Week in Review (October 20 - October 26)

Tuesday (9,752 steps) - Work in the office. Headed straight to A's "not award" ceremony for cross country at the local park. Happy to report that she was one of the kids the lettered as a freshman! Go A!

The "Little Mermaid" award (whatever that means)

And for fun, a picture of Pika with a leaf on her head.

After the ceremony, I took Pika for a walk on the path while A played on the playground with her friend. Unfortunately, Pika KNEW A was nearby and almost ripped my arm off trying to get back to where she was.

Wednesday (12,459 steps) - Work from home. Batman got to go on another walk since the weather was nice! The newest fire in the area made the air super smoky (but pretty):

Thursday (8,960 steps) - Work in the office. That's it?

Friday (11,852 steps) - Work from home. Nothing else?

Saturday (22,210 steps) - Up not too early to drive to Hildebrand Ranch. Like last year, I was going to be running the Two Brands trail race. Unlike last year, I would only be running five miles instead of ten. This was also going to be my first post-Moab run!

I arrived only ten minutes before the start and barely had time to get my bib and use the bathroom before we started. Only running for an hour meant I didn't have to carry any water, which was nice. Because of COVID there were no water stations, but I knew I'd be find for five miles.

My goal was under an hour. I thought in my head that I had run just under two hours last year for ten, so it seemed like a good starting point. I didn't feel too terrible, outside of my normal struggles with breathing and tightness. I walked a decent amount in the early miles and I'm sure I irritated the ladies near me that I kept passing and then slowing down again.

The forecast was finally for warmer weather, although you wouldn't know it by how people were dressed, lol. I was wearing one of my thin Columbia shirts and had to roll up my sleeves by the time we were maybe 2 miles in.

This was the course I had fallen on last year and hurt my rib. Wondering exactly what rock I tripped over last year occupied most of my thoughts between miles 3 and 4. Thankfully, the entire last mile is alllll downhill, and I was able to run in pretty strong for finish.

With the course being a tad long, I didn't "quite" get under two hours, but I figure I was close enough:

Garmin time - 1:00:26

Garmin distance - 5.21

Garmin pace - 11:36

Elevation gain - 472'

Mile 1 - 12:14

Mile 2 - 11:44

Mile 3 - 12:27

Mile 4 - 12:17

Mile 5 - 9:59

Mile 5.2 - 8:26 (whoop whoop!)

Post-race with Jandy (who paced me a BUNCH at Moab!)

Jandy and I stuck around to watch other people finish and chat for a bit. Finally, I figured it was time to head out, so I grabbed my free burrito and Gatorade.

Ariel had made plans to go to the skate park while the weather was nice. Ben and I dropped her off and then took Pika for a walk before going to Denver Beer. 

THEN, we had to go look at two different houses - and we didn't like either of them. Super cold evening walking Pika.

Sunday (7,866 steps) - THE COLDEST DAY. (Well, the coldest day so far this winter). Mountain breakfast!

Really no recollection of the afternoon, other than we took Pika for a walk, and it was freaking cold.

Monday (12,802 steps) - Work from home.  Even colder. SO COLD WALKING PIKA. Need to find my mittens that I took with me to Moab.

Ben picked up pho for dinner and we watched "It" (Chapter 1). I am really enjoying post-Moab recovery!

Stats:

• 85,901 steps
• 5.2 miles run :)
• No cross training

Week in Review (October 15 - October 21)

Tuesday (18,093 steps) - Strength class during lunch. Milk Market! Rock n' Roll came to promote the race and brought a ton of swag, which ended up working out great for me since I had forgotten gloves, I was able to use a pair of socks as mittens.

I ran with Paula again, and this week was much better than last week's run. Dinner was mini fried chicken sandwiches and delicious mac n' cheese!

Wednesday (12,855 steps) - Core class during lunch. Sadly, no run club since A had a meeting for her Scandinavia.

A couple other random exciting things. Today's the one year anniversary of my first date with Ben. And... he is officially moving in (starting today and finishing up this weekend).

First task was swapping out bed frames - his is much nicer than mine

Pika was apparently feeling more safe in my closet - away from mean ol' Batman

Thursday (17,103 steps) - Took Pika for a run at the lake!

Changed clothes before heading to A's school for her first orchestra concert of the year.

Of course the only student blocked was A. (She says she always sits in the same place, so I'll need to make a mental note for next time).
Friday (14,606 steps) - Core during lunch. Took A and Pika for a walk.

Saturday (31,907 steps) - Took Pika for a walk to the lake.

Then we headed down to Hildebrand for the FREE Two Brands trail race! I optimistically signed up for the 10 miler and A was running 5. I actually ran better overall than I expected, and this was my first double digit run since Tahoe. Official finish time 1:59:26 (although I did nearly a half mile extra, because I didn't know we weren't supposed to come in/out of the start/finish area and we were just supposed to head back up the hill - oops. Since my goal was sub 2, this is extra impressive for me).

Weird expression, decent finish line pic!

Jandy had some time before she needed to head home, so we went to Blue Spruce. It was really great to catch up with her.

A had a sleepover at 4, so I took Pika for another walk at Lake Arbor. Ben finally got down early evening, and we picked up some groceries and a pizza for dinner.
Sunday (19,989 steps) - Up relatively early and took Pika for a walk - in the insane wind. Seriously, so awful. Really glad I didn't "need" or run or have a race. Went to Home Depot, then to 4 Noses, where we met Kristin and Doug and discussed some fun spring race plans.

A decided she was going to sleep over at Abby's again, so we ordered in pho and watched Walking Dead.
Monday (10,340 steps) - Nothing! Ben surprised us by making tacos, which were delicious.

Stats:

• 124,893 steps
• 17.6 miles run
• Three gym classes