Week in Review (May 28 - June 3)

Tuesday (10,367 steps) - Was awakened around 3:30 in the morning by a massive storm (think lightning, thunder, hail, etc). Not able to get back to sleep, so the day started poorly.

Managed to go to the gym at lunch for a strength class. Skipped my run, but did go for a walk with a to the lake.

Went to bed at 8. Womp.
Wednesday (21,039 steps) - Core class during lunch. Runners Roost Boulder!

Opted to run the cow path again thanks to all the rain. Hard first miles (exploding calves and numb feet), but better towards the end.

Picked up Domino's on the way home because we still have no groceries.
Thursday (25,531 steps) - Michael picked up A again for run club. I did NOT go to Belmar, however. Instead, I was so excited to have a non-rainy day that I went to Green Mountain to do some hill repeats.

Just as tough as I remember. I was able to get three sets in, saw Jane on my last descent, then met everyone at Crazy Mountain for a beer. Starving, so we picked up some stuff from the Whole Foods salad bar.

Friday (17,140 steps) - Core class during lunch. Michael was going to bring A directly to the Alamo, so I headed to Joyride for a quick beer before we all met up for a run around Sloans Lake.

A bunch of us had plans to see Rocketman! Unfortunately, a computer glitch lost about half of our group's tickets, so that made everything a tad less fun. Loved the movie, though! Got our aid station ready and in bed way too late.
Saturday (43,830 steps) - Runners Edge! The pin for our aid station wasn't in the right spot, so by the time we set up we were running late. Barely got to the start before everyone was heading out. I felt like crap. The whole run was one big sufferfest. A ran with us for the first seven miles. Tyler was the only other one running long, and we did 18 miles total. Blech.

We did decide to get breakfast/beers after, so we went to Brews on Broadway. Delicious beer and random emapanadas & pizza.

Showered and spent the afternoon cleaning. Ben came down again and we met up at Kokopelli for more pizza. Yum!
Sunday (9,729 steps) - SLEPT IN. Well, until about 8. We made breakfast (cinnamon french toast, pancakes and eggs). Took Pika on a walk to the lake.

A had a Scout meeting in Broomfield, so Ben and I decided to check out the new brewery on the road to Boulder. Patio was really nice, and we both got brats from the food truck.

Then the storm came in and we had to move inside. Picked up some groceries on the way home, watched a movie.
Monday (19,862 steps) - Bah, Monday. Met Ben and A at New Terrain. Ben was running a big loop and A and I ran with Pika. A decided she wanted to go the steep way down instead of running the full loop. Pika was very concerned and it took a bit to get her moving again.

She is doing a lot better on the leash though. Beer and more pizza. (I think we had pizza five days this week).

Stats:

• 147,497 steps
• 40.5 miles run
• Three gym classes

Week in Review (March 19 - March 25)

Tuesday (20,021 steps) - Strength class during lunch. I have a shadow! Girl that was new the day before said she was going to follow me to all the stations since I look like I know what I'm doing. Flattering, and she's pretty nice. No one was planning on going to Factotum, so I decided I'd do an "easy" run at the lake. It was a pretty terrible run.

But! I got a fun surprise when I got back - Ben decided to make it "FB official" that we are dating. (We've been seeing each other since October, if anyone was wondering).

Wednesday (16,130 steps) - A had "math family dinner" and wasn't going to be able to go to run club. I had a really long/crappy day at work and ended up being there until after 5, so I headed down to Denver and ran with Mo & Colfax. No pictures, apparently. It was nice to see the people I used to run with before we started trail running in Boulder.
Thursday (13,127 steps) - Core class during lunch. Went to Belmar for the first time in ages. Had a pretty awful run with Dulce & Matilda. I don't know what's going on this week, but my legs are super fatigued.

Finally picked up a new Garmin for A! She's had her Forerunner 15 for 3 years, but the battery is barely getting her through her long runs. She will need something that lasts longer for her summer plans. Went to Crazy Mountain after and got to catch up with Lisa & Annette.
Friday (9,012 steps) - Thankfully, a rest day. Work has been chaotic with my new desk assignments and Nicole being on vacation. Glad that soon *I* will be on vacation! A and I went to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes and we both got hair cuts! My hair is super short now.
Saturday (23,329 steps) - Runners Edge! I had a lot more miles on schedule, but since we are "tapering," we opted to just do the 7 mile loop. After all my runs feeling like garbage all week, it was nice for this "easy" run to actually feel easy.

Went to breakfast with Pete, Janet, and a few others.

(plus pancakes...)

Then it was home for showering & finally packing. I swear this is the last organized I've ever been for a vacation. Watched a lot of TV until Ben showed up with Torchy's for a late dinner.
Sunday (17,119 steps) - I took A to her friend's house - they had plans to see a movie. Ben, Pika & I went for a run at the lake. Ben is much faster, so this was a little outside my comfort zone, but it ended up being fine.

Jackets didn't last long - it got warm (turns out, 48 is HOT)

We went to 4 Noses for some drinks and delicious burgers. And then, I ended up napping (for three hours?!). TV, took my aid station stuff to Jeramiah's house (he is covering for me while I'm on vacation) - A was dropped off at 9.

The cats do not super love Pika, but Robin likes Ben!

Monday (10,396 steps) - Up early to go to the gym before work - core & strength class. Left work early to pick up A and head to the airport for our spring vacation!

Stats:

• 109,134 steps
• 23.5 miles run
• 4 classes at the gym

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

Week in Review (February 21 - February 27)

WEEKLY POSTS ARE BAAAAAAACK. 

This particular post is pretty "lengthy," and I'm not sure if I will continue this style or go back to more of a "training log" style. Over the last 9 months or so I've realized how much I refer back to my old blog posts as a way to track the highs and lows of training. So.... here ya go.

