Week in Review (June 14 - June 20)

Tuesday (18,955 steps) - With A having to be at camp super early I haven't even been bothering with getting up to work out. Sleep is more important! Super slow short run after work. Still having some pain in my left groin, and thighs still very tight from Revel.

Also did a short barre video and an upper body tabata video that I haven't done in a while.
Wednesday (24,004 steps) - It is a ZILLION degrees in Colorado right now. With A getting out of camp before 4:30, we headed right down to Runners Roost and got there just after 5. We planned on doing our run early since there was a fun event planned. We barely made it our 3 mile loop. The heat is so draining!

We got back right at 6 and met up with Maureen to walk Colfax and his friend, Ty. Then it was time for the real fun, the Brooks "Sip and Paint." I haven't painted in MANY years, so I was looking forward to it. (Well, the painting and the catered food and drinks). Such a fun night! I don't think I really followed the instructions all that well, but I think our paintings are pretty awesome.

A was awarded the "Run Happy" award. Bed as soon as we got home (which wasn't until 9:45!)
Thursday (25,210 steps) - I set my alarm to run in the morning. HAHAHAHAHA. Went back to bed. So then, I had to do my run AFTER work. My phone says it was 90 degrees, but it seemed MUCH warmer. Now that the signage is up for the new "Rocky Mountain Greenway," I wanted to see where exactly the trail goes on the north side of the lake. It was hot, the run did not go well.

Fiery ball in the sky that was trying to kill me

Thankfully there were bathrooms near where I turned around. Made it home with just enough time to shower before taking A to gymnastics. Tokyo Joe's and early to bed.
Friday (18,910 steps) - Rest day!! After I picked up A from camp we headed to the mall where I picked up a few cute dresses from Banana Republic and some shorts on sale from Lucky. "Mom shorts," according to A. Basically shorts that have longer than a 2" inseam. Grocery shopping and TV rounded out the evening.
Saturday (41,138 steps) - Even though it is summer, A had yet another Girl Scout event late morning. That meant that in order to get all my scheduled miles in, I had to head down to Aurora at FOUR IN THE MORNING. Well, 4:15 to be exact. It already felt hot and muggy to me, and I wasn't feeling great. All week I've had kind of a nagging pain in my left hip/groin area. I was running slow and trying not to run with an awkward gait. Ran 5 miles before meeting up with the rest of Runners Edge.

Heather and I had plans to run 10 more, but with as slow as I was going, we ended up only doing 9. Oh well, 14 miles is my longest training run since... March? I'll take it. I had just enough time to drive home, shower, grab A, pick up breakfast at Einstein's and meet up with her Girl Scout troop at Elitch's at 10 am. I was pretty disappointed with the Girl Scouts, there was only one table of activities, which they finished in less than 10 minutes. With that said, it was a ridiculously hot and sunny day (mid 90's?), and the park was actually not that crowded.

We ended up staying until about 3:30 in the afternoon. Other than the roller coasters, most of the rides didn't have long waits, so they actually got to go on a lot of rides. Spent the remainder of the day in the air conditioning. Oh, summer.
Sunday (23,523 steps) - Up at 6 am, arriving at Lair o' the Bear just before 7. A and I did 7 miles - her longest "fun run" yet (her words, not mine).

Saw my buddy Rob (he's the tiny one on the left)

 It was a gorgeous run, but already hot by the time we got back down at 9:00. Went to breakfast at IHOP (for pancakes, of course), and then most of the day on the couch. Did some cleaning, a yoga video with A, and then we went to Jessa's house for a few hours.
Monday (21,282 steps) - Heather decided to do one of the 8 week #FB30 programs. I offered to join her. Normally, I don't do the first day of the programs because it is a "fitness test." We decided it might be "fun" to do the fitness test. I told A that one part of the test was a timed mile. She wanted to join me (obviously because she knows she can run faster than me). We got up early, jogging to the middle school to run on the track. The entire jog over my hip/groin was aching. I was dreading the mile. It was just as awful as I anticipated it would be. Well, all but maybe the first 15 seconds. I was able to maintain a sub 9 pace for the first half mile or so, but barely finished in 9:27. Shameful. Back in the day, I could easily run that pace for a whole half marathon. It felt like an "all out" effort, which is really the point. Meh. (A, by the way, walked a few times and finished around 9 minutes, and said it was "easy.")

Walked back home, and did the rest of the test - push-ups, squats, static plank, and sit and reach. For "funsies," I also took some measurements. Nothing else the rest of the day.

