Week in Review (May 2 - May 8)

Tuesday (25,834 steps) - Finally back to speed work! We arrived at Wash Park just before 5:30. It was a fairly warm morning and I only kept my thin jacket on for the warm up jog.

15 minute warm up - @ 11:06 pace

4 x .04 strides @ 6:57, 6:10, 6:28, 6:06

1 x 1600m @ 9:27 (this was HARD)

800m - 5:14 (10:20 pace)

800m - 5:10 (10:05 pace)

800m - 4:55 (9:42 pace)

800m - 4:50 (9:31 pace)

800m - 4:46 (9:29 pace)

800m - 4:29 (8:55 pace)

.35 mile cool down jog back to the car

It's very humbling knowing that 6 years ago I could run a half marathon at these paces and now I struggle through these repeats. However, I did run all the 800's with negative splits, I think that is a pretty big accomplishment!

Barre class with Laura during lunch (might be my last barre class with her for a while) and after work/school A had gymnastics.

Wednesday (21,321 steps) - Denver run club. We actually did the scheduled Cook Park route and Mo beat her mileage from last week to have her longest training run in over 9 months! Even though the day started out with freezing temperatures and snow, the weather was perfect by the time we were out on our run.

These crochet flowers are pretty cool! Apparently they move on the trail regularly.

Thursday (15,549 steps) - Barre with Gabi. Belmar run club - Cinco de Mayo edition! A and I ran/walked the big loop with Mo and then stuck around for jell-o shots and a pinata.

A was having a friend spend the night so we had to head out early to pick up pizza and get home in time to clean up. We also had Batman Sour's third birthday party!

Friday (15,611 steps) - Nothing. A and I went for a walk to the lake after work since the weather was so nice.

Saturday (36,019 steps) - Runners Edge! I had 12 miles on schedule and it was pretty rough. How did I ever run extreme distances? It was also really hot... A ran 4 miles (last 2 with David).

We had just enough time to get some food at Einsteins, pack up our aid station and get to her school for her 11 am soccer game... WHICH THEY WON!

Afternoon spent picking up some groceries and new clothes for A, who is outgrowing everything and sewing the rest of the patches on her Girl Scout vest.

Sunday (21,108 steps) - Rocky Mountain Road Runner 5 miler at Stapleton. The gps sent us to a weird warehouse district 10 minutes away, but luckily I had planned on arriving early. Enough time to get our bibs and use the bathroom. We somehow got dropped off the trophy series list so A and I both started at gun time. I was only able to keep up with her for about 5 minutes before she ran off. Legs were super tired and I had to spend a decent amount of time walking in miles 2 and 3. Felt a bit better by the end and miraculously came in under 11 minute pace.

A official time - 52:36

My official time - 54:02
Garmin time - 54:01
Garmin distance - 5.02
Garmin pace - 10:46
Mile 1 - 10:27
Mile 2 - 11:27
Mile 3 - 11:00
Mile 4 - 10:43
Mile 5 - 10:14

In the afternoon we drove back down south for A's Bronze Award ceremony for Girl Scouts. A pretty big deal!

These three have been in the same troop since they were five!

I unfortunately was not able to get any good pictures during the actual ceremony since we were in the back and the zoom on my phone isn't the best.

Evening spent cleaning and rearranging the living room.
Monday (14,146 steps) - Barre. Went to lunch at The Palm to celebrate a new career. Then, A's soccer practice was cancelled because of lightning. On my way to pick her up I got caught in one of the nastiest hail storms Denver has seen - and it severely damaged my car. Can't wait to start the process of getting THAT fixed.

Stats:

• 149,588 steps
• 31.6 miles run
• 3 barre classes and a walk with A

Everything Else:

• I put in my official notice at my job. Well, I had put it in the week before, but this was "for real for real." Bittersweet as I really like my attorneys, but with so many of them leaving the firm I got increasingly concerned about job security. Onward!

Week in Review (March 14 - March 20)

Tuesday (25,623 steps) - A had student council so that meant no speed work. I had 7 miles on schedule and planned on running before work. I could NOT sleep (or stay asleep), so when I looked at the clock and it was 4:30 I figured I might as well just get it out of the way. STUPID DAYLIGHT SAVINGS. It was dark when I started and dark when I finished. It was not the greatest run, but I've certainly had worse.

About all you can see at dark thirty

Barre during lunch with Laura. Pi day!! We had three types to choose from (chocolate cream, apple and cherry), but I decided to have a small slice of every kind. Why discriminate? A had gymnastics, and then back bend practice and dinner.

Wednesday (21,448 steps) - Run club! I had 5 miles on schedule and planned on running with Colfax. I suggested that A run with me tonight (since she usually walks with Mo on Thursdays). There was actually route (that I haven't run before) that would get all the miles in. Having a heat wave here in Denver and it was probably 70 when we started out.

