Week in Review (January 9 - January 15)

Tuesday (10,203 steps) - Bonus work from home day since Joyce is out of town at a conference.  Rode the Peloton before clocking in for the day. Took Olive for the mud route walk and did some strength training at lunch. The evening became eventful when we realized that Ariel's bathroom has a water leak - very similar to what happened to our main bath three years ago. Woooo.

Wednesday (20,000 steps) - Another bonus work form home day! Was supposed to do some speed work during my run, but the crazy wind prevented that, so I just did a regular trail run. Not my favorite.

After work I went to Runners Roost in Golden with Olive to meet up with Maureen (and others) for a ladies night. I figured we would just be doing a dog walk, but the wind died down and we ended up running instead. Pretty fun and I loved that they still had all the Christmas lights up downtown. 

Me and Olive, Mo and Colfax, Lisa

Thursday (19,479 steps) - Work from home. Did a run at lunch that was mostly fine. I seemed to be dressed perfect for the start, but definitely felt colder by the time I got back - glad I went early. Took Olive for a walk. The end.

Friday (19,379 steps) - Work in the office (but only for the morning). Walked a LOT on the treadmill desk while I was there. Took Olive for a walk when I got home while finishing up my lunch hour. Had hoped to beat the wind, but I didn't. Boo. Went to happy hour with Ben and we picked up 4 Noses' new NA hop water for the weekend. Got pho for dinner on the way home. Perfect weather for it. 

Saturday (23,622 steps) - The polar vortex arrived and it was WAY too cold for my scheduled 10 mile run. I convinced Ben that we could go to the rec center and run on the indoor track. I somehow forgot to hit the lap button a few times on my watch, but running 14 loops for ONE MILE is a lot. This was not the most fun run ever, especially since I didn't remember headphones. Thankfully, Ben had some in his truck and the last part of the workout we jammed to the Eras Tour setlist. Woo. It was nice not wearing a ton of layers at least.

We went to 4 Noses so Ben could get a beer, then we went to Torchy's for a late lunch. We had Ariel pick up a pizza on her way home from work and we all watched the new (prequel) Hunger Games movie, which we all liked.

Sunday (13,685 steps) - Slept in. Somehow even colder than Saturday, so we figured our run wasn't going to happen. Ben was working on Ariel's bathroom destruction and I read my book. At lunch I figured Olive was getting cabin fever, so I took her out for a walk, which she enjoyed (aside from the snowballs in her paws).

I had been warm enough that I convinced Ben we could do a modified run - and we agreed on a 5k(ish). The temps were ok - and the sun in this picture is deceiving, because it was windy and single digits. The worst part was the fresh snow. I hate it. But, overall, it was fine.

We threw chili in the crockpot for dinner. Went to 4 Noses for Ben to get a beer, then we still had to go to the grocery store to pick up random odds and ends. And there went the weekend.

Monday (10,427 steps) - No work for Civil Rights day. It was EVEN COLDER. My biggest stressor of the day was going to be how to get 10,000 steps in without really going anywhere in double digit negative temps. Ariel and I went to Dunkin and got the seasonal pink velvet coffee. I was emailed a BOGO for Tokyo Joes, so we got bowls for lunch. Took Olive for a walk at lunch - VERY COLD again.

Convinced Ariel to go grocery shopping with me - which she hates. Once home, I read my book until Ben got home, then started dinner. After Batman's failed mousing adventure, he was still certain the mouse was under the kitchen trashcan. He had Robin and Olive convinced, as they joined him in looking.

I heard Robin's battle cry from the mud room, and sure enough, I saw the cats chasing the mouse! Or maybe just "a" mouse, maybe there is more than one?) The animals all gave up when the mouse ran under this shelving unit.

Ben proved to be "Mouser of the Year" and caught the mouse. He's very cute, but we had to put him outside :(

Watched Fargo until it was time for bed. So far season 5 is way more interesting than season 4.

Stats:

• 116,795 steps
• 26.72 miles run
• 50 minutes of cardio
• 35 minutes of strength

Week in Review (November 21 - November 27)

Tuesday (15,348 steps) - Peloton before work... where I already got my prize for winning the fitness challenge! I wasn't wearing the right shoes for it in this picture, but HR wanted a picture of me using it for the email blast, haha. This is a pretty cool gadget, and only minorly irritating to move out of the way when I would rather be sitting.

Gym during lunch for full body strength training - gonna feel that for a few days. Oof, when will I learn.

Wednesday (29,538 steps) - Work in the office. Walked on my new treadmill quite a bit while working. Was very happy the weather was nice for my run! Left work a few minutes early and headed to North Table. Ugh, as soon as I saw the parking lot I knew I made a mistake - nice weather equals WAY too many bikes. I used to run these trails all the time, and just hate coming here because 90% of the bikes are soooo rude and have no trail etiquette. There was a LOT of jumping off the trail because only maybe 5 bikes stopped, and only a handful slowed down. UGH.

