Week in Review (November 15 - November 21)

Tuesday (6,760 steps) - Work in the office. Didn't even do a walk at lunch. We are having some insanely cold temperatures right now and I just didn't feel like it. Lazy. Finally fixed my front license plate bracket, not sure what was happening with that. 

Picked up my free "half Birthday" entrée from Tokyo Joe's for dinner and did the first round of painting in my bedroom. So productive. 

Wednesday (18,746 steps) - Work in the office. Excitement of the day was trying to help Nicole get tickets to Taylor Swift. Let's just say that after HOURS, we weren't ever able to get any. Seems like a scam.

Went to Boulder after work from a solo trail run. It was pretty darn snowy/icy out - need to find my spikes. At least I had my headlamp, though.

Thursday (12,479 steps) - Work from home. Did a Peloton ride and some upper body work. Also, got the new furniture delivered. Woo!!

A was going to Phoenix with her XC team and her flight kept getting delayed. We ended up leaving for the airport around 5 and it was snowy and NOT a fun drive. Her flight ended up being delayed for MANY hours, but at least they got out.

Friday (6,190 steps) - Got a lot of snow overnight, which I was expecting. I had asked Nicole if I could come in late and avoid morning rush hour. That gave me time to sell my dresser to a couple that drove down from Longmont. Wasn't expecting to have to help move it, but the woman was pregnant, so I did a little lifting. Went to get dinner with Ben after work, which was nice.

Saturday (19,157 steps) - Went to Crown Hill to meet Maureen for a run. Ended up seeing Christine in a the parking lot and she joined us. We did 5 miles, which is the longest I've run since Cowboy.

Went to get coffee and pastries at Sbux afterwards. Yum!

No idea what happened the rest of the day, but I did pick up Pho for dinner.

Sunday (10,851 steps) - Went grocery shopping (waaaaah) in the morning and ran other errands. Went for a walk at lunch. Nothing else?

Monday (6,123 steps) - Work from home. Did a Peloton ride and some core and upper body. Nothing else?

Stats:

• 80,306 steps
• 11.81 miles run
• 55 minutes of cardio
• 35 minutes of strength

Week in Review (September 6 - September 12)

Tuesday (4,780 steps) - Bonus work from home day! My main attorney is still on vacation so Nicole was fine with me being at home. Nothing exciting for the day. Took Pika for another short/slow walk and did an upper body video. Picked up Tokyo Joe's for dinner since I was home alone again and watched Netflix.

Wednesday (16,927 steps) - Up early for what Greg called the "find a hill" workout. Warm up to get to the "hill" and then some dynamic stretches. (Honestly, I could've been fine with about half that amount of time. Anyway, I had two sets of 10 hill springs (15 seconds, which was manageable) and a five minute rest between sets, with a cool down jog home. Since I had programmed the workout into my watch I didn't really know what my overall distance was until I got home. Surprised at how "little" it was, seemed like a lot of work.

It was also... still dark! I had to use my headlamp for probably the first half hour. At least it isn't technical at all where I was running. (I decided to do this workout in the morning because our highs later in the day were supposed to be close to 100!!) Even A's XC team had a 5:30 am practice!

Had to rush a bit to shower and get ready since I still had to go into the office for the day. Boo, hiss. Went for a walk at lunch. Home alone AGAIN, pretty sure I just had leftovers and watched Netflix again?

Thursday (20,967 steps) - Up early since I had 7 miles on schedule and the forecast was for a million degrees again. I managed to map out a pretty perfect route! I felt really good for most of this run, which is still a pretty rare occurrence. And the sunrise and all the billions of sunflowers didn't hurt either. 

I managed to get done with enough time to get to "work" on time, thankfully at home this time, so I didn't have to rush. "Exciting" day of working and doing laundry, and taking Pika for a walk.

Did a Pilates video after work (that I did not love). 

Friday (12,486 steps) - Wash Park! It was a chilly morning, I was glad I remembered my hoodie. Also - I got one of my favorite mugs at Stella's!

This was a delicious Horchata Latte

Work in the office and went for a walk at lunch. The end?

Saturday (32,684 steps) - Up early on a COLD morning (seriously, it was 46 degrees when I left!) to go to A's XC meet. I ended up sitting in the car after I parked for at least a half hour before I braved the cold and drizzle. (Spoiler - it wasn't actually that bad, but I did forget gloves, which was sad).

