Week in Review (September 30 - October 6)

Tuesday (14,328 steps) - Peloton ride and Olive walk before going to work in the office. I was on the fence as to whether I wanted to run or just do inside gym stuff. Ended up doing a brisk few miles on the treadmill (walking, not running) and some weights. After work went home to let Olive out before meeting Ben at Costco for a long overdue grocery trip. Dinner and Wednesday! Dressed Goosie up for Halloween, isn't she adorable??

Wednesday (17,446 steps) - Up early and walked Olive before going to work. Went for a run at lunch, doing intervals. 

Stopped at REI mid run to check out the dry bags that I might use for my next race. Spoiler: they are going to NOT work at all. I'll have to return. Ben and I took Olive for a walk. Only Murders in the Building

Thursday  (17,299 steps) - Work from home. Ariel called to let me know that her tire light is on (AGAIN) so I met her down at Big O. We ventured to get "coffee" from Ziggi's since we both had coupons and took Olive for a walk while we were waiting for her car to be done (it was just the sensor, but we didn't feel the need to spend $90 on a new one).

Did my run at interval run at lunch, it wasn't bad, but another activity where I'm ever so grateful for the bathroom at the trailhead! Took Olive for an afternoon walk and then met Ben at Torchy's for dinner.

More Murders!

Friday (16,711 steps) - Wash Park with the gang! I wasn't sure if I was going to go because I've been really tired and lethargic all week, but since I woke up before my alarm, off we went. I was glad to see everyone. Skipped Stella's so I could get to the office a bit earlier. Olive and I walked to REI at lunch to return the dry bag I had bought earlier in the week. It was hot hot hot, unseasonably warm, nearly hitting 90 degrees today!

After work we met up with Ben at 4 Noses for happy hour. I had their new NA beer and it was not the best, so we left pretty soon after that. 

Saturday (19,369 steps) - Up early to take Olive for a quick walk - although we ended up doing a bit longer than usual since the sunrise looked like it was going to be extra pretty, we headed east instead of our normal west route.

We headed over to Golden so that we could run the Homecoming (Blaster) 5k! Last year we didn't register in time and missed it, so I was much more on top of it this year. We found everything pretty easily and had plenty of time to use the bathroom before starting. We found Ariel and her friend/roommate Margaret before the start and got this picture with adorable Blaster! 

Could Blaster BE any cuter??? Wearing the race shirt and his own bib!!!

I had told Ben we should do our own thing for the run, so I had one earbud in so I could listen to music. I knew the course was going to be relatively hilly and I had a (lame) soft goal of sub 35 minutes. Well, the course starts as an uphill and I took my first walk break like a half mile in. There was some crowding on the bike path and this stupid woman was running with her two kids, holding at least on of their hands and taking up most of the trail with zero situational awareness. Second break maybe 1.5 miles in, shortly after I saw Blaster (yes, he ran the whole 5k!!) and Ben. Ariel and Margaret caught up to me and we walked together for a minute. I started to run again around 2 miles in and did pretty well until the last hill up to the finish - what a cruel finish!! Official splits 11:04/11:01/11:41/10:21 for a 34:39 finish. 

Finisher pic with Blaster!

That felt stupidly hard. Trying to give myself a break since I haven't done speed work in AGES and I have been sick for a week or longer. Anyway. Ariel and Margaret finished just a few minutes after me. We got a sno cone and a burrito to take home for later. Ariel had to head out for additional Homecoming activities, and we had to head home as well. Did some reading while Ben took a nap and then took Olive for a long walk before we headed down to Bear Creek for our volunteering shift at the Bear Chase races! Bear Chase was my first 50 miler in 2011 (!!!!) and I ran varying distances there for years up until Covid - this was my first time back since! We arrived right on time at 1:00. The weather seemed to already be rolling in and it was cloudy and windy when we arrived. Stella was volunteering, as was Jim. Well, it was quite an adventure out there. The wind only got worse as time went on. We ended up having to tape everything down because full containers of food would blow off the table. We even got some rain and I wished I had brought more clothes!!

By mid afternoon the wind had gotten exponentially worse - to the point where all four of us were hanging on the canopy to keep it from blowing away. 

We were able to head out shortly after the last runner at 8:45 pm. I cannot believe how exhausting this was! Had hoped to get food on the way home and we were way too tired. Ate some leftovers and sat on the couch for a few minutes before bed. What a long day.

