Because Being Ordinary Is Boring: September 2024

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Week in Review (September 17 - September 23)

Tuesday (13,437 steps) - Rower and Olive walk before going into the office. Did StairMaster at lunch, only climbing the Transamerica Building this time.

Also did a full body workout and some stretching. After work Ben and I went to 4 Noses for a beer and also had a delicious burger!

Wednesday (22,936 steps) - Olive walk before going into to work. Did my run at lunch since it was a speed workout. At some point part of the bike path was closed and I got lost trying to find the detour. Thankfully, outside of THAT, my run was ok and I actually hit all my paces, which hasn't happened in a bit.

Thursday (10,629 steps) - Work from home. Now that I have a bonus day of "other stuff" instead of running, still trying to get into the groove of what to do and when. I had plans to do my Peloton ride before I clocked in, but ended up putting it off until later in the morning. Heather and I had tentative plans at some point, so I finally did my ride and walked Olive in case we were doing lunch. Plans turned into happy hour, so then I did a few Peloton videos. We ended up going to Torchy's for dinner and met Bernie and Heather at 4 Noses for a beer.

Friday (14,263 steps) - Took Olive for a longer walk before going into the office. Rushed home after work to walk Olive and pack for the weekend.

We actually got out the door a bit quicker than we planned and the drive to the mountains was actually not terrible. We still ran into the same issues of struggling to find somewhere to get food and most of the breweries that DO have food stop serving it hours earlier. We stopped at Outer Range and then picked up Qdoba to go in Vail before arriving at our AirBnb in Avon. Heather and Bernie had already gone to sleep so we had dinner and turned in early.

Saturday (32,044 steps) - I had a long run on schedule and Ben had created a really pretty route for us to do. We had brought Olive's crate with us but she didn't seem to want to go in it. I wasn't worried about her destroying anything, but more concerned that she would start barking/whining if she was left alone. Bernie and Heather said they were only going to be getting food while we were gone so we left her out and hoped for the best. We parked and then headed up up up (which was fine, because that meant everything would be down on the way back.

The initial few miles were all on a fire road, so while it was fairly steep, it was not technical, so it wasn't bad.

It was SUPER pretty - and we were happy to see the leaves changing. A few miles up was when we split onto more single track - and that was when I saw the sign that the next location was 8 miles up... uh, that's a lot more miles than I have on schedule and I didn't want to be gone quite that long. We went up a few more miles (and it was GORGEOUS) before I made the call to turn around.

It was nice jogging down the trails - they were not that technical, so we were able to go pretty "fast" and not worry about breaking our necks.

At the split, I opted to go the other direction, just until we hit 2,000 feet of vert. The clouds were starting to come in, and I was happy with my decision to turn around rather than have a 20 mile day.

Ben suggested we stop at Vendetta's for a quick snack and beer. Within about 10 minutes of sitting down, it started to lightly rain, and by the time we were nearly done, it was POURING and they closed off the patio as the winds picked up as well. Confirmed our choice to turn around was the best one!

Texted Heather to find out how everything went. Apparently good, other than Olive getting on the table and eating her ENTIRE bag of treats. We stopped at the store on the way home to get more of those, as well as coffee and beer. We lounged around the house until we went to Vail Brewing. The taco truck that catered our wedding was still there, so we got food as well. The brewery was really crowded because of football, so we left after one beer.

Sunday (12,930 steps) - We had to be out of the condo by 10, but even with taking Olive for a walk and packing, we were out by just after 9. And THANKFULLY, we did not see evidence of the big snow that had been predicted. We stopped in Vail for breakfast.

While it had not snowed, it had rained a decent amount in the evening/overnight, so when we were planning where to "hike" we decided to stick to paved areas to avoid mud. We drove into Frisco and walked on the bike path - more beautiful changing leaves!!

Went to Outer Range for a beer before heading back towards home. We stopped in Golden for a quick hello to Ariel and she showed us all around campus (now that she is more familiar with everything and to show us where all her classes are). Ben and Olive and I went to 4 Noses for a beer and then later met up with Heather and Bernie at Hops n' Drops for dinner. Once we got home we watched "A Quiet Place: Day One."

Monday (18,540 steps) - Work from home. It was actually COLD in the house, so I put off my run until I felt warmed up. The run itself actually wasn't too bad, and the weather was nice!

Took Olive for a walk. I met Heather at Quinto's for a quick lunch before her flight. Did a bit of driving after work and then met Ben at Parry's. Shortly after arriving we got a panicked FaceTime call from Ariel because she has a water leak in her dorm room. The leak was above her closet and apparently a shirt she had just tie-dyed had dye run onto some of her other clothes. We ended up driving out to Golden to pick up the damaged clothes to see if we could save them. It's literally always something...

Stats:

124,779 steps
23.44 miles run
18.52 miles walked
56 minutes of cardio
50 minutes of strength

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Week in Review (September 10 - September 16)

Tuesday (13,371 steps) - Peloton ride and walked Olive before going in to the office. I actually had planned on being remote, but then I remembered that the building was catering in lunch, so I figured I might as well go.

DELICIOUS.

I still went to the gym after eating that giant plate of food. Most steps on the StairMaster yet - climbed the Sears Tower!

Walk with Olive when I got home.

