Week in Review (May 23 - May 29)

Tuesday (22,188 steps) - With A having a cold, I didn't want her to get up early and go to speed work. Normally with my new schedule I wouldn't try to go, but this one was pretty close so I decided to go by myself (for the first time).

15 min. w/u (1.35 miles)

4 x 800 repeats w/ 2 min recovery

4:05 (8:02 pace)

4:45 (9:26 pace)

5:04 (10:05 pace)

5:07 (10:18 pace)

This was one of the worst runs that I can remember in a very long time. I don't know why my legs just could NOT work. I have not felt this stiff and fatigued in a long time. I talked to Coach Joel and he had some sage words...  "sometimes all you can do is just get out of bed." Haha. Hopefully next time will go better, that was so bad.

After work A had gymnastics and I took Bee Rad for his claim inspection. As I feared, the inspector told me that the damages were nearing and possibly exceeding the value of my car. I have to wait another few days to find out if they will cut me a check to repair or if they will salvage. Ugh.

Wednesday (19,282 steps) - Denver run club - and HOLY COW WAS IT HOT. Mo and A decided to do a short run/walk and I stupidly set out by myself for 4ish miles. It took forever to get satellite, but I got my miles in. Almost 90 degrees - so crazy after it was snowing and freezing less than a week ago.

Got the call from State Farm - and the news was not good, but what I expected. The damages Bee Rad endured from the storm were thousands more than the value, so he was being totaled. I was given a few options regarding Bee Rad and was told that I didn't need to make a decision right away, so I didn't...

Thursday (14,912 steps) - A's last day of 5th grade! Where did the year go, it just FLEW by...

Jury duty! I received a summons a few weeks ago and my juror number was in the range of folks that had to appear. I ended up being in the second set of people called and somehow ended up on a jury! It wasn't as bad as I thought, got done shortly before 5 and was told to come back Friday morning.

Belmar run club. Run/walk with Mo,Colfax, Dulce, Matilda and A.

A took off with Corky because we were going to slow - barely could get a pic of them!

The most exciting part of the night was winning an entry to the Bolder Boulder! I hadn't run it since 2009, largely because of the steep price tag. Can totally handle free though!
Friday (10,986 steps) - Back to the courthouse for jury duty. The parties did some negotiating and we heard closing arguments by 11 am. I was elected foreperson and we came to unanimous verdicts on the two allegations in less than fifteen minutes. That meant that I had to go to work in the afternoon - it was really slow, I'm assuming because people were taking the day off for a long weekend. After work I headed down to Runners Roost to volunteer at Bolder Boulder packet pick up until 7:00.
Saturday (21,809 steps) - Rock Hawk 10k - recap to follow.

After the race we went the car dealership to look at our options. Didn't find anything we really loved so we went home. Had a few hours of rest and relaxation until 8:00 when we met Jessa for dinner and a beer at Grand Lake brewery. Hope late-ish.
Sunday (31,394 steps) - Drove to Lisa's house so we could go to Evergreen to hike Bergen Peak! I was hoping it would be an easy recovery day, but my quads were burning from Rock Hawk. A and I had forgotten our lunches in the refrigerator, so we were STARVING by the time we got down with our almost-ten-mile hike (that took just over 4 hours).

We went into town to Lariat Lodge for brunch. The service was terrible but the food/beer was good.

Quick trip to the store, and then napped on and off for the remainder of the afternoon.
Monday (24,898 steps) - Bolder Boulder - recap to follow.

I was home by 11, which gave me enough time to shower before driving down to Highlands Ranch to meet Jackie for lunch at 12:30. It had been months since we last got together so we were at the restaurant for quite a while again, didn't head out for about 4 hours. More car shopping, didn't get home until after 10 pm!

Stats:

• 145,469 steps
• 22.3 miles run
• No barre classes (!!), 9.8 mile hike

Week in Review (May 16 - May 22)

Tuesday (22,341 steps) - Speed work! We had to drive alllll the way down to Greenwood Village for this one.

1.75 mile w/u

10 x 200m repeats w/ 200m recovery

1:06 (8:17 pace)

1:12 (9:11 pace)

1:14 (9:15 pace)

1:11 (9:06 pace)

1:10 (9:13 pace)

1:10 (9:18 pace)

1:14 (9:36 pace)

1:12 (9:26 pace)

1:10 (8:56 pace)

1:04 (8:11 pace)

.5ish mile c/d

Took A to the doctor for a follow-up appointment and then on to work. The staff took me to lunch at Marlow's, I had a filet mignon steak sandwich. Holy cow was it good! Gymnastics, then home.

