Week in Review (April 7 - April 13)

Tuesday (17,607 steps) - Still don't have my car, so I had to walk Olive about 45 minutes earlier than usual so Ben could take me to work. I went to the gym before work so I could do my short 15 minutes on the StairMaster (that still felt long). That meant I had my whole lunch hour free, so I went for a long walk. Nice day.

Ben picked me up from work and we took Olive for a walk when we got home. Dinner and Good Wife.

Wednesday (14,913 steps) - Quick 15 minutes on the Peloton. Still didn't have my car, so a repeat of Tuesday - walked Olive early. Had just enough time to do my strength workout at the gym before going to work. Another long walk at lunch. 

Took Olive for a walk while Ben started dinner. Both the chicken and veggies cooked in the air fryer, although now Ben's talking about getting a second one so he can multitask. I think we are fine with one.

Good Wife.

Thursday (22,405 steps) - Yay for work from home day!! Since I leave in a few days, really nailed down all my running gear. Finalized my drop bag and my bigger carryon bag. I will still have a small personal item that will just have a little bit of non-running stuff and electronics.

I had hoped to go for my run up in Boulder, but STILL DO NOT HAVE MY CAR, so I had to run near the house and I really had to get creative with my hills to minimize the number of miles I was doing. My heartrate seemed really high the whole run, which I *think* was just my watch being weird, although I've been paranoid about getting sick ever since I found out that Ariel came down with strep the day after I saw her last. Anyway, the temps were fine for the run and I saw multiple bald eagles, which was fun.

Took Olive for her walk. We walked down a different cul-de-sac and the homeowners have a stone lion near the curb and Olive was afraid to walk by it. Otherwise, an uneventful walk.

Ariel's car was FINALLY ready for pickup late afternoon, so we picked that up after I got off work, then met Ben at Torchy's. We all actually played the trivia game, which was a lot more fun than what Ben and I normally do (yell answers out at the tv).

Good Wife.

Friday (14,599 steps) - Not a great start to the day. First, the Keurig broke (I swear, these just get more and more disposable, I think we are now on our 4th one??), so Ben had to pull out our camping gear to make old school coffee. THEN, I missed the Wordle (wtf is "carom"). Took Olive for a walk. We hit a TON of traffic going into the city, which is rare for a Friday. Really busy morning and took Olive out for a late, long walk. Thankfully it was overcast and just slightly breezy. Good walking weather.

After work I dropped Olive off at home and went to 4 Noses to meet Ben for happy hour. We actually got a spot at the bar, which is rare for a Friday night! We ordered Panda for dinner and I took Olive for a walk. Good Wife.

Saturday (16,925 steps) - Change in our normal routine. Did the last bit of my packing while Ben picked us up coffee - essential since our Keurig broke!!!! Drove up to Boulder for a run/hike with Olive. 

Rails End afterwards. 

Took Olive for a walk later in the evening and just missed a rainstorm - we need it. Good Wife and snacks for dinner.

Sunday (18,357 steps) - Went for our run relatively early (for me) - around 9 am. It was an easy hour with Ben.

This was entitled “grimace for the camera”

We decided to get Dutch after the run and sat in the longest drive-thru line ever. When we got back home we took Olive for a long walk to the lake. After I showered we got everything packed up and headed for our (new) tradition of going to Parry’s before heading to the airport.  It was freakishly crowded and half the time we had to sit in the sun until someone left. I had a delicious calzone.

Traffic to the airport was horrible, but thankfully we had left with plenty of time to get there. I had pre-checked my bag and dropped it outside, which was very helpful. I think it took less than five minutes to get through security and for once I didn’t have anything flagged on my person OR my bag. I had a decent amount of time just hanging around the airport waiting for my flight, but I made sure to use the time to hydrate and charge all my devices. I ran into Walter at the gate and we chatted a bit while we were in line and found out we were ironically only sitting about 5 seats apart! We boarded on time and I was really happy that I had my aisle seat. 

We got fed a few different times and the food was... fine. 

Watched a few episodes of Gossip Girl and "Song Sung Blue" - which was pretty good and not at all what I thought it would be. Did some reading. Tried to sleep. Failed. Watched "When Harry Met Sally" - which I'm not even sure I have seen before. We got more food shortly before landing. 

Monday (14,225 steps) - Once off the plane it was off to get through customs, which was pretty quick and collect bags. I don't remember this taking too long, and then it was time to figure out how to get the rental car. In my quest to save money, I booked from somewhere offsite that apparently didn't have a shuttle to get to. I finally asked ChatGPT how to get there since I was not having much luck figuring it out on my own. Found the supposed free bus that would get me there. First, the bus wasn't free. Ok, that's fine, whatever. It was supposed to take about 15 minutes to get there, so after about 10 I figured I should start figuring out when my stop would be so that I would be ready. That's when I realized that the stop that was supposedly on this route WAS NOT ON THIS ROUTE. I pulled up my gps and it looked like we were heading further away from where I needed to be. Decided to just get off and figure out from there. I figured I couldn't be that far away and I would call a Lyft (since I won't use Uber after my credit card was compromised multiple times) ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT LYFT DOES NOT WORK THERE. So then I am carrying all three of my bags, sweating to death, with a nearly dead phone walking to the car rental place. It was over a mile and a half walk!!!!

FINALLY get there. Walk in, over an hour after my reservation time (which shouldn't be an issue) and pull out my information. The guy claims he cannot find my reservation. Multiple people come over and look at my information and no dice. They seem to have something since they know that I prepaid for my reservation, but in general, I feel like I am starting from square one. They also needed everything but my first born for this rental. Drivers license. Passport. Screenshot of my credit card statement with proof of address, a $2,500 damage deposit, proof of return flight, etc. It took over 30 minutes just to do the paperwork. By the time we go out to get the car it is pouring rain and I am instructed to take a video so that there will be no disputes over damages upon return. FINALLY, I will be on my way. 

I have never driven on the "wrong side" of a vehicle before and will admit that this was TERRIFYING. The streets in "town" are incredibly narrow and often only wide enough for one car. Then I was almost immediately thrown onto the highway - which I thought would be worse, but it wasn't because at least I had my own lane. Not to mention that people seemed to drive nicely and below the speed limit so it wasn't that bad. I stopped about halfway to Chepstow, Wales so that I could get something to drink and a snack. Arrived at my bnb just after I was allowed to check in. It was tiny, but cute and all I really needed.

Having not slept at all, I decided to take a nap - I basically blacked out for an hour or however long I decided to sleep. I figured I would walk into Chepstow to the Boat Inn (where packet pick up was supposed to be) so I would know where I was going and get dinner. 

The walk was easy to navigate and about 3/4 of a mile. Found the Boat Inn and had dinner on the patio. Had hoped to see some other runners, but ate alone.

After dinner I walked back to the BNB. Got everything ready to go for morning since I was going to be driving to the Worms Head on the west coast to drop off my car and needed to leave anything I didn't desperately need in it because everything else would have to fit in my drop bag. Read my book for a bit before deciding to turn in early because I was so tired. LONG DAY.

Stats:

• 119,031 steps
• 15.19 miles run
• 22.28 miles walked
• 30 minutes of cardio
• 20 minutes of strength
• 0 minutes of sauna