Week in Review (August 15 - August 21)

Tuesday (10,939 steps) - Peloton ride before work in the office. Cross training at lunch. Walk with Olive when it got cooler, but otherwise, no recollection of the day.

Wednesday (16,358 steps) - Work in the office. It was a hot day, but I had a hike on schedule, so I planned on putting my Boulder park pass to use and went to South Mesa. It started to rain on the drive, but it was dry (although humid) when I started.

I was really trying hard to just hike, and not get into the running, so I was just doing a fast pace. I didn't encounter anyone until I was almost a mile up. There were two older guys and I commented that hopefully we would miss the storm since it was thundering quite a bit. They said "we will be fine" and then about 5 minutes later it started POURING. It only lasted for maybe 10 minutes, but I got drenched and the temperature dropped significantly. 

Pretty sure I have never seen it so green this late in the year up here!

I was thinking the route I picked was going to be longer than what it was, but I was happy with getting this done as "quick" as I did.

Quick stop by Runners Roost after I finished because I knew Rabbit was going to be there. It was a ZOO! They were also doing a Leadville event and there were a million people there. I got a free drawstring Rabbit bag before heading out. I agreed to meet up with Ben for one beer at 4 Noses before going home to re-create A's first day of school pictures! We tried to do some outside but the lighting was weird, so they are inside. I can't believe she is a senior this year!

Thursday (17,661 steps) - Up early to do a run before work since it was supposed to be a million degrees. Run wasn't bad! And then, work... in the office. Joyce needed witnesses for an early morning signing and apparently EVERYONE (including me) works remote on Thursdays. Sigh. I did end up being pretty busy all day. I've been going down the rabbit hole of wanting to get a new phone. I've only had mine since March 2022, but ever since I fell in the river at Fat Dog my phone has been having issues charging. I finally stopped by Xfinity to see what my phone options were and didn't like any of the ones that they had in stock, so I went to the Apple store. I was really surprised that they were going to be able to give me so much money for my phone! With that said, I hadn't really been planning on getting rid of my phone, and I definitely need A to put my screen protector and case on before using it. I had to email Ben since they wiped my phone before I was able to get a text out. We met at Parry's for a beer and an appetizer. By the phone I got everything ready and activated my new phone it was bedtime. Weird being without one for so long, and the worst part was having to listen to the RADIO in the car. Boo hiss.

Friday (12,909 steps) - Yay random work from home day!!! Took Olive for a few walks. Did grocery shopping at both the grocery store and Costco. A needed some hair bows for cross country and I went to a few stores looking for what she needed before I gave up and I met up with Ben for happy hour. Nothing else?

Saturday (22,142 steps) - I had 6 miles on schedule, and Ben and I planned to run together. It was supposed to be REALLY hot, so we needed to go early. I agreed to an 8:30 start, but man oh man, was it miserable. Run felt REALLY hard, so I have given myself another beer fast for a bit to recover. We headed to Ziggi's (for the first time!) and thought we were going to get coffee, but saw they had smoothies and got one of those instead. It was delicious!!

Took Olive for a walk when I got home. she ended up rolling in some stuff and got briars in her tail, so I had to give her another bath. She was not especially amused.

Ben got us tickets to see a movie and we went to Torchy's first for a queso appetizer. We headed to Alamo for a screening of "The Last Voyage of the Demeter." I was really surprised he picked this one, since it is way out of his comfort level (he is not a fan of horror movies). It was pretty good though, I liked it. 

Sunday (15,804 steps) - Up "early" to go to Stanley Marketplace for Brunch Run. I wasn't planning on running, it was a rest day, but I wanted to go somewhere different. I was the only one walking, so Olive and I did our own thing. It was already REALLY hot by the time we were finishing up.

But look at how cute and photogenic she is!

Got a coffee and chocolate croissant and spent some time with Lisa and Joanna before I decided to head home for the day. A was working, so I stopped in for some queso and a taco for lunch. And later, since Ben was going out of town, he sent me some money so I could try out the newest restaurant in the area, Cava. It was pretty good, although I was much hungrier than what I got food-wise.

Monday (16,060 steps) - Work from home. I only had 3 miles on schedule, and it was supposed to get up to 100 degrees, so I did my run before work. Even at 7:15 it was already REALLY hot and I was sweating like a maniac by the time I was done.

