Week in Review (July 15 - July 21)

Tuesday (14,839 steps) - Peloton ride and walk Olive before going to work in the office. Went to the gym at lunch and did the StairMaster and a total body strength class. It's been quite a while since I did one of those and this was a good one that I will do again. Costco for groceries and to pick up a pizza for dinner. 

Took Olive for a walk after it cooled down a bit. Bosch? 

Wednesday (18,268 steps) - Walked Olive before going to work. I was supposed to have a run with rolling hills, but I wasn't sure when I was going to be able to fit it in, so I just did my normal downtown loop. 

Family dinner at home and just didn't ever feel motivated to take Olive for a walk after work and then it started to downpour. Bosch?

Thursday (12,774 steps) - Work from home. I had a very quick and easy run - thankfully. Even though it was a much cooler day it was very humid after the rain. Went to Dutch with Ariel and then we took her car to get emissions done. Walked Olive and had lunch. Torchy's for dinner, another Olive walk and more Bosch.

Friday (14,225  steps) - Wash Park and Stella's with the gang. Took Olive to work. 

I thought this was cute that someone turned the meter cover into a cat

We met up with Ben at 4 Noses before going home for dinner. Bosch.

Saturday (16,885 steps) - Originally I had thought that we might go to Mt. Flora, but then on the drive (which had a LOT of traffic) I suggested Jones Pass instead. Benefit of course being frequent water access and tree cover! Olive had a blast, of course, and it was a beautiful day for temperature and wildflowers.

I suggested that we drive into Evergreen to eat at Lariat Lodge. I knew I had been there in the past with Lisa and that they have ample patio seating for dogs. Food was good, beer selection was meh.

Ben helped me to do some prep for my drop bags. It was just too hot in the house, so we ended up going to 4 Noses for a bit just to be in some air conditioning. Heated up a frozen pizza and watched more Bosch.

Sunday (12,746 steps) - Ben's mom had sent Goosie some new outfits, so I changed her into her western one - so cute!

All the animals were wilting from the heat while we decided what we were going to do for our fitness activity. 

We went to Dutch for coffee and then I took Olive for a walk before we headed to Green Mountain. I had 1,000' of vert on schedule, which meant we only had to do 1.5 repeats. Only.

We thankfully had some cloud cover, so it wasn't as awful as it could have been. Stopped at Sierra on the way home looking for socks. Sadly they didn't have any Smartwool, which is what I was looking for. More drop bag prep, I think I have everything just about finalized! Bosch marathon and Ben ordered in Panda for dinner.

Monday (12,384 steps) - Work form home. Threw in some laundry and went for my "easy" 45 minute run early before it got too hot. Ariel came over and we did our Monday ritual of getting Dutch and picking up breakfast tacos from Torchy's. Took Olive for a walk and then jumped on a Zoom call with Ana to help her out with her Garmin watch and how to import courses, etc. After work I had hoped to do some driving, but didn't get any offers. Met Ben at Parry's for a beer and dinner.

More Bosch!

Stats:

• 102,121 steps
• 17.83 miles run
• 14.01 miles walked
• 30 minutes of cardio
• 20 minutes of strength

Leadville Silver Rush 15 Miler (Race Recap)

Leadville, CO

Saturday, July 12

Half Marathon #200

Weather - Sunny and warm

Arrived at the race start around 8:15, which was later than I had planned. I had to use the bathroom on the way to pick up my bib. Saw Jandy and Josephine on the way back to the car to get my pack. I had developed a blister on my left heel from a pair of my Freebirds, so I had Ben put some tape on. By the time I got everything ready I had enough time to use the bathroom one more time and then found the girls for our start.

Me, Josephine, Jandy

So while I've run the Leadville marathon and heavy half, I have never run anything in Leadville that starts at the ski hill. I'm glad Ben got a picture of our start - I'm in this mess somewhere. I have no idea what my pace was going up the hill because I don't think the timing mat was working - but I'm just happy I wasn't last.