Ben also got off work early, so he met me for a beer at New Terrain. Thankfully, we got a table near the door since there was also a live band. 

While I was running, Ariel took Olive to get a new outfit. OMG it is the cutest ever. Lambchop is her favorite toy, and now she can dress like her buddy. (As an aside, I'm glad I read the reviews since it runs very small - she had to get a large!)

Thursday (14,752 steps) - Up early since Kristin was going to pick me up for the Louisville Turkey Trot! This event used to be free with food/clothing donation, but it's up to $25. At least the money goes to a good cause. I had chosen bare legs because it seemed warm(ish) at home. Once we got to the start, it definitely was colder.

We wandered around the start area, used the bathroom and decided to go back and sit in the car until it was closer to time to start. We headed BACK out with about 10 minutes to the start (of the untimed, non-bib "race") to use the bathroom one more time. I lined up with Kristin and Lisa. There was, as expected, a TON of weaving around big groups of people and walkers in the first mile. After a few minutes, I spotted Larry! We ran together for a few minutes, until I pulled out ahead. (Optimistic, but didn't really work out for me. By the hill that started somewhere around the first mile, I was already struggling. I wanted to maintain my pace, but I did end up walking a bit. Shortly before mile 2, I saw this cute spectator:

I was finally comfortable (not too cold/warm) and thankfully the last mile is downhill. I did stop for this:

My (somewhat pathetic) "A" goal was to run under 35 minutes. I'm happy to say that I did that, haha. The course ran just a bit short, but average pace of 10:27.

Garmin distance - 3.06 miles

Mile 1 - 10:31

Mile 2 - 11:03

Mile 3 - 9:53

Mile 3.06 - 8:55 pace

Headed immediately to the Liquid Mechanic free beer, where I found Larry in line. We all socialized a bit at the finish line until we were all too cold and then dispersed. When I got home we took Olive for a walk before the weather came in. Brrr.

Deidre had invited us over for Thanksgiving, which was wonderful! They always have such delicious food (plus, we didn't have to cook!)

Pretty sure we watched a movie. Maybe this was the night we watched Descent 2.

Friday (10,750 steps) - "Slept in." Thankfully, a rest day as it had snowed all night and it was ridiculously cold. Went to get Dutch Bros. since they were giving a shoe charm (jibbitz). On the way home we stopped at the grocery store to get some necessities. We took Olive for a long walk and it was freezing.

Torchy's for lunch, then up to 4 Noses so we could do a flight of all the new stouts. (Thankfully we split all these, because I think they ranged from 11.5-15ish%. Oof.)

Another movie? Maybe this was Meg 2 night - which was actually a pretty decent/fun movie.

Saturday (19,630 steps) - Still snowing. I was originally supposed to have a 3+ hour run on schedule. Since the real feel was in the single digits, I switched with Sunday, at an hour-ish run. It was "fine" I guess, glad to get it done.

Took Olive for a walk, lounged around and in general the day just disappeared. We did go to Pho for dinner.

Sunday (29,202 steps) - Should've been doing a 3+ hour run. I made the choice to go to Rock Creek. Within about 10 minutes I decided we would max out at 10 miles, whatever that ended up being. The first part wasn't was bad, but man, the 4 miles or so towards Stearns Lake was miserable. The snow was not packed down and it was chunky and felt like a Herculean effort. I have no regrets about turning around sooner.

Smiling, but only because we are halfway done

The way back wasn't as bad because it's a gradual downhill, and it did seem a bit more packed down (maybe melting since it was actually sunny?) We stopped at Ziggi's so I could get a protein smoothie. Went to 4 Noses so Ben could get a beer. Home to walk Olive and shower while Ben went to Costco to pick up a pizza for lunch. When Ariel got home we all went to get the Christmas tree. Welcome to the house, Bruce the Spruce!

We started watching Fargo over the weekend and it's a pretty fun/interesting show.

Monday (19,487 steps) - How is it Monday already?? Work from home. Did some cleaning and waited a bit (it seemed sunny?) to head out for my run. I was worried I was overdressed, but I actually selected my clothing perfectly. 

I was undecided if I was going to try trails or not, and luckily the trails were actually perfect! Cold enough the dirt was not muddy and all the snow was packed down. It's been a bit, but finally an easy run that was easy! Turned right around to take Olive for a walk.

Ariel randomly was working for the evening and we still had not gone grocery shopping. I convinced Ben we should try the sushi restaurant down the street. It was REALLY good.

More Fargo.

Stats:

• 138,707 steps
• 30.3 miles run
• 30 minutes of cardio
• 30 minutes of strength