Week in Review (November 15 - November 21)

Tuesday (13,997) - Up early to take A to student council. Went to barre during lunch. Heather also came, and I gotta say, as much as I am going to miss Fuzed, there were definitely more people in this class with it just being "regular" barre. After work/school A had gymnastics. After A went to bed I did a mile walk on the treadmill to get more steps in. With being sick I really haven't been moving that much.
Wednesday (24,297 steps) - The last day of "summer" in Colorado. Got up for a short taper run - I can't even believe that I was able to run before sunrise in a tank top and skirt IN THE MIDDLE OF NOVEMBER. Just crazy.

Took A to her annual well-child appointment. The kid grew FOUR inches this year and is now only two inches shorter than me?? Ugh!! How has this happened? Run club after work - the employees did a little birthday celebration for A. Ran about 2 miles with Heather and A.
Thursday (15,832 steps) - Barre before work - first time I have been to a 6 am class for a while. By 11 am, it was the first snow of the season!! Traffic, thankfully, was not as bad as I feared. We made it to Runners Roost in Lakewood for run club. Heather and I ran a very short loop with Colfax, and A ran with Eric.

Rocko's afterwards. Home for final packing!
Friday (7,930 steps) - Left the house around 8. We first stopped at the post office in Arvada (per the hours on the website) to get A's passport... turns out the office didn't open until 11, so headed out towards Utah. The roads were not great in the mountains. We pulled over at Vail Pass to use the bathroom and to buy our NKOTB tickets!

By the time we were on the other side of the pass the road conditions improved a ton. We stopped in Grand Junction to see if we could get a passport at THAT post office, only to find out that they were closed and would reopen in 45 minutes. We went to get lunch at a cute diner, then went back. The line wasn't very long, but only one person was working so it still took about 45 minutes - but it is on order! A didn't want to take the scenic route into Moab. As soon as we arrived we checked in at the Motel 6 and then went to pick up my packet. Decided to stop and get food/beer at the Moab Brewery.

Got everything laid out for morning, in bed fairly early.
Saturday (69,128 steps) - Dead Horse 50k.

Headed back to the hotel right away for a shower. Margo sent me a message inviting us to a BBQ in the evening. Spent the next few hours resting and napping. Stopped at City Market to get some groceries and then went to Milan and Oza's house rental. It was great spending time with them (and Phil and Kery) - we watched a cool documentary about Iditarod and stayed until about 9:30.
Sunday (13,672 steps) - We wanted to get breakfast at the Jailhouse Cafe, but it was apparently closed for the season, so we went to Eddie McStiff's. I got a delicious french toast sandwich and A got a giant burrito.

Then we headed out onto Potash Road for our drive to Corona Arch. Oza had recommend the hike as "the best arch outside of the park." The lot was not very full and it was not crowded on the hike. Once we headed out, A told me that she had done the hike before, but we still had a great time, taking lots of pictures.

We went back to the hotel and lounged around a bit before we went to the Moab Rec center to go swimming. We had a fun time fooling around in the pool, and of course A made me go off the high dive again. We were some of the only people there, so that was nice. We did takeout from Milt's for burgers and shakes for dinner. In bed late-ish.
Monday (17,081 steps) - Went into town to get a quick breakfast at Eklecticafe. A got a huge cinnamon roll and I got a bagel sandwich.

We took the scenic way back, stopping at Fisher Towers for a hike. It was lightly raining, but we still got in another really scenic (new to me) hike on the way out of town.

The drive back was pretty uneventful, we stopped at Chili's in Glenwood Springs for a late lunch. Hit some rain/sleet in the mountains, but it was warm enough that the roads stayed dry. Unpacked, started laundry.

Stats:

• 162,027 steps
• 36.3 miles run
• 2 barre classes and 7+ hours of hiking
• Current weight ??? - Didn't remember to weigh in this week... probably for the best.

Everything Else:

• Another lovely trip to Moab. I just love it out there.

Week in Review (November 8 - November 14)

Tuesday (3,959 steps) - Dead from the plague. I got up to take A to Student Council / school and then promptly went back home to lie on the couch, where I would remain all day. During the day I got caught up on my American Horror Story and watched a bunch of episodes of Snapped until it was time to start watching the election. Right off the bat I had a bad feeling about it (which later, of course, turned out to be true). I picked A up at school at 5, went to the library to return a book and then went to gymnastics. I streamed the election on the CNN app the entire time. When we got home, A made breakfast for dinner (which was awesome, since I wasn't feeling well). Went to bed before Trump was announced the winner.

