THE WEDDING!! (and...) Week in Review (September 22 - September 28)

Tuesday (21,552 steps) - Work in the office. After work I ran to Cherry Creek to pick up a few things before going to Green Mountain Brewing for run club! I ran with Mo and Colfax again and only stuck around for one beer.

Wednesday (14,271 steps) - Work from home. Apparently, I hadn't done any packing (or even writing any packing lists) outside of what I needed for the wedding.  I did, however, have time to run to REI to pick up my newest unnecessary purchase:

This is a Selk'bag...

Everything else I hadn't planned, so I spent my morning between emails and work getting everything ready. We double and triple checked all of our stuff. Ben took Ariel to her last cross country meet of the year because I couldn't get off work QUITE that early. A  had told us there were no spectators allowed, so Ben headed up to the AirBnb. Turns out, I was able to watch her from the road. She had a great run, getting a PR! She was just edged out of top 10 overall (?!?!).

As soon as she was done, we headed up to Vail. Our only stop was at the Target in Silverthorne to pick up a curbside delivery. Arrived just after dark to our amazing weekend house!

Heather and Lora came over to join us for dinner.

Thursday (13,682 steps) - Planned to sleep in, but of course that didn't happen. Ariel, Pika and I met Heather and Lora at the pavilion for a run. Upon arrival, we realized that the venue did not have the planters of flowers on the patio like we planned on! Luckily, I had a wedding planner to handle all that, so we went for our run. I had mapped out a 3.5 mile run around town. On the way out we actually saw Ben driving into town, so that was fun. It was pretty running through the neighborhoods, and ... WE SAW BEARS. Real.Live.Bears.

We went into town to eat lunch, with Ben meeting us there after he was done with his errands. THEN, we had to go to the florist to BUY flowers because the venue told us they "lost the flowers in the freeze a few weeks ago." You mean... the freeze everyone in the entire country knew about a week beforehand? Ugh.... At least we found someone that was able to help us. There was a nail salon next door and Ben convinced me and A we should get our nails done.

It's probably been 15 years since I have gotten my nails done (and these are A's!)

No recollection of the rest of the evening, although I'm sure we ate something at some point. I do know I stayed up way too late waiting for Lisa and the rest of the Texas clan, but they were really delayed and I finally went to bed just before 11:30.

Friday (5,773 steps) - The big day!! I was of course up before my alarm went off. Had some coffee and chatted with everyone before Ariel and I had to head out for our errands. First up was stopping to get our hair done. MK did an AMAZING JOB!!!!

Ariel

Me!

We had just enough time to scarf down a breakfast burrito from Yeti Grind before heading over to get our makeup done. I couldn't believe how great she made both of us look. Before we knew it, it was almost time to go back to the BnB to meet with the photographer! We walked around Walmart for a few minutes to give Ben time to get out. After a photo shoot and making sure we had everything, we headed over to the venue around 3:15.

A high school friend gave this to me as a joke. I will never drink this, blech

Before I knew it, it was time to get dressed! I definitely wanted to wear heels for the wedding because I'm a midget. Ariel is a few inches taller than me, and Ben is 6'2" - so more than a foot taller! I channeled my inner "punk" from high school/college and wore some cool Dr. Marten boots:

While I was doing that, Ben was being all handsome and getting his picture taken too:

Insert heart emojis here

We did a "first look" - which was probably a good idea because Ben is pretty emotional, and I was a bit worried about him losing it during the ceremony. There was a really pretty area not more than 100 feet from the venue where we were able to get some really great shots.

Then it was time to get Pika ready!

And then a picture before heading out.... all of a sudden the time is here!!

The ceremony started right at 5:00 - and being folks that aren't super traditional, Pika walked Ben down the aisle (to the same song I would walk down with, because he didn't just want to "appear"). I LOVE THIS PICTURE:

Carrie signaled me and A to walk down the aisle (also not traditional):

Other than me facing directly into the sun, the ceremony went very well. Ben definitely got choked up and really struggled to get through his vows (but thankfully we opted to not use microphones so no one could hear him anyway). Perfect weather, perfect colors. Everything we were hoping for!!

Before we knew it... we were done! All the planning over in just a few minutes, and finally time to relax!! Rocky Mountain Taco was set up with their food truck in the parking lot and Outer Range was on hand with a few kegs of beer. We did a few pictures before the sunset - the rest are from a sneak peek our photographer sent over.

My niece Julia, Ariel, Ben, me, sister Lisa, niece Alyssa and her boyfriend Chris

One of my favorite pictures (without me, haha) is of my niece Julia and Ariel:

We were very busy throughout the evening. Ariel gave the most amazing toast/speech EVER:

Our first dance was basically a disaster since neither of us dances or has any rhythm, but we had SO MUCH FUN being terrible at it.

My absolute favorite picture!!!

Ben did NOT shove cake in my face, so that was nice

My expression in during the bouquet toss is pretty hilarious - I think I was just concentrating really hard since the first attempt ended up with the bouquet hitting the ceiling, so I had to try again. My niece, Alyssa, caught it!

I have no idea where the evening went. We had about 6 hours of time and it went by in the blink of an eye. I know there was a LOT of dancing (and I can't BELIEVE no one got the full "Thriller" on video, because that's been a goal of mine for like a decade). With that said, I recognize that having a "COVID" wedding is a little nuts, but with just under 70 guests, everything felt safe and comfortable, and we had an amazing and perfect night.

Saturday (8,982 steps) - Prior to the wedding we planned on doing all sorts of fun and outdoorsy things. Then once we got up to the mountains and realized we had the most amazing BnB ever, we basically did nothing. Heather and Lora stopped by before heading back to Denver. We picked up Rachelle and went to Vail to walk around.

Since we had beer left over from the wedding, we borrowed a tap and set up in the garage...

