Because Being Ordinary Is Boring

Week in Review (February 17 - February 23)

2026-02-24T15:52:00.003-07:00

Tuesday (12,980 steps) - Peloton ride and Olive walk before going to work. Went to the gym at lunch for a short StairMaster session, strength training and some walking at incline.

We had to go to Costco to pick up groceries. Took Olive for a walk when we got home, then sauna. Pizza for dinner, then we watched men's Big Air finals on the Olympics before more Beast in Me.

Wednesday (17,748 steps) - Olive walk before going to work. Had a crazy morning and took my lunch early when I got a break to ensure I could get my workout in. Had the same ladder speed work that I did a few weeks ago. I felt really good the whole time and when I compared the workouts I was a little bit faster and my heart rate was a little lower - hope that means I finally starting to improve my fitness a bit!

After work I was heading out to walk Olive when Ben got home, so he joined us. Dinner and watched some of the dual moguls before finishing up Beast in Me. Bummer that it was such a short series, it was really good! We started a new Netflix limited series, "His & Hers" - not sure we love it just yet.

Thursday (16,761 steps) - Work from home. Took Olive for her walk a little early since it was supposed to get cloudy and windy. It wasn't bad! Of course by the time I changed and went for my run about 10 minutes after getting back, it was miserably cold and windy.

Perfect opportunity to wear my sweet Thai 300 jacket!

Did my strength workouts and a quick sauna session. One delivery on the way to meet Ben at Torchy's for dinner. Took Olive for a short walk around the block. Skipped watching Olympics and went straight for more His & Hers, which is getting a bit more interesting, but also, we are almost done!!

Friday (11,977 steps) - Took Olive for a walk shortly after getting up BEFORE showering since the cold front had come through and I didn't want to walk with wet hair. Took her to work with me. Finally got caught up on a bunch of pending things.

Took Olive for our regular "longer" walk at lunch and was FREEZING. Really wished I had remembered to bring something to cover my ears. If it's gonna be this cold, I wish we would at least get some moisture. It is SO dry. Ben left work early and finished his day at 4 Noses. I told him I would just meet him at home, so skipped happy hour. Took Olive for a walk. Watched Olympics women's halfpipe qualifications and finished His & Hers. Kind of a crazy show.

Saturday (37,399 steps) - Up early since we were planning on going to Chatfield for the Roxborough free race. Christina texted me to let me know she wasn't going to be able to attend after all, boooo! Took Olive for a walk before we drove down. Got there with just enough time to get my bib and use the bathroom. Had some time to fangirl over Allie Ostrander showing up to do a tune up before she runs the half marathon National Championships. Anyway... I was thinking I may or may not be overdressed, but decided to leave all my layers on and adjust if necessary. Ben signed up for the 5 miler and I was in for the 15 miler, so off we went.

Last time we raced out here there was a ton of snow on the ground, but it was bone dry for this one. I let Ben set the pace for this one, and arguably, we headed out a bit faster paced than I wanted to (between 11 & 11:30 pace, if I recall). I was maintaining ok though, so went with it. It was a really nice day out!

Ben turned around at the top of the hill and I figured I would try to maintain the pace as long as I could. threw in my headphones, and since I had long sleeves on, I was not watching my pace. I was only checking when a mile clicked, which was working out nice. I was surprised to see how much of this was wide bike path - last year with the snow I thought this was all single track trail. I was following and older lady pretty closely because her pace seemed good.

She turned around for the 10 mile distance and I was left to chase a gal in front of me. I stopped to use the first open bathroom I saw and she got pretty far away from me. We had a loop to do at the end of our out and back and this WAS single track. I slowed the pace just a bit since it was sort of steep. No walking though, so I was proud of that.

Moved off the single track and onto some rutted black top before getting back on the nice, smooth bike path. I was still just a minute or two behind the same woman. She FINALLY took a walk break with about five miles to go and I was able to nudge past her. I think I unintentionally picked up the pace a bit. and it started to bite me in the ass when I got closer to the finish. With only about a mile left I took my first walk break - still happy I made it over 14 miles in before I needed to walk! The last mile lasted absolutely forever. I am surprised Ben got a decent picture of me crossing.

I thought I was going to pass out and sat down for a few minutes - mostly so I could catch my breath AND have a cough attack at the same time. Sadly, there were no burritos left :(

I was hungry though, so Ben suggested we go to Bluegrass for a snack. They were still serving brunch, so I got some underwhelming french toast and eggs. I also got a latte, that was NOT underwhelming.

Took Olive for a walk when we got back, thankfully, she chose the neighborhood walk and NOT the longer walk. Sauna, shower, and then we settled in for the night. Watched men's halfpipe finals and Sirens

Sunday (18,060 steps) - Up early again since we had to head down to Denver for the annual kick off for the Runners Roost race team. We walked with Maureen and Colfax - it was a fairly chilly morning!

Everything took longer than usual, and by the time we visited with everyone, picked up our kits and shopped, it was already lunch time. We stopped at home for a snack and then went up to Boulder for a modified vert day. It was really nice weather, but definitely got cold towards the end because of cloud cover.

Stopped at Rails End and then picked up Panda for dinner on the way home.

Watched women's halfpipe finals and Sirens

Monday (21,451 steps) - Work from home, thankfully. Had slept terrible because Robin seemingly was screaming all night long. Felt like I was just on the brink of falling asleep and never got any rest. Ben brought me a surprise Dutch Bros. because he had accidentally left his laptop at home and had to come back to get it anyway, so that was nice. Took Olive for a walk and then headed out for my run. Was supposed to be warm, but felt chilly because of the stupid wind. Overall, the run was fine.

Clocked out a few minutes early since I had to go to my annual gyno appointment, woo. Walked Olive when I got home and Ben brought home pizza for dinner. We finished Sirens (this was also a sorta crazy show) and started The Good Wife. If nothing else, we are excited to watch a show that has more than one season.

Stats:

136,376 steps
34.02 miles run
15.26 miles walked
45 minutes of cardio
60 minutes of strength
105 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (February 10 - February 16)

2026-02-17T16:12:00.002-07:00

Tuesday (11,989 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work in the office. Went to the gym at lunch and did StairMaster, strength training and a short walk on the treadmill.

Took Olive for a walk when I got home and sauna. We watched some Olympics - men's Freestyle, which was fun. Then Following.

Wednesday (24,173 steps) - Olive walk before work.

Olive looking very cute waiting for her last Christmas cookie

Did a walk on the treadmill at lunch. After work I headed up to Boulder for my hill workout. Was starting to feel like I'm coming down with a cold so wasn't looking forward to it. Definitely overdressed, but actually ran "faster" than the last time I did this workout in December.

Also got to finally try out my new UltrAspire waist light. Different than the Kogalla and will take some getting used to.

Ben had dinner ready when I got home. Following and early to bed.

Thursday (18,091 steps) - Work from home. Peloton ride in the morning before taking Olive for a longer walk at lunch (had to stop by Tyler's on the way home) and then I did run after.

Quick upper body and sauna. Met Ben at Torchy's for dinner and an Olive walk. We watched the replay of women's Freestyle finals and then Following, which we finished. The show definitely had room for growth, but it's been nearly a decade since it was on so I guess that's just how it ended.

Friday (12,289 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office.

MOM, I'M BORED, LET'S WALK NOW

Took Olive for a walk at lunch and finally cashed the savings bonds I've had sitting around for a few years. After work I dropped Olive off at home and met Ben at 4 Noses for NA happy hour and dinner. Watched some Olympics and started a new show - Beast in Me.

Saturday (33,398 steps) - Lounged around and took Olive for a long walk to the lake.

We had plans to meet Terri for a run, but I wanted to get some extra mileage, so I did a few miles beforehand. We did a route that I have only done once before - and we had a TON of snow. Weather was much better, albeit a bit warm.

After the run we went to Mudrocks for lunch - I got a delicious bowl of mac and cheese and actually had to bring half of it home.

Ben and I took Olive for a walk when we got back home, sauna, watched women's Big Air qualifications and more Beast in Me.

Sunday (17,041 steps) - Headed up to Boulder for another vert day. Cannot believe how warm it is for mid-February. I used my new UltrAspire Mountain Racer belt for the day. Easily able to carry an 800ml flask (which was basically for Olive). Hoping to use this as an "add-on" to my new Traverse pack for 200s. The new waist light I got is compatible with it, plus there are bungees in the back that can hold poles or extra gear. PLUS, a ton of pockets.

Absolutely the only square foot of snow we saw the whole time!

Afterwards, we headed to Rails End. There was no food truck so Ben dropped me and Olive off at home and went to Costco to pick up a pizza. Sauna, more Olympics and Beast in Me.

Monday (22,128 steps) - Still feeling sick, so was really glad to sleep late and work from home. I was throwing in a load of laundry when I noticed the utility sink was filled with dirty water. That should have been a clue, but I didn't realize the problem until I went to pull laundry out and the washer didn't drain. UGH - WE JUST HAD THIS ISSUE LAST SPRING. Had to call out a sewer/plumber guy. While I was waiting for him (and Ariel to show up for me to do her taxes), I took Olive for a walk to the lake. At least this time the guy was professional, showed up quickly and got the work done quickly for half the price I was charged last time. Went for my run - another freakishly nice day out, and the run was not bad at all. Showered and finished up my day. After work I went to Jared to get my ring inspected and then home for a walk with Olive. Ben ordered pho for dinner.

We watched more Olympics - women's Big Air finals and more Beast in Me.

Stats:

139,109 steps
34.17 miles run
16.74 miles walked
61 minutes of cardio
40 minutes of strength
110 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (February 3 - February 9)

2026-02-10T12:26:00.004-07:00

Tuesday (12,331 steps) - Peloton ride and Olive walk before going to work in the office. Went to the gym at lunch and did some strength training and walked on the treadmill. Ben and I took Olive for a walk after work. Dinner and sauna. Following!

Wednesday (16,226 steps) - Olive walk before going to work. Had a meeting at lunch, then did my workout afterwards - on a full stomach. It was surprisingly not terrible.

Helped that the weather was amazing - definitely didn't feel like February should. Took Olive for a walk when I got home. Following!

Thursday (17,762 steps) - Work from home! Did a Peloton ride in the morning since Greg has apparently decided I need to cross train AND run on Thursdays now (which is fine, but new). I actually set a PR for output, which was fun! Took Olive for a long walk and then did my run. I didn't make notes of any kind on my run, so it must have been fine. Weather was really warm, so that's always appreciated. I had to rush to take a shower and eat lunch since I had a late afternoon dentist appointment. Did an upper body workout and after work it was Torchy's. Home for a walk with Olive and sauna before Following. Busy night!

Friday (13,665 steps) - Actually got up and did the Wash Park walk with the group - it had been a while. Work in the office, with an intermission at lunch for a walk.

WAY warmer than I thought it would be. After work I dropped Olive off at home and met Ben at 4 Noses. We ended up having burgers from the food truck for dinner. Yum!

Following.

Saturday (30,280 steps) - We had a later run planned so we were able to have a relaxing morning. Took Olive for a long walk in the wind while Ben went to pick up Dutch Bros.

Headed up to Centennial Cone for the first time in a few years. Even though the full loop was not open I figured it would be a fun place to run. Felt relatively strong on the climbs and managed to keep up (sorta) with Tyler. Also tried out the new UltrAspire Traverse pack, which I plan on using for all 200s going forward. It has a much larger capacity, so I'm pretty excited to not have to try and cram so much stuff into a smaller pack.

The gang is back together!

We stopped at the "Iron Maiden" bar. They didn't have any NA beer so I just had a diet Pepsi and a gyro.

Took Olive for a walk when we got home and sauna time. Ben ordered Cupbop for dinner and Following!

Sunday (14,134 steps) - All we had on schedule was a hike, so we planned on South Mesa, with our regular Boulder trails as a back up if we weren't able to get parking. Thankfully, we were able to get a spot. Another very windy morning and basically ZERO snow on the trail, although the tiny bits Olive found made her very happy to roll around in.

We stopped at Rails End before going home to prep for watching the Super Bowl. Ben picked up a pizza and some fancy cheese from Costco for snacking.

The game was pretty meh, some good commercials and a pleasantly surprising halftime show. After the game was over we watched more Following.

Monday (20,313 steps) - Work from home! Took Olive for a long walk at lunch and then I went for my run - to the north side of the lake, which I only purposely do a few times a year. Run was not bad. Also, it was nearly 70 degrees. IN FEBRUARY.

Olive walk with Ben when he got home from work and sauna. Dinner and Following.

Stats:

124,711 steps
28.34 miles run
16.54 miles walked
35 minutes of cardio
35 minutes of strength
105 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (January 27 - February 2)

2026-02-03T11:07:00.001-07:00

Tuesday (13,111 steps) - Up a little earlier than usual to take a live Peloton class for my 350th ride! Still no shout out - really thought it was my time since he (Bradley) started them at 300 classes. I didn't hear anyone other than even 100s though. Sigh. At least the music was good! Took Olive for a walk before going into the office. Had a staff meeting at lunch - at least there was lunch? Some not so good changes coming (in addition to the ones I found out about last fall). Sigh. After the meeting I went down to the gym and walked a few miles on the treadmill. Did a delivery on my way home from work, then Ben and I took Blue-C to the carwash. Took Olive for a walk, dinner, sauna and more Following.

Wednesday (16,978 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office. Went for a run at lunch and did some mobility before going back to work.

Took Olive for a walk when I got home and sauna time after dinner. We watched Greenland 2, which I didn't think was as good as the first one.

Thursday (15,255 steps) - Work from home. Olive had her appointment for a haircut at 9:30, so I walked her over and ran home (like the last time). Showered and worked until it was time to pick her up. She was VERY excited to see me. Long walk home, which she enjoyed.

Torchy's for dinner and sauna after. Following .

Friday (10,690 steps) - Walk with Olive before going to work in the office. It was a really busy day at work, but we still made it out for a longer walk at lunch.

Met Ben at 4 Noses for NA happy hour. Dinner and took Olive for a short walk before more Following.

Saturday (26,431 steps) - Took Olive for a walk before heading up to Boulder for more burrito loops. The weather was much warmer this time. Ben and I did all our loops with Tyler, which was fun. Lots of giveaways, including Roll flip flops, food and burrito blankets.

Chowder!!

Stopped at 4 Noses on the way home, then took Olive for a walk. Dinner was surprise pho! Following.

Sunday (11,388 steps) - Did some cleaning and reading before taking Olive to the dog park. Any time the weather is nice the parking lot is insane - at least we were able to get a spot.

Rails End afterwards, although it was really busy so we didn't stay as long as normal.

Home, where apparently we napped for a bit. Ben and I took Olive for a walk. Reading, dinner and more Following. A relaxing Sunday that flew by.

Monday (18,833 steps) - Work from home. Took Olive for a walk, then at lunch I finally went for my run. I had been dreading it all morning since it looked cold out, but it was fine.

Sauna, shower, lunch. After work I did a delivery before meeting Ben at Costco to grocery shop and pick up a pizza. Olive walk and more Following.

Stats:

112,686 steps
19.57 miles run
19.78 miles walked
20 minutes of cardio
10 minutes of strength
125 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (January 20 - January 26)

2026-01-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Tuesday (10,482 steps) - Having napped on and off at the airport, I didn't exactly jump up refreshed to start the day. At some point I decided to wander and find coffee and something for breakfast. I ended up getting a latte and a cinnamon roll. Both good, but I did wonder why they didn't heat up my cinnamon roll.

I sat in a food court area and tried to start my race report and check emails since I still had a relatively long time before my flight was departing. At some point I checked the board and my gate had moved to a different terminal. Glad I looked! Walked over there and really just paced around to ensure I would get all my steps in for the day. Our flight boarded on time and I was in a great seat on Alaska, right behind first class. So lots of leg room!

Flight was uneventful (and thankfully seemed short). Watched a few episodes of Gossip Girl. Landed on time and got my bag pretty quickly. Hopped on the train and met Ben at the station near his work. Sat there for about 45 minutes while he finished getting some work done before we headed towards the house. Shower and then took Olive for a walk. By the time I got back it was already getting dark. I told Ben I wanted to nap for a few minutes. Lost an hour (?) or so - ugh, so tired! Threw in laundry and got all my stuff unpacked. Ben got Panda delivered and we attempted to watch "Greenland," but apparently I feel asleep about 10 minutes into it.