Stats:

• 173,022 steps (up significantly from last week)
• 33.2 miles run
• No cross training
• 73 minutes of strength/stretching
• Weekly loss 0.6 (127.6) - Was pretty conscious of food/drink consumption over the weekend. I'd be happy with a pound a week loss, close this week.

Everything Else:

• My freakin' bathtub is leaking again! So many plumbing issues, grrrr. "Luckily," my ex was amenable to driving out to pick up A for their summer visit and spending a day or two here doing work on my house. I figure, it's the least he can do.
• A finished up a super fun week at camp. She attended the ENOR camp, put on by 4-H. Every day they were doing activities outside - hiking, visiting a mine, Red Rocks, sliding down a snow field... She was EXHAUSTED every single day when I picked her up, but she had a great time. The camp was separated by grade, so she was with kids her own age.

Week in Review (June 7 - June 13)

Tuesday (20,374 steps) - Legs were tired after the trail race and lower body video. However, I forced myself to get out of bed. I'm in limbo with no training plan right now, but I had a goal of 5 miles. Legs were NOT cooperating and I did 4 miserable miles.

Made it home with enough time to do an upper body video. After I picked up A from camp we went to Hu Hot for dinner because I had a parent meeting with A's scout troop. The meeting ended up lasting almost 2 hours, but I think it was very productive and I'm pretty excited for what is in store for the girls next school year.
Wednesday  (17,747 steps) - EXHAUSTED. Got up with enough time to do a pilates video and a new-to-me abs video that I liked. Run club - which THANKFULLY, was way cooler than forecasted.

Heather met up with us for dinner at Noodles.
Thursday (19,297 steps) - Went for a 3+ mile run by the lake at 6:15 in the morning. Felt incredibly hot and humid and sunny. Blah.

We arranged for A to go to gymnastics right after camp at 5 pm so that we could go to Ladies' Night at Runners Roost. Seriously one of my favorite events!

Getting rid of this dress. Ugh. Looks so bad!!

We got awesome discounts on Lole gear, there was ice cream (I had salted butterscotch!) and Nuun with champagne. Fun night! We went to Hacienda for nachos with Heather and Maureen. (Seriously, weight gain is a mystery).

Friday (15,527 steps) - REST DAY!! We had happy hour at work, which would have been more enjoyable if I hadn't been bombarded with work right at the end of the day. Finally, A and I had a "night of nothing" - other than picking up groceries at Target.
Saturday (22,790 steps) - Runners Edge summer kick off! Drove down to Denver, wishing we were starting earlier than 7 am. So hot and sunny! I ended up running 6 miles, all of which felt pretty good.

Can you spot me? (Photo: Runner's Edge)

Chatted with Doug and Lisa at the store for a bit, got gas and a car wash, then drove to Golden top pick up my packet for Revel. Managed to get to the expo right when it started and was in and out in a few minutes. My tire light has been coming on somewhat regularly for the last few months so I stopped at Big O and had them look at it. Turns out I had a huge concrete nail in it. Maybe THAT'S why the light keeps coming on... They also said I need new tires soon. Of course I do. Got home, quick shower, lunch at Tokyo Joe's, and then picked up Rose and Madi for the Rockies game. We had great seats, but unfortunately we were in the sun. With it being 93 degrees, the seats were literally burning us! We kept moving around throughout the game trying to stay cool. It was a pretty good game - Rockies won!

For dinner, A talked me into going to Godfather's pizza. The wait wasn't that long and we devoured a BBQ chicken pizza. So good, but pricey.
Sunday (34,360 steps) - Revel Rockies half marathon.

After I dropped off Maureen, A and I headed home. She'd had a few donuts for breakfast and wasn't hungry. I took a shower and had a frozen dinner to tide me over. We drove to Heather's house to go to yet another Rockies game. It was in the mid 80's, but felt much cooler than the last game. We had brunch in the clubhouse and then watched the game. Rockies won again!

Spent a few minutes at Heather's house, but we were exhausted so we went home, stopping to pick up a few groceries on the way home. I fell asleep on the couch around 8 pm. So exhausted!!
Monday (16,638 steps) - Slept until my alarm went off, which is rare. I still had a slight headache when I woke up, even with going to bed ridiculously early. A started a new summer camp this week so we had to be out the door by 7, therefore, no morning workout. Too tired for a real workout so A and I did some yoga and a new abs video (that I didn't really like all that much).

Stats:

• 146,733 steps
• 32.2 miles run
• No cross training
• 87 minutes of strength/stretching
• Weekly Gain 0.8 (128.2) - Not a surprise after my weekend, just depressing seeing the scale head that way.