Batman likes to trap Olive upstairs

I took Olive for her walk early because of the heat. A met me at Ziggi's and we got some coffee! I liked it, but it literally was so sugary I thought I was going to go into a diabetic coma, haha.

Made dinner and watched some TV. Took Olive for a short walk. This heat is oppressive.

Stats:

• 111,873 steps
• 14.27 miles run
• 30 minutes of cardio (plus a 5+ mile hike)
• 20 minutes of strength

Week in Review (August 8 - August 14)

Tuesday (10,706 steps) - Peloton before work. For some reason, I was about halfway through a 30 minute ride when a pop-up came on the screen saying the bike needed an update and did I want to do it now or later? WHY WOULD I WANT TO DO AN UPDATE IN THE MIDDLE OF A RIDE?? I wasn't able to get back into it and had to do something else instead. So freaking annoying!!!!!  Work in the office, cross training at lunch, including a 30 minute total body class. Ooooof.

Wednesday (15,958 steps) - Work in the office. Had another hill repeat workout on schedule, so I headed over to Dinosaur Ridge. It's a VERY intimidating set of 5, but I slowed the climbs a tiny bit and my descents were WAY faster than the last time I ran these.

Ben met me when I was finishing up and we stopped at Parry's on the way home for a Juicy Bits.

Thursday (23,943 steps) - Work from home! Had a 90 minute run on schedule, so I took an early lunch to get it done. 

Took Olive for a walk after that. Ariel and I picked up pizza from Costco for lunch. 

Friday (14,677 steps) - Wash Park and coffee!

My computer was getting worked on at lunch, so I went for a longer walk. Ugh, so tired of all the stupid construction downtown. AND I discovered that even more stores/restaurants are closed. I hate it here.

Saturday (25,752 steps) - Met Ben in Boulder for a trail run. Neither of us was super into it, and it seemed hard and VERY humid.

Most exciting part of the day was seeing our first snake of the season. (Not poisonous, and very uninterested in us).

Went to Runners Roost to pick up new shoes for Ariel (and did NOT get anything for myself, haha). Took Olive for a walk. Went to 4 Noses with Ben. No idea what happened the rest of the night.

Sunday (20,913 steps) - Relaxed a bit before going out for a recovery run, then taking Olive for a walk. Exciting day, she had her first grooming appointment! I think they did a wonderful job, and apparently she did very well.

Ben and I went to see Barbie and we both liked it! 

Monday (19,437 steps) - Work from home. Did my run early while it was still "cool" and took Olive for a walk. Ariel and I went to Costco for lunch again (and tried the frozen coffee, which was tasty!) Work was uninteresting, but the mail was fun! I finally got a quiver for my pack - and after watching numerous YouTube videos, finally figured out how to attach it. 

Ben came over after work to help work on the backyard. It is truly a disaster. We went to 4 Noses for a beer after, and I had leftovers for dinner. Wooo.

Stats:

• 131,386 steps
• 32.91 miles run
• 28 minutes of cardio
• 30 minutes of strength training

Week in Review (August 1 - August 7)

Tuesday (10,881 steps) - Peloton ride before going to work. Did cross training at work. Nothing else?

Wednesday (15,447 steps) - Work in the office. Headed up to Louisville for run club! I had plans to run with Lisa since it was her first time there. We unfortunately had to head up McCaslin to start, which felt insanely hard. I don't think I've run around Harper Lake in YEARS, and I enjoyed some of the tile/rock art in the tunnel connector.

I had 45 minutes on schedule, but with a route I wasn't super familiar with, we ended up with more miles than planned and a bit longer, but it felt pretty good (outside of the climb at the start).

Ben met me, Terri and Larry at Murphy's for a few beers and a snack. Long night.

Thursday (17,250 steps) - Work from home. Mostly easy 45 minute run and a walk with Olive at lunch.

Friday (14,140 steps) - Wash Park and coffee!

Work ended up being CRAZY busy all day, and it was nice to have leftovers from the summer party (which I did not attend) as I never got a chance to take a real lunch.

Met up with Ben for a beer at 4 Noses.

