Because Being Ordinary Is Boring

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Week in Review (February 8 - February 14)

Tuesday (7,604 steps) - Work in the office. Picked up the Girl Scout cookies for the season. Wheee.

Did a Peloton ride before dinner.

Wednesday (15,178 steps) - Went to work late because I had an appointment to get my foot looked at. Thankfully, after getting some X-rays done, it was determined I do not have a stress fracture. Diagnosis was mild tendinitis and an ankle sprain. Not a surprise, I rolled my ankle another two times during Elephant Mountain. I was told I could run and to just try to get the swelling down. Yay! Went to work in the office. After work I stopped at home to pick up Pika before going to Boulder. I don't think I'll be taking her for runs anymore... this was a really slow-going "run." She may be getting too old (will be 12 in July) or is just losing interest. Not much fun for either of us.

It was also REALLY muddy. By the time I got back to the store everyone was ready to head out. I stuck around long enough to have a beer and wait for Monica to pick up her cookies. Pika had to have a bath when we got home.

Thursday (10,410 steps) - Mildly embarrassing it took me so many tries to get this:

Work from home. Did a row and the 45 minute Eminem bike boot camp. I thought I was going to pass out during that one... Took Pika for a walk at lunch. After work I picked A up and took her to Panorama so she could have her shoulder looked at. They did X-rays and determined she has a mild rotator cuff injury - which is apparently not that uncommon in long distance runners. It was suggested that she go to physical therapy, but also they gave her some strengthening exercises she can do at home.

Friday (10,195 steps) - Wash Park walk with the gang. Finally a warmish morning!

After getting coffee I went to work in the office. We had another storm roll in right in time for me to head home. We went to Kristin and Doug's house for happy hour with Tyler. Ate a LOT of fondue...

Saturday (17,047 steps) - Slept in - I think until almost 9?? It had snowed all night but it was sunny, so I decided I would head out for my run.

It was actually pretty good at the lake, and my foot felt fine on the crunchy snow. I had an hour to run, but opted to head over to the bike path for some steadier footing. I ended up having some stomach pains and had to make an emergency stop at the port-o-potty. Not more than a few minutes after that, I ran into Lisa!

Overall, the run was "ok" - I just hate having these stomach issues mid-run. It's been happening a lot more lately. After getting home I did a lower body video, then Ariel actually joined me for a core video (that almost killed both of us) and a stretching video. THEN, we took Pika for a walk.

Ben and I had made plans with Kim to meet up for a beer and hand off cookies. We picked a brewery that isn't normally busy at all, and it turns out they were having a dog adoption event, so it was pretty busy. We waited a bit for people to start clearing out, and then headed in. Fun afternoon.

Nothing else, except Batman looked adorable cuddling with me on the couch.

Sunday (7,149 steps) - Ariel and I watched a cheesy horror movie (Countdown) and then took Pika for a walk. We spent the afternoon delivering cookies and then watched the Super Bowl. Batman was not not interested.

Monday (9,441 steps) - Work from home. Took Pika for a walk at lunch and then did a 30 minute ride. After work I took Ariel to the dentist. When Ben got home we headed to New Terrain for our Valentine's Day beer and chocolate event. It wasn't crowded and it was a fun evening.

We picked up Qdoba on the way home and then watched an episode of Ozark.

Stats:

77,024 steps
8.93 miles run (thanks, foot)
120 minutes of cardio
50 minutes of strength

Elephant Mountain 50K (Race Recap)

Cave Creek, AZ

Saturday, February 5

Ultra Marathon #38

Weather - Chilly at the start, sunny and warm

With my scary 2022 racing season looming, I was on the hunt for a "short" race to ease into all the trail running. I landed on Arizona after checking out possibilities in Texas and a few other "warmer" states. After the cold snap we had recently had in Denver we were both looking forward to dry trails - recognizing that this would be good prep for our upcoming events.

Race Day

I had not slept well the night before. With all the hotel drama we hadn't picked up anything for breakfast. We were staying in a resort type place that didn't have anything for us. We got out the door as planned, but we still needed to get breakfast somewhere. I was NOT optimistic as we were driving to the start as we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. "Luckily" there was a Starbucks that was open and we got some breakfast sandwiches and coffee.

