Week in Review (April 9 - April 15)

Tuesday (17,572 steps) - Work in the office. Ariel had a soccer game - and got to play a lot! 

Took Olive for a walk when I got home, then Ben and I went to get dinner at Salsa's. 

So much damage to fences with the recent wind storms

Wednesday (15,269 steps) - Work in the office. Did a "yoga for runners" video at lunch that was pretty good and picked up a salad at Mad Greens so I would have something to eat for dinner. Had to leave work at 4 so that I had time to walk to Union Station and get to the airport in time for my flight. My bags were so heavy, the walk was not enjoyable. 

Took the train to the airport. Was upset to see that the bag drop I like to use after getting off the train was closed. I had to lug all my crap through the airport to the Southwest desk to drop. Security was a breeze. I ate my salad and walked around until it was time to board. My flight had been delayed by about a half hour. Wasn't happy about that since it was already a really late flight. I got an aisle seat but ended up with a morbidly obese person sitting in the middle. The flight was uncomfortable and turbulent. I watched "Anyone but You" - a predictable rom com. 

Took a bit to deplane and then had to collect my bag. I called the hotel I had booked to find out if I needed to schedule a pick up since it was so late. The guy told me that if I went out a certain door there would be a flight crew somewhere and I could catch the shuttle. By the time I had my bag and went outside I didn't see anyone so I called again. He seemed super confused and kept asking if I was sure I went out the correct door. I'm like, sir, it's basically midnight and I see no one. He says they must have just left and it'll be 20 minutes. Annoying, but ok.

After THIRTY minutes I still am standing there. I call again and this time I get a female who seems very confused, also asking the same questions "are you with the flight crew?" and "are you sure you're at the right door?" and then tells me they only have one driver, and it should be there soon. I do see finally, a flight crew and ask if they are staying at the Hilton, and sure enough, maybe 10 minutes later we have a shuttle. The drive is less than 13 minutes so the fact I was out there over 45 minutes is total crap. I dropped off my stuff in the room and picked up a beer from the front to sit and relax for a bit.

Thursday (12,030 steps) - Didn't sleep as late as I would have liked, but I slept fine. I used the time to finalize all my drop bags while I puttered around.

I had a shakeout run on schedule and had mapped out a run downtown that would take me to a park loop. HUMID HUMID HUMID and lightly misting the whole time. SO HOT. I also got stuck at almost every light - reminded me of Denver running for sure.

Only ran for about a half hour and was drenched from both sweat and drizzle. Took a shower and then decided I might as well get everything  I still had about an hour until I had to be out of the room, but since I had to go back to the airport to get my rental I figured I'd just head into the lobby. When I asked about the shuttle the girl at the desk seemed confused. "Did you schedule one?" No? But you have 13 floors and offer a shuttle and it's before checkout time so.... Then she proceeds to tell me it'll be TWO HOURS for one. I'm about ready to call a Lyft and she tells me they found someone. (So for anyone thinking that the Hilton that offers an airport shuttle in Birmingham will be a breeze - it's not, what a fucking pain in the ass this was).

Rental car pickup was pretty easy, although I am not used to having the car selected for me! I ended up with some sort of Kia sedan that I'm not even sure was cleaned when I picked up as there was still some trash in there. Since my expensive hotel didn't have free breakfast, I mapped to a brewery where I could have a beer and some lunch. The beer wasn't great, but the food was.

I stopped in Oxford at the TJ Maxx (to just look, and ended up buying a few things) and Target and Publix to get some food for dinner, breakfast, water and beer before driving to the Cheaha State Park where I was staying. I was told that there were no food options in the park, hence the shopping. 

Arrived at the park to check in around 3:00 and was informed that there was no power in the park but it should be on by 8. IN FIVE HOURS??? I have frozen food and warm beer! Thankfully, there was an employee that said she would bring by a bag of ice for me so I could keep things cold until the power came on. I headed right to the Bald Rock Lodge in hopes of dropping off bags, but didn't see anyone. Decided to walk around for a few minutes - foggy and weather coming in.

There was nothing to do but sit in my room and leave the door open to cool it down. None of the windows opened and it was really stuffy. Thankfully the power came on much earlier than they had thought - maybe right before 6 pm? The ice had kept my beer cold at least.

I kept myself amused watching Law & Order - and kept hoping the weather would clear up so I could walk around, but it didn't. Stayed foggy, rainy and windy all night.

Finally decided to go to bed pretty early,  maybe around 9:30. Thankfully, I slept pretty good.

Friday (80,911 steps) - Southern States 200

Saturday (135,721 steps) - Southern States 200

Sunday (97,442 steps) - Southern States 200

Monday (97,947 steps) - Southern States 200

Stats:

• 456,892 steps
• 208 miles run
• 0 minutes of cardio
• 10 minutes of strength