Wednesday (11,058 steps) - Unfortunately, had to go to work. Took Olive for a walk and headed in. An incredibly busy morning, especially since Joyce scheduled a signing for the afternoon, so I had to get all those documents prepped, in addition to looking at everything from the 10 days I was out. Went to the gym at lunch and did a mobility/stretching video and walked on the treadmill. Got out of work a few minutes late and rushed home to let Olive out. Ben and I headed to Olde Town because New Image brewed a new NA Hazy IPA that I wanted to try.

I completely forgot they had moved locations. New spot is... nice, but the vibe of the brewery has changed completely. Not sure we will be back, honestly. We stopped at Schoolhouse for dinner - yum, mac n cheese!

Home and more Greenland, although once again, I fell asleep before it was over. Movie isn't even that long!!

Thursday (10,202 steps) - Work from home. Ariel showed up with a surprise coffee for me, which was a fun surprise. Got caught up on all my work and then met Ariel at Costco in Arvada for pizza and to pick up groceries. Took Olive for a long walk to the lake, cold front is definitely on it's way in. Ugh. Sat in the sauna late afternoon since our email was down at work. Drove to meet Ben at Torchy's for dinner. Once back at home we finished Greenland and I fell asleep on the couch for the third night in a row.

Friday (10,410 steps) - Took Olive for a walk earlier than usual since it was REALLY cold out and I didn't want to walk with frozen hair. Took Olive to work and went for our normal walk at lunch - it was REALLY COLD. And unfortunately, it is supposed to be like this all weekend. Boo. Dropped Olive off at home, did a delivery, and met Ben at 4 Noses for happy hour. Dinner and an episode of South Park. Pretty sure I fell asleep on the couch again.

Saturday (16,563 steps) - Tyler had plans to do burrito loops in Boulder in an attempt to win an entry to Leadville. It was definitely cold outside, but I pitched the idea to Ben and he didn't shoot it down. Took Olive for a very short block walk before we headed up to the store. I asked if I would be able to give my entry to Tyler if I won and they didn't seem to have a problem with it. It was cold, but not HORRIBLE, so Ben and I ended up doing a little over 4 miles of run/walk - which is a lot more than I thought I would.

We went to lunch with Kevin and Melanie at Illegal Pete's before going back to the store to do a couple more walking loops.

Stopped at 4 Noses on the way home and then home to walk Olive and get in the sauna. Ben picked up pizza for dinner. Following?

Sunday (11,548 steps) - Another cold morning. I still would need to get in my steps and didn't think that it would be fun trying to walk Olive for a long time, so I decided to go for a short run while Ben went to pick us up Dutch Bros. The run itself wasn't bad, but Garmin gave me a -5. Gee, thanks!!

Took Olive for a walk when I got home. Quick shower and then we went to Rails End for treat town and to watch the first half of the Broncos game. We left at halftime and managed to get home right as the wind and snow picked up.

I guess this is officially holiday/football food these days

After the Broncos lost we also watched the Seahawks game. Following.

Monday (10,767 steps) - Work from home! I was supposed to have a dentist appointment but woke up to a message that the dental office had flooding and was going to be closed. Wonderful. Met Ariel at Big O so she could have her brake sensor looked at. We picked up coffee at Ziggi's before I had to head back home for more work. Took Olive for a long walk at lunch. Finally above freezing, but of course that meant it was windy. Boo. Did a few deliveries after work, took Olive for another walk. Dinner and more Following!

Stats:

81,030 steps
7.24 miles run
13.44 miles walked
0 minutes of cardio
15 minutes of strength
146 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (January 13 - January 19)

2026-01-27T11:30:00.001-07:00

Tuesday (24,964 steps) - Thanks to going to bed crazy early, I was also awake pretty early. I decided that I would brave venturing out to get coffee and found a local place that wasn't too far away that I could walk. I got a mocha and a slice of banana bread, which only cost a few dollars. Delicious!

After showering, I got all my bags ready for transport to the race - needed to finalize my drop bags, including getting battery banks and snacks put in the right places. I still had a very long time before the shuttle was going to be picking me up at the For some reason I thought breakfast was going to be earlier, but it ended up not being ready until closer to 8 am. And "breakfast" was really just toast and two eggs, but better than nothing! I planned to walk into old Chiang Mai just to do some sightseeing. I ended up going much further than planned, but it was a nice day and I enjoy being in new places.

When I got back to the hotel, I got my bags ready and went to the lobby to wait for the shuttle to bring me back. I got dropped off outside the terminal and hoped I would be able to find the shuttle ok since we hadn't really got any updates other than to be there 15 minutes before scheduled departure. Luckily, since I was wearing a Moab 240 shirt, another runner was able to find me and pretty soon there were a few of us waiting together. The shuttle showed up and it was going to be a nearly full ride to Pai. Leaving just after noon and we were told that it would be about a three-hour drive. CJ had warned that the drive was pretty tough, with 762 curves, but not that long. Leaving town was fine, but I actually felt like I got decently close to being carsick on this drive. Probably didn't help that I was sleep deprived and sitting in the very back.

We were dropped off at race headquarters, and I was relieved to get rid of my drop bags and have a little bit of a lighter load. When I booked the hotel it didn't seem like it was that far from the race start/finish. Turns out, it was a little over a mile, and the entire route there was walking on the shoulder of a busy road. I was sweating like crazy AND my phone was going berserk and kept calling Kendra (my attorney??) over and over. Like I would cancel the call and the next thing I knew it was dialing again - happened a half dozen times! Very relieved when I finally arrived at my hotel and got to my room. Another very nice space! I had booked it for the entire week, JUST IN CASE I didn't finish, so I would have somewhere to stay and all my stuff would be there. (In retrospect, I could have left my luggage at the race start and saved some money, but this was just as "easy").

Realizing that I was not going to want to do this walk in the morning before the race, I went to the office to ask if there were public transportation options (yes, we have a hotel shuttle that can take you, but not until 8). I found out there is one "guy" who has a taxi service. I had to find him on Facebook and then message him through whatsapp. I was about 70% sure that he would pick me up in the morning, but I figured I asked him to come early enough that if he did not I could still walk, although that would not be ideal.

I really wanted to go to bed early, but needed to eat. I wanted to go somewhere close so I would not be doing a ton more walking. Unfortunately, the first place I went only took cash. Then, realizing the taxi would probably also need cash, I had to walk to find somewhere to convert money. I got that done, then went somewhere close by to get food.

The curry was actually the first thing that was almost too spicy for me to eat! Turns out, "Thai hot" is pretty hot. Walked back to the hotel and rinsed off, getting everything ready for morning. Tried to watch some Gossip Girl before bed but didn't even make it through one episode before determining I was too tired.

Wednesday (72,600 steps) - Thai 300

Thursday (104,179 steps) - Thai 300

Friday (113,368 steps) - Thai 300

Saturday (110,320 steps) - Thai 300

Sunday (63,708 steps) - Thai 300. Once I realized I was actually going to finish the race, I had spent a good portion of the last few days wondering how I was going to get checked out of my hotel and back to the race headquarters to catch the shuttle. "Thankfully," I finished hours before I had to be out of the room. I only spent a few minutes at the headquarters - mostly just enough time to get all my finisher awards and put my drop bags and pack in a pile. Then I had to walk the mile to the hotel. In retrospect, it would have been smart to book somewhere much closer, but what was I going to do? I got to the hotel and first thing I did was schedule the shuttle to "walking street" at 9:45 since the awards ceremony was supposed to start at 10. That barely gave me enough time to shower and pack. I got dropped off a few blocks away, and even though I should have known exactly where I was, I still had to map to get to where I needed to be. I dropped off my bags inside and then sat outside to watch all the awards - it was pretty neat, unfortunately I couldn't understand a lot of what was being said. Ana and Paul showed up after the ceremony. We got some food at the finish line. Since my shuttle to Chiang Mai didn't leave until 3, we went to their BnB for a bit. It seemed cute, but I made the mistake of lying down on the end of the couch and basically missed the entire visit since I passed out! They dropped me off at the headquarters and I got all my things loaded up on the bus. Also found out that I could get a ride directly to my hotel instead of airport and THEN scheduling a ride with the hotel separate, so that was nice. It was also nice that I was so tired, because I slept through the entire drive back, only waking up when I dropped something (including my award, which I was going to have to fix at home). Got dropped off at my hotel, a really cute spot! Thankfully an employee helped carry my bags up. I was on the third floor, which was a little rough.

I had planned to walk somewhere to get food, but quickly realized there was nothing close so I just ate in the hotel. Food was good, service was slow.

Back at the room I showered and tried to get everything organized and re-packed since I had to be up early in the morning. I went to bed earlier than planned and basically blacked out from exhaustion.

Monday (16,868 steps) - I had to be up early for the one thing I planned before I left! A visit to the elephant sanctuary. My pickup window was 7-7:30, so I was down in the lobby with my bags to leave at the desk at 7. I didn't think I had time for breakfast, but I did grab a croissant from the buffet while I waited. At 7:30, I still hadn't been picked up, so I sent a whatsapp message to the sanctuary. A few minutes later I got picked up and was the only person on the bus. Uh... We drove for about 15 minutes and I thought that we were at the sanctuary, and the driver just got out of the bus and was standing around on the phone, confused. Meanwhile, I am messaging Ben, because I have no idea what we are doing and why everything is taking so long. I share my location with him and he starts tracking me since he is worried that I am alone and not going where I think I am. We then make a couple of stops and pick up other people. Turns out the sanctuary was nearly an hour outside of town - which was fine, but that was not clear to me (or anyone else that got on the bus). Anyway, when we arrived at the sanctuary, we immediately went to change into their special clothes and flip flops. The whole tour was kind of neat. We learned about the elephants, got to feed them and helped prep their food. We also got a meal of fruit and Pad Thai before we got back on the bus. Including transportation to/from my hotel it was only a $50 excursion - I think it was totally worth it.

As soon as I got dropped off at the hotel I went in to get my bags and there was a shuttle there in minutes to get me and another couple to the airport. I still had over 3 hours, but I figured there was nothing else to do at this point since I had all my luggage anyway. I was not going to be able to drop my bags until 2 hours before departure, so I got a little snack near bag drop. Mainly just so I wouldn't have to find somewhere else to sit, plus I still needed to spend the rest of my baht if possible.

I went to check my one monster bag. That bag was under the weight limit. Then they said that I needed to weigh my carryon. Unfortunately, I was told that it was too heavy (even though almost everything was in my big bag (??) so I had to move out of line to take stuff out. Somehow in the confusion, I misplaced my phone. I had already dropped my big bag, and I wondered if in the rush I accidentally put my phone in that bag?? While I was talking to security trying to figure out what to do, I found that I had put my phone in the secret pocket of my purse. Ugh. Anyway, got through security and then had a few hours to kill. I got my blizzard from Dairy Queen - delicious!!

I wandered around the terminal to get my steps in and also to pick up a handful of small souvenirs. Finally, it was time to board my first flight. I got a window seat, although an aisle would have been preferred so I could get up once in a while. Food was served pretty early.

The flight did not seem that long at all, comparatively. I did not have a very long connection in Taipei, and as soon as I got off the plane I ran to use the bathroom and brush my teeth. And here is where things started to go wrong. I was following all the signs for transfers and then ended up at immigration again. I was sort of arguing with the gal because I was trying to figure out why I would have to fill out the Visa if I was only at the airport and not leaving, but she had me re-fill out the form, which was irritating. Then I got through and realized I was headed to baggage claim - which again, is not where I needed to be. So I found someone who could direct me where I needed to go. Once again, following the signs for transfers and it seems I am walking in circles. In my head I am almost going to miss my flight, although the time on my boarding pass was "boarding" and not departure. Finally, I found someone who escorted me basically to where I needed to be. OK great, I had to take the train to the other terminal and then found the gate area. Only of COURSE I went the wrong way and somehow missed THIS immigration section. I'm in line and wondering if I am even going to make my flight at this point. As I finally got to the plane I really thought I was the last to board. I had another window seat, ugh, but it seemed the plane was not full. Until I realized that lots of other people were narrowly making the flight and it was pretty full. We left about 45 minutes late. Tried to watch Good Boy, but it was a little silly, plus I kept dozing off. First meal shortly after takeoff was pretty good.

Other movies I watched "The Fault in Our Stars" and "About Time." Breakfast was a few hours before landing, and it was probably the worst tasting meal out of all the airplane food I had.

Last movie watched before landing was "Am I OK?" We landed in Seattle just before 7 pm.

Initially, I had hoped to see if I could get on the last Alaska flight out of Seattle, but with us leaving Taipei late and the ridiculously slow customs process - we had to collect our bags and then re-check them, there was no way I was going to be able to do that. I got on the phone with Ben and had a $13 NA beer - what a ripoff! Then I figured I should eat something before all the restaurants closed for the night.

I had a VERY long layover, so I was wandering around looking for somewhere to get my phone charged and try to get some sleep. I found this semi-magical bench that did the trick.

Tried to watch some Gossip Girl, but opted to have very restless on/off naps for the night.

Stats:

506,007 steps
194.03 miles run
8.62 miles walked
0 minutes of cardio
0 minutes of strength
0 minutes of sauna

Thai 300 (Race Report)

2026-01-27T10:57:00.030-07:00

Pai, Thailand

Wednesday, January 14

200+ mile attempt #14

Weather - Warm and humid during the day and mild overnight

Preface

A few months ago, when I was in Canada with Paul for Divide 200, we were having lunch one day before the race. We were talking about upcoming races and he mentioned that he was considering doing the inaugural Thai 500 (km, not miles). At the time, I had no intention of joining the adventure - I had already been taking a decent amount of time off and didn’t think there was any way possible I could squeeze in another week + adventure. We had a blast talking about the event and doing research - although there was admittedly not much to find. Paul was insistent that if he did the race, he would be going for the 500km, which I was never interested in. After Monster 300, I decided that anything in the 200 mile range was more than enough. I saw there was a 300km and figured IF for some crazy reason we decided to do this thing, the shorter distance would suffice.

Fast forward to October and Paul and Ana had signed up for the big kahoona. After some debate, I talked to Ben and I told him that if I could get the time off approved that I was going to sign up. So… I did. The race itself was not very expensive at all (I believe it was about $700 USD), definitely way less than what the mainstream 200s go for in the states. I also had been doing a lot of research of flights and managed to get everything booked for under $1,000. Additionally, the race was providing transportation from the airport in Chiang Mai to the start line in Pai for only about $11 USD (each way) - so it eliminated a lot of travel logistics. Ok, I guess I am going to Thailand!!

Race Day

Knowing that it was over a mile to the start line, I had done my research and decided I would try to get a ride to the start line. I did not know enough about the area to know that that there was no Uber or Lyft, and even taxis were not something to find easily. I did finally get some information from the woman the front desk of my hotel and through Facebook found the guy’s WhatsApp - I was about 80% sure that I would actually get picked up at my requested time of 7:00 am.

Since I had prepped everything the day before, I had given myself 45 minutes to get ready. In typical fashion, it took longer than that, but since I had gone to bed so early and slept very well, I did not mind the extra time. I was even able to enjoy some coffee before heading out. I did also find out that Ana and Paul had DNFd their race (which started a few days earlier), but they would be at the start line to see me off.

My taxi driver not only showed up, he was about 10 minutes early! Thankfully I had gotten cash the night before, although I hadn’t been told how much the ride would cost. When we arrived he asked for 150THB, but I didn’t have a bill small enough for him to make change, so he took my to 7-11 so I could buy a coke. Either way, with the conversion rate, my ride was less than $5USD. Totally worth it.

Since I had not been able to pick up food for breakfast, I was relieved to see they had a lot of food at the start, so I had some rice, meat, croissant, and of course, more coffee.

As an aside, these bottled espressos were at ALL aid stations!!

I was chatting with some people at the start and was headed to use the bathroom when I saw Ana, Paul and CJ heading over. I was very thankful to have a few minutes to hear about the course and made some last minute decisions about what to carry. They said they would be in Pai for the week and would be seeing me on course. Yay!!

