Week in Review (July 10 - July 16)

Tuesday (16,949 steps) - Barre Express with Gabi! Best class in a while, I was actually able to get through most of it. After work I met up with Lisa and Lucky for a walk around Sloan's Lake. We hit up Joyride for beers. They had the best food truck ever, I got a delicious burger and truffle sweet potato fries. Yum, yum, yum!

Wednesday (15,179 steps) - Work was "exciting." Our firm has moved to doing "group" annual reviews. Even though I have not been here for a full year yet (one year is next month), and I just had a review in February, I got another raise! Pretty sweet! That's where the "good" things stop for the day. I was in a fender bender on the drive to pick up A at her friend's house in Thornton. Thankfully there was no damage to the other vehicle, so no police or insurance. Lucy is a bit sad, however. We still went to run club, although we were late. A didn't want to run, and I had already missed the group so I drove to the trail head and planned to run the route in reverse to meet up (which I did!). Turns out, the one time I wasn't with the group is the one time they saw B E A R S!!!

Went to Southern Sun after and had an entertaining evening listening to JT retell his Silver Rush experience.
Thursday (23,627 steps) - Surprise, barre with Gabi! (I have no idea why I signed up for a Thursday). Belmar run club, we walked with Ang.

Completely not on purpose matchy matchy with Mo!

A in her first "adult" sparkle skirt!

THEN, we drove down to Highlands Ranch to meet up with RER for a night trail run on the Chase the Moon course! To be fair, most of the run wasn't in the dark. Once the sun set it was actually very pleasant. Had a pretty great run, although we didn't get home until almost 10:30.

Friday (10,266 steps) - Nothing?
Saturday (38,509 steps) - Long run with Runners Edge. Was NOT looking forward to this one at all. It's been stupid hot and I had 16 on schedule. Lisa dropped down to my pace group again and we ran the first 8 together. I ran the back half with Alexa and Paul. It wasn't "as horrible" as I thought it would be, although I was fairly nauseous for most of the last few miles.

Stopped at Phil's shop on the way home for their anniversary party. Home to shower, met up with Lisa for our farewell lunch date. :( We hit up Tony P's for pizza slices and then over to Zuni Street for a new brewery. No dark beers, which was sad, but they had a nice patio with misters. We played giant Jenga and Scrabble before heading home so Lisa could clean :(

Back over to Berkeley in time for the beer mile. I had no desire to run and was put in charge of taking pictures. Fun night, including burros and a BBQ!

Sunday (28,722 steps) - No alarm set and I manged to sleep until 8:30. Headed out for my last double digit run. I was super pleased that it was overcast and "chilly" in the upper 60's. However, my first 5 miles were in a headwind (which is always miserable), and then somehow miles in the middle were also into the wind. Blech. 12 miles done.

Sat around at home before heading to barre with A, Maureen & Ben. Went to Denver Beer after, and got caught in a torrential rain storm. Colorado weather, you so crazy!

Monday (17,691 steps) - New Terrain run club! We hadn't been in a few weeks and it was a pretty pathetic showing. We started with the group and then at the top of Lithic we saw Paula, John & Mara, so we stopped to wait for them. I actually had a pretty great run! Stuck around for a drink before heading home.

Stats:

• 150,943 steps
• 43.8 miles run
• 3 barre classes & walking

Chase the Moon 12 Hour Endurance Run (Race Recap)

Highlands Ranch, CO
Friday, July 7 - Saturday, July 8
Ultra Marathon #24
Weather - Perfect!

Probably not my brightest idea ever to sign up for a 12 hour run the same week we got back from a two week overseas vacation. But since I've never been accused of making wise decisions, this should not surprise anyone.

The Chase the Moon 12 hour race is one of my favorite summer events. Running in the summer is the most miserable ever, but since this race is at night, it is actually bearable. Plus, I actually get a "LONG" run in.

Sadly, I again had to work all day before the race. I still wasn't sleeping well (I'll blame jet lag), so I was ridiculously sleep deprived even going into the race. I also shouldn't have taken a tough barre class as my legs felt like lead before I even started.

I picked up A and we started the drive to Mountain Vista High School. I expected the traffic, so I was not surprised that it took over an hour. We still arrived just after 6, which gave us plenty of time to set up the tent (ok, A sent up the tent, I was not involved) and pick up my bib. By the time I got my ankle taped (still bothering me a bit after rolling it at Dirty 30) and loaded up my pack, it was time for the pre-race announcements. Pretty much the same old, same old, so I had time to use the bathroom before heading out.