Wednesday (21,113 steps) - Denver run club. A decided to run with Heather. Mo, Colfax and and I ran a modification of the route, ending with 4.7 miles. There was another beginner trail runner panel, but it was upstairs and there was no seating so we ended up leaving to go to dinner with Mo, Sheila, Ted and Dave. I had a key lime beer, which was strange, but not terrible. Burgers were on special so I had one and it was really good. I was very surprised when I got back from the bathroom to see the table had bought me dessert and sang happy birthday to me. Turns out they also paid my bill. So nice! We didn't get home until almost 10 though - way too late!

Thursday (16,835 steps) - Forecast was NOT wrong. It was snowing when we got up - enough that I had to scrape the car. Good lord, it's mid May?! It snowed all day, so A's soccer was canceled yet again. Luckily I was able to arrange a ride for her - I picked her up around 5:15 to go to Belmar. A decided not to run, Mo, Colfax and I still went out for the big loop. Brrrr. It was wet and cold.

Went to Rocko's and got quesadillas, nachos AND a beer. Jeff bought me sopapillas and the table sang happy birthday - probably best birthday I could hope for on a Thursday. 

Friday (10,877 steps) - A was going to the Royal Gorge with her Scout troop right after school so I made plans with Jessa for a birthday dinner and drinks. (This is the most I've gone out to eat in an eternity). I worked late to make up hours and then home to change clothes before meeting up with Jessa at Grand Lake brewing. Grilled cheese and a stout for dinner, headed home around 9. 

Saturday (31,414 steps) - I should have been running the Palmer Lake half, but it has been postponed until August because of all the snow. So in my head I thought I might run 12-14. I wasn't feeling great and hasn't gotten enough sleep, so I just ran 10 with Alison at Runners Edge.

I had enough time for a quick trip to Target before going to barre (for the first time in over a week). It was tough! I barely had enough time to pick up some pho for lunch, eat and shower before heading to the Colfax expo. Chatted with some people before going to Sparkle Skirts. I had signed up to work for a few hours in exchange for "sparkle dollars." Time flew by and it was a fun experience. Mo and I met up and went to Champ St for burgers (again). I had never been there. Food  was good and they had $1.50 beers on tap.

While I was doing all that ^, A was at the Royal Gorge with her Girl Scout troop bridging from Juniors to Cadettes.

Picked up A at a friend's house and then home. 

Sunday (17,745 steps) - 4:15 wake up call for volunteering with Pete at the Colfax marathon. We were assigned to Sloan's Lake aid station, which runners would pass through twice. It was way colder than I expected it to be - especially since we were set up in the shade.

I saw lots of people I knew, which was fun. We tore down by 9 and then went to the finish, where we ended up staying until about 1.

All the food was gone early so we w went to IHOP with Mo for a very late lunch. Quick trip to the store and then finally home for some sitting. Volunteering may be more exhausting than running!

Monday (13,453 steps) - I got my standing desk at work! Unlike my last job, all I had to do was ask for one and they told me they just want me to be "comfortable." Still waiting on my second monitor, but that should arrive soon.

Barre with Jen after work.

Stats:

• 133,778 steps
• 21.9 miles run
• 2 barre classes

Week in Review (May 9 - May 15)

Tuesday (10,737 steps) - Nothing. A had gymnastics and got her obligatory participation ribbon for the spring session.

Wednesday (19,890 steps) - Sculpt in the morning, then took A for her semi-annual dentist appointment before school.  Denver run club after work. Weather was weird so I wore a singlet and thin jacket, which ended up being perfect. Dave joined A, Mo, Colfax and me for the 3.5 mile Belcaro loop. Fun night!

Thursday (15,689 steps) - Belmar run club, big loop.

The Mizuno shoes matched my skirt perfectly!!

Headed right home after so we could pack for Grand Junction.
Friday (11,647 steps) - My last day at my job. Janna took me out to lunch at La Loma. Tried very hard  to get all my work done as I was leaving early so we could get out of town.
Saturday (34,930 steps) - Rabbit Valley half marathon.

By the time we got to Denver we were both hungry. I had a birthday reward from Old Chicago's so we shared a pizza and an appetizer.
Sunday (14,765 steps) - Met Mo and Colfax in Louisville so we could do a short trail run Mo had never run on the Singletree trail and we all enjoyed it.

After the run we went to Runners Roost Louisville for some Mother's Day yoga. I found it a little boring, but stretching is always good. There was a raffle afterword's from Brooks and Mo won the shoes! Since she doesn't wear PureFlows she decided to give her free pair to A, since that is what she's been running in the last few years.

We went home to shower and get ready for our next activity - lunch and drinks with Lisa! She picked us up at 12:30 and we went to Kokopelli down the street. A and I both got "small" pizzas - mine was BBQ chicken and hers a breakfast pizza. We spent a few hours there before heading back to our house to chat for a bit longer. A and I started the series "13 Reasons" on Netflix.
Monday (10,455 steps) - Day one of the new job and I had to be there at 8:30. I got there about 15 minutes early and spent all day training. Two of my attorneys took me out to lunch at Earl's, which was delicious. Picked A up at her last Scouts meeting of the year and quick trip to the grocery store.