Finally, it was almost time to start. The 300 might have been the smallest registration distance and I think there were maybe only 12-15 of us starting, and I knew right from the start that I WAS THE ONLY FEMALE.

Day One

I was actually lined up at the front, where I definitely didn’t want to be, but also knew I would not be there long anyway. Funny story is that we all turned the wrong way onto the Main Street - yay, getting lost right away.

There were actually going to be a TON of aid stations on this course - 27 total for 313km (the official distance) - so not nearly as far apart as I am used to from other events. The “bad” part was that I would only have two drop bags, so while I wouldn’t have to carry a ton of water, any special snacks/nutrition/batteries would have to be carried a long way, etc.

The course started in town and thankfully we were starting at 8 am before things got too crazy, although the streets in Pai are narrow and there is a lot going on between cars and scooters and people on foot. I wanted to run what I could since this was easily on paper the hardest 200 miler I have ever attempted, with nearly 50,000’ elevation gain and a very narrow 100 hour cutoff. So yeah, you could say I was a bit scared!

First section was about 6 miles and it was all in town or on the shoulder of the main road out of town. I did a lot of running in this section, but still figured I was last or maybe one person was behind me. I was not going to let anything discourage me this early. I had looked at the profile and knew that the hardest climbs would come in the early miles, and as long as I could stay ahead of cutoffs there was a chance that I could actually finish this thing!

These signs were seriously huge - like 6 feet tall!!

Arrived at the first aid station. I can’t remember if I took any sort of food or not, but I think all I did was top off my water. The next few sections were going to be the hardest of the course, but I still didn’t really “know” what I was going to be up against here.

I was now heading onto the trails and could see the people in front of me. The climbing was already looking pretty intense. Here we go! Of course there was a photographer RIGHT THERE, just to capture people dying up the climb. It was hot, sunny and exposed. The terrain was loose dirt and prairie grass. The course markings were AWESOME. In town and at major intersections they were using HUGE 6’ or so tall signs (picture above) and the flagging was all red/white reflective. I had the route downloaded on both Gaia and Garmin Explore and felt confident that I would only need to pull out the map in very rare situations. I had called Ben when I started this section since I wasn’t sure when I would have phone service again. I did miss a turn, but thankfully knowing how often the course was flagged, I knew it right away and was able to backtrack where I needed to be. The course moved into a bit of a more wooded area, which was nice to block the sun. I had a few of the 500km runners coming down towards me, and those were going to be pretty much the only people that I would see the whole day.

This doesn't LOOK steep, but it really was

Photo: Shutterrun

Where oh where am I going?

I was getting really hot and it was super humid. I was sweating a ton and my phone was taking foggy pictures from being moist. I was really trying hard to not take many breaks on the climb.

This section was SO HARD. Just up, up, up. I was trying to move as purposefully as I could and take as few breaks as possible. Any movement forward was going to be progress here. I was getting a bit worried in this section that I was going to run out of water. I was already drenched with sweat and I was moving so slow. Another runner caught up to me at some point and we leapfrogged a bit. It was reassuring to know that there was at least one more person out there! I had set up my watch to record in km since that is how all the aid station distances were determined, but my pace was still in mph because, let’s face it, I wasn’t going to be able to calculate kph even under normal circumstances. Came up to an area where the course split and this was going to be the only out and back to an aid station.

Ran into the guy from Scotland here - he had been right in front of me going into the first aid station. He was so fast that he had already done the whole aid station and was heading back by that time I got there. He was just sitting on the big rocks soaking in the views. I hoped I would have time to enjoy everything as well!

There were some photographers in this area and we had been rewarded with some amazing panorama views for all our climbing. There were sections that were taped off on all sides - I assume warning that there were steep drop-offs, which sorta made me laugh. Was glad I was not doing this at night.

Photo: Shutterrun

I made sure to take some pictures and videos, but tried to not dawdle. We had some runners coming back towards us, and it didn’t seem like we were THAT far back.

Finally, got to the aid station. The guy from Sweden was there, and with the other guy I had been leapfrogging with, we were the last three on course. I drank a bunch of water and topped off my bottles. Had a sandwich here, this was actually the only aid station of the course that had these!

I headed out right after the Swede, and immediately I was thinking…. I don’t remember this? Did we really come this way to the aid station?

Turns out we actually did a loop around the aid station. The top of the hill we had climbed up was rocky with a lot of exposure and I remember thinking that I was very happy to have done all that during the day and not at night!! Back to the same climb back towards the fork in the road and more pictures from the photographers. (Seriously impressed with how many photographers there were on this course!!)

Photo: Shutterrun

At this point, I am already not able to remember much of anything or where things might have been on course. I got back to that junction and went the other way. There was a lot of very technical single track in here. I kept Ana’s words in mind - this course has a lot of bushwhacking. I definitely fell A LOT on the downhills. While I love to remind people how much I suck at climbing, I *really* suck at steep and technical descents.

It's definitely not easy to see in this picture, but this was so sketchy

Once we got to the fork in the road we had some pretty nice single track (?) I guess. I don't really remember this part, but I have pictures, so I guess this is what we did!

Unbeknownst to me, my first encounter with water buffalo. Scared the crap out of me!!

Getting closer to the aid station and we have a very big climb with wooden handrails - it was actually one of the scarier sections for me. Being so short, I had to rely on those a lot to pull myself up and I just had to hope that they were strong enough to support weight.

I made this pic extra big and it's still hard to see the railings I'm talking about. Also - SO STEEP.

Really pumped when I got to the top and there were these really nice stone steps. Felt so good to have something sturdy under my feet!

I came up to another runner - he was in the 500, and he said he was going to be missing the cutoff. Ugh. That ignited something in me and this section was thankfully wider and not as technical, so I did some running here to get to the aid station. I was able to have dinner with a view - I can’t recall what I had, but am sure it was rice and meat of some kind. I was able to wash my hands before leaving and headed out into the first night.

I was hoping that Ana was right and that I wasn’t going to regret not having anything more than my R1 for a layer. It was an absolutely gorgeous sunset, and then we had more technical descent. After having a few sections that seemed “long” - not really because of the distance, but more-so the technical terrain, I was excited to see that we had two back to back “short” sections. I was happy to be ahead of cutoffs and moving well.

Leaving the aid station started on a nice, paved road. Nice because it felt good on my feet, but it was still a pretty steep grade.

Looking back to the aid station I just left - what a view!

Best sunset picture I got during the race

From here, we moved back onto trails. My first encounter with some of these weird gates. Was this supposed to somehow open? Was I supposed to squeeze through? I ended up climbing over, I think.

Unfortunately about here is when I can’t really remember much. There were two sections that seemed really close together and I stupidly thought that I would be done with them pretty quick. The first segment was in the cornfields. I had remembered seeing this section on a course preview and it was definitely creepy doing it at night.

Stalks were definitely taller than me!

This was also the first section where the course markings were not as good. I remembered following the flags and then suddenly I didn’t see any more flags. I pulled up both Gaia and Garmin Explore and still was not able to figure out where I was supposed to be. I backtracked 3-4 flags and simply could not figure out where the route was supposed to be. Finally I just moved towards the route and suddenly saw a flag. Still not sure what happened in this area. Did someone just keep marking what looked like the main route and then not take down flags that were wrong? I’ll never know, but I definitely got mad about wasting time in this section since it probably took over 10 minutes to get back on track, and even then, this section was SO technical. I remembered thinking about what I was going to tell Ben about this section.

The whole segment was less than 8km, and yet I felt like I was in this for hours. There was really steep jungle descents, and then we were on a really narrow and sloped ledge with a drop off to water and rocks below. I remember looking around thinking this was super scary and sketchy, but it seemed like the only way was to just keep going. Having poles out in this section did not necessarily seem like a good idea as the trail wasn’t even wide enough to use them and I kept reaching for things to hold onto on the trail anyway. Adjacent to the trail was a water pipe, but it was NOT sturdy enough to support my weight the handful of times I reached out and tried to grab it.

Just look how sloped and narrow this is!

There were not many times during this race that I thought about quitting, but this section was an exception. It was really scary and exposed and I remember thinking that if I could find ANYONE that spoke English I would ask if there were other sections like this in the rest of the race. I definitely was NOT happy in this section. At some point I was finally done descending, and I was in a marshy area with lots of boulders and rocks. I had a hard time following the flagging in this section as well.

Here is where things get fuzzier and I can’t remember from one section to the next. I remember nothing about the next segment, which I also think was relatively short.

Most of the aid stations had food options like this - rice with a sauce and some sort of vegetable and meat. Delicious!

I left an aid station and then followed the course into what seemed to be a monastery. A really cool section in here.

I was really looking forward to the sun coming up. Some really big climbs after leaving this section and it was definitely foggy. I had to take a picture of the GIGANTIC leaves that littered the course. I seriously can't think of any leaves I have seen that were bigger!

I survived night one, hurray! Got up pretty high in the trees and saw a cool inversion, although my pictures aren’t really that great.

There were a couple issues with finding flags in here, but I think some of that might be because I was trying to get a good picture of the horizon and I moved just slightly off course and lost my way a bit. After I got to the top there was some less technical trails. FINALLY. Some continued issues with course finding because of conditions and not being able to see well.

I also had a pretty big river to cross. It wasn’t deep, but there was zero chance of being able to keep my feet dry. Following the flags and it seemed like the course was literally on some dirt road and there were small shacks on the side. Off the road. Still foggy, I was now in what seemed more like some farmland and had my second sighting (but first “close” encounter) with water buffalo! These animals definitely seemed to belong to someone as they had big bells around their necks. I had to just not break eye contact with them since they seemed to be protecting a baby - I DO NOT WANT TO HURT YOUR BABY!! (Also, they are actually REALLY cute in real life).

Onward. I think I was now heading into a village where the aid station was - and this was FINALLY going to be my first drop bag!

I laughed out loud when I saw this. Reminded me of the first time I summited Bergen Peak and it was so foggy that I couldn't see a thing

As I was heading in, I saw the Scottish guy heading out, he seemed to be in good spirits. The aid station seemed to be bustling. I was able to get a ton of food, my first coke at an aid station.

I guess you could say I got a little dirty in the first 60ish miles.

The sleeping area was on a balcony of sorts above the aid station. I had hoped to lie down and get a little bit of sleep, but there was just too much noise and too many things going on, so I was not able to sleep. I did change myy clothes, although I opted to not change my shorts since the ones in the drop bag were a lighter color. I had spent so much time sliding down hills that I thought keeping black shorts on might be better in the long run.

I did spend a bit more time than I wanted to at this aid station, but I also needed to make sure that I had everything I needed since I had another 70ish miles to my next drop bag. Finally decided to head out.

This next section was really hot and exposed and I think mostly on a dirt road - it was definitely steep. There was a surprising amount of rural traffic, so I had to keep an eye out for the dust and also keep to the side anyway. At one point I caught up to the Scottish guy. He said that it looked like I was moving really well and that his legs were totally trashed. I had just been happy to have NOT technical trails so that I could move a little quicker.

I tripped at one point and fell face first in the dirt. I also managed to rip open the same knee that I skinned shortly before leaving Colorado. By the time I came into the aid station, I was a big bloody mess. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time at this one. I tried asking for a wipe or napkin or towel or SOMETHING just so I could clean my knee a little bit before putting on Neosporin and a bandaid. You would think I asked for a million dollars and a new car. I probably waited closed to 10 minutes (I was at least eating and hydrating during this time) before someone finally showed up with a first aid kit. They were tossing cotton balls and iodine at me, but it was good enough that I was able to get the dirt out of the wound and cleaned up a bit. I headed out and the Scottish guy still had not made it in.

Crossed a bamboo bridge that was a little scary.

Back into the woods.

I don’t remember this section being all that technical, but I did have more encounters with a large herd of water buffalo here - and more babies. They are definitely stubborn and did not want me to pass, so after a decent standoff I had to find a bit of an alternate trail above to get around the adults - the baby even tried to run after me. I DO NOT WANT TO HURT YOUR BABY.

Sunset night two.

I came into an aid station and was really tired. Maybe this was the one that I tried to sleep in a hammock? I guess that could have been the first night, they all run together. If it wasn’t that aid station, it was one where there was a small school or building where I tried to sit up and take a nap in my bivvy. It was too cold and the floor was not at all comfortable. So, time to press on.

This may have been the section where there was a very long paved section leaving the aid station and it seemed like my legs were just done. I was basically trying to step sideways up the hill because my legs were just NOT functioning. I was also finally starting to feel all the fatigue. I was looking around on both sides of the trail for anywhere that I might be able to get vertical and take a quick nap. I finally found somewhere that seemed ok and I got in my bivvy. Not sure I even slept, but when my alarm went off and I was packing up, I saw some headlamps coming towards me.

There were two runners that said “come with us” and I said I would be right with them. I was still tired but if I was with other people maybe I could make it through the night, or at least to the next aid station. The two runners were the only female left in the 500k, from South Korea, and a guy that was in the 300k from Thailand. Thankfully, they both spoke SOME English, so we were able to have somewhat of a conversation. We moved along, sometimes all together and sometimes spread apart, but just having actual people near me and seeing other headlamps helped SO MUCH.

Arrived at the B4 aid station and they had a big fire going and a mat with blankets. I was so excited to be warm and take a nap. I did actually sleep at this aid station. The girl was sleeping in a nearby tent and the guy was still asleep when I awoke, but I knew I did not have a ton of banked time, so I wanted to get going, even if it meant going out alone.

I would be heading out on the out and back section that was over 40 miles each direction, toward my second (and last) drop bag. I felt so much better after having even just a small amount of sleep. The next section seemed like I was running next to a black hole. Finally came into another aid station shortly before sunrise. I didn't stay at this one too long. This whole day seemed went by in a blur.

I don't know where this picture was taken either, but I assume coming/going from an aid station

Lots of exposure here. I'd be standing looking around and see a dirt road across the valley and think, well, probably going over there, and I would be. The roads were steep and again, a decent amount of trucks driving through here. There was one confusing section in the woods where I had a hard time finding flags and ended up with a ton of sand spur/goat head type stuff stuck to my shorts and socks.

There was even a section where there was a new road being paved. Didn't expect to see that in rural Thailand!

Wish I could be more specific about these sections, but I just didn't take many pictures and don't remember. Finally I was coming up on one of the longest sections without aid, about 17km (which compared to other 200s isn't really that far but seemed long for this). It was mostly very steep road.

This was crazy steep

At some point we moved onto a "busier" road and there were huge signs warning that there were runners on the road.

Zero recollection of anything. At some point, I obviously made it to my drop bag, which was at race headquarters. Most exciting because it was inside and there were cots and blankets. I think I planned on a longer sleep here, and thanks to part of the cot being raised, I was able to sleep without being too congested. I did a full change of clothes here also, and headed out, first for the 40 miles back to where I was and then onto the final section of the "loop."

I encountered more off leash dogs, and thankfully I had my poles on me because some of them were pretty aggressive and followed me for a bit. Even though I had just done this section, I didn't seem to remember a lot of it. It was a warm day, and there seemed to be more climbing going this direction (which looking at the profile, made sense).

More paving progress!

Back in the wooded section and there was a runner that was at the confusing gate section and I told him to NOT go through the gate (I had made the same mistake earlier) - he followed me for a few minutes only to realize that was the way he came, so I told him to basically do a 180 at the gate and he would see the flags going down.

Thank goodness for some cloud cover!!

At some point, I pulled out Garmin Explore to see how many miles I had left. Somehow, the navigation on my watch stopped and started running through the app? I have no idea how or why this happened, but my watch went to the "restart" screen, and I'll admit I had a few moments of rage when I thought I had lost 170 miles of tracking. Thankfully, it seemed to load up again after a few minutes.

I also had a few 100km runners come up behind me in this section - crazy to see people out on the trails after all these days. Everyone was really friendly, and fist bumps are really a universal language.

This tree was scary!!

CAKE AND COKE OUT OF A GLASS????

Onward! I kept waiting for Ana and Paul (and CJ) to catch up to me after getting a whatsapp message that indicated they had signed up for the 100k and were hoping to run me into the finish. The last section back into A10 seemed really tough and I did not remember it at all (in reverse). I tried to take a nap at this aid station, but there was too much commotion, so I ended up just grabbing some food and getting out of there.

