Week in Review (August 4 - August 10)

Tuesday (12,097 steps) - Slept really well thanks to a cold front coming through overnight. Took Olive for a walk and was *almost* chilly. Back to work in the office, boo. Went to the gym at lunch and did some strength training. Briefly used the elliptical (which I think it's been a decade since I used one last?) while waiting for a treadmill to open up so I could do a walk/hill session. Took Olive for a walk when I got home. Ben ordered Panda for dinner - yum!! Good Fight.

Wednesday (10,866 steps) - Walk with Olive before going to work. Went for a walk before I had some mandatory training over my lunch hour. 

Another short walk before leaving for the day just to get away from my desk. Walk with Olive when I got home. Ben cooked dinner and Good Fight. What a blah day.

Thursday (10,761 steps) - Work from home!! Took Olive for a long walk to the lake before clocking in since it was really nice out. Just a short walk at lunch since it was already getting warm. Ben picked me up for Torchy's - yum, cheese! Another walk with Olive. I finally sat down and finished my race report for Summit, then Good Fight - the series finale. Now on to find something new to watch. 

Friday (11,778 steps) - Walk with Olive before going to work. Yet another insane day. 

I think my buckle looks just fine with dress pants

Walk at lunch and Olive bullied me into letting her go in the creek - again. 

Took Olive for another walk after work. Ben ordered in food for dinner - this time from Dickey's (although it was actually listed under a ghost kitchen name). The food was good but they messed up our order - this is probably the third time this has happened - Uber Eats actually doesn't refund and the restaurant doesn't do anything either. Anyone experience this? We were sitting on the couch after dinner and discussing the weekend when I mentioned that Christina was planning on running Run the Rockies in the morning. We discovered that there might still be entries and we made an impulsive decision to head up in the morning! Did some packing to prepare.

Saturday (27,488 steps) - Got up crazy early, just after 4 am, to get ready for our spontaneous trip up to the mountains. The drive was uneventful and we got up to Frisco by probably 6:30. After using the bathroom I went over to packet pick up and I was able to register for the 10k. Well, I haven't run since Summit 200, I am sure this will be fine. Ben was planning on hanging out with Olive. We took Olive for a walk before my race started. 

I used to write up full race reports for even a 10k, but I don't think I need to do that for this.

Obviously, I had no big plans to race, but I was looking forward to getting some miles in on a cooler day up in the mountains (vs the horrible hot hellscape we have been experiencing for months in the city). The half started at 7:30 and my race started at 7:45. I have run the half marathon at this event multiple times, but looking at my records, not since 2018!! According to the website, the 10k only had about 240' of gain, so my only real goal was to run as much as I could and try to enjoy myself!

The start was in a different location than I remember from previous years, and I lined up towards the back. We started on time, I think, and off we went. The course was on a different part of trails than I have run before and was wide enough for the first few minutes that we were able to get settled into our paces before hitting the single track. 

I started off at an easy pace and was feeling decent as we continued on to the perimeter trails. Managed to actually pass some people on the climbs, which was surprising to me. The first aid station was supposed to be about 1.4 miles in, and I figured I would try to run at least until we got that far. 

We finally moved onto trails that I recognized from running previously and most recently, from Summit.

My pace was gradually getting faster. I stopped at the first aid station to grab a drink of water since I wasn't wearing a pack. I did get passed by a few people here, but I did catch up to every single one of them within a mile or so. I was being careful to watch my feet in the trees as I have had a few nasty falls catching my toes on tree roots.

Second aid station was just off the road by Peak One campground - yet another Summit memory! From here I really didn't know where the course was going to go to hit our mileage. I was thinking I only had a few more miles to go and I had run this far without walking, so the plan was to run as strong as I could for the finish.

The trails were getting pretty sandy the closer we got to the beach area. We turned off on another unfamiliar trail and I figured we were getting pretty close to being done since I was already at 6 miles on my watch. Running along a fire road and a volunteer directs me to turn and says "less than a half mile to go," to which I responded "I hope since since I'm over 10k already." I was dying at this point but kept at it. Managed to run into the finish - ZERO walk breaks and the fastest I have ever run these trails!

