Week in Review (January 12 - January 18)

Tuesday (10,676 steps) - Work in the office in the morning. Lucy's check engine light has been coming on once in a while over the last month. We initially got the light to go off by adding coolant, but the light came back on and she is idling rough, so I had an appointment at the dealership. I got a loaner from them so I could head back to work while she was getting looked at. The newer Minis are fancy!

When they finally contacted me to authorize work, I found out that Lucy is no longer under warranty (about 5,000 miles over, and time-wise two weeks expired!) so I did not authorize the work, planning on having a closer, local shop do the work. I had a 25 minute run on schedule, so I took a late lunch and got that done with Pika. Somehow, we managed to run into A's track practice, so it was definitely more of a tempo run than an easy one!

Picked A up from practice and headed down to the dealership to pick up my car. They had magically "fixed" her under a parts warranty and it cost me nothing. I'll set some money aside in case the problem comes back. As an aside, I do have a maintenance warranty that is good for another few years, it's just the manufacturer warranty that's expired. Sigh.

Wednesday (12,942 steps) - Work from home. Quick row in the morning, and a walk with Pika at lunch. We saw the bald eagle again!!

It was SUPER windy again, so Tyler and I decided to postpone our trail run one day. I still had a 30 minute run on schedule, so I headed out right after work to get that done. After having a couple of pretty decent runs in a row, this one was NOT great and I had to take a few walk breaks in the first mile.

Thankfully, my calves loosened up and the back half of my run wasn't AS bad. Plus, it was pretty outside. Also, it wasn't nearly as windy as it had seemed earlier, so that was a bonus as well. 

After dinner I did a quick upper body video and band routine. LONG DAY.

Thursday (18,076 steps) - Work from home. 

Super short row in the morning. I was tired and not feeling it, so I cut it short. Went for a walk at lunch with Ben and Pika. After work, headed up to Boulder to run with Pika and Tyler. It was icier than last week, and Tyler took a nasty fall. I had remembered to bring batteries for my headlamp, since I knew they were getting ready to die. Unfortunately, my headlamp takes three batteries and I brought two, so it didn't help. My headlamp was super dim and kept flashing. Ugh. All in all, an "ok" run, but I need to remember to bring my spikes and keep extra batteries in my pack.

When I got home I did pilates/abs video. I really shouldn't have taken so much time off from the gym. Everything is so hard!

Friday (10,417 steps) - Work from home. Off day from running (woo hoo!) so I just took Pika for a walk at lunch. 

I did an abs and upper body video that was ok, and I may do it again. I planned on a row in the evening, but barely got into it before the doorbell rang and A insisted I needed to deal with it, so I gave up on finishing my activity. Oh well. 

In other news, our basement flooring is almost done (pictures to come soon). We also finally installed the kitty door so the cats can get to the litter box (but Pika can't). At first they weren't sure about it, but c'mon, it's so cute!!

Saturday (36,228 steps) - Up "earlyish" to head to Golden to meet Kristin, Joe, Jeramiah, Tyler and Maureen for a run! We had been planning a route all week and settled on Chimney Gulch to Beaver Brook, about 12 miles. Although I had planned to bring my spikes, I forgot them (again!) so that was not fun as there were some incredibly icy sections. I slipped a lot and fell a half dozen times. I spent most of this activity in the back and was really struggling (I don't know if this was worse than usual or not). Hopefully my dietary changes will help in this regard, along with more consistency.

Maureen got this picture of me. This section was a skating rink.

View from the top of Chimney Gulch at Windy Saddle

Maureen and Kristin are both in a plank challenge, and I joined in!

Everyone is happy, but we have barely done 3 miles, haha

At some point, Maureen got behind us and she called me, unsure if she was still on course. (Turns out, she was, but she was uncomfortable with all the ice and terrain, so it was probably better that she turned around a tad early). We turned around at about a 10K, but then of course we still had to go back to the car... the way back should be easier since it was mostly downhill, but the ice made things slow, plus we were tired!

OK, I guess this was still uphill

I sent Ben a text when we got back to Windy Saddle to have him meet us at Mountain Toad for a beer. Tyler and I decided to just walk there since it was only a few minutes away. I hadn't been there in a while - the beer was pretty good! I also grabbed some food from the food truck because I was STARVING.

In our seemingly never-ending house drama, we had to go to Home Depot to get new trim for the basement. I was not looking forward to making dinner, so I walked to Pho a few doors down and ordered takeout while Ben was loading up the truck.

Sunday (10,916 steps) - Ben had to work, and I didn't have any big plans for the day, so I tried to sleep in. I didn't really accomplish that, but I did stay in bed a while. Ariel and I got coffee, haircuts, Panda Express for lunch, and went on another REALLY WINDY walk. This time of year sucks, because if it is "warm" it is windy.