Onto the C loop! I had heard that this section was "rolling hills." Spoiler, the first section into C1 was really tough. Another segment that felt like I was on the edge of a cliff in the dark. I really really hated the descent going into the aid station. It was steep and really technical and I was just over it. Not to mention, I came into town, more stray dogs chased me AND I got a really nasty bloody nose. The good part was that the aid station had an indoor bathroom, so I was able to really get my hands clean. When I tried to ask if the next section was like this one, I heard "it's the same." Which really put me in my first bad mood of the race. I was really hoping to have an "easier" time to get into the finish, hoping to get earlier so I would have time to shower and maybe even nap before checking out of my hotel.

Here is where things get weird. I had phone service, so I think I was checking my messages and saw in one of my group chats that Tyler said he did not get into High Lonesome. I'm walking up this road (on course) and I guess I have one of my first "real" and somewhat scary hallucinations. I vaguely remember that I was basically drunk walking up the hill, swerving all over the place from exhaustion. I would catch myself walking strange and think that at some point I stopped because I honestly could not figure out what I was doing out there. I think I talked to another runner that passed me, but I don't think he spoke English and for the life of me I cannot remember what I said. The scary part becomes when I can't remember if I was awake or not but I had this feeling that I was with Tyler and we were having a conversation about High Lonesome. I said even if he didn't get into the race lottery, I had hoped that he put in for the parking lottery. Apparently in my dream/hallucination, the road that I was on was the road to High Lonesome (as if that was a specific location and not an actual race). We "parked" along the road and were walking to... the start? I'm not sure, when all of a sudden I seemingly came to my sense and I was sitting in the actual middle of the road - yes, one that I am sure cars would be driving on if it wasn't the middle of the night. I bolted up in a panic. Pulled out my maps to make sure that I was actually on course since this was NOT the scary technical trail I expected to be on in this section and that I was going the right way. SO WEIRD. I called Ben and talked to him for a few minutes. I don't think I have ever been so out of it mid-race, definitely overly sleep deprived. At least having that happen gave me an adrenaline rush and I was thankfully now wide awake.

I stayed on the phone with Ben for a few minutes, which helped pass time while I was waiting for the sun to come up. I came upon another runner (YAY) and we were working to climb up these insanely steep (thankfully paved) roads. I don't think I even had my poles out at this point and I was moving pretty well. I passed the runner (not sure what distance, but I think he was 500k) when we got to the downhill. I kept expecting him to catch up, but he never did.

The final sunrise!!

I don't have any recollection of the last two aid stations. When I finally got to the last segment I really could not believe that I was actually going to be finishing this race. I decided to do some short running intervals in hopes that I could get this done sooner and hopefully with what I would consider a PR (for a true mountain 200, but since they are all so different, probably not comparable). It was a foggy morning and I was not coming into Pai from the same place as before. Even when I got near to where my BnB was, we moved off to a more rural road.

I don't actually know where this was taken but I have a whole series of pictures where I look like I am sleepwalking

Ben wanted to listen to me finish, so I was on the phone with him. Suddenly I turned onto a street and recognized the lanterns, and I was at the finish line!! I think I may have surprised the photographers as they didn't have the tape ready for me to break as first (!!) female! They did end up giving it to me for pictures, though.

Time to unload all my gear at this point so that I could run to my hotel and shower and get all my stuff. Had to memorialize my swag first!

I arrived back at the start/finish just in time for the awards ceremony. FOR MY FIRST PLACE AWARD!!!

After the clock ran out at noon, we even did a big group photo, which was super cool!

Garmin Time - 96:23:17 (lost about 3 minutes with that weird loss of navigation)

Garmin Distance - 194.04 miles

Elevation Gain - 45,072' (officially the most I've ever done!)

Official Time - 96:29:27 (I've only found the time on ITRA, no idea where/if results are posted)

Overall Place - 2/3

First and only female starter/finisher!!

Thoughts:

This was by far one of the scariest/coolest things I have ever done. I don't think I ever really thought I would be able to finish this race. I spent a bunch of time thinking, " wow, I have to do a 50k to start with about the same amount of vertical gain that I did in Transylvania - and then do another 250km." This was SO hard.
Somehow, I basically did not have any chafing - Salty Britches FTW! Shocking because of the humidity. I also did not really have to do any major foot care. I cleaned my feet and reapplied squirrel's nut butter on my feet when I changed socks (only at the two drop bag aid stations) - I had hot spots but ZERO blisters that required attention. This really surprised me because of the amount of time my toes were slamming into the toe box.
With all that went right ^ - even using bug spray (actually wipes, and only the first day) - I got eaten alive by SOMETHING. With a day or two left of the race I was just ITCHY. By the time the race was over I had irritated welts covering my legs and other exposed skin. It was so bad that I went to see the medic at the finish and she doused me with calamine lotion (which I doubt I've used since I had chicken pox in 8th grade) and gave me what I think was Benadryl. For a week after the race was done I was STILL itching - Ben had to help me put Cortizone on the bites and he joked that my legs were basically covered in braille. It was HORRIFIC. I guess if I had to do it all over again, maybe I would have worn leggings - but with the amount of times I fell they would likely have been ripped to shreds.
I'll admit I was a bit worried because of the lack of literature and information - I guess I am used to 40-50 page race manuals. I think the race guide was 7 or 8 pages and it mostly just had the required gear (which wasn't all that much, really).
There was only the one big map and the only elevation profile I had was emailed to us a few weeks out. I did not break up the elevation gain/loss between aid stations, so that was all a fun surprise. I did have a little cheat sheet that had distance between aid and total distance - but that's it. Honestly - this course was pretty much dead on, which I really appreciated!
The aid stations were SO great. Every aid station had food of some kind and the bottled espresso. I must've had 15-20 of those throughout the race. Amazing.
The volunteers were so helpful. Most of them seemed to have at least some English in their vocabulary and when all else failed, I did some miming and people knew what I was asking for. I kinda hated being "the dumb American" - but everyone was so kind! A few volunteers even had google translate to ask if I needed things, it was SO appreciated.
The course marking were a 9.85/10. Honestly they must have used 8 million flags and some of them were in the most obscure places - how did they even mark this course!? Outside of the couple of sections where the markings were off, the flags were so close together that if you went more than a minute without seeing one, you were probably off course.
For the price tag, we got SO MUCH. Doing the conversion rate today, the races was just over $700USD, so less than half the cost of the mainstream 200s in the US. Race entry included a VERY nice duffel/drop bag and a shirt that was customized with a flag for the country represented. I also paid about $12 each direction for the shuttle to/from Chiang Mai.
The Facebook page was very active, and the handful of times that I had questions, they were answered either via email or FB message.
The buckle and awards are awesome. Period. After finishing, I also got a special finisher shirt AND jacket.
Would I do this again? No, but only because of the time/travel required. Plus, like I say, there are so many events to do, I can't really justify doing duplicate events.
Would I recommend? YES, YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES. Honestly, even if I would not have finished, so much care and attention was put into this event. They really did want you to succeed and did everything they could to make that happen. I'll admit that having the TorX name behind the event had me more willing to sign up.

Essential Gear:

UltrAspire Zygos 5.0. With the aid stations so close together, the pack was perfect. I was able to hold everything I needed and had plenty of room.
Garmin Enduro 2. I charged a handful of times when stopped at aid stations, but in general, I think one good charge at my second drop bag (had I remembered) would have been all I needed to do.
Goodr sunglasses, although I had a hard time wearing these because they fogged up and in the trees there were too may shadows.
Clothing - Three rabbit UPF sun shirts. I had rabbit EZ tees underneath. Two pairs of Patagonia Maipo 7" shorts. Zensah high neck sports bra. I had my Patagonia R1, but I probably wore for less than two hours the whole race - and only if I was cold when I left an aid station. Never wore gloves. Wore my fleece UltrAspire hat only because I don't like a headlamp touching my head. Tahoe 200 hat. OR sun gloves (as an aside, they got SO dirty from falls and blood that I actually had to rinse them off multiple times during the race). Buffs. Shoes - brand new Ultraventure 4s, a pair of old Topo Mountain Racers and Vistas for the last segment - which was probably not a good shoe choice for the steepness, but live and learn.
Leki poles that I used for about 3/4 of the race. New Black Diamond headlamp that Ben got me for Christmas, Kogalla, quite a few battery banks. My awesome SOL bivvy that I picked up at the first drop bag and did use quite a few times.
Personal nutrition - Raspberry LMNT, Nerd Clusters, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, Hi Chew!
Carried but did not use - North Face Aprhrodite pants - I think I finally ditched them at the second drop bag since I hadn't used for any nights, disposable poncho.

Week in Review (January 6 - January 12)

2026-01-23T11:37:00.007-07:00

Tuesday (12,910 steps) - Peloton ride and Olive walk before going to work. Did a Pilates class and treadmill at 8.5% during lunch. Took Olive for a walk when I got home and sauna time! More Following.

Wednesday (12,596 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office. Really busy day and I squeezed in another walk on the treadmill just to get steps in. Walked Olive after work, did some stretching and of course sauna time! Dinner and more Following.

Thursday (12,657 steps) - Work from home! Cleaned and finalized my packing. Took Olive for a long walk since I didn't have a run on schedule. It snowed the whole time - very wet snow, so I was drenched by the time I got home.

Finished up the work day and sauna. Ben and I went to Torchy's for the first time in many weeks because of all the holidays.

When we got home I took Olive for another walk. More Following.

Friday (12,810 steps) - Woke up to find it snowing pretty hard! Thankfully, by the time I was ready to take Olive for a walk it had stopped. Her fur is long enough that she was stopped frequently to chew at the snowballs, so I decided to leave her home instead of taking her to work.

Went to the gym at lunch to walk on the treadmill again. After work I met Ben at 4 Noses for “happy hour.” Since we don’t have a ton of food we got burgers from the food truck. Went home after to walk Olive and sauna. More Following.

Saturday (21,489 steps) - I set an alarm but I woke up well before it went off. Had coffee with Ben while planning my morning. Finally decided to go for a short run - my first one in a bit, and it was good! Then I took Olive for a long walk to the lake while Ben and Ariel picked up Dutch Bros.

Unfortunately, her fur is getting so long again that she got a lot of snow and mud balls and by the time we got home she was limping a bit :( Took a shower and finalized the rest of my packing. Ariel ran to the bank to get me some cash so I could exchange when I got to Thailand. Ben and I went to Parry’s for a lunch, although neither of us was very hungry.

I had wanted to get to the airport extra early since I was not able to get checked in online. Ben even came in with me to help with bags, which helped a ton. There was zero wait to check the bag and basically no line at security either, so I was there WAY too early. Gave me a chance to wander around and get my steps - I even set outside since the weather was so nice to read. Our plane was scheduled to leave just after 5 pm and we ended up leaving a few minutes early. I got an aisle seat and my seat mates were normal-sized and never got up. I read some of my book and watched Gossip Girl before watching Elf (kinda been obsessed with watching it again ever since I realized not one of our streaming services offered it for free). I had a long layover in Seattle, so I picked up some food as soon as I got to the right gate and then spent some time on the phone with Ben.

When I discovered that my seat (on a 13 hour flight) was going to be dead middle, Ben offered to pay to upgrade me. I ended up in an emergency row with a ton of space, but it was kind of annoying because I couldn’t keep my bag with me.

Sunday (276 steps) - We left Seattle just after midnight. With the time change, literally my whole “day” was on the plane. I was RIGHT by the bathroom, so the only time I got up was to use it and I probably only got about 30 steps each time.

I watched “I Am Legend” while waiting for dinner to be served.

First meal was shortly after we took off

I SOMEHOW EVEN NAPPED FOR OVER 4 HOURS, which is really unheard of for me. I read more of my book, watched “It Ends With Us” and breakfast was served while I was watching “The Bucket List.”

"Breakfast" was a few hours before we landed.

Monday (18,128 steps) - Technically my day started on the plane, but I’ll count it when I got off since that’s when my step count re-set. Since I had a very long layover in Taipei, I had done some research and found out I would be able to leave the airport and take the train into the city and do a bit of sight seeing. What I did not plan on was ending up in a terminal at 5 something in the morning with seemingly no exit. At 6 when the info desk finally opened I was directed to an area to exit, but where I was told to go was barricaded off. I found another help desk and was told the same location and she insisted I could just walk around the barricade. I did that and ended up on the other side of a small security area. The guys there seemingly had no idea what I was asking for, but finally I got in the correct area. I had to do a Taiwan Visa and go through immigration. Then I had to wait for the ticket booth that took credit cards to open at 7 before I could get my train tokens. Finally, I caught the 7:13 train to Taipei main station, which took somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes, but at least I got a seat. Once I got off at the station I found a locker to check my bag and then thankfully my maps worked and I headed towards Liberty Square. Holy cow was this confusing. So many signs and different directions to go. I didn’t really get LOST, but I did end up in a construction zone (no one said anything).

It was lightly drizzling on my walk there/back, but I’m glad I got out there and walked around. It was only $10ish for the round-trip train ticket and then a little over a dollar for the locker.

Even more miraculously, I found my way BACK and didn’t even have problems finding my bag. Phew. By this time, I was starving so I went to pretty much the first place I saw. Spent way too much money on sub-par food - although the pumpkin soup and chocolate cake were divine.

Finally found a place where I could get my devices charged. LONG day so far. Finally, it was time for the last leg to Chiang Mai. I had another aisle seat thankfully, but this flight wasn’t that long (comparatively).

I kept dozing off, which made the flight go by quicker. Tried to watch “The Long Walk” but the WiFi kept cutting out, so never actually finished it (which was fine since I have already seen it). I had emailed the hotel I had booked asking for a shuttle, and imagine my surprise when I collected my bag and there was someone waiting for me when I exited baggage claim. It was a short drive to the location and I was REALLY excited to put my stuff down and relax.

I took a shower and intended to just lie down for a nap and ended up completely passing out for the rest of the night - not a surprise considering how long I had been awake.

Stats:

90,866 steps
1.61 miles run
16.05 miles walked
15 minutes of cardio
31 minutes of strength (10:01planks)
115 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (December 30 - January 5)

2026-01-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Tuesday (13,423 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work. Went to the gym at lunch and did StairMaster, strength training and a mile at 12% incline.

Ben and I met up at Costco, which neither of us enjoys doing. Took Olive for another walk when I got home, stretch and sauna time! More Welcome to Derry.

Wednesday (14,859 steps) - Took Olive for a walk and then sadly had to go to work. Only nice thing is basically zero traffic. Walked to REI at lunch so I could try something on, only to discover it was not even available in store. Not a totally wasted trip, the weather was really nice, especially for December.

I got off at 2 and did a few deliveries. Tips were really great for once. Met up with Ben at 4 Noses for a drink (still NA for me, and a Topo). Went home to start dinner, took Olive for a walk and more sauna time!

Welcome to Derry since we couldn't find any streaming service that was actually showing anything for New Years.

Thursday (30,867 steps)

Took Olive for a walk before going to Morrison for the 6th (!!) annual New Years Day run I've organized at Red Rocks. This was probably our biggest turnout since the inaugural year.

Ben was hoping to run, but he threw out his back a few days ago and gave up on running and did his own thing after about a half mile.

We had unforeseen issues with our route when we discovered that Red Rocks was having some construction done and every access point was blocked off.

We had about 40 minutes of wandering around and looking for other ways to get where we wanted to go, including going up the backside of Dakota Ridge. I never mind going on trails, but I wasn't wearing the right shoes for it at all.

Only Jandy and Maureen were up for the full route we had planned, so we continued on.

Last group picture before we all went our separate ways

I actually felt way better than expected on the last 3-4 miles. Almost all of us walked over to the Holiday Bar / Mill Street for the tradition of burgers and beers, although just a diet coke for me. When we got home I took Olive for another walk before more sauna time. I am just loving the convenience of having this, and I really think I'm getting my money's worth. More Welcome to Derry, although this finished up the show for us, already. Ariel joined us for a short time for charcuterie before she went to home.

Since Ben has now watched the prequel, we of course had to watch It, since he had not watched it previously.

Friday (11,059 steps) - Once again, sad I had to go to work. Took Olive for a walk before we went into the office.

Just like I expected, it was very slow and no one was working. Went for a walk at lunch.

