Week in Review (December 10 - December 16)

Tuesday (10,271 steps) - Peloton ride before work, since I knew I was not going to be going to the gym at lunch. I had a work lunch with my team - dressed up for the first time in AGES.

We had two hours blocked for lunch, but the service was soooo slow, it ended up being a THREE HOUR LUNCH. Not that I really minded since I was getting paid, but come on!!

Took Olive for a walk when I got home. Also, my holiday gift from Heller (my friend/realtor) came. I am not sure why I selected something I have to keep alive, but here we go...

Wednesday (13,814 steps) - Very short walk with Olive before work. I had yet another lunch party, this time it was just for staff. It was a potluck, which I did not bring anything to. I also forgot to wear my ugly sweater, and that was super sad since they were doing prizes for the best ones.

Went up to Louisville for run club. I forgot my headlamp and Ben forgot his running clothes, so he ran in jeans. We had to use a flashlight for the trail section. I had an easy fartlek on schedule and THAT part was ok. Warm up was terrible. Larry joined us for most of the run. We met Terri at Murphy's afterwards.

Thursday (13,295 steps) - Back to five days of running, I guess. It was relatively chilly, so I wore my new rabbit Chill jacket. Run was fine, I guess.

Took Olive for a long walk. A went to visit a friend for the night, so it was just me and Ben for Torchy's Thursday.

More Yellowstone, I'm sure.

Friday (13,138 steps) - I convinced A (and Olive) to join me for Wash Park. We were treated to a GORGEOUS sunrise.

It was chilly, like usual. Stella's afterward. 4 Noses, where we met up with Terri? Pretty sure we had leftovers for dinner. Yellowstone.

Saturday (23,546 steps) - I had an adventure day on schedule. We had plans to meet Terri in Boulder at 9:30. Ben was messing around with truck stuff, so I left him at home and met her there. No real plan of what to do, but I was interested in where she does her hill repeats (always looking for new and non-technical places to do those). We did three repeats - it was a pretty day!

We went to Murphy's for a beer and a snack.

Headed home to shower, then took Olive for a walk. Did some reading, but had nothing to do until my hair dried and it was time to start getting ready for my work holiday party.

Meanwhile, Ben went to pick up our porch Goose (her name is Goosifer, Goosie for short).

I had wanted to leave by 5:15 to get to the Botanic Gardens and hopefully find a spot in parking garage. The traffic on the way down was miserable, and it took us over a half hour to find parking, which left us both in an irritated mood. The food was delicious, but the venue was really small for the number of people, so it was hard to talk with people and the food/beer lines were really long.

We headed out for "Blossoms of Light" - and thankfully it was nowhere near as cold as I feared it would be. I had never seen these, so it was neat!

We caught up to Erica, who had brought her real camera, and she got this picture of us. I'm wearing multiple coats, if you can't tell...

It was getting late, so we opted to just leave when we got done with the lights. We stopped at Larry's Christmas party on the way home. First time getting to see his house since it was rebuilt. There was a lot of food (although we weren't really hungry) and the only picture I took was of his adorable dog, Faith:

Sunday (10,882 steps) - Blah. Only thing we had to do for the day was a short run. We procrastinated, like usual. Ben got us all coffee from Dutch. We played with Olive:

By the time we finally got out for our run, it was lunch time. It was crazy windy again, and I had picked Van Bibber for our run because 1). I hadn't run there in many years, and somewhere different was sounding nice and 2). It was on our way to our next stop.

We went to Brass Armadillo with the hopes of finding some additional accessories and clothes for Goosie, but sadly, they didn't have anything. We went to Parry's for a beer and a snack - Ariel ended up joining us. Ben and I took Olive for a walk when we got home, then it was yet another Yellowstone marathon.

Monday (18,306 steps) - I had to get up early for my run, which I hate, because A had her wisdom teeth extraction appointment, and I didn't want to be out on a run while she recovered. It was really cold, with high humidity, so it felt even colder. At least it wasn't windy, I guess. Saw a zillion bunnies, a hawk and a bald eagle!

Got to Ariel's appointment, only to find out her dental insurance had been cancelled at the end of November because apparently it was only good through her 19th birthday?? We went ahead with the procedure, although we will need to fight with the insurance company, because we did call to verify coverage. SO ANNOYING. Sad Ariel:

Had to run to Target at lunch to get her prescriptions, then I picked up lunch for us at Costco. Pizza for me and a smoothie for A. We watched a horrible movie and she finally napped. After work I did a few deliveries, then home for dinner. Goosie's Christmas dress arrived, isn't she cute??