Sunday (22,920 steps) - Definitely exhausted when I woke up. Crazy how much volunteering takes out of me! Took Olive for a walk and then we headed up to Louisville for our long run. I didn't look until after we got back home, but it was my longest training run in MONTHS. 

Apparently the only picture I took all run

Pretty sad that I haven't run double digits outside of a race in who knows how long. Guess this means I need to get back to work on base building, as 9 miles seemed REALLY tough towards the end. I had worn long sleeves for this since it seemed chilly when we left the house. It was partially perfect, but any time the sun came out it felt really warm. On the way home we stopped at Torchy's for lunch/snack. Went home and took a shower, read for a bit and then went out to do some driving. By the time I got back it was raining so Olive did not get an afternoon walk. Ben had Panda delivered (YUM) and we started "No Time to Die" but between Ariel showing up for a surprise visit and the length of the movie, we weren't able to finish it. Goodbye weekend?

Monday (18,227 steps) - Work from home. I had to run to the obgyn to get my IUD replaced, fun times. Picked up a coffee from Dunkin' as a reward. Took Olive for a walk before taking her to get groomed. I went for my run on the US36 bike path. Really not bad at all! I also had to wear tights and long sleeves as it was pretty chilly. Never gonna survive winter!! After work I did a few deliveries and then took Olive for a walk before dinner. Ben ordered Domino's, which we haven't had in ages. Finished "No Time to Die."

Stats:

• 126,300 steps
• 25.95 miles run
• 16.43 miles walked
• 15 minutes of cardio
• 5 minutes of strength

Week in Review (January 30 - February 5)

Tuesday (15,873 steps) - Peloton before work. I took a short lunch break to do my strength training because I had another mandatory lunch meeting. Ugh - at least we got "free" food. I guess that's it?

Wednesday (29,278 steps) - Treadmill desk during work. Had a workout to do and since I didn't think anyone was going to run club I figured I'd just do it on Big Dry Creek. I was not optimistic for this at all since I've been tired all week. The warm up was super slow, but I got really close to my goal paces. PLUS, I saw a couple owls and coyotes AND there was a really pretty sunset!

If you can't tell, that's an owl

Also an owl - he seems really big!

Thursday (22,128 steps) - Work from home. Olive has started lying on the coffee table. I should probably not let her do that, but she just looks so adorable!

Ariel and I went to Dutch Bros. for coffee - and we have started bringing Olive with us because she really enjoys the pup cups. She has to eat them before getting back in the car though, because she is a slob.

The weather was really nice again, and I got to wear shorts and short sleeves AGAIN. It was almost "warm" when I was running in the sun, but I was conscious to not complain about it because I know we have winter coming back again.

Took Olive for a walk at lunch. The trails were "almost" free of mud. She really enjoys the longer walks at the lake, but I really hate being out there when it is muddy.

Olive continued to work with me in the afternoon. (Seriously, isn't she just so cute??)

Friday (17,731 steps) - Wash Park! We had a big group and a pretty nice sunrise (and it wasn't freezing!)

Work in the office, no recollection of anything else.

Saturday (11,294 steps) - Up early to go to Boulder for the group run. I showed up late because the group was leaving right as I got there. Luckily, I know where I'm going and headed out for the road 5k route. It was raining pretty steadily and I was wearing my "new" Rabbit rain jacket, which is sadly not waterproof either. I feel like no jackets are :(

Then it was time for a quick snack and watching the marathon Olympic Trials. The store even made fun shirts for the occasion. 

It's a bit interesting to me that I actually enjoy watching running on TV, but I do. It was pretty "exciting" to watch, and fun that the girl that won was running her first marathon! Ben and I decided to go to Southern Sun for Stout Month even though it was already snowing pretty hard. The beer wasn't new and/or great, so we headed out after just one. I was supposed to go to Amy's grandson's baby shower, but with the weather taking a turn for the worst, we decided to just head towards home. We ended up getting lunch at Salsa's. Yum.

Took Olive for a walk - she just loooooves the snow.

She does NOT enjoy having snowball leg warmers though

We ended up getting about a foot of snow by the end of the evening. Pretty crazy.

Sunday (28,106 steps) - Took Olive for a walk. The bike path had been plowed, but a lot of the sidewalks were still covered in snow, so it was a bit slow going.