Everything Else:

• Took on another Director at work and I've been a lot busier the last few weeks, which is a good thing! I hate being bored.
• A finished up gymnastics camp last week and had a great time, other than spending all her days inside.
• Not much else.

Revel Rockies Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Sunday, June 12
Morrison, CO
Half Marathon #148
Weather - Cloudy, pretty decent

Back when I still had the goal of "running all the half marathons" in Colorado, I registered for the Revel Rockies. I was supposed to run it last year, but then, no buses. I don't remember the specifics behind rolling over my registration, but either way, I signed up for 2016.

I have never been especially excited for this event. I don't like that there is no packet pick up. I don't like the super early shuttle bus (especially after last year when they were a no show), and I was REALLY not looking forward to the course. It's been about 4 years now, but I still have issues with pounding the pavement on downhills, and my right IT band and knee bother me. With THAT said, I still had plans on running.

Alarm went off at 3:40 am. Urg. So early. I had a message from Heather that she had decided to bail on the race since she had friends visiting from out of state. Got dressed, woke up A, grabbed coffee, and we were out the door just after 4:00. Drove to Lakewood to Maureen's house. A was going to stay with Colfax while we ran. Maureen knew a sneaky back way to the parking lot by Bandimere, and we were parked right around 4:45, which was our goal time.

Got all our gear ready and headed over to the line of buses (glorious sight!) and met up with Stacey. The bus right was uneventful, but seemed REALLY LONG. We chatted with fellow Rooster, Dan, who was the 1:30 pacer and Stacey. Arrived at the start with about an hour to the start. That gave us plenty of time for pictures, eating our breakfast and multiple trips through the bathroom line. While there were plenty of bathrooms, the set up made the lines crowded and confusing.

Shed my long sleeve tee, applied sunscreen, and dropped off my bag at 6:15. Maureen and I lined up in the back around 6:25, with the race starting promptly at 6:30. The course actually started with a decent uphill, which I would have known if I ever looked at anything. In hindsight, we shouldn't have started so far back because almost everyone was walking. The first few miles went fairly well, with more hills than I expected. I was already really hot and sweaty and was really grateful for the cloud cover. It's been insanely warm in Denver lately and I was glad the sun was hidden. It was a tad humid, as we had a decent rainstorm the night before.

The first aid station was about 2 miles in, and I still took a cup of water and took a short walk break, even though I had a bottle of Nuun in my hand. Another hill into a neighborhood, which we walked up. The rest of the run through mile 4 went well, we were holding a good pace. I ate some Honey Stinger chews and then we headed into our longest stretch without an aid station.

The course was really pretty. We ran along the river and there were tons of trees. Somewhere around mile 5.5, I had to take another break. My IT band was holding up all right, but my IT band and thighs were already burning. Ran into the halfway aid station feeling pretty good. There was another gradual uphill around mile 8 or so, we walked up about half of that. We were still hanging onto a solid pace, hoping to finish faster than our Surf City pace.

Maybe I'm talking? Why do I look so weird?

Around mile 8.5, we got passed by the first marathon runner. For perspective, they only started 30 minutes before us, lol. Not too long after that Maureen mentioned that she thought her IT band was starting to bother her. We stopped at the aid station at mile 9.5 to see if they had any Biofreeze or something that might help her pain. We ran out of the aid station and within a minute or two her leg had completely seized up. She was wincing in pain, barely able to walk. She thought taking a short break might alleviate the pain, but unfortunately, she was not able to run the remainder of the race.

Having had many people stick with me, I of course told Maureen I would stay with her. We went from a 10:15 pace to walking the remainder of the race. She kept apologizing for walking and was upset at the number of people that were passing us. While I would have liked to come in for a strong finish, I didn't mind the walk down the canyon. I was able to get some good pictures and have a conversation without hyperventilating.

Stacey passed us just before the mile 26 marker, and Maureen said she would try to run when we got to the mile 13 marker. After we made the turn we still didn't see the finish, and waited until we saw it before we "ran" in.

Trying to make sure Maureen is still near me and ok!

