Because Being Ordinary Is Boring: White Ranch

Showing posts with label White Ranch. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Week in Review (November 25 - December 1)

Tuesday (10,503 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work in the office. With it being a holiday week, there wasn't that much traffic, which was nice. Gym at lunch - VERY long StairMaster session and some strength training, plus a quick walk on the treadmill since I struggle to get steps in on indoor work days.

Must have had dinner and watched Absentia.

Wednesday (20,001 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office.

Had to do a picture because I actually dressed professionally for once

We were going to have an early release for Thanksgiving and since I had a hike/run on schedule, Olive went to work with me. Very slow day, walk at lunch.

Lower lobby of our building

We headed over to Green Mountain after work was out and did a hike up the fire road and then ran down the single track. There were a decent number of bikes, but people were pretty polite. Olive does not seem to want to run on wider/rockier trails, but she did pretty good on narrower trails.

We finished a bit later than planned, but at least it was still light out. Dropped Olive off at home and then met Ben at Torchy's for dinner since we wouldn't be going on our normal day. Absentia.

Thursday (12,105 steps) - Up early(ish) for the annual Louisville Turkey Trot. With Ben being sick, he wasn't going to be running, but still wanted to socialize and visit the beer tents. I didn't really have any goals for running - other than NOT getting stuck behind a bunch of kids and/or families and possibly running a course PR. It was chilly(ish) but I was glad that I decided last minute to NOT wear my jacket as I did start to warm up. I was a bit sad I had forgotten my gloves, but the shirt I was wearing had thumb holes so my hands didn't completely freeze. I had a pretty good first mile, but knew that the bigger, long hill was coming in mile 2. I had hoped to avoid walking, but meh, walked a minute or two total and then had a pretty strong mile 3 and finish. Faster than last year, but just a tad slower than two years ago.

I do have to remember that it hadn't even been 2 weeks since finishing Florida! Found Ben, got a NA beer and then moved off to the side.

Kara and me

Larry found us and then eventually we found Kristin and her dad. I rushed us out just before 11 since I knew we had a lot of cooking and prep to do. Unfortunately, Ariel was going to be working an afternoon shift, so we had to do Thanksgiving as a late lunch. I took Olive for a walk (mostly to stay out of the way). Food was delicious - this year we picked up "ready to go" food from Sprouts, so all we needed to do was heat things up.

Definitely less dishes and Ben said it was easier. I am sure that we watched tv after Ariel went to work, but I have no recollection of what we watched. We did go to bed early since Ben wasn't feeling well AND he still had to work on Black Friday :(

Friday (22,046 steps) - Planned to be hanging around the house at least until 10 am since someone from Schomp was supposed to be driving the loaner car to the house and bringing Blue-C back for service since there still seems to be some issues with the battery and brakes. At 10 I called them and what a surprise, the "morning got away" and no one was even on their way yet, which means I was still going to be stuck at the house for at least another hour. SO MAD. Ariel and I decided to go to Dutch to get coffee while we were waiting - that ended up being a disaster since they were doing a mystery ornament drop. Even though we were gone until nearly 11, there was no one waiting for us when we got home. Finally, around 11:15, the guy from Schomp shows up - dropping off the biggest Mini ever (seriously, it's a Countryman and seems to be as big as the Jeep I used to own). Olive and I got ready and headed out to White Ranch for the activity of the day. I had mapped out what I thought was going to be just under 7 miles, but I got the routes confused with the upper trail head.

Our hike/run ended up being 8 miles. I was glad that I had brought Olive's water bowl because the water access was dried up and we stopped twice to hydrate. Dropped Olive off at home and went to 4 Noses to meet up with Ben. We had Ninja Ramen for dinner - the best food truck!

Watched Bad Guys 2, a pretty silly movie that we both liked.

Saturday (14,827 steps) - We managed to sleep in until almost 8. That's unheard of for us, especially with the animals. We all took the loaner Mini to get Dutch (no crazy line this time), which was fun. I had a run on schedule and literally spent the entire morning putting it off. It finally seemed a bit warmer around lunch, so I sucked it up and went out. I almost thought I overdressed, but I think I layered perfectly and there were even times that I felt like I could have been wearing MORE. Overall, the run wasn't terrible. As soon as I got home I grabbed Olive and took her for a short walk. Then I took a hot shower and we went to Rails End for treat town. I was starving, so happy to see that the creole food truck we like was there. Tried the NA Stout, and it was ok. Hard to believe how much my beer tastes have changed over the years!