Stats:

• 118,113 steps
• 23 miles run
• Only one barre class and some yoga

Rabbit Valley half marathon (race recap)

Saturday, May 13
Loma, CO
Half Marathon #163
Weather - Hot, sunny, windy

Friday

I picked A up at school, we stopped to get gas and headed out to Grand Junction. Other than a stop to use the bathroom we drove straight through. No major issues - other than the surprise of more construction in Glenwood canyon. 

We decided to stop and have dinner before checking into our AirBnB. We picked a brewery, Rockslide, in downtown Grand Junction. I had a tasty stout beer and a big bowl of jalapeno mac and cheese.

We finally got to the place we were staring around 8:30. It was a super cute private room, bathroom and entrance. 

Tried to go to bed early. It it was hot in the room (and no independent thermostat) even with the windows open. 

Race Day

Mapquest estimated it would take 45 minutes to get to the start (which seemed awfully long to me) shut we still got up crazy early since the race was supposed to start at 7:30. We made an emergency stop on the way at City Market to buy electrical tape to attempt reattaching part of the framing around the windshield. 

We arrived at Rabbit Valley with just about an hour until the start. The lower lot was already full so we had to park closer to the highway than last year. Our friend Kate was volunteering and it was nice to see a friendly face. 

It was about a 5 minute walk to the start area. I got all my gear ready to go, not planning on coming back to the car before we started. We arrived a few minutes before the bike race started. Once they headed out I picked up my bib and cycled through the bathroom line. Imagine my surprise to see our friend Ross at the start (he's about 80 years old and still running half marathons, sometimes two in a weekend!)

I briefly spoke with Kyla, one of the race directors, and she said A could be her "personal assistant" for the day while I was running. 

Due to extremely tough keep road conditions the race start was delayed about 15 minutes so the volunteers could get to the aid station. This was unfortunate since it was supposed to be hot and windy. 

We started around 7:45 and I estimated/hoped to finish in about 3 hours. Even though I had run the race in 2016, a course-marking error left the race extremely short. I started near the back and had the unfortunate "fire calves" early on. Of course I hadn't looked at the course map so I just ran when I felt like it and walked to try to loosen everything up. 

It was a gorgeous day on the trails. The first aid station was somewhere around 2.5 miles in. Kate and Kyla were at the aid station but since it was on a downhill section I chose not to stop. There was a lot more. Limping than I remembered on the way out and I got stuck in a pace with two women. I would pass and then they would pass - went on like this until we got to the second aid station, mile 5.5 on the Kokopelli trail. I didn't stop at this aid station either because I wanted to get around the women AND another downhill section was coming up. 

The turnaround put me at exactly 6.5 miles, so the course would still be a tad short for a half marathon. The way back involved a LOT more power hiking. I stopped at the aid station to refill my pack - it was getting super hot and the wind was picking up. I saw Ross and he was nowhere near last place, which was impressive. 

I managed to pass some people on my way back and stopped at the last aid station to have a cup of coke. By now the wind was pretty bad and with all the dirt and sand it was pretty annoying to be out in it. 

Final climb before heading into the last half mile or so to the finish. This was brutal!

I was so tired st this point that I struggled to even run into the finish. I was pleased to see that I managed to come in just over 3 hours. Turns out, the course was not the same as last year and the race director even said it was "harder." That made me feel a lot better.

Elevation gain - 1,594'
Garmin time - 3:05:47
Garmin distance - 13.0 miles
Garmin pace - 14:17
Mile 1 - 12:38
Mile 2 - 13:59
Mile 3 - 12:53
Mile 4 - 14:59
Mile 5 - 16:46
Mile 6 - 11:49 (fastest of the day!)
Mile 7 - 13:11
Mile 8 - 17:14
Mile 9 - 14:03
Mile 10 - 13:45
Mile 11 - 14:38
Mile 12 - 14:49
Mile 13 - 15:01

We stuck around for about a half hour at the finish to play some trivia to get swag (which I sucked st). I had the delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and some watermelon. 

Walked back to the car and started the drive back. Stopping in Fruita at Kannah Creek brewery for a celebratory beer. 

Thoughts:

• This was a hard one! I haven't been on the trails much and I struggled. 
• I did not wear the ideal trail shoes and my feet hurt pretty bad when I got done - totally my fault, I know better. 
• A, as usual, did a fantastic job volunteering and was a big help. 
• Course was very well marked. The cyclists and runners had different colored flagging and every spigot was clearly marked. 
• This may be my only desert run of the year - I really enjoyed it and will try to go out again next year. 
• No frills event - just a tee shirt and a dog tag medal - which is fine with me!
• Bee Rad had a mileage PR on the drive home - 601.5 miles on one tank of gas!!