It's been a long time since it was that warm, and I forget that A is totally miserable when it's warm and she doesn't have water. The first 2 miles were fine, then it was just a long miserable slog until we were done. (Not just A, Colfax didn't seem into it either). Didn't care much for the route, lots of busy roads to cross, plus we had to cross I-25 ramps in a few sections. But, we got it done.
Thursday (21,436 steps) - Morning barre. Instructor was "late" getting to the studio, started class late, and I had to leave before it was done. Every minute counts people!!

Super pretty sunrise as I was leaving class

Picked A up at soccer and then went to Belmar for run club. I started my run early again so I could be done in time for the raffle at the store. I didn't *quite* get it right, but I managed to get to the other park for more miles without having to cross busy streets. It was a hot, hot run.

Friday (11,042 steps) - Rest day! Busy day with other stuff (that I don't want to post publicly about), so I ended up having to work late to get everything done and have all my hours in. By the time I got home I was starving and not in the mood to cook, so we went to Old Chicago's to use our BOGO coupon. I got a giant calzone and A got a little pizza. A had a major allergy attack during dinner so we had to go to the store to buy some meds. In bed early.

Super tasty calzone!!

Saturday (32,800 steps) - Alarm went off without sound AGAIN!!??? We overslept by an HOUR for our run. Luckily, we had everything ready the night before so we were literally able to get out the door in 5 minutes. We arrived 17 minutes late. Super frustrating because it was supposed to 1). be stupid hot and we wanted to get done early and 2). we had somewhere to be early.

A had decided that she desperately wanted to run 13.1 miles. Yes, she wanted to do a long run of a half marathon distance. Her previous training run longest was ten miles, and she had skipped the run the week before. Looking at the course, she picked a good one to run long because there weren't many streets to cross and it wasn't very hilly. Based on our longer runs, I had estimated that it would take us around 3 hours.

The early miles were really good! We finally caught up to Pete and Janet about 3 miles in. A few miles later, around mile 5, we both needed to use the bathroom, so we went off course about a tenth of a mile to go to 7-11.

View at mile 3

Got a picture of A at the turnaround in the park, knowing that the way back was going to be harder for her.

She did really great until we got to maybe mile 9 or 10. She struggles with the heat more than I do and was having a hard time keeping cool.

As we got closer to being done she really perked up. Fastest pace of the day was the last half mile to the finish.

Not bad for a "practice" half marathon!

Ran into Starbucks for a coffee refill and a hot chocolate for A, and then drove over to the Armory so we could help package up the donated cookies that we were sending overseas to the troops. Numbers were down a bit, but our girls still sold about 1200 boxes to donate. Impressive!!

Boxing everything up took less time than we had planned so we were able to go home to shower before we needed to meet up with Jackie for lunch. We ended up chatting for almost FIVE HOURS!! Home for only a few hours before we went over to Jessa's for pizza and beers for her birthday! Out until almost midnight! Such a busy day.
Sunday (34,766 steps) - I snoozed a few times but still managed to get up and out the door to start a run before 7:30 at North Table. I had thought about maybe going to run Deer Creek with Runners Edge, but decided that a 7:00 start and driving all the way to Littleton was too much since I had to be home early. I didn't feel great for the first half of the run and thought to myself that it was probably the slowest I had ever run the loop. I saw Oza near the parking lot on the west side, and the last 4 miles actually went pretty well. I was really surprised when I looked at my stats later and saw a lot of segment PR's on strava.

Stopped at Sprouts for some groceries, got gas and a car wash and then barely had time to shower and eat a sandwich before we had to leave to drive to Bailey.

Tomahawk Ranch, one of the Girl Scout camps that A goes to, was having a "Centennial Campfire." I was actually surprised that she even wanted to go, since the premise of the event was to tour the facility - which obviously she has done because she has camped there at least three times. Apparently the allure of s'mores was enough to entice her. We got there in time for food, the ribbon cutting for the new arena, and a craft. A also took me on a walking tour of all the cabins she has stayed in, and we got to visit with some of the animals. I got selfies with most of them, A is apparently scared of goats though (this was news to me).

We left around 2:30 and headed to barre. After class we stopped to get some ice cream - have I mentioned that it was in the 80's this weekend?? (For reference, it was in the 20's and 30's on these dates last year).

Monday (14,267 steps) - Morning barre with Karen. I liked her class - it was tough! I may be feeling this for another day. Kind of a stressful day at work with the first of the reassignments now that another paralegal/LAA is leaving. Womp, womp. Met A and her Girl Scout troop at Mint & Serif - I tried a new coffee - caputo! (Am I the only person on earth that is perfectly fine drinking plain, black coffee?) By the time we got out of there it was almost 7 so we did a quick trip to the store, dinner, bed.