After work I met up with Ben at 4 Noses for happy hour. Headed home to take Olive for a walk and then sauna. Cannot remember what was for dinner, and pretty sure we finished It and started Chapter 2.

Saturday (29,192 steps) - Down to Lakewood for the season opener of Runners Edge! I had mapped out a few different route possibilities, but my main goal was to get double digits. Ben planned on starting with me and then walking whatever he might need to if his back started to act up.

Only picture I took...

The loop was 7 miles, and he managed the whole thing! Right before I got back to the store I turned around to do the back half of the loop in reverse. I got in just over 10 miles at a much faster pace than I normally do, so I was happy about that. The store was offering 50% off all apparel, so I shopped a bit - even though I really AM trying to weed through my closet and stop buying things. UGH. Went home and showered, walked Olive. We stopped to pick up Panda Express on the way to Rails End. Stayed there for a bit and then pack home for sauna time. Watched Final Destination: Bloodlines with A. After she headed out we finished It: Chapter 2.

Sunday (18,845 steps) - It was really nice out, so I went for my run while Ben went to pick us up Dutch Bros.

It's actually as warm/nice as it looks!

After I showered we took Olive to the dog park. It was insanely crowded and we had to stalk people to find a parking space.

On to Rails End.

We got a snack and stayed until the Broncos game started.

Pretty much right when we got home we got a phone call from Ariel that her clutch was overheating. I didn't even know that was a thing, and in all my years of driving, and 6 vehicles that have had a stick shift, I have never had a clutch got out. Thankfully she was with a friend and they were able to hang out at her house while we waited for a tow to get the car up near us. Unfortunately that was a whole "thing" and it took over three hours. UGH. Did my stretches and sauna time. Started watching a new show "The Following" - although I definitely was getting a sense of deja vu that maybe I have watched this before, but can't remember it well enough to stop watching.

Monday (17,693 steps) - Work from home. Shortly after the shop opened I got a call from the service manager that Lucy will definitely be needing a new clutch and flywheel. Since they were closed for 10 days over the holidays he wasn't sure if he was going to get a full diagnostic done, but this wasn't good news for any of us. UGH!!!! We literally just paid for new brakes and rotors in November. Took Ariel to Dutch Bros and then went on my run, where I also had my first big fall of the year, scraping up my palms and knees.

Took Olive for a long walk after. Ariel needed my car to get to work so I wasn't able to go driving. Instead, took Olive for a walk and then read and used the sauna while I waited for Ben to pick up pizza.

More Following.

Stats:

135,938 steps
28.75 miles run
19.56 miles walked
35 minutes of cardio
61 minutes of strength (11+ minutes of planks)
190 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (December 23 - December 29)

2025-12-30T15:54:00.002-07:00

Tuesday (13,778 steps) - Peloton ride and Olive walk before work. Went to the gym at lunch and did some strength training and incline on the treadmill.

Another Olive walk and time in the sauna.

I think Batman is screaming "MOM, WHY ARE YOU IN A BOX?!"

Wednesday (21,049 steps) - Christmas Eve! Unfortunately, my office was open. Ben actually had the day off so he went and picked up Dutch Bros for me. Took Olive for a walk and then I took her to work with me.

Happy Olive running around the office

It was a relatively busy morning for me but definitely slowed down as the day dragged on. Took Olive for a walk during lunch.

After work I dropped Olive off at home, changed clothes and headed to the lake for my workout, only to find out that the parking lot was closed?! I guess because it's a holiday? I had to park down the street and run over, but that worked out ok for my warmup. I had done these repeats before, but this was 10 reps of 2 minutes instead of 7.

A tank top. In December. On Christmas Eve.

Difficult!!! Ariel unfortunately had to work, boo. Some sauna time and Black Rabbit (?)

Thursday (10,943 steps) - Christmas! Ben made a big "mountain breakfast" that we enjoyed while opening presents.

Big gifts were a new Purple pillow (for me), Apple Watch (for A), random fun tools (for Ben), and sauna accessories (for me/everyone).

The cats also got new collars. Robin simply doesn't know how to be photogenic

I did a Peloton ride, then Ariel went on a short walk with me and Olive so she could start figuring out her new watch. Took Olive for a longer walk to the lake since the weather was so nice.

We got the finishing touches done on the basement/gym, which was fun and has made the space SO much more inviting.

Not really "important" to the basement layout, but these are all my awards/trinkets

Did some strength and more sauna time.

Ben made Christmas dinner even though A had to work. Ham, sweet potatoes, stuffing and rolls.

We wanted to watch Elf, but it is not on any of our zillion streaming services, so we settled for watching the Broncos game. At some point I took Olive for another short walk to get my steps in.

Friday (12,822 steps) - Slept in. Ben got us Dutch Bros before A had to go to work, yet again. Ben and I took Olive to the dog park.

Rails End on the way home. Sauna and another Olive walk.

Testing out Olive's new glow-in-the-dark LED collar

More Black Rabbit?

Saturday (46,176 steps) - Had a very long run on schedule. There was an unofficial run with Runners Edge at Waterton, so I decided I would go, even though I knew I would end up running alone. Ben went with me because my brakes are STILL squeaking.

Ben asked what color my leggings were. I said "Terra Cotta"

After I started, he dropped me off and then went to Schomp so they could work on my car. Again. For the third time in 5 weeks. The run itself, other than the few times I had to stop and use the bathroom, was pretty good! It was chilly, but I had layered well.

Originally, I had thought I would run to Lenny's Rest and come back.

I decided that wouldn't be enough distance, so I went about a half mile past to get in more vert, then came back the other way, for a loop at the top.

These are not "December" trails

I haven't done that many times and thought I was lost. I also had no phone service or maps downloaded on Gaia... Thankfully my memory was correct and I was NOT lost.

The run down wasn't terrible and I saw quite a few sheep.

Ben met me with about a half mile to go. My car was STILL not done, but we headed to the dealership anyway to get a status. Once we realized it was still going to be a while, we went to Torchy's down the street to get lunch. Thankfully, my car was ready not too long after we finished eating and we were able to get home before dark. What a long day. Took Olive for a walk, then used the sauna. Black Rabbit? I think we finished it.

Sunday (11,289 steps) - Did some cleaning and procrastinated a bit deciding what we were going to do for the day. Ariel went and got us all Dutch Bros (yum!) and Ben and I finally got out of the house and took Olive to Boulder for a hike. Since we finally got some overnight snow, Olive was VERY pleased.

We stopped at Rails End on the way home. Delicious snack since there was a BBQ food truck.

Yoga video and sauna. Started a new series, "Welcome to Derry."

Monday (18,017 steps) - Blah, back to work. At least I was at home! Did a bunch of cleaning in my office, finally got about two years' worth of filing done. That's definitely one of my resolutions this year - get rid of clutter and crap we aren't using! Took Olive for a walk and then I went out for my run. I really thought I had overdressed, but turns out the layering was pretty good and only the gloves were overkill.

After work I went to Target and spent way too much money on Christmas candy. Ben and I tried to go to Parry's but there was a wait, so we just went home and had leftovers. Sauna and some stretching. Welcome to Derry.

Stats:

134,074 steps
32 miles run
13.3 miles walked
30 minutes of cardio
79 minutes of strength (I've started doing planks again...)
180 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (December 16 - December 22)

2025-12-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

Tuesday (10,631 steps) - Peloton ride and Olive walk before going to work. Went to the gym at lunch and did strength training and fast hiking on the treadmill with incline. Ben and I (mostly Ben) did the initial cleaning and organization of the basement in prep for my Chrismukkah present to myself. We got some Cupbop delivered in. Absentia, I think.

Wednesday (15,878 steps) - Olive walk before going to work. I think it was busy? I had planned on going to the gym at lunch and then an Outlook reminder told me I had a Qdoba lunch, woo!!! Home to let Olive out and get ready for the annual Runners Edge holiday light run - back after sadly skipping last year. Kristin picked up Tyler, Ben and me for the drive to the new start location of Crazy Mountain. After a week (or longer) of some pretty intense training, this did not feel quite as "easy" as a fun social run should feel! It's been insanely windy all week, but thankfully we only had a few sections that were windy during the run (and those felt like being sandblasted). Overall, a great time!

We stuck around for a beer and BBQ - plus the mac and cheese was SO good. It was a very late night for us, I don't think we got home until 9:45??

Thursday (10,885 steps) - Work from home. I had the sauna delivery scheduled to be between 8 and 12. I finally got a call around 11 that they would arrive in 10-15. They DID show up, but unfortunately they only had one of the three boxes I was expecting. UGH!!! They seemed to think that the other boxes could be delivered another day without me needing to be home and that dispatch would be contacting me.

MOM, TIME FOR A WALK, GET YOUR COAT

Took Olive for a long walk to the lake, then did the 45 minute Taylor Swift Eras ride - I haven't done a ride that long in AGES. By 3:45 I still had not heard from the delivery company, so I found all the numbers I could and made a bunch of phone calls and the only person I was able to get a hold of said I had to call my "local" warehouse and then proceeded to give me number with a Dallas prefix, which no one answered. Torchy's! Finished Absentia and then started a new show, Black Rabbit. Not sure if this one will stick or not.

Friday (11,629 steps) - Skipped the morning walk since I thought "just maybe" I would get a call and need to be home in the morning for the delivery. No one called, so when Olive and I got to work I made MORE phone calls and sent an angry email. I FINALLY after almost an hour got someone from the Denver warehouse on the phone and she said the boxes were out for delivery now. Ok, well no one called me, so I am at work. Not kidding that a few minutes into the call, but the guys showed up to bring the boxes. Ben talked to them through the ring and they left the boxes in the yard. Goodness. Took Olive for a walk at lunch. After work, dropped Olive off at home and then went to 4 Noses to meet Ben. Had an NA and tried out the new food truck. The brewery has stopped contracting trucks and have their own now. Food was pretty good - burger, fries and cheese curds.

Took Olive for a walk when we got back and then an attempt at movie night - the new Knives Out, but we only made it about halfway before going to bed.

Saturday (38,372 steps) - Tyler picked me up just before 7 to go down to Denver for our long run "with" Runners Edge. I use quotes because we were running longer than everyone else and starting early. I had some major GI distress a few miles in, thank goodness for a bathroom (!), but after that I had a pretty great run! It was definitely cooler than I expected it to be and I kept my jacket and gloves on the whole time.

Honestly, probably the most solid 16 mile run I've had in a VERY long time. Tyler and I had both thought we were going to breakfast, but everyone else had things to do, so we just headed back home. Ben had assembled the sauna while I was running (YAY).

After a shower I had the inaugural sauna session - I AM SO HAPPY!!

Olive is unsure what is happening but wanted to be nearby?

Took Olive for a walk. Did some reading and watched Gossip Girl while Ben went shopping. Pizza for dinner and we finished Knives Out - which got more interesting the longer we watched it.

Sunday (17,825 steps) - Lounged around and did some cleaning before we headed up to Boulder for our activity of the day - a repeat of last week, but going up a bit higher for more elevation gain.

The weather was nice (not windy, yay!) but I swear I am just colder this winter. We stopped at Rails End on the way home for a snack.

Did a yoga video and sauna time before dinner/couch time. Watched "Fight or Flight" - which was pretty decent.

Monday (19,958 steps) - Work from home. We decided to not get a Christmas tree this year, so I set up the little one that we used to use before Ben lived with us. I think it's adorable!

Ariel went with me to take Robin and Olive to the vet. Robin needed a follow-up from her eye appointment last week (it's MUCH better) and Olive just had her annual appointment and had to get some shots.

We stopped at Dutch Bros on the way home. Took Olive for a walk and then went for my run. It was low 70s - VERY warm for December. Unfortunately, it was very windy by the lake.

Did a delivery after work and then took Olive for a walk, did some stretching and sauna time before dinner and Black Rabbit.

Stats:

125,178 steps
31.61 miles run
11.31 miles walked
60 minutes of cardio
65 minutes of strength
75 minutes of sauna

Week in Review (December 9 - December 15)

2025-12-16T15:55:00.005-07:00

Tuesday (11,002 steps) - Peloton. Normally I take a shower and get completely ready to go to work BEFORE I walk Olive, but since it was so windy, I took her out first. That meant I got to see a really pretty sunrise!

Went to the gym at lunch and did the StairMaster, a strength video and treadmill with incline.

When I got back it was time to go to the building's "Christmas party." I got a random selection of snacks and ate my lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon feeling really sick to my stomach.

I even skipped dinner!! Took Olive for a very short walk, Absentia, and in bed early.

Wednesday (18,192 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office.

Went to the gym at lunch and walked on the treadmill and did a yoga video. After work I drove up to Broomfield so I could do my running workout - hill repeats. It was WAY more difficult than I thought it would be, but at least I was able to run all the intervals.

Blah. Dinner and Absentia.

Thursday (11,031 steps) - God up and did a Peloton ride before logging in for work.

View from the bike, haha

Ariel called me because she was in the neighborhood and I met her at Dutch Bros for a coffee. Somehow when Olive was waiting for her pup cup she got her tag stuck in the grate and it took a good 15 minutes and some ingenuity to get it back. Took Olive for a long walk to the lake at lunch and did a quick rowing session and a strength video.

After work I did a few deliveries and met Ben at Torchy's for date night. Absentia!

Friday (14,054 steps) - Unfortunately, I woke up just after 3 am because I needed to use the bathroom and couldn't fall back asleep. I finally got up for good just before 5 after tossing and turning. Read some of my book while I waited for my alarm to go off. Olive and I headed to Wash Park for a walk - it was a nice morning and we didn't have any of the horrific wind, thankfully.

Took Olive for another longer walk at lunch.

Dropped Olive off at home, did a quick delivery and then met Ben at Parry's for dinner.

Absentia!

Saturday (37,331 steps) - Woke up before my alarm that I had set so I could get my long run done. I had hoped that I would beat the horrific wind, but sadly, I did not. The new bridge was finally open across Indiana, so I had planned a pretty long run.

It was awfully miserable, but the trails are nice! Ben met me about 20 minutes from finishing and then we stopped at 4 Noses for a beer (Topo for me). After I showered, took Olive for a long walk to the lake.

Then it was time to get ready for my work holiday party!

Apparently we neglected to get pictures of us at the actual party...

We decided to take a Lyft down, which did save a lot of stress with parking. The party was... fine. Probably the least fun of all the ones I have been to, but I do enjoy the food. Bed later than usual.

Sunday (15,777 steps) - Ben picked up Dutch Bros for us. We headed up to Boulder since I had a vert day on schedule. We started at the park near the rec center since I wasn't sure what street parking would be available. It was pretty shocking how dry everything was after all the ice from a week ago.

Went to Rails End on the way home - I had been confused when the Broncos game was and we were surprised by the place being packed. We had to sit at the bar and it was a little crowded. Got some food and then headed home.

Zero recollection of the evening. We had a late dinner. Absentia.

Monday (21,045 steps) - Work from home. Ariel and I met at Big O so she could get her brakes done. Stopped at Torchy's on the way home for some breakfast. Took Olive for a walk at lunch, then I went to get my hair cut.

I had to have FOUR INCHES taken off since it had been so long since I got it cut. Then it was time to take Robin to the vet to get her eye looked at. THEN, had to take Ariel back to Big O to pick up her car. Headed back home to finish workday and change so I could go up to Boulder for my workout. It actually went a tiny bit better than I expected, but I still really suck at hills!

Ben had picked up pizza for dinner, yay! Couch time and Absentia - we are almost done with the show. Sad.

Stats:

128,432 steps
28.53 miles run
15.37 miles walked
65 minutes of cardio
40 minutes of strength

Week in Review (December 2 - December 8)

2025-12-09T10:11:00.001-07:00

Tuesday (17,005 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office.

If you look close, you can see the hawk in the tree

Dressed nice AGAIN today, kinda fun to have picked up some nicer work clothes again.

Went for my run at lunch, an "easier" speed workout. I realized during the run that the city has apparently removed all the port-o-potties of the season. I had to do a lot of run/walking during my cool down until I made it to Union Station to use the bathroom!

Took Olive for a walk after work. Dinner and Absentia.

Wednesday (11,084 steps) - We got a ton of snow overnight and it was still snowing when we got up. Did a Peloton ride and somehow the morning got away from me and I didn't really have time to take Olive for a regular walk so we just walked around the block, no one had shoveled and we had to walk in the street. I was only a few minutes late for work, and most people actually came in.