Yellowstone.

Stats:

• 103,252 steps
• 19.6 miles run
• 14.08 miles walked
• 20 minutes of cardio
• 0 minutes of strength

Summer Breeze Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Saturday, June 21
Arvada, CO
Half Marathon #109
Colorado Half #45
Weather - Humid and overcast

The Summer Breeze half marathon happened to be held on the first day of summer this year. The forecast all week long was that the high was going to be 90 degrees. Of course it wouldn't be quite that warm at 7:00 in the morning, but by the time we would be finishing, I was anticipating temperatures to be in the upper 70's. L had run the course before, in January, and warned that it was hilly, AND a double out and back. With no shade. Let's just say that I was NOT looking forward to this race and that I was running it just to check it off my list of half marathons.

The race is extremely local, less than a ten minute drive from our house. With a 7 am start (NOT EARLY ENOUGH), we didn't drop off the kids at my parents house until about 6:25. That still gave us enough time to cycle through the bathroom lines twice before the start. (L had picked up our packets in advance, but I still think we would have had enough time to do that in less than 30 minutes).

Like all other half marathon races put on by All-Out Multisport, there was also a 5k and a 10k, but they started after we did. The race started just a few minutes late (the RD is a chatty lady), and I started in back. It was overcast and I was hoping that it would stay that way. The first mile was "hard" but not the worst. I started to feel like my legs were cramping up and welcomed the first aid station about 1.25 miles. I thought walking through the aid station would loosen up my legs a bit, but if anything, it made it worse. My legs felt like they were on FIRE and I walked a good 3-4 minutes of the second mile and even had to stop to stretch. That's no fun. I finally started jogging and it still hurt, but not as bad.

This was going to be a long day. There was another aid station at the base of "the big hill" (up Indiana), where we would go for the turnaround. By the time we headed back down, I was feeling a bit better. It was still cloudy, but extremely humid. I was HOT. I had to stop and use the bathroom at the aid station at mile 5, and I was really dreading heading back out for the second loop.

Free race pic! Finishing up first loop

It was much more deserted as almost all the participants of the shorter distances were already done. I did not feel nearly as good the second loop and my legs/feet were numb for probably 8 miles - which is always uncomfortable and a bit annoying. I somehow managed to pass a few people on the second loop and was of course, REALLY happy to be finished.

Official Time - 2:22:57
Overall Place - 60/88
Gender Place - 30/50
Division Place - 7/15
Mile 1 - 10:15
Mile 2 - 12:56 (sooo much walking)
Mile 3 - 11:21
Mile 4 - 10:35
Mile 5 - 9:51
Mile 6 - 11:22 (bathroom)
Mile 7 -11:06
Mile 8 - 11:24
Mile 9 - 11:33
Mile 10 - 10:54
Mile 11 - 10:32
Mile 12 - 10:08
Mile 13 - 10:46
Mile 13.1ish - 8:16 pace *LOL

L won her age group, so we actually stuck around for awards. And, since you have to be present to win for the raffle, we stayed for that as well. We both managed to win an hour of "jump time" for a trampoline center - perfect prize for the kids.

Thoughts:

• I say this for every single summer race in the city. WHY WHY WHY does it not start until 7:00? I mean, is there a reason they can't start at 6:00 for the longer distances? It gets so dang hot, it would be nice to be done earlier.
• Plenty of aid stations on the course, water and electrolytes, with one aid station also giving out Clif gels (two flavors). L said they didn't offer her any, so not sure if they were out on the table or if they were being handed out.
• Very well marked course, no way you could get lost on this one.
• TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE course. The only thing I like about multiple out and back races is getting to see other people the whole time. This course was just bad, with a random run up a decently busy road. On the first loop especially, we had to run in the road as the shoulder sloped from road to dirt and wasn't especially safe to run on.
• I like the gender specific shirts that All-Out gives out. I actually wear these for cross-training. All races should have these.
• Medal for all distances (same medal, regardless of distance).
• Pretty good post-race food. They always have burritos (I get bacon and egg of course), Powerade and plenty of water. They also have some fruit and bagels, although I never get any of that.
• For this race, FREE RACE PICTURES! Boy, I can't wait to see what these look like, as the photographer was right by the aid station, lol.
• Overall, the race is fine. I will not run again because I hate the course and because this time of year is too hot to be running. But, not a bad price point at $55. I would recommend All-Out races... just maybe not THIS race.