Weekend activities

I had a kick-ass double work out at the gym on Saturday. A few of us did the double session and I was the only one still full of energy at the end of the second. Put the younger chicks to shame!

Yesterday I decided that I must do a long run if I had any chance of completing my 10 mile race next Saturday. So DH & I headed out on the Santa Fe trail from Woodmen Road towards the airforce academy. After checking the map we figured that the air force academy north entrance was a little over 4 miles, so an out and back would be 8 + miles. The weather was good, sunny, about 40f and no wind. The trail looked in good shape so I decided not to wear my yaktrax. That was a big mistake. A few yards into the trail revealed that it was still very snow and ice packed with some areas of deep snow and some lethal icy areas. Anyway, I persevered, leaving DH behind along the way. I made it to the north entrance, turned around and eventually caught up with DH who had turned around early. We ran together for a while but then I went passed him and finished a couple of minutes ahead. My total time was approx 1hr 12mins which is pretty good going given the conditions and the fact that was the furthest I have run ever!

Finished the weekend by going to a superbowl party at my friend Mike's house. Much fun, booze and food had by all.

Well I was going to go to my friend Cherry Picker's birthday celebrations last night at the Bristol Brewing Co. But I had a few things to do after work and by the time I was done it was 7pm and the weather was crappy so we just went out for dinner at Marigolds, our superb local restaurant. I drank lots of wine!

I did run yesterday and felt pretty good. I will give it a miss today because it is very cold, -4f right now. I am going to the gym instead to my turbo kick class which is so much fun. I have a couple of classes in the morning - hour of power & cardio express. Then sometime over the weekend I intend to do a longish run, about 8 miles. I need to do this in preparation for the 10 mile winter series run the following weekend. My aim for that is sub 9 minute miles which should be very doable as it is not really cross-country (which slows me down considerably), just up and down the Santa Fe trail.

Tonight I think we are going to the movies to see Notes on a Scandal.

Have a great weekend.....

Happy February!

So my blog has entered the land of sucksville as I haven't updated it for a week.

My ski weekend was fun. I did take a lesson which will hopefully help me improve. I was totally exhausted at the end of each day because I did a full day of hard skiing (mainly moguls) . Drank lots of beer and wine and vodka. Good times.

The rest of my week has been a bit of a blur. I went in for a colonoscopy on Wednesday. Monday was spent dreading it. Tuesday was spent preparing for it (which involves fasting and taking stuff to flush out the intestines - nice!!). The actual procedure itself was straight forward and as I was under general anaesthetic I don't remember a thing. It's the first time I have had any type of operation and the first time I have been under general anesthetic. It was all very uneventful. The nurse warned me that I would be sleeping all afternoon, have amnesia, feel groggy, etc. but I felt fine and just laid on the couch watching TV all afternoon. The only negative effect was feeling a bit weak from the absence of food and a bit depressed from the absence of alcohol (2 whole days). The results were negative so it was worth the hassle. And I lost 2lbs!!

As a result of the above I have done little running this week. I managed a quick 5k on Monday and hope to get out this afternoon for another. I think I have my strength back. It snowed yet again today and more is expected tonight. It's pretty soft snow this time and is melting quickly so the trail should be OK.

And tonight I am going to have a drink or several!!

Progress Report - Week 3.

A better running week. My 2nd place in the cross country caper was the highlight.

Total miles: 23.3 miles

Furthest Distance: 5.5 miles

No weight loss this week!!

I did a kick-ass 5 miler last night with Colorado Running Company. The guy I was running with (at the head of the "slow" group) said we were running about 8:30 min miles which is pretty good for me over that distance.

Off up to Keystone tonight for a ski weekend. Hopefully no falls this time. I think I will take a lesson tomorrow. DHs friend from DC is joining us tomorrow & Saturday, so should be fun.

Good intentions....

So I started the week with the intention of abstaining from alcohol until Thursday night. My reasons for this have nothing to do with a desire to remain sober, but everything to do with calorie intake. Anyway, an old friend of DH's is in town for a conference this week and came over for dinner last night, during which I managed to polish off a bottle of wine by myself. Great start to the week!! And then there is Jack Quinns tonight. I thought I would just do the run and shoot off early tonight but as DH and his pal are now planning to do the run as well, they are sure to want a few beers afterwards. Ah well, so much for good intentions. I will just have to run extra hard on the two runs I have planned for today.

My time for the Cross Country Caper was 33:29. I'm happy with that given the yukky conditions.

Another run in the snow..

So DH forced me to go out running again today. I really didn't want to go as it was snowing, windy and cold. 22f the same as yesterday but it felt much colder due to the wind chill. We headed out on the Santa Fe trail from Woodmen Road, north toward the Air Force Academy. Again I left DH straggling behind. I waited a couple of times but after a while decided to go for it because it was too darn cold for hanging around. I'm not sure how far I went before I turned around but it was probably about 5k. On the way back it was better as the wind was behind me and it was generally down hill. I must get me a Garmin Forerunner so I can work out how far I am running!! When the weather improves I am going to pick up the distance.

Cross Country Caper

I woke up Saturday morning with a hangover from hell. I looked out of the window and it had been snowing. "great day to stay in bed" I thought to myself. Then DH says, "what time is the run?". Me: "what run?". DH: " the 5k you signed us up for". Me: "oh, we don't have to do it if you don't want - it only cost 10 bucks each". DH: "It's up to you, but I'm happy to do it". So I crawled out of bed at about 9:15am (the race starts at 10 and it's a good 20 min drive to get there) and say "OK let's do it before I change my mind". It has more or less stopped snowing but it is a chilly 22f and no sun in sight. We make it just in time, as I think I know where it starts but I am totally wrong. We eventually find it. When I get out of the car I comment to DH "look there's some crazy SOB running in this weather in shorts and sleeveless top". On closer inspection I realise that it's Brownie in a feeble attempt to try to look macho to prove he isn't gay. So we set off, DH goes charging ahead as he is determined to beat me as I beat him in the last two 5ks we have run. I take a while to warm up, but once I get in my stride I feel GREAT! I pass DH after the first hill and keep him in my sights (behind me) all the way. Hills usually kill me but I managed to run almost all on this race. The last one kicked my butt and I started to walk, but when I turned around and saw DH catching me up, so I made one final push. The last section was downhill so I kicked out and increased my lead. As I crossed the finish line I heard the organiser say "you get a prize". Me? What for? I never win anything! In the excitement I forgot to look at my time and then I was waiting to cheer DH in. I then looked at my watch and it said 34 something, so I guess my time was 33 something, which given the weather conditions, hangover, and damn tough course was pretty respectable. It turns out I got second place in the women's class. It was a pretty small group so I'm not letting it go to my head. However, I had thought I would be miles behind everyone as I expected only the stalwart/really good cross-country runners to turn out for this one. Before the race they said they were doing the awards inside. So we waited for ages by the building and then someone came over to tell us that they had decided to do the awards at the start. Great! I went back over and got my prize - a Colorado Running Company mug and a $25 gift certificate from CRC. (sorry this is all one paragraph but my enter key is not having any effect in getting the cursor to go on the next line).