Went to the gym at lunch and did a short StairMaster workout, strength training and a walk on the treadmill with incline.

Drive home took forever and I took Olive for a walk.

At least one of us is excited for snow

Dinner and we watched "Black Phone 2."

Thursday (17,452 steps) - Work from home. I waited a bit before heading out for my run so it could warm up. Did some laundry, ran the dishwasher, vacuumed, then finally figured I better go in case my car was going to be done. I wore a fleece-lined pullover and tights and was actually pretty comfortable most of the run. I had planned on running on the trails, but since no one had really been out yet I was not enjoying the deep snow and opted to run up the road.

I unfortunately ended up on the south side and that was relatively icy. The path was ok, but any time I crossed a road or driveway it was like a death trap. I stopped at the library to use the bathroom, but otherwise it was a pretty good run. Immediately took Olive for a walk when I got home. My car was FINALLY done around 3:30 so I had to drive down to Highlands Ranch to pick her up since the dealership didn't have a valet available. I ABSOLUTELY HATE the drive to/from Schomp. Hate it. Met Ben at Torchy's for dinner. Absentia.

Friday (12,488 steps) - Finally made it to the Wash Park walk! A bit chillier than I expected, but it was good to see people again.

Took Olive for a shorter walk at lunch. Dropped Olive off at home. After Ben got home we turned right around and headed to RiNo to meet up with Heather! We went to Lefthand - which is relatively new. We had to pay for parking, which was annoying. When we first got there it was basically deserted, but it filled in quite a bit because there was a show (rave?) next door at the Mission Ballroom.

I guess we didn't take any pictures. Also, these were my first beers in weeks, and I definitely felt it!

Absentia?

Saturday (22,771 steps) - Kristin picked me up and we headed down to south Denver for Runners Edge! I had a few hours on schedule and figured the miles would go by quicker with friends - which it did. We ran on the Highline, which is never overly interesting, and I was really surprised by the amount of snow/ice that was still on the trail.

We listened to the Western States lottery, and I did not get selected, again. Headed home, took Olive for a walk and then went up to 4 Noses to meet Ben since his truck was getting work done next door. I was starving, Ben ordered Panda for lunch, which was delicious as always.

We went back home when it was still not finished after an hour. We went to pick up the truck and I did a delivery on the way home. Watched Sinister 2 - which how had we not seen this? It's an old movie? I think some Absentia after.

Sunday (25,943 steps) - Dutch Bros to get coffee before going to Runners Roost for the "year end party." Walked with Mo and Colfax.

After we were done, Ben and I took Olive up on the trails for the "real" activity of the day - getting in a hike with some vert. The trails were INSANELY icy and it was a good reminder that I need to put my spikes in the car.

We also saw about 30 wild turkeys! I have only seen them one other time in Boulder, so this was pretty special (and thankfully, Olive did not try to chase them).

Stopped at Rails End on the way home. Watched the first half of the Broncos game and got some delicious food from the food truck, but it ended up giving me a stomachache that last the rest of the night.

More Absentia.

Monday (18,628 steps) - Work from home. Super windy, so I procrastinated before taking Olive for her walk. Kneejerk reaction was to overdress for my run. It was cold enough that I felt fine for the first half (which was uphill and a headwind), but I definitely warmed up by the time I turned around. Run wasn't bad! After work I went out to do some driving but stopped after one because traffic was a nightmare. Ben got pizza for dinner. Absentia.

Stats:

125,371 steps
30.89 miles run (wow, big week for me, haha)
12.36 miles walked
27 minutes of cardio
31 minutes of strength

Week in Review (November 25 - December 1)

2025-12-02T15:32:00.004-07:00

Tuesday (10,503 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work in the office. With it being a holiday week, there wasn't that much traffic, which was nice. Gym at lunch - VERY long StairMaster session and some strength training, plus a quick walk on the treadmill since I struggle to get steps in on indoor work days.

Must have had dinner and watched Absentia.

Wednesday (20,001 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office.

Had to do a picture because I actually dressed professionally for once

We were going to have an early release for Thanksgiving and since I had a hike/run on schedule, Olive went to work with me. Very slow day, walk at lunch.

Lower lobby of our building

We headed over to Green Mountain after work was out and did a hike up the fire road and then ran down the single track. There were a decent number of bikes, but people were pretty polite. Olive does not seem to want to run on wider/rockier trails, but she did pretty good on narrower trails.

We finished a bit later than planned, but at least it was still light out. Dropped Olive off at home and then met Ben at Torchy's for dinner since we wouldn't be going on our normal day. Absentia.

Thursday (12,105 steps) - Up early(ish) for the annual Louisville Turkey Trot. With Ben being sick, he wasn't going to be running, but still wanted to socialize and visit the beer tents. I didn't really have any goals for running - other than NOT getting stuck behind a bunch of kids and/or families and possibly running a course PR. It was chilly(ish) but I was glad that I decided last minute to NOT wear my jacket as I did start to warm up. I was a bit sad I had forgotten my gloves, but the shirt I was wearing had thumb holes so my hands didn't completely freeze. I had a pretty good first mile, but knew that the bigger, long hill was coming in mile 2. I had hoped to avoid walking, but meh, walked a minute or two total and then had a pretty strong mile 3 and finish. Faster than last year, but just a tad slower than two years ago.

I do have to remember that it hadn't even been 2 weeks since finishing Florida! Found Ben, got a NA beer and then moved off to the side.

Kara and me

Larry found us and then eventually we found Kristin and her dad. I rushed us out just before 11 since I knew we had a lot of cooking and prep to do. Unfortunately, Ariel was going to be working an afternoon shift, so we had to do Thanksgiving as a late lunch. I took Olive for a walk (mostly to stay out of the way). Food was delicious - this year we picked up "ready to go" food from Sprouts, so all we needed to do was heat things up.

Definitely less dishes and Ben said it was easier. I am sure that we watched tv after Ariel went to work, but I have no recollection of what we watched. We did go to bed early since Ben wasn't feeling well AND he still had to work on Black Friday :(

Friday (22,046 steps) - Planned to be hanging around the house at least until 10 am since someone from Schomp was supposed to be driving the loaner car to the house and bringing Blue-C back for service since there still seems to be some issues with the battery and brakes. At 10 I called them and what a surprise, the "morning got away" and no one was even on their way yet, which means I was still going to be stuck at the house for at least another hour. SO MAD. Ariel and I decided to go to Dutch to get coffee while we were waiting - that ended up being a disaster since they were doing a mystery ornament drop. Even though we were gone until nearly 11, there was no one waiting for us when we got home. Finally, around 11:15, the guy from Schomp shows up - dropping off the biggest Mini ever (seriously, it's a Countryman and seems to be as big as the Jeep I used to own). Olive and I got ready and headed out to White Ranch for the activity of the day. I had mapped out what I thought was going to be just under 7 miles, but I got the routes confused with the upper trail head.

Our hike/run ended up being 8 miles. I was glad that I had brought Olive's water bowl because the water access was dried up and we stopped twice to hydrate. Dropped Olive off at home and went to 4 Noses to meet up with Ben. We had Ninja Ramen for dinner - the best food truck!

Watched Bad Guys 2, a pretty silly movie that we both liked.

Saturday (14,827 steps) - We managed to sleep in until almost 8. That's unheard of for us, especially with the animals. We all took the loaner Mini to get Dutch (no crazy line this time), which was fun. I had a run on schedule and literally spent the entire morning putting it off. It finally seemed a bit warmer around lunch, so I sucked it up and went out. I almost thought I overdressed, but I think I layered perfectly and there were even times that I felt like I could have been wearing MORE. Overall, the run wasn't terrible. As soon as I got home I grabbed Olive and took her for a short walk. Then I took a hot shower and we went to Rails End for treat town. I was starving, so happy to see that the creole food truck we like was there. Tried the NA Stout, and it was ok. Hard to believe how much my beer tastes have changed over the years!

Back home and read for a bit. Ben went to Costco to pick up a pizza for dinner, even though neither of us was hungry after our big lunch. We watched a movie "Sovereign" - which was ok. Maybe more Absentia?

Sunday (10,744 steps) - Managed to stay in bed relatively late (for us). Tried to start the discussion early on of what our plans were going to be for the first very cold day of the year. Somehow convinced Ben to join me and Olive for a longer walk to the lake - it was very chilly! Ariel showed up at the house right before we got home and we spent some time with her before she went to work. Headed up to Rails End for indoor treat town with Olive for a bit, watching some of the football games that were on. Took Olive for a a walk when we got home and then settled in for the afternoon. Did some reading and then did my yoga video and a quick jog around the block (had to get my steps in!), Ben made dinner and we watched most of the Broncos game before switching over to Absentia.

Ariel came back after she got off work to use my laptop to work on a paper. Goodbye long weekend!

Monday (10,330 steps) - Work from home. Took Olive for a walk and decided I would move all my workouts around for the week. Instead of doing my run at lunch I rode the Peloton, used the rower and did an upper body video.

Most updated picture of the basement/workout area

In the afternoon I took Olive for another walk. After work I met Ben at Costco so we could do some much-needed grocery shopping. Cooked dinner, read my book, watched an episode of South Park and started the second season of Absentia.

Stats:

100,556 steps
20.33 miles run
10.97 miles walked
101 minutes of cardio
60 minutes of strength

Week in Review (November 18 - November 24)

2025-11-26T09:20:00.001-07:00

Tuesday (12,410 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office. I felt pretty terrible the whole day.

At least I looked adorable wearing my newest boots!

Walked on the treadmill at lunch. Had Ben pick me up after I walked Olive to go to 4 Noses for happy hour. Dinner at home (soup, since I wasn't feeling great) and then we watched "A Deadly American Marriage"

Wednesday (12,564 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office. Still felt terrible. Had the surprise retirement party for Chris to end the day. Took Olive for a walk and had dinner. Finished "A Deadly American Marriage" and then started a really cheese movie called "Brick."

Thursday (10,227 steps) - Work from home! Did a short Peloton ride and laundry. Took Blue-C down to Big O to get a new tire. No flat this time, just a bad wear pattern. Also got a much-needed alignment. Took Olive for a long walk to the lake.

Ariel showed up while I was finishing up work. We met Ben at Torchy's for a belated birthday dinner for her. Did some presents at home after, took Olive for another walk and then Ben and I watched "Beneath the Light" after Ariel went home.

Friday (10,627 steps) - Olive walk before going to work. Another very busy morning. Took Olive for a walk at lunch. After work, another Olive walk. Ben picked me up and we went to 4 Noses for happy hour. Trip to Costco with pizza for dinner and an attempt at watching a movie "The Captive," but I fell asleep at 8:30 so that was a bust.

Saturday (10,664 steps) - Wasn't sure if I was going to try an easy run today, but ended up just taking Olive for a longer walk to the lake/beach area.

We bagged all the leaves in the front yard and went to 4 Noses for a beer, leaving just before the sun set.

Took Olive for another walk and we had a fun "charcuterie" plate for dinner.

Finished up "The Captive" - it was really good and hard to believe that we had not seen it before.

Sunday (11,389 steps) - Ben got us Dutch and we did some cleaning while deciding what we were going to do. I've been debating joining a gym again (I haven't officially belonged to one since COVID!), so Ben and I went to take a tour at the one down the street. Took Olive to the dog park for a long walk and then went to Rails End for a beer.

Home for pajama time. Watched "Wish Upon" and started a new series "Absentia."

Monday (13,625 steps) - Work from home. Olive had a grooming appointment - but the girl she has been seeing for the last two years is now working out of her home! She only lives about a half mile from us, so I walked Olive over and dropped her off and started my run from there. I had a 30 minute "shuffle" on schedule, which is exactly what I did. Not bad, considering it was my first run since Florida. Took a shower and did some more work before walking back over to get Olive.

Had a quick (very late) breakfast at home and then went to meet Ariel at Ziggi's for a coffee. Finished out the afternoon working and then did a few deliveries since Uber was running another promotion. Took Olive for a walk while Ben made dinner. More Absentia!

Stats:

81,506 steps
2.4 miles run
20.61 miles walked
10 minutes of cardio
0 minutes of strength

Across Florida 200 (Race Recap)

2025-11-21T11:35:00.013-07:00

Withalacoochee Bay Trail to St. Augustine Beach

Wednesday, November 12

200+ mile attempt #13

Weather - chilly overnight, warm days, humid

Preface

I had heard about this race and was interested right away. The first 10 registrants were promised a special puffy coat and the price tag was relatively low. I didn't sign up when it was first announced because I saw it was going to occur over Ariel's birthday. Then, I saw that Paul signed up. Andrea said she was also signed up and that I should join. Ariel didn't seem to mind that I would miss her birthday since she would be busy with school anyway. I signed up the week of Summit since that was right before the price was supposed to go up. The race itself was $800 and I had to pay an additional $75 for the shuttle since I planned to be an uncrewed runner. All in all, it was just under $1,000 after taxes and fees.

Top Three Pre-Race Problems/Issues/Concerns

Drop Bags - Additionally, there was a Facebook group where we would be able to chat with other runners and ask questions. My main concern was what was listed for drop bags, to which I posted way back in August "Am I reading this correctly in the runner guide - we can only have 1 gallon drop bags? I won't have a crew, so does that mean I can't have any shoe changes?" I should have known at this point that I was navigating some... dangerous waters. After a few days one of the race directors responded with "You are not limited to 1 gallon bags, that just is the standard in our shorter events, runners just tape shoes to the bags. Maybe we change it to 2 gallon to help with the larger distance or add one gear bin per runner that can be at every 4 Aid Station? Just tell us what you feel will be needed and we will make it happen." Well. I let it be known MANY times that I didn't think I was asking for anything outrageous, but that a drop bag of a BIT bigger size was absolutely necessary for those of us without crew. They eventually bumped up the drop bag size to 2 gallon, but let me tell you that with my women's size 7 feet, I could BARELY fit a pair of shoes, small change of clothes and a tiny bit of nutrition. But, that's what they decided was "fair" for uncrewed runners.
Crews - So you might be thinking that with the very strict drop bag policy that crews would have limitations, so that the runners that HAD crew would not have a huge advantage over the uncrewed runner. You would be wrong. Crew was allowed at... EVERY SINGLE AID STATION. Yes, you read that correctly. If you were a runner that had someone willing to help you, they could be at every single aid station.
Pacers - We had a pre-race briefing about two weeks out from the race. The RD went over the whole course, describing where aid stations would be, etc. Then we got into the pacer info. Pacers were required to register and pay $30. BUT... they were also allowed to MULE. The race kept insisting that it was NOT muling since the runner had to carry their mandatory gear. To be clear, the "mandatory gear" was - cell phone, bib, tracker and sand bottle. That's it. So if you had a pacer, they could carry ALL your gear, food & nutrition. ADDITIONALLY, pacers did NOT have to be on foot!! Yes, you read that correctly, pacers could even be on a bicycle. But no, the race did not think that was an unfair advantage to those that didn't have a pacer

Pre-race to Start

The shuttle was scheduled to depart at 6 am SHARP, but since I was just down the street, I didn't need to allow for any travel time. I figured getting up at 5 would be enough time to get everything done and still give me a buffer. What I didn't plan on, for example, was there being NO coffee in the lobby of my hotel at 5 am! That's not even that early (comparatively). Either way, I got out the door and was parked in the lot at the finish line at 5:45. I was shocked to see that the shuttle bus was nearly full and it appeared that I was actually going to be the latest arrival, filling the last seat. As it got closer to the time to leave, more people kept showing up. Then, we discover the guy that is driving the shuttle bus is actually a registered runner and was doing this as a favor to the RD. He calls Jeff and says "hey, we have more people than seats," to which the RD responded that he was driving and we would need to figure it out. Two people had to drive their vehicles and then worry later about how to get back (I mean, the whole point of the shuttle, THAT WE PAID $75 FOR, was so that those without crew could get to the start line. The ride was supposed to be 2.5 hours. We left a little late and it did take longer than we expected, plus we had one stop along the way to use the bathroom. We also got a little lost at one point, but eventually made it!