Last year, A ran JV at this race, later in the morning. This time, she was in the second group of runners. Since I had spectated this one before I knew exactly where to go to see her on course. She looked great!

I headed over near the finish and noticed that she was pretty close to Gracie. (All the pictures I got focused on Gracie, not A, unfortunately).

Maybe it was the cooler temperatures, but A had a kick at the end and managed to catch her - AND set a MASSIVE PR! (Fun fact, her and Gracie actually tied - but they placed A higher in the standings, lol).

I went back and looked at the 11 year old "PR" and it was a loop we used to call "Munchkin Mile" that she ran at a 13:13 pace - I'd say she has come a long way!!

Adorable teammates!

A decided she was going to get a ride home with her teammates, so I headed out. I had some lunch and lounged on the couch. I realized that my coach had given me a funky schedule and that I was, in fact, going to have to go for a run (it had previously been listed as optional - wah!) By the time I headed out it was almost 2. I actually wore joggers and a thin long sleeve (AND GLOVES). My outfit was actually perfect for the weather, I think I would have been cold with bare legs. I was supposed to take it easy - and I did - everywhere EXCEPT Suicide Hill. I put a goal in Strava to beat my current PR on the segment - sadly ended up one second over :( 

Nothing incredibly memorable about this run. I was trying to stay in Z1/Z2 and had to walk a bit on the outbound. Finally gave up a bit on the heart rate on the way back and ran REALLY comfortably for a bit. Shower and kind of a boring evening for me, but A went to Homecoming! Look how cute she is with her teammates :)

Sunday (32,379 steps) - Didn't set an alarm, but I was still up by 7:30. I had made plans to run with Tyler, and he picked me up so we could run at Rock Creek. I had 3.5 hours to run (blaaaaah) and intentionally chose the route with the bathroom early on. Of course that meant that it was going to be the uphill way for the back half. We ran pretty well in the beginning, and both commented that it was a good thing it was a cooler day - we would have BAKED on a warmer day.

Halfway!

I was way hotter than I should have been on the way back - I realized that I hadn't brought any electrolytes OR salt. Rookie mistake. 

Other than seeing a bunch of prairie dogs and a bald eagle, it was a pretty uneventful run. Glad that's over with! We met up with Ben at 4 Noses for post-run beers.

Rest of the night was just sitting around at home. 

Monday (5,296 steps) - Work from home, and a rest day. Wooo!! Finally was able to get Blue-C registered - but not without a huge price tag. Oof.

Took Pika for a walk at lunch. After I was off work I sat on the deck with Pika and read my book. Criminal Minds marathon, leftovers with A and in bed before 10.

Stats:

• 125,519 steps
• 36.51 miles run
• 0 minutes of cardio
• 25 minutes of strength

Week in Review (March 15 - March 21)

Tuesday (29,273 steps) - Have I mentioned the wind is back? Oh, and now that it's daylight savings it is the darkest EVER in the mornings? After taking Monday off I somehow was motivated to get up at 4 something and ran 9+ miles in the basement inferno. Finally finished re-watching Breaking Bad so that I can start on Better Call Saul. I finally downloaded the Tokyo Joe's app on my phone. I'm so tired of waiting 15+ minutes for takeout! I set the pick-up for 7:38 and hoped that it would be ready right after A's archery class.

We walked in the door at 7:38 AND IT WAS READY. Totally worth the 25 cent convenience fee. I've been given the gift of time!
Wednesday (23,268 steps) - Another treadmill run in the basement inferno. This time of year is just the worst. The wind and the darkness... Got started on Better Call Saul - fun so far! After work/soccer we went down to Runner's Roost for run club. Heather is still injured so we just did a slow and easy mile.
Thursday (25,097 steps) - So I'll just post a copy of what I posted on Instagram/Facebook for this day's run:

This morning I didn't want to run. Then I remembered what day it was. March 17. A day that changed my life forever. 2004 was one of the toughest of my life. One day I was partying with my friends and I had this realization. I was obese. A fat, borderline alcoholic, chain smoking, unhappy woman. At just 25 years old I thought... This is it. This is my life. But then I thought about it. I can be better than this! I don't want to live like this. So I started eating better. I started exercising. I lost 45 pounds. My husband and I started fighting. A lot. He saw my weight loss journey as a motive for finding someone "better." I started sleeping in the spare bedroom. One night, in December, I woke up with pain so awful that I was hunched over in pain, crying hysterically. I hobbled upstairs and asked my husband to take me to the emergency room. After a night in the ER, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. MS. There were lesions found on my vertebrae. WTF. I spent a year of my life getting healthy, for this?? The next few months were a blur. Fighting with my husband, going to the doctor, seeing neurologists and discussing treatment options. And then, on March 17, 2005, I found out I was pregnant. I opted to wait on treatment, not wanting to jeopardize the baby. So long story short (too late), why do I run? For me. For Ariel. Because I can. I know this disease will take over me someday. Today is not that day. I run to feel alive.

So have I really never posted about being diagnosed with MS? Maybe I've talked about it on my blog, but I was a tad surprised at the number of people (including people I've been friends with for decades) that didn't know... I don't talk about it a lot, and I guess that is because I don't like using it as any sort of excuse. I know that it is a lot of the reason why my body is sort of falling apart, why I am a lot slower than I used to be, and I just refuse to accept that it is going to get worse. I mean, I can hope, right?

Anyway, thanks to the snow A's soccer practice was cancelled. I picked her up and we headed over to Tigar Gymnastics to have an skill set evaluation done so that A can start taking gymnastics classes again. It's been extremely difficult to find a gym that has classes at a reasonable time so I can get her there.

We both loved the facility and she will be taking a free class in a week to make sure she likes it before we commit. We stopped and got Pho on the way home.
Friday (18,196 steps) - Rest day! Did a quick yoga video. A was late to school and I was late to work because it snowed way more than forecasted and the roads were a mess. A and I had dinner and watched some TV before I took her over to a friend's house for a sleepover. Because I lead such an exciting life, I watched the Barkley Marathons on Netflix and was in bed by 10:30.
Saturday (38,661 steps) - "Long" run, 14 miles, with Runners Edge. I did NOT know it was supposed to snow so much overnight. The highway was a disaster. With Heather being injured I ran alone for most of the way out. It was lightly snowing, windy, and a bit icy. By the turnaround, the snow had stopped and it warmed up a bit. I ran the way back with Alison. Nice to have someone to chat with.

Drove over to Rangeview High School to meet up with A's scout troop to "help" box up the cookies that the girls were donating to the troops overseas. The district donated over 7,000 boxes, with A's troop donating 1,400 of those (I guess you could say our 5 girls are overachievers). Spent most of the rest of the day vegging.

All the boxes that are being shipped overseas. In addition to cookies, there are magazines, books of games, cards, and other items for deployed military

Sunday (14,687 steps) - A and I did a quick run around the neighborhood and then went to breakfast at Sweet Tomatoes.

With nothing on schedule today we decided to go to Boulder so I could check out Lululemon. Happy to say that I pretty much hate their clothes now. The fabric of everything I tried felt stiff and scratchy. I've always been a size 6 and in some of the styles even an 8 made me look like a stuffed sausage. On the way back to the car we headed into Lucy and I tried on a few things and loved it all. Got a cute tee, a few long sleeves and a down jacket. Excited for a warmer jacket to wear overnight during races. We headed over to the City of Westminster rec center and went swimming for a few hours, then headed home for relaxing. I also did an upper body video and a butt/thigh video. #motivated.
Monday (18,868 steps) - Winter storm coming again, so I didn't take the day off like I have the past few Mondays. I only had 6 on schedule but ended up running 7 - and it was GREAT. Like seriously the best that I have felt in AGES.

Yoga stretching after. Nothing in the evening since A is on spring break.

Stats:

• 168,050 steps
• 48.8 miles (uh. how did this happen?)
• 0 minutes of cross training
• 55 minutes of strength/stretching

Everything Else:

• So I've been selling a lot of my "classic" INKnBURN on eBay. If you are friends with me on Facebook, you saw the insane amount of cash I was able to get for my Lust jacket. A handful of items left that I'm selling. Will keep my tights, pullovers, and a handful of tops (mainly holiday tops - those are fun). If anything, I can thank INKnBURN for saving me a ton of money this year - and actually making me some back.
• We have had a few attorneys leave the firm in the last few months. Found out that the "restructuring" has begun. Sad that one of my original attorneys is being moved to another secretary. Hope we get some new people in here!