Thankfully, we found the start without any issues. I'm always a bit worried when there is no physical address for a start. Since we were using a tiny car, we were able to squeeze into a spot in the main lot. We used the extra time to cycle through the bathroom line, pick up our bib, and get everything ready to go for the 7 am start.

Announcements started with a few minutes to go. We were reminded about the flagging and signage we needed to look for, and we lined up to go. We started right on time, with Ben going out with a front group and me taking my place in the back where I am comfortable. After taking a full week off from running because of my foot pain, I was pretty anxious with how this was going to go.

The first mile went ok. It was a gradual uphill and not overly technical. I ran some of the less steep grades and hiked the rest. My hands were pretty cold in that first mile and I was mildly regretting that I had left my gloves in the back of my back. They warmed up pretty quick, so it ended up not being a problem.

We headed up some switchbacks to the top and then we had some really nice rolling hills. However, my foot was acting up. It was definitely more painful than I would have hoped and I spent a LOT of the early miles wondering how stupid it was of me to be out there.

I passed some people in this section, until we got to a weird intersection where I had to look at the map because it was confusing. First aid station I just grabbed some fruit snacks and headed right out. We had to cross a dried out river bed a few times and then we had a short section of pavement before running on some pretty tame single track. I actually really liked this section, except this is about the time that the faster 35K people started to catch up and it was/is kind of annoying moving out of the way of people. Hit the next aid station and grabbed a cup of Mountain Dew and a pickle. Found out it was 5 miles to the next aid station. Foot hurts.

Kept going, a decent amount of hiking in this section. It was really pretty rocky here and between trying to not land weird on my foot and trying to not roll my ankle (which I have been doing a LOT of lately), things were slow-going and not a lot of fun. I saw Ben earlier (?) than I thought I would and let him know that if things didn't improve that I would have to entertain dropping. He talked me into taking some ibuprofen. I got to the aid station, grabbed more Mountain Dew and a small piece of potato, but nothing else sounded good. Headed back out for a lonely 5 miles. I put in one ear bud when I was about 3 hours in. That helped take my mind off things for a bit.

Photo Cred: Let's Wander Photography

Considering how much my foot was hurting I was actually moving pretty well. I managed to keep my arm sleeves on through the next aid station - definitely longer than I thought I would. It was getting hot out and I was not looking forward to being out on the course. Even though this whole part was an out and back I didn't remember a lot of it. I actually passed a couple people in this section before the next aid station - the second to last one. I got there and there wasn't a ton of food options, but I had expected that. I filled up my bottles and begrudgingly head out for the approximately 5 miles back to the start/finish - but not to actually finish! We would have to use the finish line as an aid station and then head out after that for a 7 mile loop.

For some reason I thought that I had already done most of the climbing, so in my mind, I thought it was going to just be a lot of downhill to the finish. Sadly, I was wrong. Once I turned onto the Go John Trail it seemed like it went up and up and up. It was still pretty rocky, and fairly steep in some areas. Being later in the day there were also lots of people out - both on bikes and hiking in groups. FINALLY, there was a fairly non-technical downhill for maybe the last few miles. It was going to be nice to actually have a downhill finish. I was not happy having to come through the finish line and not be done. At least Ben hadn't lapped me.

Filled up my bottles and grabbed a (disgusting) peanut butter & jelly since that was the only "real" food left. I only managed a few bites before I just couldn't eat more. I really really really wish aid stations would find something else to feed runners besides pb&j. At least for the last part of the route I knew what I had coming up - and that was a big climb to the top, some runnable parts, the big climb after the aid station (that we would not be hitting, since it wasn't on the loop) and then downhill to the finish.

While my foot was actually feeling ok by this point, now the bottoms of my feet and my big toes were in excruciating pain any time I tried to run. So that was really frustrating since my legs actually were ok, and my foot finally didn't hurt. It was HOT by this point, and there were a LOT of people on the trail - including a group doing trail work? I was pretty frustrating that it was more gain than I had expected, and it seemed like I was not going to be able to hit my goal of a sub 8 race.

I ran what I could, actually passed a few more people, and finally finished.