Thankfully once we got to the top of the hill the course leveled out. I took a short walk break because my heart rate was already through the roof. We were on a dirt road that was relatively wide, so we didn't get too bottlenecked here. I was surprised at the number of people that had poles out - especially in this area. This course has about half the gain (maybe even a third) of the heavy half and doesn't go up nearly as high. Anyway, the course went down a bit before we were briefly on a paved section before the climbing started. I caught up to Jandy and Josephine on the first hill and we leapfrogged a bit on the flatter section until we got about 2.5 miles out and I didn't see them again. We had some double track that was gradually uphill.

Thankfully after this section we went into a more tree-lined section for a few miles. I knew I would appreciate the shade on the way back. We took a hard right and the grade of the climbs went up. I could see a group of people in front of me that I hoped to catch up to. Apparently my guess of just the one aid station at the turn around was reality! Came to a clearing and there was a nice view (and some port-o-potties), but we had to go up another few tenths to the very small aid station.

There were only two tents - one for medical and one for food/liquids. I pulled out my cup and took a little coke, although it wasn't very cold so I didn't even finish it. We had to do a weird loop to head back down and I think I passed probably 15 people here that were just sort of hanging out at the aid station. I knew it was "almost" all downhill and I wanted to be done! I saw Josephine and Jandy and they only seemed to be about a half mile behind me. I did a decent amount of running until the turn off (I think it was more downhill feeling). 

Once I got to the more tree-lined areas I was definitely walking more and just hoping to pass a few people here and there. I was tired and definitely feeling hot. I knew that the course made a detour at the end of the course but wasn't sure what the distance would be and a I had an "A" goal of finishing in about 3.5 hours.

I got to the paved area and knew that on the way out it had been a mile. Imagine my dismay when we got close enough to see the finish line only to take a hard right and go up some single track. A couple that I was near told me it was over a mile from here. UGH. And most of it was uphill, which I thought I was done with.

We finally crested the top of the ski hill that we had run up, but we didn't just run down it again, no, we had to go around to a different hill. In that time I got passed by the first 50 mile runner (they did start a few hours before us at least) and then I bombed the downhill.

I was as few minutes over my goal, but considering the course was nearly 16 miles, I wasn't mad about it. It was a fun surprise to have Ana at the finish line in addition to Ben!!

Time - 3:38:40

Garmin Time - 3:38:41

Garmin Distance - 15.81 miles

Elevation Gain - 1,919'

Overall Place - 98/155

Gender Place - 53/93

Mile 1 - 12:57

Mile 2 - 14:24

Mile 3 - 12:03

Mile 4 - 15:11

Mile 5 - 15:00

Mile 6 - 13:57

Mile 7 - 16:13

Mile 8 - 15:34

Mile 9 - 12:19

Mile 10 - 12:04

Mile 11 - 13:35

Mile 12 - 11:51

Mile 13 - 14:24

Mile 14 - 13:28

Mile 15 - 14:14

Mile 15.81 - 11:27

Thoughts:

• I think I actually like this course better than the Heavy Half - mainly because there are parts of it that are actually shaded!
• Kinda sucky to only have one aid station for a half marathon, but since I was using this as a training run for a 200 it was fine as I have to go a  long way between aid for those.
• Nice shirt and nice medal.
• Finish line is nice with runner food and beer and vendor tents. Not a lot for spectators, however.
• Would I run again? Maybe? It was actually REALLY affordable - only $78 after fees.

Week in Review (July 8 - July 14)

Tuesday (12,783 steps) - Peloton ride and walked Olive before going to work in the office. Gym at lunch - StairMaster and weights. 

After work I took Olive for another walk. Did we finish Squid Games? Unknown.

Wednesday (22,490 steps) - With the forecast being triple digits, I had to get up and do my run before work, which I *hate* doing. I had 4 miles at half marathon goal pace with a warmup and cool down. I set a range I wanted to hit and did pretty well. I took a couple walk breaks, but in general I was pleased with how this went. 

Took Olive to work and headed in to work. Headed home to meet up with Ben & Ariel for our movie night at the Alamo! Ariel got us all tickets for the new Jurassic Park. It was a great way to spent the evening since it was SO HOT. The movie was ok, predictable. Had a burger for dinner. We all took Olive for a short walk when we got home.

Thursday (15,181 steps) - Work from home. Late morning I met up with Larry and Terri in Boulder for a hike/run. Thankfully we had some cloud cover and a little bit of rain.