Wednesday (15,010 steps) - Feeling a lot better, but not happy about going back to work. I left work to pick A up at school and she came to hang out with me for the last hour. At 5 we headed down to the Denver store for the Cookie Cook-off! A and I ran a few miles with Colfax and then ate cookies until we could eat no more. Well, to be fair, I really only had a few since I still was feeling icky. Bed early.

Thursday (11,997) - Went to Laura's barre class during lunch since I missed on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the Fuzed class wasn't a big hit, so it has been eliminated. It is still a great workout with Laura. Left work about a half hour early for A's first orchestra concert!

We got there early enough that I was able to get a front row seat and she was able to be in the front on the end. The kids were super cute and A did a great job. I, however, sat next to the most RUDE family on the planet, and they talked throughout the entire performance. The big surprise of the night was that each kid got to bring someone on stage and "teach" them a song that we then had to perform. It was actually a lot of fun. Picked up some groceries on the way home. After dinner we made mini oreo cheesecakes for A's party.

Friday (10,742 steps) - Took A to the dentist before work, and of course she had a fantastic check up.

After work we met up with Amy, her son and her son's friend at Old Chicago for dinner.

All this means is that 12 years ago, I drank 110 different beers

Then we went to the Denver Escape Room. We had picked the room "Grim Stacks" - which to me was kind of Harry Potter themed. We were on a roll solving the puzzles until we got held up with a lock that none of us apparently knew how to reset. Technically we failed, although I feel like if we had known how the lock worked that we probably could have solved it. So much fun, we have been talking about wanting to do another one.

Saturday (28,122 steps) - Drove down to Greenwood Village for Runners Edge. In my head, I initially thought I might run 12. Then I thought I better not, needing more time to get home and shower and get ready for A's party. Turns out that I was still feeling kind of icky, so I only did 8.

Drove home to shower and get ready. We were on time to the pool party, yay! A bit of a misunderstanding regarding what I actually PAID for ensued, as I didn't realize that I had to pay for every single person that came, regardless if they were swimming or not. We ended up having cake and presents on the patio (IN NOVEMBER) to get around the whole fire code thing.

A had invited her friend over to spend the night, so when we got home they each showered and then played around on the Wii until about 5, when we headed down to Heather's house for "game night" aka, Ariel's surprise birthday party. It took her a LOT longer to realize that we were having a party for HER than I expected.

It was an amazing night and it was great to see so many people gathering for A, and knowing there are a lot of people that love her as much as I do. It was after 11 before we got home, and the kids fell asleep immediately.

Sunday (13,312) - Managed to sleep in until 8 or so. Ariel made us all breakfast, and while the girls played around on the Wii, I did chores. Rachelle's mom picked her up around 10:30. A and I went to the grocery store, watched the Broncos win, and made MORE cookies (for the work charity bake sale and for A to take to school). We went to barre at 4:15 and then went to the Ale House at Amato's for dinner with Mo. Walking Dead and then bed.

Monday (steps) - A's 11th birthday!

Got up early to open her gift from me and share coffee/hot chocolate before school. Left work early to pick A up from school.

We went to see Trolls, which was super cute, and then dinner at Sweet Tomatoes - which A got for free since it was her birthday! A's soccer coach sent their end of season pictures - so cute!

Stats:

• 93,581 steps (lowest ever, I think!)
• 11.1 miles run
• 2 barre classes
• Current weight 123.0 - Seriously helps when you are dying of the plague.

Everything Else:

• Worked really hard to give A a good birthday. She says she had a great time, so I must have done my job!
• It really sucked being sick for a week. Just been "off" feeling and really tired. Hopefully I kick this soon!

Week in Review (November 1 - November 7)

Tuesday (13,794) - A had her first student council meeting and had to be at school 45 minutes earlier, so no morning run. Went to Laura's Fuzed class during lunch and it totally kicked my ass. I think everyone doing the barre challenge must have decided that they were burned out, it was only me and Jenn, on of the other teachers, in class. I also got my prizes from winning the challenge!! A cool long sleeve barre top, water bottle, socks and hair tie. Whoop! After work/school, A had gymnastics. Quick trip by the grocery store to pick up my prescription and then TV, dinner and bed.
Wednesday (16,069 steps) - Enjoying my time off from barre, no class in the morning. After work we headed down to Runners Roost for run club. Another run with Heather and Colfax.
Thursday (18,868 steps) - Even took today off from barre! I picked up A from her last soccer practice of the season and we headed down to Lakewood for run club. A walked with Mo to drop off her ballot and Heather and I ran with Colfax.