Start to Aid #1 (11.5 miles) - 2:50:20

Before the event even started, we had to walk to the beach to fill up the first part of our sand bottle. We started at 10:30 (instead of 10) and I just wanted to get going! Lined up near the back, like usual.

I set up 3/1 run/walk intervals and planned on running those as long as it was sustainable. The first section of the race was on a wide asphalt path. We had to do a short out and back to the pavilion at the end of the pier (supposedly this was supposed to make up for "lost distance" from course changes). Very quickly, I found myself at the very back. I wasn't going to let this bother me as I have done this strategy before and it helps me to get running in but also not get burned out by doing too much. Wasn't too far into the run when my stomach started to scream for a bathroom - thankfully there was one a few miles in, as I wasn't sure I was going to make it too much further. I felt much better after that and continued on with my intervals. We came upon a parking lot and as I hadn't seen any markings or gotten an off-course alert, I kept going on the path. Not too long after, I see Jeff (one of the RDs) running down the grass after putting a sign in the grass. I took out my headphone to hear him yelling "turn at the sign" - which I did. But, then what? To my left I see what looks like numerous "trails" of tall grass that have been moved down and then sort of straight ahead I can see the edge of the parking lot. I am still looking for more signage to know where to go, but then I heard Jeff yelling to "go back that way." So I take out my headphones and Gaia and am trying to figure out WHERE to go because I am still not seeing anything. A few runners come out off the trail and said they had gotten off course and were turned around and was I going the right way. No idea, but I followed them and it seemed like we got back to where we needed to be. OK, I don't think I have ever been off course less than 10 miles into a race, but apparently this is how it's going to be... I guess other people had been looking more at the course and knew we had to do a loop around a lake, but I couldn't even see the lake for quite some time. I did keep glancing over and when I finally saw water I kept an eye for alligators, but nada. I met up with the runner I had been sitting next to on the bus and he was telling me that he was turing off his Garmin navigation and was just going to use the "Guide Me" on Gaia, which I could not get figured out either. Mapping was proving to be challenging for sure.

This section was pretty and we were definitely in more of a foresty/remote type area. I get to a sign that says trail ends but it seems like we have to keep going through on just a more rugged area - I should have taken a picture or video here, it was total bushwhacking. Suddenly, we are at the river crossing and we have to take a canoe across. It seems that there are two canoes and three people could get in each one. I only had to wait for one. I have to say that I have never been in a canoe during a running event!

Get back on the shore and it's time to start back up with intervals. We are on a wide section of double track/grass. Came upon some horses, which was fun. The course did a 180 and we moved onto the other side of the canal. I had been leapfrogging with a female and male runner and finally I asked them if they were doing intervals. They said they were running one mile and walking one mile. I said that sounded truly horrible and they were welcome to join me for my 3/1 intervals if they wanted to. They ended up doing that and I took my earbuds out and finally got some new people to talk to! We could see the first aid station from a distance away and it seemed to be at a road intersection. I saw Paul and Andrea leaving as we were arriving, but they didn't see me. We stayed only long enough to top off our waters and grab a few snacks before heading back out.

Aid #1 to Aid #2 (12.2 miles) - 3:15:22

I was really happy with the quick aid station turn around. This section started by running along the side of the road, which wasn't great, but it at least it wasn't a highway. It was also relatively shaded, which I appreciated.

We were having a good time talking and the miles passed quickly. We moved off the pavement and onto some dirt, where we acquired zillions of goatheads (or as they call them in Florida sand burrs). We had some climbs that gave us some extra walk breaks and even had to climb over a gate. Moved onto some dirt road, still doing our same 3/1 intervals. I could not believe how deep the sand was. Pretty annoying stuff! More road and then we arrived at the second aid station. We spent a few minutes longer at this one so that we could use the bathroom (I think there was even running water at this one) and then grabbed some food/snacks. There was still no real food here, but I think I just had a peanut butter and jelly or something, maybe a banana and figured I would be fine until the next aid station.

Aid #2 to Aid #3 (9.3 miles) - 2:30:08

Next big goal was getting to the first drop bag! This next section started out on pavement again, but it was more of a really wide sidewalk. I let the other two know that I was going to change the intervals up a bit because I was starting to feel the 3/1 a bit more than I would like for this early in the race. I either went down to 2/1 or 1:30/1, I can't recall. We still were doing really well overall. In this section we finally moved onto the Florida trail - it was mostly still just grassy double track, but it was a nice change.

Then we ended up... on the side of the highway. I still wanted to do the intervals, but we had to do a lot of the running in the grass, and by now it was also dark so the footing was not as good as I would like, but it was nice to keep the pace up. We could see that there were some runners ahead of us and I figured out that it was probably Paul and Andrea. It was!! I was really happy to have caught up to them (and their new friend, Lisa). They had been walking until we caught up to them but got a second wind and ran much longer than we did, but we all came into the aid station at roughly the same time. They all went to their crew vehicles and I just wanted to get my stuff done quickly so we could all leave together. The race hadn't gotten their own port-o-potty and the only one available was all the way on the other side of the lot, plus I had to wait to use it. I came back to the aid station and noticed that all we were going to get was a half dozen camp chairs in the dark. Uh... the only hot food was ramen, which I gladly took. Was looking for my drop bag and a guy (would know later that it was Ron) was saying something about having a beer and I asked if he had any. He said he had some in his vehicle and brought me an IPA! I only had about half of it, but I was really happy for it. Then, I had to get Kogalla out and all the food and snacks that I would need until my next drop bag, plus my pants and hat. I had told them to make sure to grab me before they left and I saw Andrea walking out of the aid station and yelled that I just needed 60 seconds to get my bottles filled and they headed out. I let the two I was running with know that I was going to have to head out and felt pretty bad that they weren't able to get their stuff ready in time to come out with me, but this was also first 200 mile attempt for both of them.

Aid #3 to Aid #4 (9.2 miles) - 3:55:01

That meant that I had to run out after them. Ugh, I really wanted to try to stick with them as long as I possibly could. We were on the actual trail very shortly after leaving the aid station. I was really surprised at how technical it was. And by technical, I just mean that there were a lot of leaves covering the trail and there were a TON of roots. We all fell in this section. I fell pretty early on, catching my toe on a root and landing hard on my left side. Of course I had my headphones and mace my pocket, which was pretty painful. At least it wasn't my phone like when I fell during Monster. Otherwise, this was a pretty nice section.

It was fun being with Paul and Andrea and the miles seemed to go by pretty quick. This was supposed to be the coldest night on the trail and I was happy that I had seemingly packed pretty well and wasn't going to end up needing my pants. Lisa, on the other hand, was freezing. We were all trying to think of things we could loan her to warm her up. Paul gave her some gloves and she borrowed a jacket from Andrea. Then I told her that she could wear my pants and fleece hat. And then off we went! We survived the first night! We were in a swampy area and lots of big trees and plants and leaf covered bridges.

This area was really pretty and I'm glad we saw some of it in the daylight! The plan was to go to the camper van and get some food and a little rest. I was starting to feel some blisters, so I took off my socks and cleaned my feet and then laid down for a 30 minute nap. I don't think I slept, although maybe I got a few minutes here and there. Cannot remember what food we might have had here, but whatever it was, it something provided by CJ. Breakfast burrito maybe? Lisa asked if she could hang onto my pants and I said that was fine, especially since I hadn't needed them. I figured I would be able to get them the next time that we stopped.

Aid #4 to Aid #5 (10.6 miles) - 4:06:41

So we did not all head out together. Paul and Andrea were ready to go and I went with them, but Lisa was still doing some things and said that she would catch up to us later. This was the section where I got a little behind Paul and Andrea. We were running on the side of a road and my stomach was screaming at me. With nowhere to "go" I was moving slower and just trying to find somewhere to stop where I wasn't going to be on display. We ran by what looked like a private hunting compound forEVER.

Down one road, turning onto yet another road. Finally got to a junction of dirt roads where I was able to briefly stop and then I felt SO much better. I was able to do some intervals to try and catch back up to them. Knowing them as well as I do, if I get too far behind I won't see them again! I got up (finally!!) and we were together this road/trail for a bit. I remembered that I had received my Topo coupon and I needed to do my once a year shoe purchase. I had pre-loaded my cart prior to the race since I knew the sale was coming and thought all I'd have to do was enter the code and be done with it. It ended up being such a pain, issues with my address that I had to delete and re-enter if though it was correct. My card number was in there, but I didn't know the code, although I thought maybe I guessed correctly since it went through. I noticed I didn't get a text about the credit card charge and saw my order had been cancelled. So I called and they said I would have to start over. UGH!! Thankfully I could just pay using PayPal since I did not have my card on me. Once THAT was done, we started to do some more run/walk. They got a second/third/hundredth wind and I was definitely trailing behind. We had to cross the highway and run along another highway to get to the trailhead where the aid station was. I came in just a few minutes after the two of them. Headed immediately to the aid station to see what the food options were. I saw a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs and figured that was as good as anything else and I wouldn't have to get it heated up. The volunteer indicated that everything food-wise on the table was provided by them and NOT the race. Not a good sign. I had been hoping to get a nap in the camper, but coming in late meant CJ made the camper off limits. I sat on the ground and ate my cold "pasta" and Jackie gave me a small can of coke. I asked how much longer Paul was planning on resting and once I heard a half hour I told Andrea I was going to go ahead and get out of there now since I had no doubt they would catch up to me soon anyway.

Aid #5 to Aid #6 (9.9 miles) - tracker didn't work this segment

Guess what. More. Road. Miles and miles of being on the side of yet another busy road. I was by myself much longer than I expected to be. I could not believe they had not caught up to me yet. My stomach was feeling off AGAIN (this is pretty abnormal for me during a race and it was happening EVERY time I ate something). But once again, we were on the side of the road and it took MILES before I found somewhere I could duck off behind some tall grass.

I got passed in this section by a few female runners and decided now that my stomach was feeling better that I could do some running. After probably 5 miles into this section I could see people behind me and it was Paul and Andrea catching up to me. Together again! We turned off the road and onto a dirt road. We noticed a runner sitting in the dirt and she was clearly suffering from heat exhaustion and looked very upset. We spent a few minutes giving her some calories and talking with her and she decided to get up and join us. Turns out her name is Alex and she is a runner from Mexico!

Thankfully, I had a drop bag here. We all went to the camper, I changed clothes, probably ate something (maybe this was the breakfast burrito?) Taking turns for the bed, I got the couch this time. Laid down I believe for 45 minutes. I dozed off but didn't get a ton of sleep.

Aid #6 to Aid #7 (13.5 miles) - 8:58:03 (this was for #5-#7)

Our trackers had to be swapped out because they weren't going to last the entirety of the race. We all headed out together. What happened here? I have no idea. I think we were on the trail the whole time? Or maybe this was the section that was also on the side of the highway? I think that's it. So it was me, Paul, Andrea and Alex. Even though it was hypothetically warmer, it felt colder to me and I was in a dire situation. I had never seen Lisa again to get my pants back and I was fucking COLD. Like to the point that if I hadn't been with other people I'm not sure what I would have done. I stupidly did not have an emergency blanket in my pack (I ALWAYS have one, so why did I not this time??) and I had NO more layers to add.

All I had was my Patagonia R1 and thin stretchy gloves. I did have an emergency poncho that I pulled out and put on. It helped a bit, and it also helped to do some running, that also made me a bit warmer. Andrea also had an extra jacket that I added to my layers and it honestly saved my life. We found a section of concrete where we all agreed to take a break for a few minutes. Of course it turned out to be some private driveway and a woman nearly ran over my head and then kept saying "I just need to know what you are doing" so we had to get up and keep going. Lord am I tired of all this side of the road stuff that is affecting my trail naps!! Aid station. Things happened and I don't know what.

Aid #7 to Aid #8 (26 miles) - 9:40:13

This section sucked. One of the later course changes was having to move an aid station, so we were going to have a full marathon distance without aid. Thankfully they were going to have a water drop in this section because we did most of this during the day. We all thought we had already done the "highway to hell" and turns out, no we hadn't. This dirt road went on forever. And ever. And ever. Seemingly the only "hills" in this whole course. We kept seeing these weird bugs on the road/trail and I looked them up and they were some sort of walking stick that thankfully wasn't poisonous. I can't remember how far we got into this segment before we came across Ron and his truck. Paul had been talking about how he was going to have special treats for us. Turns out - he did!! There had been zero shade in this section and we were able to sit at a picnic table nearby, top off our water AND he had a cooler filled with cold beverages. I grabbed an IPA and a can of Clearly Canadian (which I didn't even know existed). This gave us all a boost and we headed out in better spirits. At some point we got back on the Florida Trail, I think. For hours we kept hearing and seeing helicopters circling the area and we wondered if something happened to a runner. We had a funny conversation about 25 miles into this section where Paul didn't realize that we were currently IN the really long section, which made him happy. Maybe a mile before the aid station we hear someone yell something like "hands up, police" and it turns out it was Ana who came to pace Paul! She got us into the aid station and told us that even she got lost even just trying to find us. Oh, that's because this race didn't mark anything... we all went to the camper and spent a few minutes eating and getting ready before having a pretty quick turnaround to get right back out. The lack of sleep was going to catch up to me eventually!

Aid #8 to Aid #10 (20.3 miles) - 8:51:46

Not a typo - aid station #9 was pulled last minute because the location was inside a park that couldn't be accessed because of the government shut down. Thankfully the missing aid station was between two relatively short distances. But still.

Another insanely long section. We were leaving the aid station and walked by a few groups of people camping. There was a section where we could hear people yelling and the others were concerned that there were hunters or people out on the trail that maybe shouldn't be. I wasn't necessarily worried, but I was glad that we were all together at this point! It was still night and that apparently had rejuvenated Paul and Andrea and they kept doing run intervals - which would have been fine if they would have been maybe a little shorter. Alex and I were definitely struggling to keep up with them, and Ana being on fresh legs. I was also back to having stomach issues, which caused me to get further behind yet again. Once I just took a minute to stop and use the bathroom I felt better and did some more running to try and catch up. Alex and I started to discuss how it was getting more difficult to keep up and I told her I would make sure to stay with her the rest of the race - if she wanted me to. I don't have any strong memories in this section, but I think we came into the aid station around sunrise. Did I sleep at all? Was I in the camper? I think so. I believe that Ana took a nap in Jackie's vehicle. I believe this is when Ana gave us all meatball subs!! Yay, food!! Maybe THIS was the time I slept on the couch? I had a random last minute drop bag here that really only had a battery bank and my car keys, so I gave that to Jackie to hold onto because I really wanted to ensure that didn't get misplaced somewhere. My feet were SO FUCKED at this point. They felt almost as bad as they had at Divide and I had blisters on my pinkie toe and on the balls of both feet. When I first stood up I wasn't even sure I could keep going.

Aid #10 to Aid #11 (14.4 miles) - 7:01:21

We hit up the "aid station" on the way out onto the trail. This was unmanned and all that was out on the table was some water and snacks - bags of chips. Oh my lord. How are truly 100% uncrewed people surviving this?! Ana led the way out of the aid station and once again, we immediately got off course thanks to zero markings. I have never in my life run a race where you had to keep your phone out the entire time. So frustrating to also not have the turn by turn cues from Garmin. UGH. Pulled out Gaia and backtracked. Looked like I had found the path, and I led the way only to end up in a patch of brambled trees and bushes that were pulling my hair on snagging my clothes. I honestly freaked out and was screaming for help when I heard someone say "Rebecca, the trail is up here" and I felt like I had only gone a few feet out in front and could not see them. Had a minor panic attack and thankfully came up behind them. OK, I really need to stay more alert and do everything I can to stay with people.

At one point, Alex said to me, "what do you think they will say if we ask for a five-minute break." I knew that they would not be up for it so I waited a few minutes before asking and they did say they wanted to grind out the miles. We were in a nice area of single track with lots of trees and at this point is when we let them go out of sight. As much as I wanted all of us to stay together, there were still LOTS of miles left at this point and I didn't want to end up in "danger" from going out too hard. Finally we got to the aid station. This one was at the "store" - which was no longer (or temporarily?) closed.

I decided to not bother with the camper and hoped to eat, change clothes and maybe take a quick nap. The food here was a hot dog and quesadilla. All my stuff seemed really chaotic here, but I had a wonderful volunteer that offered me a foot bath (?!) she filled a basin with ice and water (only ice I saw the entire race) and had me soak my feet while I was eating and figuring out what I needed to do with my pack. My feet looked and felt 100% better after this.