We headed into Louisville to Lulu's for a snack and a Texas Slush.

Home to finish work. Torchy's for dinner. Criminal Minds season finale.

Friday (12,544 steps) - Wash Park and Stella's with the gang.

Boring work day for all of us.

We met Ben at 4 Noses for happy hour - sticking to just one beer! Got Panda for dinner, which was delicious and fun.

Maybe this was the night we watched "Heads of State" - which we liked.

Saturday (37,538 steps) - Up early to walk Olive and drive up to Leadville for Silver Rush 15 miler.

Fun surprise to have Ana come to the finish line! Her and her husband came to Colorado a few weeks early for Summit 200. We sat around and chatted for a bit until they had to head out for their own adventures. Waited for Josephine and Jandy to finish and picked up some gear from the rabbit tent before heading out. Of course we made a stop at Outer Range. 

We were both hungry so we also got food. Picked up Olive on the way to the 4 Noses mug club party. They had lots of food for us, but we weren't hungry. Started a new series - Ballard.

Sunday (10,455 steps) - Didn't have a run planned, thankfully. In trying to think of something for us to do with Olive that involved her being able to get her feet wet, we went to Golden. It was chaos walking around by the river. Olive did get her paws wet, but she is still fearful of deeper water. I should teach her how to swim this summer.

Stopped at Golden City Brewing, but Olive didn't like the pebbles in the patio area.

Parry's on the way home for a snack. We were all SO HOT and spent the rest of the day inside watching Ballard episodes. 

Monday (16,831 steps) - Woke up very tired and forced myself out the door for my easy run before it got too hot and miserable. Spoiler, was still hot and miserable. Ariel showed up and we got coffee and picked up a breakfast taco. I took Olive for a walk, seemingly beating a storm I didn't even know was coming.

Then, since it was national mac & cheese day, we picked up food from Noodles. After getting off work I did a delivery and then met Ben at Costco to pick up groceries. Pizza for dinner and Ballard.

Stats:

• 127,822 steps
• 30.08 miles run
• 14.96 miles walked
• 30 minutes of cardio
• 22 minutes of strength

Week in Review (July 1 - July 7)

Tuesday (11,670 steps) - Slept much better, thankfully. Did a very short Peloton ride before getting ready and taking Olive to work. Never really thought I would say I was looking forward to work, but I was. I have taken a lot of things for granted that I am normally able to get done during the day for sure. Thanks to relatively good coverage, I was pretty much caught up on all my work by lunch. It helps that I had to check my email somewhat regularly because people were still emailing me since my out of office was vague on how long I would be out. Went to the gym and did the StairMaster (which I did NOT miss) and some weights. Really appreciate getting more sleep and being able to workout again on my lunch hour!! I did some deliveries on the way home from work and Ben picked up a pizza for dinner. We took Olive for a walk after dinner and then caught a few more episodes of Squid Games before another early bedtime. 

Wednesday (21,128 steps) - Slept AWESOME - first time in a while. I did have some weird dreams about the trial (not the case itself), however. Took Olive for a walk before going to work in the office. Since I actually had a hill-related workout to do, I had to do it after work. Unfortunately, since it was supposed to be about a zillion degrees. Ariel was able to let Olive out during the day, so I headed over to Green Mountain. I had a different type of hill workout, but since I was supposed to find something of at least 10%, I did my warm up on the bike path before doing the repeats. It was definitely HOT, but not as bad as I thought it would be?

I was starving when I finished up and met Ben at Torchy's for a delicious dinner.

Took Olive for a short walk. Squid Games.

Thursday (11,379 steps) - Work from home. Went to Dutch and Torchy's with Ariel before taking Olive for a walk. We got another episode of YOU watched while I finished up my day and did some packing for our weekend of "camping." There was a car fire with fatalities on I-70, so we were going to be delayed heading up. Once we got the camper loaded we went to 4 Noses for a beer, then stopped at the grocery store. By about 6:30 things were supposedly cleared up, so we headed up. Unfortunately, I think everyone else did the same thing - it took us probably twice as long as usual, but we got up safely. Our friend Lee lives in Dillon and has a huge driveway and he had no problem with us camping out in his driveway. The best part was having access to an indoor bathroom and running water.