Tuesday (21,337 steps) - A few months ago I mentioned to A that our Runners Edge training included weekly speed work. OF COURSE, it is the only day of the week where she has student council, so we can't go regularly. She insisted that she wanted to go and since this week was on off week for her, so we got up at 4:45 (yes, you read that right) and drove down to City Park to meet up with the group. We were surprised to see coach Joel there (although it makes sense, he is super speedy). The group wasn't very big, which was kind of nice. 

We started by doing a 15 minute jog to warm up. I barely made it thorough that part of the workout. My legs were TOAST after Moab and FYCO. We then did some plyos and and then headed over to the hill we would be doing ladder repeats. Surprisingly, the repeats were HARD, but not impossible. We started with 1 minute, then upped 30 seconds each one until we got to 3 minutes. At A's training level, we could have stopped there, but we did a second 3 minute one, you know, for fun. When I looked at my stats later, I was pleased to see that although SLOW, my second 3 minute climb was a tad faster. We hurried home, showered, I took A to school and I went to work. Took Laura's barre class during lunch. A had gymnastics and then it was home for dinner. Thankfully, I had pre-made dinner when we got back from Moab, so all I had to do was reheat. LONG DAY.

Wednesday (16,623 steps) - Special run club that was not out of the store. Instead, it was at Crazy Mountain brewery. They are the beer sponsor for the MUT team for a second year. We managed to find a parking spot across the street and chatted with people inside while we waited for the run to start.

Heather, me, Phil, A and Mo

A and I ran with Colfax and a few other "slow" folks. I was glad we had someone else navigating, I don't know that I would have read the course correctly. Mo did, in fact, get a little lost and ended up doing 4 miles instead of the scheduled 5K. We had awesome $2 happy hour beer specials, and of course shut the place down, not leaving until after 8.
Thursday (19,498 steps) - 6 am barre class with Gabi. Gabi is a new instructor and I was hoping I liked her class. Turns out, I absolutely LOVED her class.

The forecast for the day was "possibility of snow" - like 30%. Turns out that it snowed ALL DAY and the roads were a complete disaster. Luckily, getting Belmar was NOT terrible and we decided to walk with Mo instead of run. One, because I didn't really want to run; two, because it was icy; and three, because we wanted to spend some time with Mo since we were skipping going to Rocko's.

Fracking cold, windy, lightly snowing

The group AFTER the run (or walk)

Instead of going out to eat we went grocery shopping and then CLEANED for two hours. A lot of work, but I finally feel like I can function in my house again.
Friday (15,354 steps) - A had a cookie booth after school, but I wasn't sure I would be able to pick her up and get her there on time, so Rose took her. Turns out she didn't think the clothes she brought would be warm enough, so she asked me to stop at home and get her hiking pants. The booth was super slow and we shut it down 30 minutes early. As soon as we got our email from Runners Edge we got all our aid station stuff ready and loaded into the car.

Pretty amazing how much stuff will actually fit in the back of a Mini Cooper

Saturday (31,043 steps) - It was a good thing we had done everything the night before. Somehow either my alarm didn't go off or I turned it off. We got up about 10 minutes (miraculously) before we had to leave. Our run was out in Aurora, and our aid station was at the 4 mile turnaround. We set up our aid station without any problems and got to the start on time. A decided that she wanted to run ten (!!) miles. The first 5 were fine and we managed to mostly stay with the group. She struggled a bit more on the way back, but honestly, she did really well!

We stayed at Atlanta Bread for a while since we had to wait to tear down our aid station anyway. I had coffee and A had a cinnamon roll the size of her head. Picked up our aid station, went home to shower, dropped off stuff at Goodwill, stopped at Target to get cash and then picked up Lisa. We went back to Vine Street for our last stout month visit. Again, we didn't have to wait that long and the food and beer were both delicious. Dropped Lisa off, went to REI to exchange A's hiking boot that are NOT waterproof. Went to her Scout leader's house to finish up her bronze award and pick up cookies for the booth we were doing later. Thankfully, I was able to get them to allow us to set up inside because it was COLD. A had a pretty good night, selling over 60 boxes! Then we still had to go back and drop off everything. Urg. Late night.
Sunday (10,928 steps) - "Slept in" until 8. Made breakfast and then went over to the North Area Athletic Complex for the West Side Best Side Cross Country race. I was planning on volunteering and A was going to run. I was chosen to be a course marshal, which was fun. A was put on a team with three other speedy Roost ladies, and it was SO awesome watching them. A managed to run incredibly well and got a trail 5K PR (like 5 minutes at LEAST faster than when we ran last year).

The Runners Roost "Pink Ladies" - before the race

This was about 1.5 miles into the run

A very touching moment when her teammates ran her to the chute

Pink Ladies after the race!

I don't know how A ran in shorts, it was COLD

We hung out at the finish for a bit and then home for a few minutes before I had to go to the ERS ambassador meeting way up north. LOTS of food, beer, and cool new gear this year. Home by 3:30 for a short period before going up to our friend Heather's house for dinner. Stopped at Sprouts on the way home and we were in bed EARLY.
Monday (12,890 steps) - Slept like crap thanks to the Coldv2017.2. Runners Roost MUT team kickoff meeting, along with a planned group run. I probably could have gotten through it but I felt awful and A and I walked with Stacy instead. The meeting was pretty fun, got to meet a lot of new people. There are a bunch of bad ass athletes this year, just hearing about some of the "A" goals were pretty intimidating!

The team shirt is a fun neon green this year! (Looks yellow, but that's just poor lighting)

Stats:

• 127,673 steps
• 17.5 miles run
• 2 barre classes