Week in Review (December 17 - December 23)

Tuesday (19,505 steps) - Strength class during lunch. Milk Market run club! We met at Engine Room instead, since Milk Market was closed for a private party.

It was cold, and we did a crazy thing - RAN OUR LOOP IN REVERSE. I struggled a bit with this one again, but it's always nice to run with Paula. Pizza!

Wednesday (21,744 steps) - Core class during lunch. Runners Roost Boulder! Ariel didn't come because she was volunteering at family dinner night at school. Ben brought Pika and was confident that she would be able to run the entire loop. They were a little late coming in, so we started without them and they met us at the trail head. I really really really really struggled through this one. I don't know if it's the combination of the low miles I've been putting in (basically since Tahoe), general fatigue, or what. But man, this one sucked. Trails were pretty icy, but it was nice to be back out on them!

Fun night with a "holiday party" after, when I picked up our custom Hydro Flasks for running over 200 miles with the group this year!

Ben and I stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings on the way home.
Thursday (24,465 steps) - Left work a few minutes early to run extra miles at Berkeley Park. The first couple miles weren't great, and I really struggled with... everything, especially breathing and being tired. The last few miles weren't bad, but I finally got in a second 6+ mile run during the week.

Met Ben and Ariel at the store. A decided to stay at the shop with Phil, Ben ran with the group & I took Pika for a walk around the lake. THEN, we went to Goldspot for the last trivia of the year with Greg.

After doing so awesome in previous tournaments, we came in LAST. Boo, hiss.
Friday (9,213 steps) - No core class today because my trainer wasn't working. Nothing else.
Saturday (40,065 steps) - Up early for a long run. Runners Edge was doing an informal trail run way down in Castle Rock, but that seemed too far to drive, so I headed alone to Boulder to run the Dirty Bismark loop. I started right at 7:30 and thought I would be running about 15 miles. Turns out I made some weird turns and my "15" mile run ended up being nearly 17 miles.

The trails were actually in pretty decent shape, although by the time I was finishing it was a tad muddy. Right as I was finishing, Ang sent me a text that she was on her way to meet us for breakfast. I had Ariel head there first, and I arrived only about 10 minutes late. Good catching up with her. Ben and I took Pika for a walk and then went to Denver Beer so I could try the new Cinnamon Toast Crunch graham cracker porter.

Olde Town Arvada Square

Picked up Torchy's for dinner.
Sunday (14,244 steps) - SLEPT IN. We all went to the grocery store to buy food for Christmas dinner. Ben and I went to Diebolt to meet up with everyone for the ugly sweater beer run. I'm glad I was smart enough to wear a festive singlet underneath my ugly sweater as it was really warm!

Good to see everyone. Ended up having a weird night with Ben & Ariel napping, so I took Pika for a walk and then had cheese and crackers for dinner.
Monday (7,748 steps) - Core class during lunch. Met Ben, A and Greg at Kokopelli for pizza and beer.

Ben and Ariel surprised me with a REAL CHRISTMAS TREE! We spent the evening putting ornaments and lights on the tree. 

As you can see, Pika was a tad leery of a squirming Batman Sour right behind her. Unexpectedly fun evening!

Stats:

• 136,984 steps
• 43.7 miles run (well that escalated...)
• Three gym classes

Random:

Sooooo..... it's time to admit that I have to get back on the "counting calories" and/or "quit drinking so much beer" train. My weight has been heavier than I would like for a few years now, and is bordering on what I'd call "The Danger Zone." Ugh. I'm not posting a number, but I really could stand to lose about 15 pounds, and it seems that with my first race of 2020 coming up in just a few weeks, and a road marathon in just a few months, now is as good a time as any to start. Sigh. #noteatingallthethings really sucks.

Week in Review (December 10 - December 16)

Tuesday (19,263 steps) - Strength class during lunch. Milk Market run club!

Another run where I really felt like crap. I miss the days where I didn't have to take a walk break during an "easy" three miler. Blah.

Cool moon!

Dinner was sandwiches and potato salad, and those of us that wore "festive" attire got a free boozy hot chocolate! Yum!

And of course the day's beer advent.

Wednesday (20,115 steps) - I was supposed to have core class during lunch, but my morning appointment was late (and eventually a no-show), so I had to skip because I wasn't sure if he was going to show up or not. Grrr.

They aren't getting better tasting as the calendar continues (I'm not fond of German beers to begin with)

Took Pika for a walk before heading back into Denver for the annual holiday lights run with Runners Edge! There was a lot more traffic than I planned for, and we rolled up only a minute before the start. Grrr, stress! Mo still isn't really running, so I told her I would run Colfax. For the first time ever, Colfax got out of his collar! Not once, but twice! He was pulling more than usual and lagging behind, so eventually I had to pass him back to Mo because I was afraid he would escape!

Picture with Colfax before handing him off to Mo

Basically my last "team" picture with Runners Roost!

I'm basically front & center - can you find me?

After, we had appetizers and a few beers at Ale House. Thanks to the run starting at 7 we were out much later than I had hoped, it was 10 before we got home! On a school night!
Thursday (13,377 steps) - Got basically NO sleep. Ugh. I've really got to figure out my insomnia issues, it's soooo frustrating. I figured there was absolutely no way I would be able to get through run club AND trivia, and since I wasn't able to go to the gym yesterday, I decided to stick around downtown after work and take two classes. My first was "chest and biceps" and holy cow was it hard. Followed it up with a strength class. Pizza for dinner, attempted going to bed early.
Friday (7,692 steps) - Core class during lunch, and it was tough! Right after work I drove up to Periodic Brewing to meet Ben at Meghan's graduation party.

We were only able to stick around about an hour since we still had to head up to the mountains for Heather & Jake's going away party. Late night.

Saturday (30,303 steps) - Runners Edge! I was initially optimistically thinking of running 10-12 miles. Turns out, my body felt like crap (thanks to the eating/drinking the night before). Plus it was icy, plus, my gut was NOT happy. I feel very accomplished that I actually got through 8+ miles. Ugh.

Most of the trail was icy AF, and not extremely fun to run on

Took Pika for a walk and then started our excursion of finishing Ben's costume for my work holiday party. In between shops we dropped A off for a sleepover. Got all his stuff done and then stopped for a beer at Denver Beer Company.

My work party was at Studio Loft again, and it was a lot of fun! I wish I'd gotten a picture of the two of us without my jacket on, but meh. Ben did get a lot of compliments on his fun twist of our "pirate" theme! Late night, it was probably close to 11 before we got home.

Sunday (20,720 steps) - "Slept in" but still didn't sleep well. UGH!!! Relaxing morning before going out with Ben for a freezing 6 miles by the lake. Pretty much the only good part about it was finding another egg!

Pika walk before going to Berkeley Park race team party. Like last year, the food and company was amazing. Ben had the most luck of all of us, and won one of the grand prizes, an R8!

Monday (9,221 steps) - Finally had a relatively decent night of sleep, although I was not happy getting up.

I love getting these notes in the morning <3 td="">

It was really cold on my Pika walk! How am I going to survive another few months of freezing cold temperatures??

Loving my giant new Berkeley Park race team mug!

Core class during lunch (I don't normally go to the gym on a Monday, but trainer will be out Friday, so I swapped). Picked up A at Scouts, grabbed my online order from Target & then we met Ben at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Amazing special right now, buy one get one free boneless wings! By the time I got home, I was pretty exhausted (from... sitting all day?) - and we watched two episodes of Ozark. Show is weird.

Stats:

• 120,691 steps
• 22.5 miles run (and my biggest week of training in AGES)
• Five (!) gym classes