Race started right on time at 7:00, and I ran the first 4 minutes or so with Jandy. The race starts with a decent climb and I know better than to even pretend to run up that with a 11 hours and 56 minutes remaining. I would spend the next few miles yo-yo'ing with a handful of runners, never really maintaining a steady pace. I have a pretty decent handle on running ultras now, and I typically walk most of the uphills and run the flats and downhills. By the time I arrived at Outlaw (the only aid station on the 10.3 mile loop), I told Lisa and Pete (who were volunteering), that I was already so tired that I felt like I had already run 30 miles, not just 4. Ugh. I usually loosen up after a few miles, but I never felt good during this race.

I didn't need my headlamp until the very end of the loop, but since it was paved, I figured I would wait to mess with it until I had gone through the start when I would be walking the uphill. I ran into Jandy, who was walking with A. A would join me for about a mile of run / walking, until the course split off.

Free race pic from Twain Wilkins

My second loop was pretty uneventful and it felt WAY better than the first loop, although again, never actually "good." I had to fill up my pack at Outlaw, which is crazy. Only 16ish miles into the race and I was already almost out of fluids.

Third loop was also pretty uneventful. Saw lots of creepy birds with red eyes. One woman told me (as I passed her) that my pace was "amazing." Never heard that.... ever. That's about it. As I was coming onto the road for the downhill into the start/finish I finally saw Jandy! We agreed that we would run together for the next loop. She is such an amazing person to run with during ultras (the same gal that I ran with ALL of our Palmer Lake 24 hour race).

Photo: Twain Wilkins (Ignore my crazy eyes)

We were in and out of the aid station quickly and I told her that my main goal was to beat my time from previous years. We were both struggling and not running much of anything. A few miles in and we actually saw a skunk on the course! The last 4 miles back to the start/finish were miserable, but I had remembered that from previous years.

Sunrise with a mile to go!

We both decided that even though we had time, we were not going to do a small loop for more miles. I ran over 35 minutes faster than I ever had, for a huge course PR.

Of course, as my friend Dave went out for a little loop, I immediately had regrets that I had opted to NOT run more. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Ah well.

Team at the finish! (left to right: Mike, Ben, A, David, Jandy, Me, Syd, Sue)

Official time - 10:47:17
Loop 1 - 2:17:05
Loop 2 - 2:38:39
Loop 3 - 2:47:03
Loop 4 - 3:04:30
Overall place - 28/77
Gender place - 8/29
Division place - 5/12 (speedy folks in my age group!)
Garmin time - 10:47:18
Miles 1-5: 11:41, 12:46, 13:09, 14:23, 14:33
Miles 6-10: 13:00, 15:16, 13:17, 13:34, 12:40
Miles 11-15: 16:10, 15:10, 14:52, 13:51, 13:52
Miles 16-20: 13:16, 18:33, 16:45, 16:39, 16:29
Miles 21-25: 18:17, 13:23, 15:52, 15:19, 19:25
Miles 26-30: 16:11, 16:03, 16:00, 15:20, 15:48
Miles 31-35: 17:24, 17:51, 17:07, 17:35, 17:54
Miles 36-41: 17:50, 19:38, 18:24, 18:52, 17:45, 15:52

Thoughts:

• Pretty sure the course was a bit different from last year. There was only orange flagging on the big loop, which helped alleviate confusion. I believe the small blue loop was the same? Not really sure.
• I didn't have any issues with the distance between the aid stations, which were well stocked with typical aid station food. My favorite of the day was salted watermelon, pickles, and of course Mountain Dew.
• Race shirt is burgundy and glows in the dark!
• Medal is nice, no mileage designation this year, which is fine.
• Finish line had Flippin' Flapjacks pancakes again, which is a delicious way to end the race. I started thinking about pancakes with about an hour to go, and I'm sure that helped me to run faster, haha.
• Super fun event, I really like that it is always run the weekend of the full moon. Will run this one again for sure.

"Week" in Review (July 5 - July 10)

Wednesday (16,231 steps) - I had slept like the dead the night before, I guess two days with no sleep will do that! Going back to work was a bit of a shock to the system. Denver run club! It was 101 degrees out... A and I suffered through three miles.

We both "test drove" the new Cliftons - I didn't really love them... too much arch support (especially since the shoe is supposedly neutral? Cashed in my free pair of New Balance trail shoes that I had won at the Trail Sisters event - going to give the new Hierro style a try. Should be a good "in between" shoe (from the 1210 to the Vazee Summit). Had to stop at the grocery store on our way home since we have NO FOOD. By the time we did laundry (you know what's worse than the stink of race clothes? Race clothes that have been in a Ziploc bag for nearly two weeks) and made dinner, it was already time for bed.
Thursday (17,884 steps) - Barre with Gabi! Hooray for her finally being back! Between her taking time off for her wedding and honeymoon and me being on vacation, it  had probably been a month since I last took her class. About halfway through I really regretted taking this class, since I have a big race coming up. Amazing how hard barre can be just taking a few weeks off. Bah! Belmar "run" club. We were late (stupid traffic!!) and we only walked (taper, you know?)