Saturday (62,132 steps) - Ben arrived just after 5:30 to head down to Waterton Canyon. I had my longest training run in probably 14 months on schedule - 26 miles! (Normally I am scheduled by time, not miles). I compromised with Greg to attempt "progression" for first/last 6 miles and hike/jog the middle part. Well, first off, we got started late. 

Saw a whole family of sheep!!

I didn't feel wonderful, but the first 6 went ok, maybe a bit slower than planned, but we ran all the way to the dam. Then, thankfully, it was time to hike!

Obligatory picture when we get to the "real" trail

The longest out/back I have ever done here is 24 miles, and even THAT was many, many years ago. I still actually remembered quite a bit, however. 

Felt mostly ok, although a little hot. I had put the Platypus bladder in my pack and decided to refill the front bottles around mile 11-12. I (mistakenly) thought that I would drink less on the way back...

Neither of us felt as good as we hoped on the way down. I recognized that this was actually going to be really good training though - running whenever I can on tired legs. I hoped that we could do the last 6 quicker than we did, but we ended up taking a lot of walk breaks. We decided to go closer to home for food, and A said she would meet us at Parry's for pizza! It was a delicious lunch, and I only had one beer. Took Olive for a walk and A to get her sports physical. We did a movie night and watched the newest Transformers movie, which we all liked!

Sunday (10,451 steps) - "Slept in." Went to Torchy's for breakfast and a Bloody Mary!

Took Olive for a walk, then we went to 4 Noses for a beer. The afternoon was spent... watching tv? I may have done some cleaning.

Monday (25,336 steps) - Work from home, thankfully. Did my run, which ended up being faster than I expected.

Took Olive for a walk. Did some chores around the house. Ariel took me to dinner at Torchy's. 

Stats:

• 155,637 steps
• 41.59 miles run
• 20 minutes of cardio
• 40 minutes of strength training

Week in Review (July 25 - July 31)

Tuesday (13,463 steps) - Short Peloton ride before going to work. Walk and cross training at lunch.

Wednesday (18,055 steps) - Work in the office. Left work at lunch to work from home since Steph was coming for a visit! We took Olive for a short walk before going to Boulder for a hike/run.

Initially the plan was to hike the uphills and maybe jog the downhills, but I was actually feeling pretty decent, so we also ran Mesa trail section. Beautiful night, but warm and kind of humid.

Per Steph's request, we went to Roost after. She was pretty impressed with the size of the store (and the run club!) We then headed to 4 Noses for a beer with Ben and Kristin, then we went to Salsa's for dinner. She was pretty tired from her drive, so she went to bed early.

Thursday (15,815 steps) - Steph joined me for a recovery run! (It wasn't much of a recovery pace for me though, haha).

Went to Renegade for breakfast. Pretty good, I have never actually eaten there! Rich arrived shortly before lunch and they headed off to Longmont to pick up Steph's jeep. Fun, short visit. The rest of the work day was pretty slow, which was nice.

Friday (10,852 steps) - Wash Park and coffee! On my way into work, I apparently drove over "something" (not a pothole) and got YET ANOTHER FLAT TIRE. Like, not a slow drain, completely flat. I talked to Amber and Joyce and got the ok to head out early in hopes of getting it fixed before the weekend.

Ariel met me at Big O and I finished the work day at home. I got the call the car was done. Yay!! Of course the psi was low on the drive home, but I didn't think much of it until about a half hour later when I got in to go to Costco and it was flat!! So I headed back. They rushed me in before they closed and did a different patch method. I met Ben for a beer. Sadly, leaving the brewery and the tire was flat again.

Saturday (13,570 steps) - Oh. Hi. It's me. I'm the problem, it's me. Yes, back to the tire place right when they opened. They were a bit surprised to see me yet again and informed me (as I feared) that I would just have to get a new tire. Le sigh. Thankfully, they allowed me to just get one since my tires are still pretty good, but they would have to get it from somewhere else and it would be a bit before it was done. Ben picked me up and we went to the house. Took Olive with us for a 45 minute run - she did REALLY well, especially considering she hasn't gone for a true run in a few months.

It actually wasn't too much later that my car was supposedly done (again). This time though, with a $300 bill. Ugh. Ben and I went to Costco for lunch and our respective groceries. Met up later for a beer. When I got back home, there were some kids at the door asking if there was any yard work they could do for money. I had a few dollars in my car and they offered to pull weeds. 

