Week in Review (March 10 - March 16)

Tuesday (17,839 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office. Busy morning and I went to the gym earlier than usual in hopes that it would not be crowded since I had 45 minutes to do on the StairMaster and I don't like jeopardizing the only one if there are lots of other people. It was not great but also not the worst. 

Did an add on Peloton hike before going back to work. Took Olive for a long walk to the lake when I got home from work (yay for later sunsets!), then sauna. Animals were upset at a "late" dinner.

Dinner and Good Wife.

Wednesday (23,132 steps) - Took Olive for a walk before going to work. Went for a walk at lunch (the normal loop I do with Olive on Fridays). After work it was up to Boulder for an after-work trail run! There was not a single other car in the lot when I parked and even though it was a nice afternoon the trails were pretty deserted. 

As it got later I did get a little cold, so I'm glad that I had brought a jacket. First real run with the new Mount to Coast T1s and they were pretty good. Having a bit of a hard time getting the lacing quite right, so I had to stop once to loosen them. Overall, not bad. Ben had a delicious dinner waiting when I got home:

Good Wife.

Thursday (12,978 steps) - Did my Peloton ride before logging in to work for the day. This was a HARD workout for me. Took Olive for a long walk at lunch.

Sprinkled in strength training and sauna throughout the afternoon. After work it was off to meet Ben at Torchy's for dinner. Took Olive for a walk after we got home, then Good Wife.

Friday (13,026 steps) - Olive walk before going to work. Busy day with Sophie having a deposition. Fun surprise that the court reporter brought Olive a collapsible bowl!

Went for a walk at lunch. After work we headed up to 4 Noses and since it was relatively warm we could sit on the patio. We did not stay that long since Ben had been there for a bit with his truck getting worked on next door. I headed home first and bagged up the leaves that the lawn guys left in the front yard and then took Olive for a walk. I think we had Cupbop for dinner? Good Wife. 

Saturday (31,800 steps) - We did have to get up a bit earlier than normal on a Saturday. I took Olive for a walk and then we had to get our stuff ready to be at Larry's house for our trek up to Bobcat Ridge. I am glad that I had brought my big pack and extra layers since it was really windy and I kept my jacket on for probably the first two miles. 

We hiked all the climbs and jogging the downhills. Larry managed to catch a toe and had a pretty hard fall at the same spot that Terri fell last year. Maybe we just need to remember where this is and we all just walk through this section next time. 

We ran most of the last mile and a half to the car. Even though we have been to this trail multiple times, I have never noticed this cute stone near the trail head. 

Berthoud Brewery for snacks and beer (still NA for me). 

Took Olive for a walk when we got home and then sauna. From then it was already getting late so it was just couch time. Good Wife. 

Sunday (14,623 steps) - Woke up to it being incredibly windy and cold. With the wind gusts, real feel temperatures were near zero. Finally, we headed up to South Mesa for our activity. It actually didn't seem as windy in Boulder, so we did the full "big" loop. Olive was very happy to finally have some snow!

The lower part of the trail was SO MUDDY. Glad we remembered towels to try and clean Olive off. Went to Rails End and there was a random guy making custom charcuterie. This whole pizza box was only $25! A totally random assortment that was SO GOOD. 

Got home and then had to shower and give Olive a bath. She doesn't LOVE getting bathed, but tolerates it pretty well. Rest of the evening on the couch, Good Wife. 

Monday (22,651 steps) - Work from home! So the race directors for Wales 200 had announced a while back that they were going to be putting on a 300. I know I said I never needed to do that distance again, but here we are. 

I have until July 2027 to contemplate all my poor life decisions. Took Olive for a walk around the neighborhood - good thing I took her early since almost all the snow was already melted. Went for a "longish" run during lunch. With the snow we got over the weekend I knew the trails would be total garbage, so I did a paved run. There was still some drifting on some of the sidewalks but overall, not bad. Even with the sun shining there was a breeze that made it cool enough that I was glad to have worn tights and a long sleeve top. Fun new sign on my route:

Sauna time and then after work I did some driving and actually made a decent amount of money. Guess I need to do some more deliveries to pay for my unexpected race registration. Took Olive for another walk while I was waiting for Ben to get home. Pizza for dinner and Good Wife.

