Week in Review (October 20 - October 26)

Tuesday (9,752 steps) - Work in the office. Headed straight to A's "not award" ceremony for cross country at the local park. Happy to report that she was one of the kids the lettered as a freshman! Go A!

The "Little Mermaid" award (whatever that means)

And for fun, a picture of Pika with a leaf on her head.

After the ceremony, I took Pika for a walk on the path while A played on the playground with her friend. Unfortunately, Pika KNEW A was nearby and almost ripped my arm off trying to get back to where she was.

Wednesday (12,459 steps) - Work from home. Batman got to go on another walk since the weather was nice! The newest fire in the area made the air super smoky (but pretty):

Thursday (8,960 steps) - Work in the office. That's it?

Friday (11,852 steps) - Work from home. Nothing else?

Saturday (22,210 steps) - Up not too early to drive to Hildebrand Ranch. Like last year, I was going to be running the Two Brands trail race. Unlike last year, I would only be running five miles instead of ten. This was also going to be my first post-Moab run!

I arrived only ten minutes before the start and barely had time to get my bib and use the bathroom before we started. Only running for an hour meant I didn't have to carry any water, which was nice. Because of COVID there were no water stations, but I knew I'd be find for five miles.

My goal was under an hour. I thought in my head that I had run just under two hours last year for ten, so it seemed like a good starting point. I didn't feel too terrible, outside of my normal struggles with breathing and tightness. I walked a decent amount in the early miles and I'm sure I irritated the ladies near me that I kept passing and then slowing down again.

The forecast was finally for warmer weather, although you wouldn't know it by how people were dressed, lol. I was wearing one of my thin Columbia shirts and had to roll up my sleeves by the time we were maybe 2 miles in.

This was the course I had fallen on last year and hurt my rib. Wondering exactly what rock I tripped over last year occupied most of my thoughts between miles 3 and 4. Thankfully, the entire last mile is alllll downhill, and I was able to run in pretty strong for finish.

With the course being a tad long, I didn't "quite" get under two hours, but I figure I was close enough:

Garmin time - 1:00:26

Garmin distance - 5.21

Garmin pace - 11:36

Elevation gain - 472'

Mile 1 - 12:14

Mile 2 - 11:44

Mile 3 - 12:27

Mile 4 - 12:17

Mile 5 - 9:59

Mile 5.2 - 8:26 (whoop whoop!)

Post-race with Jandy (who paced me a BUNCH at Moab!)

Jandy and I stuck around to watch other people finish and chat for a bit. Finally, I figured it was time to head out, so I grabbed my free burrito and Gatorade.

Ariel had made plans to go to the skate park while the weather was nice. Ben and I dropped her off and then took Pika for a walk before going to Denver Beer. 

THEN, we had to go look at two different houses - and we didn't like either of them. Super cold evening walking Pika.

Sunday (7,866 steps) - THE COLDEST DAY. (Well, the coldest day so far this winter). Mountain breakfast!

Really no recollection of the afternoon, other than we took Pika for a walk, and it was freaking cold.

Monday (12,802 steps) - Work from home.  Even colder. SO COLD WALKING PIKA. Need to find my mittens that I took with me to Moab.

Ben picked up pho for dinner and we watched "It" (Chapter 1). I am really enjoying post-Moab recovery!

Stats:

• 85,901 steps
• 5.2 miles run :)
• No cross training