Since we had skipped the long run because it was raining/snowing, we went to Clear Creek in hopes of doing 12-14 miles. While the path had been plowed, there was a decent amount of ice and standing water. It was not the most fun long run, but we saw a few coyotes!

Warm enough for shorts weather, which I like. We went to Parry's for beer and a snack before heading home for the day. Watched "Skyscraper" - which was a pretty good movie.  Bah, weekend over too soon.

Monday (19,011 steps) - Work from home. I had a "longish" run to do and figured that since the snow had stopped Saturday night that the trails would be packed down. I also thought that it wouldn't be muddy yet if I went earlier in the morning. I was pretty surprised to find that when I got to the lake area that VERY few people had been out. By the time I got further on the south side of the lake I was post holing and couldn't even run. I was NOT happy.

Warm enough for shorts, but not happy about having soaking wet feet!

I had plans to jump back on the road to run home, but the side I like to run on without all the road crossings was completely covered with snow from the plows. the other side was mostly plowed, but also icy and LOTS of very wet water crossings. NOT happy about this run. Ariel and I went to Costco to pick up some groceries and get lunch (pizza, and have you HAD the new fresh chocolate chip cookies??). Took Olive for a walk after that. Met Ben at Parry's for a beer and burgers for dinner.

Stats:

• 143,421 steps
• 32.39 miles run
• 40 minutes of cardio
• 30 minutes of strength

Week in Review (January 30 - February 5)

Tuesday (18,042 steps) - We had the week off from speed work, so we met up with some of our Belmar friends at Sloan's Lake Tap & Burger for another run club. I ran the first loop with Dulce and was feeling really good, so I ran another loop by myself, for a total of 5.5 miles. Pasta and salad were on the house (!), so we didn't even have to make dinner when we got home. Fun times!
Wednesday (15,138 steps) - We set our alarms and got up early to walk to the lake to see the Super Blue Blood Moon! Unfortunately, we didn't realize that totality would last over an hour, so we missed it, super sucky. Left the house about 20 minutes too late. We did see a nice sunrise, however.

Opted to skip our weekly run on the Boulder trails for a fun off site run with Denver Runners Roost at Crazy Mountain. I had planned to run with Alison and Dulce, but ended up doing 4 miles with Tony. Food was catered in from Cuba Cuba and we got a beer on the house. Another fun night!

Thursday (14,079 steps) - Belmar run club! I did a little loop alone before the group started, then did a big loop with Samm and Dulce, and then another little loop. I had forgotten my vest and a jacket, so I was pretty cold.

Friday (9,283 steps) - Barre with Sasha. We watched Groundhog Day since A had never seen it.
Saturday (28,346 steps) - Runners Edge! Thankfully, we didn't have an aid station. I committed to running 12 with Kristin. It wasn't terrible, but it was pretty warm and super flat routes kinda hurt. Due to aid station placement we were closer to 12.5 miles.

Breakfast at Einsteins, then off to the dealership so Lucy could get her first oil change. Almost three hours later we were finally home. Watched Office Space and then... picked up Girl Scout cookies. Already.

I decided to finish purging kitchen stuff. I pulled out FIFTY coffee mugs/glasses to donate. 50. And we will still have more than enough. How on earth do we accumulate this many? I had already donated things like sport bottles a year or so ago, so this number used to be much higher.
Sunday (13,092 steps) - Runners Roost MUT kickoff! The group was supposed to run our regular Wednesday route, but it was so cold and icy that we decided to skip the run.

We helped set up and just chatted with people in the store. Stuck around until 11 so A could sell cookies.

Beer and snacks at Southern Sun, then onto Chloe's birthday party at Skate City. I dropped off A and ran my 4 scheduled miles solo on Clear Creek.

Picked up A and then went to Ben's to watch the first half of the Super Bowl. Left after the halftime show, finished the Super Bowl at home. Long/short weekend.
Monday (13,377 steps) - Barre with Karen. Headed over to Cheluna Brewing to meet up with the brand new run club for Runners Roost Stapleton. I was kinda sorta familiar with the area, but it was really dark and I wasn't running with anyone else and missed about 2/3 of a mile of the route.

It was pretty cold and windy, so 3.2 miles was plenty. A sold cookies and I had a beer and unofficially played trivia. Late night, we didn't get home until 9.

Stats:

• 111,357 steps
• 35.3 miles run (wow!)
• 2 barre classes