Spent the rest of the evening hanging out with the animals and watching tv.

Sunday (11,949 steps) - Happy first birthday to Blue-C! Hard to believe it's already (only?) a year! Lounged around in the morning before finally taking Olive out for a walk before it got too hot. Ben met us after about a half hour, and we extended the walk to be just under 3 miles. Shortly before getting back home A asked if I could bring the portable speaker to her work - and in exchange she promised queso! We opted to also get tacos and then went to 4 Noses for a beer. Rest of the day somehow disappeared with accomplishing nothing other than a load of laundry and watching "Knock at the Cabin." For once, I figured out most of it before it was over!

Monday (19,422 steps) - Work from home. Got my "easy 5 miles with strides" done before it got too hot.

Took Olive for a walk and saw an owl for the first time in AGES. 

All in all, a pretty blah day. Went to Costco for a slice of pizza for lunch, and had a ramen bowl for dinner. A had a friend over and they watched TV in the basement and I watched a bunch of random stuff before going to bed. At least it was stormy and I hoped to sleep well with the cooler temperatures. 

Stats:

• 103,126 steps
• 16.89 miles run
• 15 minutes of cardio
• 20 minutes of strength

Week in Review (July 18 - July 24)

Tuesday (10,352 steps) - Work in the office. Walk at lunch and walk when I got home with Olive. No recollection of anything else.

Wednesday (10,323 steps) - Work in the office. Did some yoga and a walk at lunch. Pulled weeds after work?

Thursday (11,638 steps) - Had plans to head to Buena Vista mid morning. I took Olive for a walk and did some last minute packing. Ben arrived shortly after 10 and we headed out. It was a very uneventful drive for once. Only stop along the way was to use the bathroom in Fairplay. We headed right to the high school so I could pick up my bib.

A lot of really great swag (Rabbit flannel for a race top!) and the extra Rabbit sun shirts I had purchased for me and Ben. We were both hungry and decided to go into town to get something to eat. 

Picked up some groceries before checking into the hotel at 3, so we did that and then sat around until it was time to go back to the school for the mandatory pre-race meeting. The gym was PACKED and it wasn't too terrible of a meeting, but it was long. It was already getting late and I was definitely worried about getting enough sleep. I forced myself to eat dinner (blah, wasn't hungry) and then it was lights out pretty early.

Friday (105,200 steps) - High Lonesome 100!

Mile 90 Photography

Saturday (20,483 steps) - Once Tyler and Terri got us back to the start/finish line, we stood around for a bit because they had plans to go hiking. I was tired, and we finally went to the AirBnb. Took a shower and also a nap. I wanted to go back to the finish line to watch the last hour of people finish (and also get my bottle of whiskey). The finish line was really cool and you can read more about it in the race report. We ended up going into town later to get food and discovered just about everything was closed before 8. We were able to get some food and a beer from a restaurant off Main, but there was a live band and it was loud. We headed back to the BnB and attempted to watch a movie, but I kept dozing off so we went to bed early. 

Sunday (11,101 steps) - Went into town to get breakfast. Staving, I got a lot of food, a giant breakfast bowl and protein shake, plus coffee! We went for a long walk around town. This was my favorite sign ever!

It was HOT, so we stopped and got a beer on Main Street before going back to the Bnb. Didn't do much all day, but we did get some laundry done. It was warm enough that we were able to line dry everything in a pretty short amount of time. For dinner we though BBQ sounded good, but we arrived and the guy said they were closed for catering, so we went to the Mexican place next door which was NOT great. Pretty dirty and the staff pretended they didn't know English OR Spanish, so getting our food/drinks was not the best experience. 

Low key evening of watching a movie.

Monday (10,354 steps) - Up early and decided to just head out sooner rather than later. Quick stop in Frisco for a beer at Outer Range. Thankfully, on a Monday, there was not much traffic in the mountains. Arrived home to million degree temperatures. Went to 4 Noses for a beer, then I went to Torchy's and got an early dinner.

It was finally cool enough to take Olive for a long walk around 7 - it was a nice evening.

Unpacked and went to bed early. 

Stats:

• 179,451 steps
• 56.71 miles run
• 0 minutes of cardio
• 20 minutes of strength