I have NEVER been in such pain after crossing a finish line. I barely hobbled over to the table to fill up one of my bottles since I had run out, and then sat down at a picnic table. My feet were THROBBING. If you know me at all, you know that I am basically dead inside, and this pain actually had me in tears. I could not believe how bad my feet hurt! Ben went to the car and got my flip flops while I took my shoes off. I seriously expected my feet to be bloody stumps based on the pain and was shocked to see that I had zero black toenails and not a single blister. I think it was just all the loose rocks on the trail that messed me up. Had a beer in the shade before getting a picture on our way out.

Official Time - 8:06:39

Overall Place - 60/74

Gender Place - 18/25

Garmin Time - 8:06:25

Garmin Distance - 31.78 miles

Garmin Pace - 15:18

Elevation Gain - 4,305'

Miles 1-5 - 15:11, 13:10, 13:16, 14:00, 15:18

Miles 6-10 - 14:14, 16:00, 14:58, 13:11, 14:56

Miles 11-15 - 15:39, 15:44, 13:53, 15:46, 16:47

Miles 16-20 - 14:17, 17:04, 13:28, 14:01, 19:50

Miles 21-25 - 17:42, 14:26, 13:08, 14:06, 18:42

Miles 26-30 - 17:27, 13:26, 18:25, 17:35, 15:52

Miles 31-31.78 - 13:30, 14:43

Thoughts:

Very convenient to Phoenix if you fly in. We stayed in Scottsdale the night before and it was about 25 minutes to the start line. Nothing really close to the race start - be sure you get food/water prior to heading out as the race starts very early and the only food we were able to get on the drive was Starbucks.
This was a pretty decent course. I didn't love having the last 7 miles be without water. I'd prefer to do the loop FIRST, then do the out and back so as not to have longest aid station gap be at the end, personally.
Volunteers were great, but aid stations were pretty unimpressive. Outside of pb&j, the only "food" was bean roll-ups - fancy wording for refried beans on a tortilla. I survived since I was only doing 50k, but there was also a 50 miler, and that would NOT have been enough for me. Lots of snack stuff that doesn't really have any calories or substance.
Shirt is cute - gender specific and RED - which is my favorite color.
Same medal no matter the distance, which I do not like - I mean there was a 5k there, and they got the same thing as the 50k?? Maybe the 50 miler was different, but I didn't see what they looked like.
Saw multiple photographers on the course, yet AGAIN there was only one small sequence of pics of me on course and not at the section where there were cacti - which is pretty much the prettiest part of the course. Pics were $9, which is competitive, but again, only fast people seemed to get really good ones. I complain about this a lot.
I wouldn't run this again, but it was a good experience to learn what Arizona trails are like in training for Cocodona.

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Week in Review (February 1 - February 7)

Tuesday (8,249 steps) - Work in the office. It started snowing before I got off work, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Picked up A and then hurried to do a 20 minute Peloton ride before Ben and I went to 4 Noses.

Nothing else?

Wednesday (8,419 steps) - I "called in" to work and said that I would be working from snow due to weather. It's really nice that I have this option if I need it. Only one of my attorneys is back to working in the office - if she wasn't there I really wouldn't have to come in at all though... Anyway, it was a snowy and cold day.

Took Pika for a walk at lunch. That's it?

Thursday (6,985 steps) - Sadly, my one attorney wanted me to come in the office because I was taking Friday off and she was going to be out the a few days the following week. The "good" thing is that she WAS actually really busy, so the day flew by. Did a 20 minute Peloton ride when I got home that KICKED MY ASS. Holy crap, it was so hard!

Friday (12,552 steps) - For a Friday, I got to sleep in since our flight wasn't until after lunch. Took A to school and did the last minute packing. Took Pika for a short walk. Thankfully, it was a bit warmer than it has been, but still icy/snowy.