Stats:

• 136,049 steps
• 31.39 miles run
• 15.49 miles walked
• 91 minutes of cardio
• 40 minutes of strength
• 105 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (May 6-12)

Tuesday (13,943 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work. StairMaster and strength training at lunch.

Another walk with Olive after work. Handmaid's Tale.

Wednesday (21,715 steps) - With Olive being home and it raining I opted to skip walking Olive before going to work. After work I headed to Dinosaur Ridge since I had a hill workout to do and all the trails were too saturated to run on. I walked for probably the first 15 minutes of my warm up and ran the rest. Might have been the first time I've ever run up the full Rooney Road side of the road! Was pretty happy about that. 

Took Olive for a short walk after getting home. Parks and Rec?

Thursday (11,633 steps) - Work from home. Did a Peloton ride and then took Olive for a long walk. Ariel had a dentist appointment and wanted me to go with her. I was easily convinced since there is a Ziggi's in the parking lot and I got my free birthday drink!

Pilates video and some driving after work. Took Olive for a walk after all that.

Criminal Minds!

Friday (17,536 steps) - Walked Olive before going to work. Ariel was supposed to be home during the day and then going to work in the evening, but she got called in so I had to rush home right after I got off to walk Olive. We are still in need of new things to watch so we found a movie, "Wild Robot" - and we both really liked it.

Saturday (27,803 steps) - Drove up to Louisville to meet Terri at her house so we could carpool to Bobcat for our long run. I had a vert goal of at least 2000' of gain, and this was Terri's suggestion for a way to get it. We planned out a longer loop than the last time we were in the area, and going in the reverse direction. The first few miles were ALL up and it was pretty warm and sunny.

When we finally got to the top of the ridge and the below sign, we stopped for a brief snack break.

Once we were more on the saddle/ridge it was more runnable. We were blessed to have a slight breeze and we were all in a great mood at this point (especially since we had done so much of the climbing already).

We came to a trail junction and going one way had all sorts of signage (that I can't believe I didn't get a picture of) that suggested imminent death, so of course we opted to go the more tame way. Not more than a few minutes down the trail and Terri had a decently bad fall, ripping up her left knee pretty badly.

Once we got to the split at the Power Line trail, she opted to go back to the car so that she could get cleaned up. Larry, Ben and I kept going. It was quite a nice descent down some fairly smooth switchbacks, before we ended up on the lower loop trail. Larry had us convinced it was going to be a 13 mile loop, so Ben and I were super happy when we got closer to the car and it was only about 11 miles. I hadn't quite hit my vert, so I went back up the way we started until I hit my number (and happened to run into Terri, who was passing time waiting for us). We of course went to Berthoud Brewing after (since Larry and Terri are in the mug club AND they have delicious pizza).

After lunch we headed back towards the city, dropping of Larry and then a quick stop at Crystal Springs for their anniversary party before heading home. 

Sunday (18,151 steps) - Originally Terri had plans to join us for our morning run, but she canceled last minute. We got out of the house a bit later than planned for our run in Boulder. There were a zillion people out and we got one of the last parking spots at the trail head we like. Pretty early on we both realized that we didn't feel great (sore and tired from the Bobcat run) and this was going to be a long morning. 

Lots of pretty flowers out, including TONS of irises, which I don't ever remember seeing on this trail before.

I thought the run was going to be about 8 miles, so we were INCREDIBLY happy that it ended up being less than 7. I was just NOT into this one at all. Let Ariel know that we were finished and headed to 4 Noses. We had one beer before carpooling to Deidre's house for Mother's Day breakfast burritos. Always good to see them! Headed back to 4 Noses for the succulent workshop - I think I did great (with lots of help from Ariel and the lady hosted the workshop).

And the pretty flowers that Ariel got me:

Nice, quiet evening at home.  We sat on the front patio and had some pasta for dinner. Parks & Rec?

Monday (23,274 steps) - Work from home. Went for my run pretty early since it was supposed to be really hot. Normally, I turn my watch on to connect to gps before I leave the house so as soon as I leave the driveway I start my run. I missed a step on this one and accidentally didn't start my watch until I was almost to the park. Ugh. I had 75 minutes on schedule and since it's been so hot I ran the south side of the lake. Run itself wasn't bad. I did walk up the last part of the big hill, but otherwise ran the whole time - a big step up from how awful running had been on Sunday. Did some work and some laundry. After the second load of laundry we had some excitement. The basin wasn't draining. Ariel and I tried to do some troubleshooting, but basically we had to drain using the emergency water release, which the first time I did that water sprayed out pretty far, Ariel figured out how to release the water more slowly. Ugh. Took Olive for her walk. They are finally closing the lower single track after all the damage people have done to it since Covid. (Personally, I think this should have been done ages ago).