Garmin Time - 1:18:41

Garmin Distance - 6.44 miles

Garmin Pace - 12:14

Elevation Gain - 421'

Mile 1 - 12:56

Mile 2 - 12:31

Mile 3 - 12:15

Mile 4 - 12:19

Mile 5 - 12:17

Mile 6 - 11:28

Mile 6.44 - 11:16

Found Ben and Olive and we headed over to the finisher area. Gave Ben my free beer and I grabbed a diet Coke and my free lunch. We sat around relaxing before heading into Frisco to Outer Range. Decided to get actual lunch and went to Main Street to eat at Ollie's. We got a nice seat on the patio and had a nice lunch.

We still had some time before we could check into our hotel, so we went for a walk along the rec path. Ben thought it would be ok/fun to walk on the beach and find a spot where Olive might be able to go into the water. Absolutely crazy how low the reservoir is right now (according to an article I read this morning it is at like 73% capacity, which is the lowest in over 20 years).

Everything looked really swampy and gross but we found a spot that looked "OK" and she ran in. Of course the ground nearer the water was really soggy and swampy and she got absolutely filthy.

Headed back to the truck and wiped her off the best I could. Went into town to pick up drinks before checking in for the night. Someone was feeling very tired!

I turned the TV onto Indiana Jones and throughout the course of the night we basically watched the whole trilogy. Ben ordered in JJ's Chinese food for dinner. 

Sunday (12,389 steps) - Woke up earlier than I would have liked and had NOT slept well. Annoying since the bed was actually comfortable and the AC worked great. We took Olive for a walk on the rec path since it was right behind our hotel.

A guy had his dogs off leash and they kept running at Olive. Why are people so annoying??  We went back to the room and got all our things packed up. We were trying to decide what to do for the day. Went back into downtown Frisco and ate at Butterhorn. It's been a few years and their menu has become very basic and WOW the prices are really steep for what you get, not sure we will be back.

I suggested that we make a trip over to Rainbow Lake for a walking/hiking activity before heading home. The lot was nearly full, but we were able to get a spot. 

Not sure where everyone was hiking because the trails were not that crowded. It was a nice morning and Olive enjoyed getting some fresh mountain spring water. We let her off leash at the lake and she actually fetched a small stick - first time she has ever done that! I suggested that we take an alternate way back to the truck and headed up the trail I came down during Summit. 

This trail was even LESS crowded. We turned down a trail neither of us had been on before. It was fascinating how much we seemed to be going down (lots of switchbacks) when we hadn't even realized that we were climbing. 

Overall, a really nice activity. We decided to stop at Outer Range to meet up with Lee, since we hadn't seen him all weekend. Stayed longer than we probably should have and traffic was a disaster heading back to the city. Ben picked up a pizza for dinner. Since we had time, we watched a movie - Sheep Detectives - which we both really liked. Sigh. How is the weekend over??

Monday (17,975 steps) - Woke up before my alarm, but it worked out because I had time to take Olive for a longer walk to the lake before it got too hot.

Also had time to get my run in! Greg put me on strict orders to take it SUPER easy this week (after redlining during my race on Saturday) - turns out I had forgotten how nice it is to walk hills!

Started my work day, showered, did laundry. Ariel showed up with Dutch and a breakfast burrito and spend the day at the house. I figured out her ulterior motive when she asked for a ride to the eye doctor (in GOLDEN) because she needed to have her eyes dilated. We got lunch at Cava on the way (which is delicious and I've only had it once before) and then to her appointment. 

Ben texted while we were getting to leave Golden and said he was picking up dinner for us. Yay!! We got some toasted hoagies. Rest of the evening was uneventful - planned on starting a new show but Ben ended up falling asleep on the couch.

Stats:

• 103,354 steps
• 9.77 miles run
• 22.2 miles walked
• 5 minutes of cardio
• 20 minutes of strength
• 0 minutes of sauna