Also, Ben got me the cutest ring holder in the world!

Sunday (5,893 steps) - Um.... another day of nothing? Ben realized that Greg was still in town, so he invited him over to help us work on the keg. We had leftovers for lunch, went and got coconut margaritas from Agave, picked up burger fixings from the grocery store. Ben grilled for dinner and we watched Pitch Perfect. (Am I wrong in thinking this was basically a perfect relaxing day?)

Monday (12,270 steps) - We had to be up by 7 to start packing and cleaning up the house to have time to get everything done by 10 when we had to check out. We ran a few errands and then stopped at Outer Range to drop off the keg and have a beer before heading into Denver.

The drive was fine and uneventful. The evening was spent unpacking. Ben and I picked up Torchy's for dinner. What a way to end an incredible week!!

Stats:

• 82,423 steps (probably 4-5,000 more, but I didn't wear my fitbit during/after the wedding)
• miles run
• No cross training :(

Week in Review (July 28 - August 3)

Tuesday (18,933 steps) - Work in the office. No running today, just the regular walks. Big excitement was Pika spotting a coyote on our evening walk. Otherwise... nothing.

Wednesday (40,692 steps) - Work from home. Actually did THREE ten minute videos - the same "magic" three that I did years ago when I got thin. (Abs, upper body and lower body). North Table with Tyler and Mike! It was CRAZY windy on the mesa, but stifling hot everywhere else.

Action shot!

It was Colorado pint glass day at all the breweries, which is why we had picked going to North Table, we thought we would be able to get our glasses at New Terrain. However, they were already out. We went to Odyssey instead - aren't the glasses nifty? Ben met us there after work.

Thursday (19,337 steps) - Work in the office. Picked up cheesecake after work because apparently it is National Cheesecake Day!

Walk at the lake - although we only went for the "small" loop because it was getting late and I still had ALL my packing to do.

I was able to get all my packing done while Ben made dinner. Excited for a weekend out of town!

Friday (10,320 steps) - We were up relatively early (although not as early as if I had to work). Ariel and I took Pika for a walk while Ben started to load up the car. We actually got out right when we planned, at 9:00. The drive was, of course, VERY long. We stopped along the way for Pika to take a few breaks, and stopped to get tacos in Ridgeway. By the time we got to Heather's it was basically dinner time. We settled in and watched the humming birds and had some food.

This was soooo delicious!!

We took Pika for a walk on the trails behind Heather's house. So pretty!!

Finalized everything for our race, yes, a RACE.

Saturday (52,134 steps) - Bridal Veil 30K! 

After the race we sat on the patio and had a few drinks. I finally got an order of sweet potato fries. Once Ross finished we decided we should head out. Ariel had left with Heather, so it was just me, Ben and Pika left. Initially we were trying to find a bakery that had cupcakes, but the two in town that were open didn't seem to actually know what they had, and we got frustrated. Stopped at the grocery store and got some cheesecake instead. Heather made a delicious pan of nachos for dinner.

We sat on the patio and chatted for MANY hours. It's been a long time since we socialized with anyone "new."

Sunday (11,071 steps) - Our only plan of the day was a drive over Imogene Pass. We took Pika for a walk and waited for Heather to get off work so we could head out. We all loaded up into Josh's truck, which was quite an accomplishment with 5 adults and Pika. I had never been on Imogene Pass, and I was a tad surprised to learn it was basically a Jeep road. We probably never went over 10 mph, and the road was super sketchy. I also learned that Ben is almost cripplingly afraid of heights - especially if he is not the one driving. More than once he got out of the truck and walked behind because he felt more comfortable.

The views were truly amazing and we were able to see a bunch of sights that we had not seen during our run, and from across the valley.

We barely made it to the summit before the weather came in. We had about 6 minutes to take pictures, have a snack and drink a quick beer before we heard thunder and figured we needed to get off the mountain.

Sure enough, within a minute or two of getting back in the truck it started to rain, and quickly turned over into either hail or snow, we couldn't really tell.

We were still taking it super slow down the other side of the pass on the way to Ouray, and took time to get more pictures.

It is still "snowing" and I think that is why I'm squinting at the camera

We got passed by a group of ATVs, and not more than 5 minutes later, we came across an accident. The last vehicle in line had somehow rolled over. 

Both Josh and Ben have EMS and medical backgrounds and they quickly sprung into action. The vehicle had been driven by an elderly couple and they helped them out of the vehicle and did an assessment. The man was 88 years old (!!) and had hit his head and possibly fractured his arm. The couple couldn't leave their vehicle up there since it was not a rental and they didn't have a way to tow it down. Josh ended up driving it down and Ben drove the truck down. By the time we got to Ouray it was HOURS later than we planned. None of the restaurants in town would allow dogs so we had to keep going to Ridgeway. We got pizza and beer from Colorado Boy and then headed back to the house.

I took Pika for a quick walk since I knew the sun was getting ready to set. I managed to have a tree branch stab me in the foot, so there was some emergency medical work done. Ouchie. We stayed up VERY late chatting with Josh on the balcony.

Monday (13,163 steps) - Slept WAY later than planned. Guess that's what happens when you stay up until almost 2 am. Heather convinced us to go for an "easy" run (that wasn't easy). She is lucky to have such a diverse and beautiful trail literally in her backyard.

Heather made a ton of food, so  I had a delicious plate of curry and spaghetti squash before getting on the road for the VERY long drive home.

If possible, the drive home seemed twice as long as the drive there. We were all a little cranky and tired, but we managed to get home before 9. Instead of cooking, we picked up pizza. Longest shortest travel/vacation weekend ever (I know I say that after every weekend, but this seemed especially short).

Stats:

• 165,650 steps
• 29.2 miles run
• 30 minutes of cross training (!)