Back home and read for a bit. Ben went to Costco to pick up a pizza for dinner, even though neither of us was hungry after our big lunch. We watched a movie "Sovereign" - which was ok. Maybe more Absentia?

Sunday (10,744 steps) - Managed to stay in bed relatively late (for us). Tried to start the discussion early on of what our plans were going to be for the first very cold day of the year. Somehow convinced Ben to join me and Olive for a longer walk to the lake - it was very chilly! Ariel showed up at the house right before we got home and we spent some time with her before she went to work. Headed up to Rails End for indoor treat town with Olive for a bit, watching some of the football games that were on. Took Olive for a a walk when we got home and then settled in for the afternoon. Did some reading and then did my yoga video and a quick jog around the block (had to get my steps in!), Ben made dinner and we watched most of the Broncos game before switching over to Absentia.

Ariel came back after she got off work to use my laptop to work on a paper. Goodbye long weekend!

Monday (10,330 steps) - Work from home. Took Olive for a walk and decided I would move all my workouts around for the week. Instead of doing my run at lunch I rode the Peloton, used the rower and did an upper body video.

Most updated picture of the basement/workout area

In the afternoon I took Olive for another walk. After work I met Ben at Costco so we could do some much-needed grocery shopping. Cooked dinner, read my book, watched an episode of South Park and started the second season of Absentia.

Stats:

100,556 steps
20.33 miles run
10.97 miles walked
101 minutes of cardio
60 minutes of strength

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Week in Review (July 26 - August 1)

Tuesday (7,735 steps) - Core before going to work in the office. Went for a walk at lunch. Nothing else?

Wednesday (19,017 steps) - Work in the office. Headed up to Boulder after work to meet Terri and Tyler for some trail time. We've been spoiled with cooler temperatures the last few weeks and this felt HOT.

Got back to the store with enough time for a beer before heading home.

Thursday (10,480 steps) - Peloton ride before work at home. Took Pika for a walk at lunch, and had to do our "mud route" because we had some torrential rain overnight and I figured the lake trails would be a mess.

A had a night track meet! Not just "night" or "late," she wasn't going to be STARTING until 9:15. PM. ON A WEEKDAY. Ben and I headed down separate, and stopped at Dry Dock.

We arrived at the race with enough time to watch the citizen's race - saw quite a few people we knew! The light up sign was a hit, even though most of my pictures were garbage. This is actually my friend, Lisa!

We got to see A run by a few different times, although NONE of my pictures came out. I hate the delay on the iPhone for night pictures - is there a way to turn that off permanently? Anyway, even the finish line pic of her wasn't great. For someone NOT racing, I'd say hovering around 8 minute miles was pretty impressive.

The girls were psyched to get their picture on Colorado Mile Split!

Home SO late (like 10:45?!) and in bed even later. Dead.

Friday (13,503 steps) - Wash Park and coffee with the gang. Work in the office, with a walk at lunch. Met Ben at Resolute for happy hour. Nothing else?

Saturday (32,705 steps) - I had agreed to meet Jeramiah at White Ranch at 5:30. In the morning. For a run. Last run with climbing for a bit. Haven't seen J in a bit, so it was nice to catch up, and we only got "lost" a few times! We were done fairly early in the morning, thanks to the pre-sunrise start.

Home to shower, go to Costco to put gas in Lucy, then take Pika for a walk. In the afternoon Ben and I headed up to Loveland for... Blue-C!! In the grand scheme of A turning 16 (a while ago) and getting her license (recently), had been spending the last year or so looking for a car for her. With Ben having a somewhat unpredictable work schedule and my job requiring certain in-office hours, it had been a bit of a struggle getting her places. I was not able to find a reasonably priced stick shift Mini (as requested by A since that's what she learned to drive on), so back in the spring I ordered a custom Mini Cooper JCW!! Initially I was told delivery wouldn't be for 6-8 months, but as the process went on, it was WAY faster than planned - closer to 3 months. Anyway, all things considered, this was a pretty great experience (other than spending all that money of course!)