Olive is the blur at the bottom of this picture

Lee was doing a bike race in the morning, so he headed to bed. We had a beer and relaxed.

Friday (14,475 steps) - We took Olive for a walk and Ben cooked some eggs while we decided what we wanted to do for the day. I had jokingly said that we should go to Webster Pass and run/hike up to Red Cone where the flag is for the fourth. Ben decided that we would drive up the pass. We got to drive by the house we are looking at (sigh, probably won't happen) and headed up. First off, neither of us seemingly had any recollection of the "road." It was a lot more technical than we remembered. Rocky, and very slow going. It took a LONG time to get to the saddle where we decided we would start. It was a bit windy and chilly when we arrived and took our initial pictures (and I let Olive roll around in the snow on the other side - but only on leash since there is still a drop off).

By the time we started it was a lot colder, very windy and was starting to lightly rain. Neither of us had pants, but we put on our R1s and rain jackets. The below picture is me looking back at where Camille was parked:

You wouldn't know it, but it was REALLY raining pretty hard at this point. With the wind, we were getting pelted and it almost felt like it was graupel. My legs were really cold! Since we were on the road, we had to wait for probably a half dozen jeeps to come down the trail.

Red Cone

We made it to the second hill before deciding we were  cold and not having fun and decided to head back to the truck.  

No regrets! I am glad that we came out this way though. I was really caught off guard for this section during Summit last year, so seeing it again was a good thing for me. It is definitely still really slow going, but knowing what I'm doing will benefit me, I think. We took the way down a "little" faster than the way up, but it was still a long way to town. We decided to visit a "new to us" brewery in Keystone, Steep. The beer was just ok, but the food was delicious.

Outer Range for one more beer before heading back to Lee's house. We made some hot dogs for dinner.

Saturday (20,844 steps) - Went into Breck for another activity. We decided to do Vomit Hill loop that we have done before. 

It was much warmer so we took a lot of breaks. Both for us and Olive.

Once again, I had forgotten Olive's bowl, but thankfully I always have random things I can turn into one. We stopped to let her drink out of a ziplock bag.

We took a different way back, this time on the Blair Witch trail. This picture of the three of us is relatively hilarious.

We were all toast when we finished. Stopped at Broken Compass on the way back to Dillon since dogs are allowed inside.

Hamburgers on the grill for dinner.

Sunday (22,308 steps) - Up early to head to Herman Gulch for the annual hike that I coordinate every year. I was especially excited that Ariel was going to drive up to join us since she had the morning off. We had a decent sized group this year:

As always, it was slow-going heading up. Partly because of all the pictures we had to take of the flowers. 

Once we got near the lake there was finally a snowfield for Olive and Waylon to play in - they had a great time!

We stayed at the lake for a decent amount of time waiting for everyone. Plus, the weather was much nicer than the year we summitted and had to immediately head down because it was raining. 

We made plans to go into Idaho Springs for lunch so that the people who had to go to Denver would be out of the worst of the traffic. Ben wasn't super crazy about that since we were still planning on being in Dillon until evening. Since we discovered last year that Tommyknocker's is dog friendly, we met up there. Lunch was delicious and it was nice to sit on the patio.

After lunch we headed back up the mountain, unfortunately hitting some traffic. We headed to Outer Range to meet up with Amanda, who needed a ride back to Lee's house. We packed up Shelly and had a snack before starting the drive down. Thankfully, waiting as long as we did, there was no traffic back to the city. Unpacked and had a frozen pizza for dinner, plus watched an episode of Squid Games.

Monday (18,116 steps) - Work from home, yay!! I had a run to do and went early since it was supposed to be in the mid 90s. Even starting before 10 am it was already so hot and I was sweating like crazy.

Ariel and I went to Dutch and Torchy's. I decided I better walk Olive before it got even warmer.

We were able to finally finish the last season of YOU. Joe is crazy. Picked up dinner at Costco and took Olive for a walk. Olive got so dirty camping over the weekend that Ariel actually gave her a bath. She doesn't need them that often!

Squid Games finale and then we started Nosferatu. 

Stats:

• 119,920 steps
• 25.97 miles run
• 11.15 miles walked
• 45 minutes of cardio
• 25 minutes of strength