Week in Review (October 1 - October 7)

Tuesday (11,218 steps) - Random work from home day! Did a Peloton ride in the morning before getting coffee with Ariel. 

Took Olive for a walk and did an upper body video (bodyweight, yet it definitely seemed like it was effective) and did another dumb thing for next year...

Went to 4 Noses for a beer and started trivia, but once again, we just aren't that good at it, so we left and had dinner at home and watched "Only Murders in the Building."

Wednesday (16,079 steps) - Took Olive for a walk before going to work. Drove home after work to grab Olive and headed to Louisville run club. Apparently the run was offsite at a tap & garden and we barely got there before it started. 

We didn't know where to run and started to follow a trail but Olive did not like the gravel, so we moved onto the roads. That was better until Olive almost got attacked by a loose dog!

Somehow I've managed to get Ben to watch scary movies! We watched the 2018 version of Halloween.

Thursday (11,068 steps) - Work from home. Finished my packing for the weekend. Yes, all this fits in a personal item size bag for Frontier.

Took Olive for a walk at lunch, used the rower (and finally finished the stupid movie I only watch when I'm rowing) and did a Peloton ride. I discovered that if I do a "just ride" I can actually link my Kindle directly to the screen. That was fun to discover. Went to Torchy's for dinner, like usual.

Watched another Halloween movie, "Halloween Kills." 

Friday (14,909 steps) - Walked Olive before driving to Denver to leave my car at my office and take the train to the airport. I didn't especially want to spend the money on food at the airport, so I stopped at a little shop on the way and got a breakfast sandwich. It was ok, but somehow cost $1 more than on the menu, which was irritating. Train ride was fine. I got almost all my steps in by the time I got to my gate, which was about as far away from security as possible. It's always exciting to do an outside boarding in Denver!

It was a much larger plane than I expected and initially there were three of us in the row, but the flight attendant told us that the flight was not full and people could move around if they wanted to. The guy in the middle moved, so I had plenty of room. Flight was pretty quick, and I spent the time reading my book. As expected, Cedar Rapids is NOT a large airport.

There was no line at Hertz to get my rental car. I was given a Camry(?) or maybe a Corolla, don't even remember at this point. I mapped to the hotel first and it was going to be a little over an hour to get there. With the time change and travel, I knew I would need to eat something even though I figured I was going to be eating an early dinner. I stopped at a Casey's and had a random chicken sandwich. Wasn't too exciting, but better than being hungry! Normally I can go right to my room, but when I booked the reservation it was under a credit card that expired before I arrived and although I updated my account, it did NOT update the reservation. I quickly unpacked and got my one drop bag ready. It wasn't going to be a long drive to packet pickup, but I wanted to stop at the store to get all my things for morning so I wouldn't have to do it later. Stopped at Hy-Vee and got breakfast, coffee, water, and a dessert. Then I remembered I was going to be out and about for a few hours and also bought some ice so nothing would spoil in the heat.

Arrived with minor complications to the start/finish area where I picked up my bib and swag bag. I had purposely arrived shortly before the mandatory meeting and walked over. I am not entirely sure why it was mandatory, as I feel everything that was discussed could have been sent in an email. I met up with Megan and we walked over to Maria's down the street for dinner. I wish we would have been warned about the gigantic portion sizes. I hate wasting food and I had to trash more than half of this!

Properly stuffed, we parted ways and I went back to my hotel. I really wanted to just sit and relax in the amazing air conditioning and go to bed early. I had hoped the "Halloween" marathon was still happening, but by the time I got back they were showing "Nightmare on Elm Street." I briefly talked to Ben and had a little bit of my dessert. I thought I had picked up a salted caramel brownie, but it turned out to be cake, which wasn't as appetizing for me :( Probably for the best because I was so full from dinner anyway.

I managed to get lights out just before 9 and probably fell asleep within 20 minutes.

Saturday (138,701 steps) - Hennepin 100.

Sunday (80,482 steps) - Hennepin 100.

Decided it was finally time to start the drive back to Cedar Rapids. I should have taken a nap before leaving, as I only made it maybe 10 miles down the road before I had to pull over and take a quick power nap. I was craving Dairy Queen again and stopped at the "world's biggest truck stop" off I-80 and got a blizzard there. The lot was confusing and big and I got lost inside and finding my car again (made harder by not really remembering what my car looked like).

Remembered that I still had to get my bag packed to get through the airport (or at least out of the car without having to loosely carry a bunch of stuff), so I spent some time in the high winds in the parking lot getting things sorted. Headed back out, although I had to pull over one additional time to nap before getting to Cedar Rapids. I arrived pretty early for my flight, but 1). I was tired and 2). I didn't want to be paying extra money for my rental. Not too long after arriving I got a text that my already late flight was going to be delayed at least an hour. WAH.

I sat outside security for at least an hour re-organizing my bag and charging my phone and watch before deciding I wanted to get a beer. There was only one restaurant/bar and thankfully they had a decent beer on tap. 