Andy made patriotic jell-o shots!

Photobombed!

Went to Rocko's after for Dulce's fundraiser (and also, who can say no to nachos?)

Friday (53,682 steps) - Chase the Moon right after work - recap coming.
Saturday (51,734 steps) - Finishing up Chase the Moon.

As I've gotten older, I now can't even make a drive home from these events without napping. This time, it was in the King Soopers parking lot. Home to shower and have lunch, then napping. I think we were in bed before 8:00. Party animals!
Sunday (18,778 steps) - Drove down to Lakewood for the RMRR July trophy series event at Stone House. Thankfully, it was only 2 miles, as I was still SO SORE from Chase the Moon. I was impressed I managed a 12:10 pace, and A had an AWESOME day, getting 2nd place overall (and clicking her fastest mile - 8:15!).

We had ice cream and chatted a bit with teammates before a long overdue trip to Target and then a trip later in the day to Home Depot to buy an air filter and curtains for the living room. The cats have slowly been destroying the blinds in the living room, and now that they broke off SIX blinds, it was time to replace.

We have an odd size window, so faux wood was out of the question without a custom order. Finally hung up all my medals from the last 6 months that have been piling up on my night stand.
Monday (11,202 steps) - A went to Ang's for the day. Stopped at Sprouts to buy burgers (that were on sale!). The end.

Stats:

• 169,511 steps
• 45.9 miles run
• 1 barre class

Week in Review (July 19 - July 25)

Tuesday (16,927 steps)  - A is home!!!! Her first night back was us going to Home Depot to order the new (cheap) door since the HOA will not budge. Hate them. Picked up some dessert and then did laundry. Boy, we sure are exciting!

Wednesday (18,432 steps) - Went to a barre class during lunch. I hadn't taken Laura's class in a while, and she is still my favorite for sure! After work I picked up A and we went to run club, which was Superhero themed.

I'm Robin and A is Batman (get it??)

Maureen, A and I walked around the dirt track (well, I tried jogging a bit, but that didn't last long). Spent some time at the store, then went to dinner with Maureen and Heather at Noodles to catch up.
Thursday (19,149 steps) - Went over to Belmar for run club. It was a pretty large showing! Still not running, but we had a great time walking around the park. For the first time, I really noticed all the people playing Pokemon... I know that the pro-argument for the game is "people are getting outside" and "spending time together." However, everyone I saw looked like a zombie staring at their phones. I did NOT hear people talking. Weird.

Went to Rocko's after for a beer and nachos. We left earlier than everyone else because we can't be party animals EVERY night.
Friday (52,502 steps) - Chase the Moon.

Saturday (57,921 steps) - Chase the Moon continued... after we broke camp, we went to Snooze for breakfast. The wait was about an hour (!!!) and the food was delicious.

At 10:30 we headed over to Tivoli to meet up with Maureen for the last of the beer runs. I didn't even want to WALK this one as it was already a million degrees and I was super tired from the race anyway.

I look like the walking dead. This is what it looks like to be up for like 32 hours.

We had a few beers, and then A and I headed home around 12:30 to shower and nap. Up at 5:00 to get ready for... The Amazing Acro-Cats!!! We met up with Chris and Maureen for this super-bizarre event at the Bug Theater in the art district. A woman has basically (attempted) to train domestic cats. Most of them, unsurprisingly, had no interest in doing what was asked of them. The best part was the band, "The Rock Cats." Dead from the cuteness.

Sunday (17,481 steps) - Tried to sleep in. Kind of failed. Helped A finish packing for camp, then went to breakfast at Sweet Tomatoes. Ate less than usual. Rested on the couch and then headed down to Sky High Ranch for camp drop-off at noon. It took two hours to get there, most of the driving being on two-lane road.

The whole process took about an hour, between all the stops we had to make to fill out more forms, etc. Rose and Kevin invited me to get lunch/early dinner with them at Rudy's. It was fantastic, I hadn't been there in years. By the time I got home it was after 7:00!! Who knew something as simple as dropping A off at camp would take all day??
Monday (18,670 steps) - 7:15 barre class before work. Pretty much all I did all day. Walked to the library after dinner. Saw lots of people playing Pokemon, oh, and this beautiful sunset.

Stats:

• 201,082 steps
• 41.2 miles run (yep, just the race!)
• No cross training, other than lots of walking
• 2 barre classes

Everything Else:

• I hate my HOA. The end.