Stopped at Liquid Mechanics on the way home, Salsa's for dinner, and then the last installment of Flowers in the Attic.

Sunday (13,244 steps) - FINALLY, slept in! (Not LATE, but at least I didn't have to set an alarm). Went out later than I wanted for my 5k I had on schedule, which was just kinda meh. Not great, but not awful. Shower and then Ben and I went to 4 Noses for brunch and a brewmosa. Took Pika for a (slow) walk.

After lunch we went to Bluegrass, but unimpressed with their beers on tap so we went to Resolute. There were some random vendors there and I picked up some plants for Ariel - aren't they ADORABLE??

Monday (11,067 steps) - Work from home. Walked Pika at lunch. A's friend came over and I had to get a pic of the Mini Cooper "family."

Took A to get her sports physical and then met Ben at Luki.

Pizza for dinner. We randomly found the movie "Zathura" on Amazon Prime and watched it. Fun fact, it was one of A's favorite movies when she was around 2-3 years old. Watching it now, that seems crazy, seems like it should have been a bit scary for a toddler.

Stats:

107,751 steps
20.16 miles run
20 minutes of cardio
15 minutes of strength

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Week in Review (September 7 - September 13)

Tuesday (5,075 steps) - Work in the office. Did a 20 minute upper body video at lunch, and apparently that's all. I did get a surprise flower delivery from Ben at work, that was exciting!

Wednesday (14,498 steps) - Work in the office. Quick 10 minute arms video at lunch. After work I went to Boulder. After a few days off from running my ankle was feeling better (still swollen), but I decided to do an out and back on Bear and skip anything technical.

Stopped at Roost to pick up a pair of shoes and grab a beer before heading home.

Thursday (18,687 steps) - Up early for a run at Apex! Hiked up the climbs and then took it easy on the way down. Saw a bunch of turkeys (did you know that is called a "rafter?"), which was neat!

Worked from home and had my sports massage in the afternoon. After work Ben and I went to a new (to us) nearby brewery, Luki. It was pretty good!

Friday (18,492 steps) - Met Kristin at North Table at 5:00 am to do a small loop. I was really surprised at the number of bikes that were already out! On the weekends it's rare to see bikes before the sun is up, and we saw 4-5 groups!

Headed to Wash Park for a walk with the gang (although it was a small group this week) before working in the office. After work I drove Ariel and a friend to the Homecoming football game.

Saturday (49,007 steps) - Dumbest thing I've done in a while. Up CRAZY early to get to Green Mountain for a bunch of hill repeats since I was supposed to get a lot of vertical in for the day. I still was trying to be careful with my ankle, plus, I needed to be in Littleton before 10:00 for Ariel's cross country meet. I started just before 4:00 am (omg) and it actually wasn't that bad until the sun came up. It had been cooler in the other mornings I'd been out this week, but it was already over 70 at that hour, so I'm glad I had short sleeves. I was instructed to not do more than 18 miles, so I stopped at 17.6 and just under 5,000' of climbing. woof.

Traffic was not bad heading south, although once I got closer to the school I realized I wouldn't be able to get closer, so I turned around and found a residential street to park on. Got there right as the Sweepstakes girls were starting, Emma ended up running a 5K in 17:23 and getting 2nd! Found Ariel and sat on the curb nearby waiting for her start. Saw Amy from Roost - she was one of the bike leads. Was able to hopscotch the course a bit and find A. She looked great the first time I saw her, a tad miserable when I saw her at the finish, but she had stuck with Gracie the whole time. Not a PR this time, but still sub 24 minutes on a VERY hot morning.

Picked up Torchy's for me and the girls and took Pika for a short walk. Drove Gracie home, then Ariel's friend came over to finish getting ready for Homecoming. Took them to buy some flowers and then dropped them off at the school - at least they humored me and let me take some pictures!

Sunday (31,197 steps) - Set an alarm, but not TOO early so that I could get my run in. Went to White Ranch and planned on a 10 mile loop. They have been doing some trail work since I was last there and I made a wrong turn (or two) and there is no phone service out there so I wasn't really able to figure out where to go... I had to backtrack a bit to get the climbing that I needed. I wasn't supposed to do more than 10 and ended up with just under 12. Oops.