Got an email that the hotel I had reserved wasn't going to be able to honor my reservation (cue the infamous Seinfeld episode here). Ugh!! Everything I looked at was crazy expensive, so I booked the first place that seemed reasonable. The drive to the airport was a bit slower because of traffic, but we parked with no issues. The shuttles were not as good as before, so that wasn't ideal. We had plenty of time to have a beer before our flight since there was no line at security. Flight was actually really short and nice! The ONLY issue on the flight was that the Nalgene that I have used for over a year somehow developed a leak?? I have no idea how this happens, I thought these things were indestructible. I ended up with the left side of my body completely soaked from the slow water leak :(

We had rented a Turo again and the guy was going to pick us up and take us to his office, at which point we would take over driving. A bit weird, but it was a LOT cheaper than a regular rental.

We first stopped at REI so I could get a new water bottle (Ben seems to think I get obsessed with things once I start thinking about them). Then, I had found a brewery that didn't seem too far out of the way, so we headed to Simple Machine. Apparently, masks and Covid aren't real in Arizona... we had a beer on the patio before leaving (since the inside was PACKED).

There was another brewery, North Mountain, that seemed even closer to our hotel (and had food!) so we went there. We ended up sitting outside there too, for the same reason. It was actually a pleasant evening, so it was fine. Beer was good and I had a delicious Philly Cheesesteak sandwich.

The hotel was supposedly only about 10 minutes away and on the drive there we decided to stop and get some bottled water and snacks before checking in. The gas station alone should have clued us into how sketchy the neighborhood was.... when we got to the hotel it was "night window only" even though it was only 8:00 pm. The parking lot was disgusting but there are often places I stay that it's not "that bad." This place was "THAT BAD." OMG. For the first time in my life I actually called the 800 number and demanded a refund. They said there was nothing they could do and to take it up with the front desk. Luckily, the gal didn't even flinch when I went back and said I couldn't stay there because it was so filthy and sketchy. (I did take some pictures, but honestly, I don't think I want them living on my blog forever). Let's just say in about 10 minutes we probably saw about a dozen cockroaches, pubic hair on the bed, probably bed bugs but we stopped short of investigating. Mold all over the place, rusted out and stained tub. Holes in the walls. It was bad. While I was getting a refund, Ben was picking a NICE place in Scottsdale. (And apparently, I'm no longer allowed to book things).

We both needed to unwind a bit, so we had a beer for going to sleep.

Saturday (69,179 steps) - Elephant Mountain 50k

I could NOT believe how badly my feet hurt when I crossed the finish line. I literally walked 15 feet to a picnic table, filled up my bottle and sat down. I was afraid to take off my shoes, because based on how my feet felt they were going to be bloody stumps when I took my socks off. I think I may have even shed a tear or two once my shoes were off. Ben brought me my flip flops and I hobbled to the beer tent. We were both STARVING, so we looked up the other brewery in the area, Front Pourch, that we hadn't been to yet and headed over.

There was a food truck that had barbeque and it was AMAZING. Pulled pork, mashed potatoes and mac & cheese. Is there any better combination of food??

We headed back to the hotel and stayed up watching Minions

Sunday (11,764 steps) - Ben called as soon as we woke up to try one more time for a late check out. This time, he got one! We didn't have to be out until noon, but we were hungry, so we went to Whole Foods for a breakfast buffet. It was delicious!!

I had a recovery walk on my schedule, so I planned out a loop near Tempe. We left the hotel around 11:30 and found the place without too much issue, other than the lot I initially picked was on the golf course and they didn't allow parking for the trail. We lucked out getting a spot in the actual lot as it was small and there were a lot of people driving through looking for a place. It was definitely warm, but at least the path that I picked was a dirt, non-technical route.

We got in just over 2.5 miles before heading into town to meet up with Heather and her mom at Four Peaks!

Heather actually lives near us, but happened to be down in Arizona so we met up for lunch! We had to get gas and then return our Turo. The airport was super fast again, and we had time for a beer on before leaving. I had planned on watching Netflix on the flight home but I was sitting in the middle and Ben decided to become besties with the other guy in our row. Landed on time, and the only hassle was the stupid shuttle back to the car. I've decided that for anything longer than two days we will park at my office and take the train in. Sick of the hassle. Had a frozen pizza when we got home. Long/short weekend.

Monday (9,213 steps) - Work from home. Took Pika for a walk at lunch. Did a Peloton ride and stretch (accidentally in German??) after I got off. Tyler came over for the first time in a while for Happy Hour. That's it?