Initially I didn't think I was going to get something to eat, but when the bartender let me know that they were going to be closing up before our flight was scheduled to leave, I panicked and got a grilled cheese and fries.

Our flight was even later than expected, and I don't think we left until almost 10 pm. I read my book until takeoff and closed my eyes for a minute - and apparently for the 12th time in my life I actually slept on the plane, not waking up until they were announcing the descent into Denver. Ben was picking me up and even with my super slow, crippled walk, I was in the truck probably less than a half hour after landing. I still had to drive my car home from the office and discovered the way I normally go home is closed and we had to detour around. Not fun at midnight. Still hungry when I got home, so ate a piece of pizza and then finally crashed.

Monday (10,566 steps) - So tired. Work from home, thankfully. Work ended up being pretty busy, which I guess was nice. Did laundry and cleaned up a bit and took Olive for a walk at lunch.

I think she REALLY missed me...

Met Ben at Parry's after work from a celebratory dinner.

Continued our Halloween evening with "Halloween Ends." Supposedly this could be the last one. If they managed to make a sequel, I'd be pretty impressed.

Stats:

• 283,023 steps
• 103.96 miles run
• 12.41 miles walked
• 50 minutes of cardio
• 10 minutes of strength

Week in Review (November 29 - December 5)

Tuesday (6,368 steps) - Work in the office. Had an hour of cross training to do and ended up doing all of it on the Peloton. 

In the middle of my ride I asked A if she wanted to see a movie - so I bought tickets to see "The Menu." We had to leave right after I finished my ride to make it there in time. Movie was very different, and it was worth it just for the free pizza we got. Yum!

Wednesday (17,937 steps) - Work in the office. It was actually relatively warm outside, so I opted to do my 6 mile run during lunch. (Which I haven't done in AGES). The run was actually really good, and honestly, I am getting faster and more consistent with the training Greg is giving me. 

More "Dead to Me."

Thursday (12,502 steps) - Work from home! Went for a walk during lunch. Most of the day was spent finishing packing for my next dumb adventure. 

Friday (9,927 steps) - We all skipped the morning walk this morning since Pete is sick. It WAS nice not getting up so early, though. Stopped at Dunkin' for a cold brew on my way to work. Worked until about 1:30 before walking to Union Station to catch my flight to Houston. 

Thankfully, everything was on time, and I think we actually landed early. Was easy to find the shuttle to the car rental, and I swear, signing up for a loyalty with Hertz has been the biggest timesaver of my life. Literally walking up to a car and getting in is SO worth it. It was about a 40 minute drive to Sugarland, but I got there with no issues. 

Everything was chaos since the tree-lighting was the night I arrived

The girls (Crystal, Melanie and Heather) had just gotten back from getting dinner and they had leftovers, which they gave me. Wooo! It was already almost bedtime, so I got all my stuff ready for morning and we were all in bed by 10.

Saturday (157,563 steps) - Brazos Bend 100M.

Sunday (61,357 steps) - Brazos Bend 100M. 

I did NOT stick around at the finish line. I got a ride from a volunteer back to the rental and drove back to Sugarland. I took a very short nap in the car before going up to the room where I took a quick shower. We all went to brunch at 10 am. I was hungry, but not HUNGRY, but I did enjoy a Bloody Mary flight! 

After we ate we went back to the room. The girls had plans to get pedicures while I took a nap. Man, I basically blacked out, but thankfully I had set an alarm. Managed to wake up minutes before they got back. We had the room until 4, but they had to drive back to Austin. I packed and repacked and was out the door by probably 3:30. 

I had plans to get a post-race beer, but the first place I picked was in a terrifying part of town, so I didn't even get to that brewery. I found one a few miles away that was much nicer. Beer wasn't that interesting, but I wasn't worried about getting murdered. 

Nice patio!!

I stopped at Taco Cabana on my way to the airport. My flight was SO LATE - after 11 pm! Thankfully, we left on time. I dozed off a bit but I was SO restless and the woman next to me was definitely crowding me, so it wasn't the most pleasant flight. Landed a half hour early! Ben picked me up and dropped me off at my office so I wouldn't have to take the train. Got home and was in bed within minutes, although it was after 2 am. Boo!

Monday (10,338 steps) - THANKFULLY, work from home. Did laundry, unpacked during the day. Took a nap after work. Ariel and I decided to get Yak &Yeti for dessert. OH, AND I WATCHED THE LOTTERY FROM DIVIDE 200 AND I WAS ONE OF THE FIRST NAMES CALLED. Shit... I guess I'm going back to Canada in September?! Maybe?

I had a craving for Indian food, so Ariel and I ordered dinner from Yak & Yeti. We also finished "Dead to Me" - bummer there isn't another season.

Stats:

• 275,992 steps
• 107.72 miles run
• 60 minutes of cardio
• 0 minutes of strength training