I made spicy sausage and roasted a BILLION vegetables. I love this dinner though. Once everything is chopped it's actually pretty easy to make. While dinner was getting ready I did a lower body video that I thought would be easy, and wasn't.

Monday (16,411 steps) - I had the day off, but managed to stupidly schedule a doctor's appointment for 7:15, so I was up early. Our contractor was supposed to show up 7:30 to start work on the bathroom, but it was closer to 9 before he got there. Immediately, we were informed that Ben hadn't done enough demo, so he didn't stick around. Ugh. Ben headed to physical therapy and I went for a run. I had 40 minutes on schedule. Once again, it was supposed to be an easy run, and it once again felt "easy." I didn't walk at all, and pace was very similar to the week before. Also took Pika for a walk. I did an upper body video that I really liked and will definitely do again. None of us felt like cooking, so we picked up Qdoba.

Stats:

• 115,666 steps
• 25.2 miles run
• 23 minutes rowing
• 87 minutes strength training

Week in Review (July 7 - July 13)

Tuesday (54,604 steps) - Work from home, Pika walk during lunch.

Met Ben at Lowe's after work to pick up additional shelving for the basement. The end.

Wednesday (60,419 steps) - Work from home, Pika walk during lunch.

Boulder run with Mike and Tyler. It was too hot to bring Pika, so we were able to do a section of trails we don't do often because dogs aren't allowed. It was hot and NOT easy. Ugh.

Thursday (27,470 steps) - Work in the office, wander around during lunch. While I was working, Ariel and Ben picked up (and installed) the new storm door!

I met Tyler at Apex for a hike/run. Both of us were pretty tired, so thankfully we hiked most of the uphills. This time we didn't get lost and went all the way to the road.

We saw probably 30 deer up in the hills, but the pictures didn't really come out that well. We definitely heard them before we saw them! Went with Ben to pick up dinner after I got home.
Friday (39,761 steps) - Work from home, walk with Pika during lunch. Apparently, that's all that I did all day.
Saturday (32,787 steps) -  Barely slept. Just one of those nights. Met Kristin and Tyler at Windy Saddle park for a "run" at Beaver Brook. Kristin and I had never been to this trail and Tyler had led us to believe that it was pretty runnable, with just a few climbs. The first section was definitely tough to run because it was very rocky with lots of large boulders.

No running through here...

There were areas that we were able to run, however. The best part of the trail was that there was NO ONE out there. We saw only a half dozen people in the first half. Although we saw more towards the end, it helps that the parking lot is very small, because numbers were small. Probably also helps that the first mile is pretty technical, so many folks may just turn around.

Tyler promised us the view from the overlook was worth it... (it was)

Really glad we started early, it was pretty warm when we finished. Met Ben at New Terrain for a beer, then we headed home, where I probably took a nap that unintentionally lasted almost 4 hours. Oops.
Sunday (33,485 steps) - Up before stupid o'clock for our daily adventure! Drove up to the mountains to hike two 14ers, Grays and Torreys! The drive up to the actual trail head was a nightmare! We had to go soooo slow, and it was super sketchy. The only other time I have done this, we parked at the lot by the highway. We met Mike, Tyler and their friend Cameron, and started just after 6 am.

Immediately, I was wondering how I could feel so out of shape. Again! 14ers always are an ass-kicker. I was definitely the slow poke of the group, but it was an absolutely GORGEOUS day. 

We were really lucky to see numerous mountain goats! I don't see them often, but interestingly, the last time I hiked Grays and Torreys, I also saw one. 

Selfie with a baby mountain goat!

First summit of the day - Ariel's 6th 14er!

So we were nearing the summit when we realized that we didn't have Pika's leash. We had apparently left it on the summit of Grays, and we were not really ready to climb back up the peak to get it.

On the way down, a guy saw Pika and said "I remember you from a little while ago." I then asked if he happened to bring her leash down. He said that he did see a leash where the trails split - exciting news for us!

We stopped and asked a few more people about the leash - a group of guys said that it was actually a few cairns up, so Ben and I hiked up while A stayed with Pika. We did get the leash back, and we will definitely keep a closer eye on it in the future. eesh. The cutest part of the day was watching a mountain goat walk along the trail.

Pika was definitely dragging the last few miles - except for when we saw an actual pika - she was interested in using up the rest of her energy to chase it.

It took us just under 7 hours to do the hike, which includes the time we spent on both summits. Not too bad! We stopped at Cabin Creek in Georgetown for food and a beer before heading home. Ariel and I both fell asleep in the car - sorry, Ben! Porch beers with Tyler.
Monday (28,960 steps) - Work from home, walk with Pika during lunch. Rest day after another big weekend, so we watched a few episodes of Criminal Minds, took Pika for another walk (in the rain) and made dinner.

Stats:

• 251,386 steps
• 33.6 miles run