Official Time - 2:41:30 (12:19 pace)
Official 6.55 split - 1:06:23 (10:08 pace)
Overall Place - 822/1027
Gender Place - 575/742
Division Place - 103/125
Garmin Time - 2:41:32
Garmin Distance - 13.25 miles
Garmin Pace - 12:12
Mile 1 - 10:36
Mile 2 - 9:58
Mile 3 - 10:25
Mile 4 - 10:20
Mile 5 - 9:48
Mile 6 - 10:22
Mile 7 - 10:49
Mile 8 - 10:41
Mile 9 - 10:48
Mile 10 - 12:02 (the beginning of the end...)
Mile 11 - 16:41
Mile 12 - 18:00
Mile 13 - 17:28
Mile 13.25ish - 14:08

Saw Dave Bell at the finish, gave him a hug, collected my medal and bottle of water.

We had a pretty decent walk to pick up our drop bags, then we headed to the "finish line party" where we met up with Sabine and Sebastian, chatting with them for a few minutes before we went into the beer "jail." Hooray for great beer at the finish line! We spent a while at the finish with Christy and Jen (who got a smoking fast new PR - sub 1:30!)

We headed out around 10:30, running into more friends on the way out (Lisa and Johnny), and then started the slow walk to the car. Poor Maureen was limping and hurting pretty badly. Christy gave us a ride to our car (which really wasn't even that far away), and then we drove over to Maureen's house to get A and Colfax.

Thoughts:

• For the first 9.5 miles, this went about as well as could be expected. If you want a graded road and mostly downhill (very little flat or uphill), then this is the course for you. I was actually surprised to not have more issues with my IT band - probably for the best that we ended up walking the end.
• Pretty, pretty course!! Half the road was closed to traffic so it was wide enough to handle the number of runners. It was a bit congested the first few miles, but really cleared up after that.
• Plenty of aid stations, and I liked that they were closer together towards the end. Water and Gatorade at all, plus there was a GU station at I think mile 4.
• Course very well marked, mile markers were dead on (until the end, that was the longest .1 to the finish EVER.
• Plenty of photographers on the course - along with notice that they were coming.
• Decent amount of crowd support, even in the more  "rural" areas.
• EXCELLENT beer at the finish.
• Logistically kind of a pain in the ass, but it ended up being fine. It was about a mile walk from t the finish to the parking lot, but they did have shuttles if you needed it.
• HUGE medal.
• Nice race shirt. I somehow missed the option for a tank instead of a tee. I could have changed a the expo, for a $5 fee, but I decided not to.
• Overall, a pretty good race, if you like the whole "running downhill and going for a big PR" type of race. For ME, even if I was in top form, I doubt I would have run a PR on this course. This race is a "one and done" for me, I won't run again.

East / West Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Sunday, June 5
Littleton, CO
Half Marathon #147
Weather - sunny and HOT

Last year, I ran the East-West half marathon, only it was called the Denver half. The name changed this year, but so did the course a bit. Anyway, I was looking forward to getting on the trails for the third vent of the season with Endurance Race Series.

The half marathon started at 8:00, so A and I left the house around 6:15. A has earned quite a few free races with ERS because of all her volunteering. When she saw the medal reveal for this race, she decided she wanted to run the 10k even though we didn't have any friends running that could join her. I was a tad concerned since she has only run two other 10k races, with neither being on trail, and neither going particularly well. However, she has had a HUGE confidence boost since completing her 24 hour run, so I decided to let her go for it.

We arrived just after 7, picked up our bibs/packets (every runner also got a free pair of darn tough socks - which was a cool perk). Runners Roost had a tent, so we spent a lot of the time waiting for the race to start hanging out with Phil and his girlfriend, as well as with Brandon, our favorite Hoka rep.

Pre-race pic

I lined up towards the back, not remembering if the trails were single track or wider. The sun was out, and unfortunately, my fire calves were back. I struggled for a large portion of this race. Between the fire calves, heat, and general leg fatigue, I didn't have a great event.

The course was very well marked, ran a tad short, and there were plenty of aid stations. I carried a small 10 oz. ultimate direction bottle in the pocket of my skirt and only used it once or twice the entire day, even though it was super hot.

8% = LOTS OF WALKING

A very recognizable section of the course - remember, this is an out and back course!

The course was an out and back, with the turn around being at the high school where the Chase the Moon ultra marathon starts. That hill was definitely soul crushing, and I spent a good portion of the way back playing leap frog with two ladies that were listening to music on their phone on speaker. One of my biggest pet peeves while racing, for sure, especially if I'm struggling to get in front of someone. Wear headphones or turn that crap off.

I managed to pass a half dozen or so people on the way back. At the last aid station I was relieved when one of the volunteers told me that A had come though and was "amazing and looked great." Phew. I was pleased to come in under my arbitrary goal of 2:45.

Collected my giant medal and went to find A.

