out more info on Bridger Jack and that a total of 142 people (runners, pacers, staff/volunteers) had been stuck there overnight and they were working on evacuation. We basically told Brian that we were going to get a hotel in town and would have to figure out if we had the mental capacity to go to another aid station - at that time, Geyser Pass in the La Sals was considered the aid station that would need the most help. We went into town to a place called Gloria's that had a walled in patio so Olive could be inside to get breakfast.

Since there was a break in the weather, we took a quick walk.

Our room at the Marriott wasn't going to be ready until 2. We went to the new brewery in town, Proper, (I mean, it's probably not new, but new since we ran in 2020). Ben said the beer was "not bad" and we got some cheesecake - which was delicious. Bonus that we were able to bring Olive inside there as well.

We checked in basically right at 2 and immediately showered. I was scrolling through socials when I saw the race had been completely cancelled due to deteriorating weather conditions. Holy crap!! So at this point we knew we were done with the race, but we were still planning on staying in town for the night. We got dinner in the hotel restaurant and then watched a bit of tv, but went to bed early.

Monday (13,588 steps) - Woke up early to take Olive for a long walk before starting work.

I don't connect to unsecured networks when working and my phone hotspot was a nightmare. Thankfully we were able to get Ben's truck close enough to use the Starlink. We checked out at 11 and headed over to HQ to talk with people that were hanging out there. We picked up new hoodies and were on the road by probably noon. Stopped in Grand Junction for Dutch Bros. and gas and then in Frisco for Whole Foods pizza and Outer Range.