Week in Review (August 15 - August 21)

Tuesday (15,165 steps) - Barre with Sasha. Lunch with Janna. Uneventful day, gymnastics.

Wednesday (32,782 steps) - Last day of summer break. A and I had talked about going to Water World, but with lunch/afternoon thunderstorms in the forecast, we decided to go hiking instead. We got up at 4:30 and drove up Guanella Pass to Mt. Bierstadt. There is something to be said for hiking during the week, as when we arrived around 6:15, there were only maybe 10 cars in the parking lot.

We put on all our warm gear, as it was only in the 30's when we parked. According to my weather app, the pass had even gotten a dusting of snow overnight! It was barely sunrise when we started and a bit cold when we first started out. The lower mile or so is really easy, so we were moving quickly. 

For some reason I was thinking that the route was only about 6 miles round trip, but it quickly became obvious that I was wrong. Also, even though I have tried to troubleshoot it, my Garmin isn't reading the altitude correctly, which is frustrating.

We were about 3 miles in when it went from "not too bad" to fairly windy. We stopped to have a snack and put all our cold gear back on for the final push to the top.

The last mile or so we actually could see remnants of the "snow" the peak had received over night. Nothing to write home about, but it made the rockier sections a little slick.

The summit to Bierstadt is not my favorite. The trail is pretty hard to find because it is all giant boulders. You can see some cairns, but it isn't always obvious how to get to them. The last half mile or so took forever, but we finally made it.

We did NOT stay long at the top, as it was crazy windy. My hands were freezing just from the few minutes I spent taking pictures. We had been eyeballing the weather as we weren't sure when the mountain storms were going to roll in. We lucked out and stayed dry. We had already discussed getting down into the sun and out of the wind before eating lunch. I think we picked an ok spot.

For whatever reason, I seemed super clumsy on the way down. I kept catching my toe on things and I banged my knee pretty good on a rock. We made pretty good time on the way down, and finished the 7.6 miles (!) in just over 5 hours.

On our way down we FINALLY saw some wildlife:

There were actually probably 30 of them on the side of the road, but we were in "traffic" and A was having a hard time getting pictures of all of them. I have never seen so many goats in one place!

On our drive down I spotted a new brewery - so we stopped in for a quick taster. Well, I had a beer and A got a hot chocolate from next door.

The storms started before we got to Denver, so we just stopped by the DMV to get Lucy's  plates and then went home for a super late second lunch and some rest. Drove down to Denver for run club.

Fun to talk with people that we haven't seen that much lately!
Thursday (15,534 steps) - First day of sixth grade!

Since I went into work later, I got off later. Left right at 5 and hit the normal nightmare downtown traffic. Barely got A in time and then we were late getting to Belmar. We planned on only running until we found Ang, and then walking with her. We saw Chris on the way and she got this cute picture of us (no, I don't normally wear my hair down, but we were late and I was in a rush).

There was a special event with BOA and there was beer and pizza at the store.

Super fun night, and awesome that we didn't have to cook dinner. Stopped at Jan's on the way home to drop off A's stuff for yet ANOTHER weekend of camping.
Friday (15,896 steps) - Barre with Kelly. I don't normally go on a Friday, but it's been really tough getting in 2-3 days, so I figured I should just suck it up and go. It was really great, I like Kelly. I got my job offer late in the afternoon and it was kind of a bummer that A was gone and we couldn't celebrate. Womp, womp.
Saturday (24,502 steps) - Runners Edge, waaaaay down in Centennial. I had planned on only running 6, but the route was an 8 mile loop so I just did that.

Tore down my aid station at 9:45, stopped at the Roost to pick up some new sports bras. After lunch I met up with Lisa for some celebratory beers! It was nice to catch up, we haven't gotten to spend that much time together this summer!

A was dropped off around 6. A was exhausted from camp and I was exhausted from my morning run and beer so we were in bed by 9.
Sunday (43,045 steps) - Palmer Lake half marathon (recap to follow).

Water World! I love that we are residents and save so much money - we stayed until about 15 minutes before they closed. Stopped at the grocery store and it was after 7 before we had dinner.
Monday (18,629 steps) - There was apparently a solar eclipse (just kidding, I totally new about it beforehand). We had a party at work, complete with solar eclipse cookies. The firm provided safety glasses, although I gotta say, the picture I took at "totality" just looks like a really sunny day.

New Terrain run club! We were supposed to do a new route, but I think the guy that got designated to run with the slowpokes decided we should just run the regular route. I have to give myself a pat on the back for jogging up most of the hills! Didn't stick around for a beer, home for dinner.

Stats:

• 165,553 steps
• 30.1 miles run
• 2 barre classes, and hiked a 14er (7.6 miles)