Did some driving after work. Pizza for dinner?

Stats:

• 134,055 steps
• 29.93 miles run
• 18.62 miles walked
• 55 minutes of cardio
• 50 minutes of strength

Week in Review (December 24 - December 30)

Tuesday (16,641 steps) - Up early to use the rower and walk Olive before going to work in the office. Yes. I had to go into work on Christmas Eve. Which was pointless because NOTHING WAS HAPPENING. I went to the gym at lunch and used the StairMaster (Eiffel Tower again) and did a Pilates video.

At least the office closed early? I had hoped to do some deliveries, but didn't get any offers, so I met Ben at 4 Noses. 

Wednesday (18,924 steps) - Ariel had to work, but we all went to Dunkin to get coffee since they were the only place that was open. Put off my workout (that once again, I was really dreading) until about lunchtime. I had a LONG set of faster repeats. Hit the first and third, but the one in the middle was a bust. I hated this run - A LOT. But like Ben says, running "fast" is sorta my weakness. I can go on and on forever, but I have a hard time running faster and hitting those paces. So I will continue to do this runs even though they suck.

Realized I didn't have any pictures of Bruce Jr. (our tree) and presents this year.

Took Olive for a walk at the lake.

When I got back Ben insisted that I needed to work on the other puzzle I got for Christmas LAST year. He turned on the football game and hours of my life just disappeared. Ariel finally got home from work around dinner time. We had a delicious meal, talked to Ben's mom on the phone and finally opened our gifts. Great haul this year - no pictures of anything though. Took Olive for another walk. Yellowstone?

Thursday (10,944 steps) - Did a 30 minute Peloton ride to start the day. Sadly, I had to "work." Ben and Ariel were both off. At least I was at home? I was covering for Erica's attorneys and hoped it would not be busy. I didn't need to worry. It was NOT BUSY AT ALL. I did end up finishing my Christmas puzzle though - with VERY little help.

Ben and I took Olive for a long walk at lunch on the mud route since it had rained so much. Squeezed in some strength training. Torchy's for dinner and Amanda's second to last shift before she goes on maternity leave. Short walk with Olive and more Yellowstone.

Friday (17,528 steps) - Had hoped to go on the Wash Park walk but they moved it later in the morning "since everyone is off work" - uhhh, not me. Took Olive for a walk and had a very boring day in office because, it's true, just about everyone but me is not working. Stayed home for the evening and took Olive for a walk. Yellowstone!

Saturday (24,386 steps) - Up early so we could be at Terri's house by 8. We had plans to do Bobcat Ridge - a trail area near Fort Collins that I haven't run before. I'm glad I randomly threw an extra layer in my pack because it was overcast and chillier than I expected it to be. In general, I felt overall pretty awful the whole time.

Overall, I'm really glad we went out there, it was beautiful and I think the cooler and gloomy weather kept the crowds away. By the time we got back to the parking lot the sun was coming out and the lot was pretty full. Terri took us to Berthoud Brewing, where she is in the mug club. Beer was meh, the pizza, however, was amazing.

We stopped at Mudrocks on the way home, where Larry met up with us. Secondary stop at 4 Noses to give Alicia her Christmas present. Leftovers & Yellowstone.

Sunday (19,078 steps) - Dragged a bit getting out the door to walk Olive before doing the Rock Creek loop with Ben again. Thankfully, I felt way better than the last time we ran that.

Went to Torchy's for Amanda's last shift. 

Took Olive for another walk and then did a few deliveries. 

Monday (18,550 steps) - Work from home! It was an insanely windy day, so I put off all outdoor activities. Finally took Olive for a walk and then went on my run. The wind chill took like 15 degrees of the air temperature, but happy to be done with it. Not fun.

Did a few deliveries after work, met Ben at 4 Noses. Pizza and Yellowstone.

Stats:

• 126,051 steps
• 25.91 miles run
• 20.55 miles walked
• 70 minutes of cardio
• 40 minutes of strength