A told me she wasn't feeling well so we skipped Rocko's and headed home. Turns out she REALLY wasn't feeling well. She spent a good portion of the night puking and ended up sleeping on the couch.
Friday (11,549 steps) - A said she was feeling well enough to go to school. She only had a half day, so that worked out nicely. Rushed home to get A before going to Thornton to meet up with Bill, Stacey and her husband, Dan. Did I mention that Stacey had the brilliant idea to have A be a race director?
Saturday (33,020 steps) - Backcountry Wilderness half marathon.

I had asked the mom of one of A's teammates if there was any way she would be able to take A to her game since my regular sitter flaked at the last minute. She graciously agreed to pick A up AND offered to let her spend the night. After the race I didn't need to rush to get A, so Heather and Eric and I went to Snooze for brunch, then on my way home I stopped at the Roost. I ended up not getting home until 5 or so, and then spent the rest of the night on the couch.
Sunday (28,072 steps) - Daylight Savings. Arg. Headed out to Commerce City to run the RMRR Trophy Series 10 miler. Have I mentioned how much I love wearing a singlet in November? The first 6 or so miles went really well. Then the turnaround happened and I suffered pretty miserably through the last few miles.

Around noon I picked up A at a church, and then we headed home. Didn't do much the rest of the day, but went to barre class in the afternoon. Dinner, Walking Dead, etc.
Monday (11,114 steps) - Weirdo thing happened with my phone this morning. Screen was just completely dark, wouldn't reset or turn on and my alarm didn't go off. We managed to get out the door on time, and my phone healed itself (weird). After I picked up A from Scouts we picked up a few groceries at the store. Big project of the night was making a billion (5 dozen) peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from the Cookie Cook-off at Wednesday run club.

A was tired and went to bed early and I stayed up a bit later to backup my phone... just in case. I went to bed with a bit of a stomach ache. Woke up around 1 am FREEZING, so went to lie on the couch under the electric blanket. Still felt sick. Woke up again at 2:30 and puked a bit and sweat a TON. I actually felt bad enough to call in sick for work.

Stats:

• 132,486 steps
• 27.6 miles run
• 2 barre classes
• Current weight 122.4. I'm wondering if this is skewed a bit from having the plague.

Everything Else:

• The election...

ERS Ambassador

Months ago I stopped blogging unless it was to recap a race. I'm making an exception to briefly write about my ambassadorship with Endurance Race Series. I was selected for 2016 in January and was able to run the half marathon distance at all races throughout the year. I am overjoyed to have been asked to return as an ambassador for another year. What does this mean for you, my readers? More race recaps and... DISCOUNTS.

The discount I have is posted on my sidebar, but here it is too: WALKER15

What can you use the discount on? Anything:

Whether you want to register for just one race or go for the big one - the season pass, my discount will give you 15% off any listed price.

Let me give you a brief recap of what Endurance Race Series offers:

• Ten races throughout the year. I have run all except one, the newest addition, Silverthorne (which I'm sure will be gorgeous). 
• Urban trails and mountain trails. Everything from very beginner friendly to a course that will have you hunched over and humbled.
• You can register for each race independently.
• You can register for a front range pass, which will get you into all the urban/local races.
• Mountain pass, which registers you for some of the most breathtaking courses Colorado can offer.
• The season pass (in both 10K and half marathon distances) signs you up for ALL TEN. Season pass holders get a ton of EXTRA goodies.
• Right now, the BEST deal is the pick 6. Just like it sounds, you pick either 6 half marathons or 6 10K's. Any 6. (But it has to be 6). The package is marked down 25% of single race entry prices, and then my discount stacks ON TOP OF THAT. So yeah, you can run 6 10K races $141.69 or 6 half marathons for $256.71 (all fees included). WHAT. That's quite the deal! (Disclaimer: After all races are selected you proceed to a checkout screen where you select your shirt size and you'll need to enter my code for each of the 6 races, but that's worth it to save another 15%, right?)

As far as swag goes, the ERS cannot be beat.

• Gender specific tech tees.
• HUGE medals. And speaking of medals, medals for ALL distances - even the 5K!
• Post-race after party, open until the last finisher crosses. Burgers, snacks and beer (well, at most of the races).
• Chip timed.
• Walker friendly (usually with early start options).

I'd love to get the word about - feel free to use my discount code all year long, and share the race schedule. 

Hope to see you there - and feel free to comment or get in touch with me if you have any questions or concerns. Happy trails!