Week in Review (July 19 - July 25)

Tuesday (14,766 steps) - Work in the office. Went for a run at Bear Creek after work - it was hot, humid and a bit muddy. I think this was fine, but it was a week ago and I don't really remember. 

I met Ben for a beer at New Terrain.

Wednesday (23,412 steps) - Work in the office.

Went for a walk at lunch. First, I met up with Josephine for another book exchange, then up to REI so that I could return the Rabbit skirt that was too big. Thought about walking around the store, but it was already a long lunch, so I went back to work. After work headed up to Boulder to meet up with folks for a run - it was pretty rainy on the drive up, so figured it would be a bit of a mess on the trails. It was blissfully about 25 degrees cooler after the storm, but it it did rain a bit in the early miles and it WAS muddy. Super pretty though!

I had 90 minutes on schedule so I didn't have time to do Fern to Shanahan, so I just turned around when I hit 1,000' of climbing and headed back. Got back to the store in time to order my watch from Trish. Wooo, finally will be upgrading my Fenix 6S.

Thursday (8,610 steps) - Peloton before working from home. No recollection of this day other than I took Pika for a walk at lunch. Did this day even happen?

Friday (11,378 steps) - Wash Park with the gang before going to work in the office. Ben got off early so we met at a fancy hotel downtown for rooftop drinks. It was loud and they didn't have much good beer. And apparently the only picture I took was of this sink where the faucet was so close to the basin it was nearly impossible to wash hands.

Headed to 4 Noses and then eventually Salsa's for dinner.

Saturday (32,257 steps) - Up early to drive to Frisco to meet Terri and Larry for a Buffalo Mountain loop. I was a bit worried when I drove past Herman Gulch at 7:10 and the lot was already full, but I got to the trail at 7:30 and there was plenty of parking. We headed up around 7:45 and it was truly a glorious day. I've definitely always struggled with the big climb right out of the gate, but we pushed hard and it didn't feel as bad as it has in the past.

We really lucked out with the weather - it was overcast and cool. Somehow, even with Larry and I both having done this route multiple times, we got off course more than once. I swear.

Once we got up closer to Gore Range trail and the meadow area, we realized we were in for a real treat. Not that I ever push hard on these weekend runs, but this truly became a tour of looking at wildflowers and taking a ton of pictures. It was probably the most flowers I have ever seen up on these trails - not to mention, the most variety. It was spectacular. 

We stopped to have a quick snack before heading to the Eccles Pass, and finally saw some pikas and a big, fat marmot. First mountain adventure of the summer actually seeing some wildlife! 

We actually also saw an entire family of baby marmots - so cute! They were a bit too far away to show up in pictures, but it prompted us to look up some marmot facts. A group of marmots is a colony (Terri and I were right on that) and there can be 3-8 pups in a litter. AND, a marmot's life expectancy is 13-15 years. Pretty crazy. 

When we got closer to the blast zone/avalanche area it started to heat up a bit. We were definitely grateful that it hadn't been like that the whole time! Then, once we were back in the trees we started to notice that the clouds were looking a bit sketchy and it cooled off again. 

I always "forget" about this last bit of climbing heading back. I opted to NOT pull my poles back out for this section since it's relatively short. It was tough, but I managed to keep up with Larry.

We all noticed that there was a lot more downed trees than we remembered - wonder if it's just been really windy and tough to get the blowdown cleaned up? 

We were nearly back to the car, less than a mile to go, when it started to rain a bit. We timed it pretty perfectly though, and we did not get drenched.

Post hike/run selfie

We headed over to Outer Range for a beer, and it doesn't look like it, but they were PACKED. It was windy and the rain had come in strong, so no one wanted to sit outside. We managed to snag a partial table fairly early, which was nice.

Traffic was complete garbage on the way home - more like Sunday afternoon traffic than early Saturday afternoon mountain traffic. I stopped at REI on the way home, where Ben randomly met up with me. We decided to go to Odyssey for a beer, then picked up Chinese food for dinner. And here is a random picture of Batman, because he is adorable.

Watched the third installment of Flowers in the Attic. Lord, this show is nutty!

Sunday (11,967 steps) - Didn't really sleep in, but I stayed in bed a while. Ben picked up coffee and donuts for breakfast. I was not in the mood for a run, but I had a 5k on schedule. It was actually not as bad as I feared, and it was much cooler than it has been. Run was... meh. We met up with friends at the new food hall in Arvada. I wasn't that impressed with the food options, but they had some Outer Range on tap. Ben also decided my shirt looked like the wallpaper?

Resolute for another beer and then pizza for dinner.

Monday (8,960 steps) - Peloton before work from home. Walked Pika at lunch. Nothing else? Maybe I met Ben for a beer but I can't remember. 

Stats:

• 111,350 steps
• 28.09 miles run
• 75 minutes of cardio
• 35 minutes of strength

Week in Review (July 12-18)

Tuesday (11,232 steps) - Peloton ride (REALLY enjoyed the David Guetta!) and core workout before work in the office. Nothing else, except Pika turned 12 years old!