Wednesday (18,078 steps) - Walked Olive before going in to work. I did my run at lunch and it was... hard. It's always hard to run downtown for some reason.

Walk with Olive when I got home.

Thursday (10,557 steps) - Busy morning. Had to drive to Golden to pick up A and take her to the dentist. We got coffee after.

I went home and discovered that the animals had killed our first mouse of the season.

Took Olive for a walk.

I also had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. Torchys?

Friday (11,439 steps) - Took Olive for a longer walk in the morning.

While I was on the walk I got a text from Ben that he got rear-ended on his way to work. UGH!! I went into the office. I had plans to go to lunch with Nicole and told Ben he should just Lyft to my office, which he did. After lunch I went home and finished out the day working there.

Saturday (16,002 steps) - Late morning run at Mt. Sanitas with Terri and Larry. I had plans to do a few repeats for some higher vert.

Thankfully Ariel reminded me that Amanda's baby shower was TODAY and I cut the run short so I could rush home and shower before driving us all there. We hardly knew anyone, but we still stayed the whole time and I had the closest guess to the number of gummy bears in the bottle, so I won a prize, yay! Pretty sure we went to 4 Noses and I think we watched a movie.

Sunday (31,091 steps) - We went to Dutch Bros. and then dropped Ariel off at her dorm before driving up to Centennial Cone for our run. I finally have remembered that it is a 12 mile loop, not 10. We did start a lot later than we should have, and it was HOT.

Barely saw a dozen people, and I like that there are no bikes on foot traffic days. We headed out to the airport to pick up Ben's rental car, which was a HUGE pain. Then we went to Parry's for a snack and a beer and then took Olive for a walk. We watched "Trap" and it was a bit disappointing.

Monday (19,309 steps) - Work from home. I went on my run a bit early, and thankfully it was not horrible, although it was pretty warm.

Took Olive for a walk and saw a snake!

My day lasted FOREVER since I had taken my lunch so early. Olive was exhausted too.

Met Ben at 4 Noses after work and then I went home to walk Olive while he picked up pizza. First costumed run of the season!

Watched "The Watchers" and went to bed a bit early.

Stats:

119,577 steps
28.09 miles run
11.84 miles walked
57 minutes of cardio
20 minutes of strength

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Week in Review (September 3 - September 9)

Tuesday (10,267 steps) - Bonus work from home day since Joyce is on vacation. Treated myself ot a delicious Dunkin coffee.

Walk with Olive at lunch.

Wednesday (10,217 steps) - Work from home bonus day again. Took Olive for a walk at lunch.

Saw an owl again.

Thursday (10,323 steps) - Work from hoooooome again. My impulse buy from an Instagram ad (heated hair straightening brush) arrived early so I straightened my hair (in 12.5 minutes!!) before meeting Ariel for coffee.

Long walk with Olive at lunch. I think we went to Torchy's for dinner?

Friday (14,337 steps) - Wash Park with Olive and the gang. When we got to Wash Park, Olive seemed to have developed a slight limp, I chalked it up to some of the rocky sections on the north side bothering her feet. By the time we got about halfway through the workday, her limp was way worse and I spent about 45 minutes calling every vet in town until I found one that had an opening and got her in. She didn't see anything or think anything was broken and gave her some anti-inflammatory pills.

Happy hour at 4 Noses and we randomly ordered from a new to us food truck - Norwegian food (?) that was really delicious.

Saturday (15,154 steps) - Probably stayed in bed too long before going to South Table for our run. It was definitely sunny and warm, but we didn't have plans to be out too long.

Initially we were going to do our "normal" loop, but then I figured we could run on the Lava Loop if it was actually open, cutting off a bit of our distance. It WAS open, and we happened to run into Victor and Brook. We ended up stopping at Parry's on the way home for lunch.

No dog walk today, trying to make sure Olive's paw is ok. Olive had her grooming appointment, which meant we were at 4 Noses again.

Ben ordered us Qdoba for dinner, yum!

Sunday (12,614 steps) - Special day! We drove down to Wash Park for Olive's photo shoot! She got invited to be in the calendar for the rescue group I adopted her from. She did REALLY good for them, and it was perfect timing that her grooming was the day before!

On the way home we stopped at the Brunch Run (being held at Wonderyard) for a walk with friends.

The unfortunately didn't even allow dogs on their patio, so we headed out right after. I had to run to REI to exchange a pair of pants, which ended up taking forever. Then we went up to Recess for brunch on their dog friendly patio. Mo met us there with Colfax. Headed home to rest and change before Kristin picked me up to go to the Cheap Trick/Journey/Def Leppard concert at Coors Field! We met up with the rest of the group at a hold in the wall bar on Park and Blake (that was slow and terrible food) before walking over. Cheap Trick was pretty good, but I was never really into them.

Journey was AWESOME and I'm really glad I got to see them. I can't believe they have been a band for FIFTY YEARS?!

I had seen Def Leppard before, but wow, their performance here was NOT good. The singer wasn't great and the sound/lights was terrible. Kristin and I gave them about 45 minutes before deciding we would rather just go home early. Still was after 11!
Monday (21,017 steps) - Work from home. Went for my run relatively early, trying to beat the heat. For some reason, I opted to run to the north side of the lake. I always hate running that direction, yet did it anyway. I didn't enjoy it.