Stats:

• 161, 382 steps
• 40.3 miles run (SOLID week - no racing!)
• 4 barre classes

Week in Review (September 20 - September 26)

Tuesday (16,223 steps) - Managed to drag myself out of bed for a few miles. And boy, was I glad I did. It was an absolutely incredibly sunrise this morning. I took way more pictures than I expected, which was a nice way to break up a run. (No filters used on ANY of the following pictures).

Barre Fuzed during lunch. It was an interesting class because Amy, Jen and Amanda were all there - wondering if they just wanted to see what the class was like, or if they are wanted to get certified in that as well.

After work, picked up A from soccer, went to the library to read/study, then A had gymnastics. LONG DAY for both of us. Dinner, homework, showers and some TV. And a "birthday party" for Robin. Happy one year of living with us, you lucky cat!

Wednesday (21,077 steps) - Slept in. Both of us were exhausted. A had to take another shower because it's picture day! After work/school, we rushed over to Bear Creek for the third Lakewood Trail Series event! I opted for the shorter distance (4.5 miles), because the longer was 7, and that seemed like a lot of miles with a weekend of back to back half marathons (and the fact that the sun is setting earlier and it was a school night).

I started in the back, and pretty much ended in the back. We started at Mountain View this time instead of Pelican Point, and for the most part, it was on single track and not as hilly (well, mainly because we didn't go up Mt. Carbon), so I ran a bit faster. Mile 2 was a struggled with tight calves and dead legs.

I finished in 54:56, about mid pack (7/12 female). Hurrah! . I apparently won a raffle prize (a $10 gift certificate to a local nursery), and we left right after the race because we needed to stop at the store and A still had homework. Fun night!
Thursday (15,661 steps) - Up early for a 6 am barre class with Meredith! I *almost* cancelled in favor of going to one of the evening ones (they were doing post-barre pumpkin beers and mini facials for the first day of fall), but I didn't. Work was super busy and I barely got out in time to pick A up from soccer. We both decided we were too tired to go to run club, so we went home for homework, laundry, dinner and a relaxing evening of TV.
Friday (14,084 steps) - Oh, glorious rest day! Slammed at work again with trial preparation. I wasn't able to take a lunch, but that just meant leaving early so I could pick up our packets for Bear Chase! Headed over to A's scouting event. Had some food (fried chicken and bread?) and helped out with some of the games the girls had set up. Oh, and got to meet some firemen

Saturday (35,765 steps) - Snow Mountain Ranch Trail half marathon.

A slept almost the entire way home (lucky). We had about an hour and a half before we needed to leave to volunteer. Showered, watched an episode of Fear the Walking Dead, and made/ate grilled cheese sandwiches. Arrived at Cattail Creek aid station at 3:40. We would be working the late shift with Pete. It was kind of overcast and INCREDIBLY windy.

One of the first people that I saw come in was the guy who had asked me out last fall and then blew me off. That was awkward. There were not a ton of people on the course, and it was cold and windy when the sun set. The last runner came through before 8 pm.

Cleaned up the aid station and then headed to the finish for some food and beer, and to watch the last people finish. Super happy to see friend/teammate Kate finish her first 100k!
Sunday (35,610 steps) - Bear Chase Trail half marathon (and 10k for A).

We spent some time at the finish doing jello shots with Jen for her birthday, drinking beer and chatting with people. We were some of the last people there (not really a surprise to anyone). A invited Heather to go to lunch with us, so we went to the Morrison Inn and got some super nachos and watched the first half of the Broncos game. We texted Maureen to see if she was up for visitors, and headed over during half time. Spent the afternoon drinking "mimosas" and watching football. I took Colfax out for a few short walks, since Maureen is still pretty limited in mobility. Fun afternoon!

A testing out Mo's walker

Stopped at Target on the way home to pick up some groceries, and then showered when I got home. Crashed on the couch for a few hours, watched some Snapped and the season premiere of Quantico, and in bed at 10.  LONG (yet the shortest ever) WEEKEND.
Monday (10,333 steps) - It was really hard to drag myself out of bed. Drank way too much over the course of the weekend and I really felt like shit. My body was pretty sore as well. Getting harder and harder to run back-to-back events.

Stats:

• 148,753 steps
• 32.5 miles run
• 2 barre classes
• Current weight - 125.2. Not unexpected. It seems that at least once a month I completely lose control over myself. Ate nothing but aid station food on Saturday night, and then Sunday was drinking and going out to eat. Monday a buffet. Need I say more?

Everything Else:

• Hmm. Nothing I guess. Going through one of those phases where I'm "ok" and yet sorta depressed at the same time. I guess it is just the cold weather?