Stats:

114,597 steps
31.78 miles run (just the race)
60 minutes of cardio
10 minutes of strength training

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Week in Review (January 25 - January 31)

Tuesday (5,850 steps) - Work in the office. I left work a bit early because of "snow," but by the time I was walking out it had stopped, and the drive home was fine. When I got off work I did my first Bike Bootcamp class. Holy moly was that tough. Supposedly I burned less than 400 calories doing this, but I was DEAD after. Good change of pace, actually kinda fun.

Wednesday (19,950 steps) - Work in the office. Headed up to Boulder for a trail run after work since I had a vert goal of 1500' to get in. I had mapped out a route that I thought would get me pretty close to it. I opted to wear my spikes because I figured it would be pretty icy. HOLY MOLY, did I completely underestimate how much snow they got!

The lower Skunk trail wasn't too bad, but by the time I got to upper Mesa/Bear Canyon and then Fern, it was a nightmare.

I realize that I take a pic of this bridge EVERY RUN, but I just love this view

Thankfully some other foot prints were on the trail or I'm not sure I would even have been able to find it. This was insanely difficult, and it seemed WAY longer than it was.

I texted Ben to have him meet me at 4 Noses for a beer when I finished. We picked up some Southern food from the food truck and it was delicious.

Thursday (17,899 steps) - Work from home. It started snowing early morning, and continued snowing heavily through lunch. It was still snowing when we took Pika for her walk.

I was really regretting not having done my run before work! Luckily, by the time I was off work it had stopped snowing and most of the sidewalks were plowed. I had agreed to meet Kristin, Tyler and Lisa for speedwork at Westminster Rec. I don't think any of us realized the extent of the construction. Oy vey. I did a few minutes of my warm up with them, but since I had very specific stuff to do, I did the rest solo.

Ice, ice, baby

I was not at all impressed with the detour signs, I found them very confusing and hard to follow, plus anything that was not sidewalk was not plowed and it was SCARY.

Either way, the run went fine, I hit some good paces, and I didn't freeze.

Ladder with 30 second increase in run, all with 2 min walk interval between

Later in the evening, I did start to notice a "pain" in my right foot. Ughhh.

Friday (10,127 steps) - Wash Park VERY cold walk with a small group. I am glad that I wore my puffy pants, it was FREEZING. Coffee with the group before going into work.

Nothing else?

Saturday (34,425 steps) - Up early to go to BPRUNCO for a run with Runner's Edge. I had told my coach that I was too scarred from running in mud/slush/snow and begged to run on road (who would have ever thought I'd say that?) I had made a modification to the route so I could get close to 1,000' of vert and estimated my mileage would be around 16 miles. I had put my micro spikes in my pack, just in case. The early miles were good! I kept up with Kristin and Lisa fairly well and I was feeling good! Fun random thing was seeing Lisa and Bruce - they even stopped us during the run to sign Ang's birthday present. Anyway, the route was REALLY icy, my foot was bothering me and I really SHOULD have put my spikes on. I ran for a bit with a gal, that helped pass the time. Used the bathroom (it was not a false alarm) at the rec center. The back half was really pretty awful, and that was the part I'd do twice.

I cut the end of the route to head up Kipling and didn't get lost at all (unlike the last time). By the time I got back to the shop there was only Sheila and one other person there. I stayed for a few to talk with Alex and Phil before heading over to New Terrain to meet up with Ben, Zach and Maureen.

Sunday (13,968 steps) - My coach had adjusted my workout for the day due to my foot still being janky and in pain. I only had 30-60 minutes of cardio. Woo! I was excited for my first LIVE Peloton class (next week we will have had the bike for a YEAR) - featuring EMINEM!! The class was a blast and every song was good. I did a cool down ride that I didn't like as much and then showered so I could head down to Highlands Ranch to meet up with Lisa, Jandy, Kristin, Ben and Maureen for a walk.

Turkeys!

The Highline was soooo muddy, this was not the most fun. We then went to Prost (Jandy's choice, barf) - although Ben and I were not comfortable with Douglas County's "lax" mask mandates.