Official Time - 2:43:14
Overall Place - 41/59
Gender Place - 9/15
Division Place - 19/32
Garmin Time - 2:43:17
Mile 1 - 12:48
Mile 2 - 13:20
Mile 3 - 13:51
Mile 4 - 11:07
Mile 5 - 12:27
Mile 6 - 10:27
Mile 7 - 12:42
Mile 8 - 14:47
Mile 9 - 12:42
Mile 10 - 13:38
Mile 11 - 12:31
Mile 12 - 12:37
Mile 13 - 10:20

Ariel did fantastic - especially considering she ran this alone! The 10k had about 600 feet of gain and it was HOT. She got first in her age group!

AWESOME finisher pic of A, thanks again, Phil!!

Official Time - 1:24:47 (which is a 13:40 pace)
Overall Place - 77/91
Gender Place - 40/51
Division Place - 1/2 (still first...)

Thoughts:

• Another fantastic event by ERS. The course really IS pretty, but it was hot and I've run it before so I didn't take too many pictures.
• The course was very well marked. Both the half marathon and the 10k were out and back, different color signage, as well as flour markings on the dirt. 
• 5 aid stations for the half marathon and 2 for the 10k, with this being communicated very well in the pre-race emails.
• The food/beverage tent was still up when I finished, and there was still beer left (from Avery brewing). A and I stuck around until the very last person crossed the line and they made sure she had food and beer too. A little bit of a bummer that almost everyone else was gone, I think A and I were the last runners there, so hopefully the gal that finished didn't feel upset about the lack of "support" at the end.
• I like the race shirt (no pic, womp) - gender specific, royal blue. 
• The medal is SUPER COOL - a semi-functioning compass! And it's HUGE.

See, HUGE MEDAL

Week in Review (May 31 - June 6)

Tuesday (14,020 steps) - Did NOT get up early. Was incredibly exhausted after the holiday weekend. After work did a quick/speedy run at the lake, a barre video AND an abs video.
Wednesday (16,110 steps) - Upper body video in the morning - I really like this one! National/Global running day at Runner's Roost with Maureen. We made a giant thank you card/poster for Coohill's - the restaurant that hosted us a while back - I loved what A drew.

We went out to Garbanzo's for dinner with Maureen.
Thursday (20,709 steps) - 4ish mile run in the morning. Already so hot and sunny. Not a particularly great run. A had gymnastics, Tokyo Joe's, and I did an abs video.

Friday (17,961 steps) - Quick pilates video. Did a short run by the lake - mainly to test out a new section of trail that is finally completed. Seems like it will be a good addition to my lake runs, sometime soon I need to figure out what's on the north and west sides of the lake!

Saturday (21,648 steps) - Up early to go down to Denver for the Heat & Stroke walk. We met up with Maureen and a few other Roost teammates.

Maureen and Colfax, Laurie, Chris, A and me

Maureen was running the 5k so we offered to walk with Colfax. The run started before the walk and Maureen's plan was to run back to meet us on the course. Somehow we totally missed each other. We also ran into our friends Jessie and Nonnie and their kids. Nonnie's daughter Sara had open heart surgery shortly after birth - so they were walking for team "Super Sara."

After we were all done we had brunch at the Tilted Kilt, stopped at the Cheesecake Factory for a slice of chocolate mousse (you know, because we were "right there") and walked around the Denver Chalk Art Festival for a bit.

Long morning! Watched a bit of tv and dozed off on the couch, went grocery shopping. In bed early-ish.
Sunday (31,291 steps) - Left the house by 6:15 to drive to Littleton for the East/West trail races. Recap to posted soon.

We stuck around until all the runners had crossed the finish line, then A and I went to Snooze in Lone Tree for breakfast. I tried the sticky toffee pudding french toast and had a brewmosa (exactly like what it sounds - a craft beer with OJ - tasty!)

The remainder of the day was on the couch. The sun really makes me tired!
Monday (15,518 steps) - Slept in. Had a crazy rain/hailstorm in the afternoon. A few miles in the basement inferno and a lower body video that I really like.

Stats:

• 137,256 steps
• 26.9 miles run
• No real cross training, other than a 5k walk (really, we didn't run!) for the Heart & Stroke walk.
• 129 minutes of strength/stretching 
• Weekly Loss 2.2 pounds (127.4) - I'm guessing at least some of this was "vacation" weight and water weight. Was much more conscious about food this week, trying not to be out of control.

Everything Else:

• #noteatingallthethings - sort of a successful week.
• A started a week at gymnastics camp this week. She has a pretty busy summer planned!