Wednesday (15,199 steps) - Work in the office. Went for a walk at lunch. After work I headed over to a new to me brewery, Raices for run club with Mo! I got there early so I read my book and had a beer while I waited for the run to start.

The run was not the best. It was very hot and humid and I definitely walked more than I would have liked. Plus, the bike path in this part of town is pretty sketchy.

It's always fun hanging out with Mo and other friends, though!

And for fun, here are random pictures of Batman and Robin, because they looked pretty darn cute and were actually sitting close to each other (which doesn't happen that often).

Thursday (13,477 steps) - Work from home! Pika walk at lunch. Nothing too exciting, other than I decided to sign up for Cocodona 250 redemption. Womp... Worked at second job, and it wasn't very busy and I managed to get out a little before closing time, so I met Ben for a beer.

Friday (4,535 steps) - I had an alarm set but surprise, I woke up before it went off. I was already all packed and ready to go, so it didn't take long to get out of the house. The drive to the race start (where I planned on "camping") was about 8.5 hours. There was surprisingly not any traffic up north, but once I got into Wyoming it was one construction zone after another. I stopped at Bitter Creek Brewing in Rock Springs for a beer, which was ok, but not great. It was the only place that was open, so I didn't have much of a choice. The next time I stopped was in Alpine at Melvin Brewing. I got some Cajun food (risky, but that's what the food truck was) and a beer.

They have a pretty great tap room, but the indoor seating is minimal and they don't seem to have air conditioning because it was HOT in there. I had a minimal amount of trouble finding the race start, but I think it's because I overcomplicated things. PUTS had released an email that said to watch out for the banners off the road, and even though I "knew" I should have been going up the canyon further I turned at the first set of flags and ended up at an aid station. I managed to get to the start without issue after that, and parked near the cabin I had paid for. SKETCHY.

The bathrooms were pretty sketchy too, but at least they had soap and running water.

I headed up to the lodge to pick up my packet. Pretty pleased to find out I was also getting a pair of Smartwool socks. Woo!! I was texting with Ben about my murder cabin and he decided to book me a hotel room in Alpine. (I would have actually been fine "camping" here since it's not like I sleep anyway...) Stuck around for the pre-race meeting. Didn't learn anything new, but the race director was pretty awesome. Headed back to town and stopped at the gas station to fill up and get some food. There was a Little Ceasar's in there so I got a $5 pizza for dinner. Wooo!

Got to the hotel and the gals at the front desk were pretty funny - I guess when Ben called to reserve the room he told them he thought I was going to end up like someone in the movie "Hostel." Drank a beer and watched some tv and tried to go to bed early. Had a hard time falling asleep AND staying asleep. Usually that's part stress of worrying about oversleeping and being too warm, but the hotel room was actually fine because I had turned the AC all the way down.

Saturday (65,195 steps) - Palisades 50K!

I left the race and drove back to Melvin. The patio was pretty crowded, but a couple gals let me sit at their table. After a post-race beer I headed back to the hotel. I REALLY needed a shower - look at this dirt tan!

There was a steakhouse in the hotel, so I ordered a burger and fries for takeout.

Went back to my room and had another beer and watched some tv. I went to bed relatively early without setting an alarm. 

Sunday (3,669 steps) - Woke up around 7:30 and figured I needed to start the LONG drive home. I stopped at the gas station on the way out to get a coffee and something to eat. Little Ceasar's actually had weird crazy bread "calzone" sandwiches, but it wasn't very good and I didn't end up finishing it. The drive home seemed even longer, if possible. I made it all the way to Rawlings before I stopped to get a beer. Unfortunately the only IPA they had was a double at 9.5%, so I settled for an ale, that was just kind of meh.

Got to town earlier than planned and met Ben at 4 Noses. Had a beer and some food before heading home. Tyler came over later for a beer.

Monday (11,943 steps) - Peloton ride before work (two-for-one Lizzo ride was FUN!). Exciting day at our house. Took Ariel for her driving test - which of course, she PASSED! Took Pika for a walk, and then in the afternoon went to the DMV so she could get her driver's license.

She did her first solo drive - meeting a friend at the gym down the street. Where has the time gone?? I've been maintaining this blog since 2010, since she was FOUR YEARS OLD. Crazy. Worked at the second job. Right from the start it was crazy busy and it was just me and the new Assistant Manager working. I had a very stressful shift since 1/3 of my deliveries did not tip. Then I got back at the end of the night to find out that no one had done any dishes and I had a lot of work still to do. I was NOT happy and quit after my shift was over. I went through and added up all the money I made in the shifts I worked and it was pretty pathetic and barely covered gas. Over it.

Stats:

• 125,250 steps
• 33.27 miles run
• 65 minutes of cardio
• 20 minutes of strength