This same very kind volunteer also showed me where I could change in a nearby "shed" (really it was just a small, enclosed laundry room area?) and she guarded the door so no one would walk in on me. Then I grabbed the one mat that was there and a sleeping bag laid down to hopefully take a nap. Not sure if I got any real sleep, but it was nice to be off my feet.

Aid #11 to Aid #12 (18.7 miles) - 11:26:20

Alex and I headed out together. We had a good time talking and grinding out the miles. Can't remember a lot of the miles in the start of this segment, but I think we were still on the Florida trail. I believe this is also when I was getting emergency notifications that the 911 system was down, but to... text 911 in case of emergency?

We saw a body of water in front of us and couldn't figure out where the course was supposed to go. It was dark and we had to have the map out yet again to figure out where we were going. I was definitely getting very tired here. We came up to some sort of bridge and there were cars parked on the side that seemed to be for people fishing? At night?

We definitely stopped for a short break on the road here. Where are we going and are we ever going to get there? We were on a VERY wide trail or road. Lots of leaves and some tree roots and it seemed that we were along a canal of some kind, but since it was night we couldn't exactly see anything. This was the section of the world's longest mile. Every time we would check to see how much further to the aid station it was a mile. Or 1.3 miles, and then still a mile. It never seemed to get shorter. Up ahead we can see lights and it appears that the aid station is close. This is also the one with the gate, which thankfully we had the "code" to. I think we all thought it would be a keypad, but it was actually a padlock. Took multiple tries to get it open, then we had an even more difficult time to get it closed. Ridiculous. We seemed to be at some sort of dam and then we finally were at the aid station. I thought that Paul and Andrea were probably still there but the camper was dark so I didn't even try to head over there. The volunteers at this aid station were AWESOME. The best food of the whole aid station was a breakfast burrito with avocado. I was tired and new that Alex was napping. This was a sleep station but that was just a tent. No sleeping pad, no blankets. One SHEET. Are you kidding me?? The husband volunteer said that if I didn't mind lying down in his truck I could do that. He did run the heat but I still only had that sheet so I didn't sleep but it was exponentially better than just being outside in the elements.

While we were getting ready to head out I was concerned with how cold it felt. They thought someone had left a jacket that I could use and then the woman even offered to give me a pair of tights that she had. I wore someone's random Tunnel Hill finisher jacket and this amazing volunteer's pants and that was seriously the only thing that kept me from freezing to death.

Aid #12 to Aid #13 (22.7 miles) - 9:44:37

I was finally able to get some hot water to make a cup of coffee, only the aid station didn't have any cups. Thankfully a runner's crew was also at the aid station and she had a cup for me to use. Alex and I walked out of the aid station to discover... more road!!

At least it was the middle of the night at this point so there was not a lot of traffic. We were not on the main road for too long, and then we turned and went up another road and entered more "residential" type roads. Both of us were super dragging here. Alex had a sandwich in her pack and when we got to an area where it looked like we could sit without being shot for being in someone's driveway, we sat for a minute to eat. It's probably 3 in the morning and suddenly we hear a woman screaming at us "I wouldn't sit there it's private property!" - mind you, we are in the ROAD not in anyone's driveway, which is what I said, but she continued to yell about private property, so we got up to continue on. Well, my stomach was hurting YET AGAIN, so after a bathroom break we figured we needed to do some intervals again and I actually turned on my timer for them. It did help wake us up, and also there was just weird stuff happening at this time of day.

We came into Palatka and we were SO HAPPY for civilization. We stopped at 7-11 and bought another sub sandwich and some sodas. We stopped to eat and rest for a few and then continued on. This was sidewalks and road and pretty sure we were completely done with any trail stuff by this point.

We had big bridge we had to go over, which meant on the shoulder of the road - AGAIN, which was not fun. I also wanted to get rid of the jacket and tights, but there was not really anywhere great to sit. We then ended up on the longest path of my life. 100% exposed and HOT. We started to do a run walk and would reward ourselves with sitting on the benches for a minute here and there.

At some point the Warrior truck pulled off on the highway and Jeff got out and asked us if we needed any water or if we had anything we wanted to get rid of. I explained that the volunteer at the last aid station had loaned me the pants and jacket and he took those, which was nice because it emptied out my pack a ton. FINALLY WE MADE IT TO THE LAST AID STATION.

I had initially thought I was going to have to sleep at this aid station. I was running on fumes. After talking to Alex, she said she wasn't tired but she did want to get off her feet and rest for a bit. CJ and Jackie were still there and we were able to hang out in the camper for a bit. Thankfully we were able to get some food - I think I had more of a sandwich and some cheeses/meat, plus CJ gave me a Fanta. With only about 20 miles to go, we really just wanted to get out of there! I used the bathroom and then waited for Alex at the trailhead while grabbing some additional snacks. Aid station food here was VERY limited, just some candy and bags of chips. I swear I saw ramen, but don't recall a stove or way to heat anything up.

Aid #13 to Finish (22.2 miles) - 9:31:42

I think we were both just ready to be done, but we had a great time this last section. We were still on this asphalt path. For miles and miles and miles.

At least in this section we were mostly in the shade, which was nice after the exposed section. We decided to take a short nap on the sidewalk for 10 minutes in the sun and of course had someone yell to see if we were ok so got awoken sooner than we wanted, but I think I still got a few minutes.

This section went on and on and on and on forever. I think we did intervals here and there maybe?

We were on the side of a major highway and had to cross at one point, which was a little scary. I had been texting with Ben and he had found a restaurant where we could get a burger but it was unfortunately the wrong side of the highway and we would have to backtrack. We were running a little low on liquids and motivation, but spirits were lifted when we discovered that there would be some food options right along the course. We decided to stop in at Burger King. Got some cheeseburgers, fries and milkshakes. REALLY hit the spot.

By now the sun was setting, but we only had about 10 miles to go!!! I told Alex that before we got too deep into the last miles that I really needed a quick nap. We found a place sort of off the main road. I set an alarm for 15 minutes and woke up (actually slept!) with a few minutes to spare. I didn't see Alex and panicked that she had left me! She said that some weird people were wandering around so she went up to the sidewalk and watched over me. Awww! Well the nap really did help. We were going to try doing some intervals but we still were on the side of a major road, plus we had another insanely long bridge to go over. When we got to only about 3 miles to go we started to do "Paul 30s" where you just basically count to 30 while running and then find a landmark to start over again. The last few miles went really well!

We got close to the finish line and our friends were there! Andrea and Jackie both did videos of us running together into the finish.

We finally did it! We got escorted to the beach to fill up the second half of our sand bottle.

Jackie let me know that my inhaler somehow fell out of the pocket of my vest and thankfully Andrea found it, phew, it was a brand new one! We all did pictures at the finish line.

Garmin Time - 81:51:17

Run Time - 10:15:45

Walk Time - 55:37:32

Special Thanks to finish sprint of 10:25 pace

Official Time -81:51:34

For fun, I still did one selfie at every mile beep. I also did a second picture of what the trail looked like at the time. To condense, I made it into a video:

Thoughts

I was really surprised at how resistant the race was to making any sort of concessions for runner drop bag sizes. I asked multiple times on the public FB group and even sent an email privately and they just did not seem to comprehend how difficult they were making it for people without crew. I guess I feel that there should have been a separate division for people that were running with crew and ones that were not. Those of us without official crew paid for what was promised to be a "fully supported 200 Mile Trail Run" - and it was not.
We had a decent number of last-minute changes to the course. That happens fairly regularly with 200s, so I was not "exactly" surprised, but in the last week we had multiple shorter sections that just became longer, without any additional aid.
The aid stations were... not great. The volunteers did 100% everything they could, but most of them were stocked like a normal 50k that has aid every 5-6 miles. In the back half we had 5 sections of 20ish (or longer miles) - those are BIG distances without support, and the lack of calories was relatively shocking. There was also no ice at any aid stations, with the exception of #11. I never had the chance to use the ice bandana I brought.
Sleep stations - I only asked about them one time, because thankfully I had other options. With unprecedented cold weather and record-breaking lows, how on earth are they providing people a tent with no blankets? And those without crew couldn't exactly pack their own sleeping gear with the 2 gallon drop bag limitation.
Not being from the area or even remotely familiar with it, I was really surprised by how little trail there actually was. There was SO much running on the side of very busy roads. It was very unsafe!
Absolute and horrific lack of marking. They advertise as "limited marked course" and that's true, I guess if by "limited" you mean maybe 50 race markings over 200+ miles. I was stunned at having to have my phone out pretty much nonstop to navigate. I did not plan to have my phone battery die so fast (yes, even in airplane mode) and once again, as a crewless runner, it was hard to keep things charged and have enough batteries.
On that note, absolutely no medical professionals on the course, outside of the store aid station #11 where there was one female volunteer who happened to be a nurse. There was no first aid available at any aid stations, so I'm glad I carry my own medical kit.
Another last minute change was we had to have a blaze orange safety vest that we had to wear from Aid Stations 7-12. We were not told about this change until the week of the race. We were told this was because we would be running in areas where hunting is permitted. Ok, fine, but you really didn't know about this beforehand so people could prep? I will say that they did provide vests for people that were not able to get them in time, but it seems like information they would have had well in advance of the event.
The shuttle was another disaster that the runners made work, but I hope that the RD will refund the people that had to drive their own cars to the start! Apparently they didn't add the shuttle option to Ultrasignup until later so they had "two" lists of people and never realized it when they only booked one van.
The race shirt is a sun shirt, but only made in unisex sizes, so the smallest size is of course huge on me.
The buckle is so big it's almost just ridiculous. It's very cool, but for display only. I took a picture of a guy at the start and this is honestly the only way you could actually wear it.

Would I run this again? No, no, no. And I would honestly caution people against running this unless they are fine with basically running a fatass. The organization primarily runs adventure races and really have a lot of work to do for putting on a long endurance run. I had remembered a friend of mine doing an adventure run that she DNFd due to not feeling safe and reached out to her to see if it was the same organization - and it was. Her report for that is linked here. For some reason there always seems to be a hesitation to tell the truth about events or organizations, and I am not really sure why. Am I glad that I ran this? Sort of? I was really happy to have a reunion with my other 200 buddies and of course meeting Alex and running with her for so many miles was a highlight of the race. If I knew then what I know now, would I have done this? I'm not sure. Unfortunately, they seem to not be willing to listen to feedback and have gone the route of deleting posts and banning people from the group. I am sharing screenshots from a post asking if people felt like they were supported (which is now gone).

Not really race-related, but I have never had my hair be such a disaster. I wore just a single braid instead of my normal double braids. Within the first segment my hair was matted and snarled. By the last few sections I had to take my hair OUT of the braids and just had a messy, matted ponytail. I actually ended up just ripping out huge sections after showering because I could not brush the tangles out.

Essential Gear

Ultraspire Zygos 5.0 vest. Used 800 ml flasks with straws.
Garmin Enduro 2. I charged once when I got down to about 38% just because I happened to be taking a longer rest break. I believe it got up to 97% and I still had over 50% left when I finished.
Goodr Sunglasses, $1 Amazon poncho saves the day again, Kogalla light strip and small Anker batteries (I would have used the beefier batteries if I had known I was going to be using my phone so much. I also was using Ben's lightbar and didn't realize he had it on the highest setting because I drained my first battery by 1 am the first night), Petzl headlamp
Clothing - Rabbit UPF long sleeve and two YMX shirts. Rabbit EZ tees, Patagonia Maipro 7" shorts and Rabbit Smashem 5", socks were Stance and Smartwool. One Zensah highneck sports bra. This was the first time in a while I didn't use the rabbit sun shirts and that was a mistake not having the hood. I did have a Patagonia Airshed that I used a lot but it's definitely warmer than the rabbit tops. Also my trust Patagonia R1. Shoes were one pair of Topo Ultraventure 4s and two pairs of Ultraventure 2s. My trusty Tahoe 200 hat and super cheap stretchy gloves, buffs for under my headlamp.
Nutrition - LMNT Raspberry. Other food I packed that I used was Nerds Clusters, Nature Valley granola bars, trail mix, apple sauce, 5 hour energy, grape juice, Dots pretzels. Other food that helped a ton was sandwiches and chips.
Salty Britches - I think I applied twice and while I had some hot spots I really didn't get any chafing, hooray!
Gear mistakes!!! Loaning out my pants, honestly. Also for some reason I didn't have an emergency blanket or bivvy. With the lack of drop bags and restrictions I couldn't have had room for extras even if I wanted them.

***I think some of these sections may not be right or I am remembering in the wrong order. This is the first race I've ever done that just had numbered aid stations instead of names and I didn't do a good job of documenting those. I am pretty sure I am confusing aid stations from 4-6 somehow, or I'm totally forgetting one altogether. Reserve the right to edit as I remember or new things come up***

Week in Review (November 11 - November 17)

2025-11-18T15:45:00.006-07:00

Tuesday (12,586 steps) - I actually slept pretty good - a relief! I lounged around in bed before deciding to get up and find coffee. All week long I have been hearing about the unprecedented record-breaking cold temperatures that cause iguanas to fall out of trees. I was hoping to see an iguana, so I went out in the freezing cold (ACTUALLY REALLY COLD - WIND CHILL OF 21!!!) First I went out and walked along the beach, then headed back up the road.

Almost 45 minutes and zero iguanas. Sad. Stopped at Island Donuts for a snack.

Went back to the hotel to shower and go out to pick up my last minute Walmart order. It was still so early, so I decided to go walk around Marshall’s. Randomly got some stuff there, then next door at Five Below and got other stuff. Then stopped at Smoothie King for a protein shake. Back to the hotel where I got drop bags and pack finalized.

Down to the gym for a quick yoga video. SVU marathon and relaxed. Packet pickup was just down the street and I walked over right when it was supposed to open.

I got another 2 gallon bag since they had last-minute added an aid station. Picked up all my gear and decided to order food on my way back from the Italian/pizza restaurant on the way. They indicated it would be 20 minutes before it was ready so I went to the gas station to get some water.

Walked back to get my food and then ate while watching even MORE SVU. Made sure everything was ready to go for morning and went to bed relatively early. Took me a bit to fall asleep, but had a good night.

Wednesday (104,612 steps) - Across Florida 200

Thursday (135,757 steps) - Across Florida 200

Friday (136,705 steps) - Across Florida 200

Saturday (106,884 steps) - Across Florida 200

Sunday (10,414 steps) - Was really glad that I had booked a hotel and not slept in my vehicle the whole time. Went down to the lobby for breakfast before going upstairs to get everything packed since I wouldn't be staying at the same hotel.

Without a real plan, decided to drive up towards where I would be staying near the airport. I wanted to get my daily steps out of the way but wasn't seeing anywhere good. I found what looked to be a good sidewalk in the shade, but didn't see anywhere to park. Finally I stopped at a Love's gas station and just wandered around for a mile near there.

While I still plan to monitor my beer intake, I was really looking forward to going to a new brewery! I wanted somewhere close by and didn't even research the beer types. It was maybe a ten minute drive but I picked very well! A very good hazy IPA on tap and the food truck had delicious mac and cheese.

Also, there was a home football game for the Jacksonville Panthers, so I figured I needed to get out of the city ASAP before the game ended. My room was supposed to be ready at three and I stopped to pick up more celebratory beer. Checked in at the hotel and dragged all my stuff upstairs. Lounged around with Criminal Minds playing in the background, procrastinating getting stuff done. All of a sudden it was "late" and I had forgotten to eat dinner. Definitely very congested and sick feeling all day and had a hard time falling/staying asleep.

Monday (12,158 steps) - Woke up a minute or two before my alarm and felt HORRIBLE. Whatever gunk I had going on had multiplied over night. Probably didn't help that I hadn't been hydrating well since the race was over. Threw everything into my bags and headed down to the lobby, grabbing a cup of coffee on the way out. The perk to this hotel was that it was less than a five minute drive to the airport. I dropped off the carat 6 and then walked inside. Security didn't take too long, and this time my walking tamales are what flagged additional screening. Sat at the gate until it was time to board. I managed to get a seat in the emergency row again.

Watched Gossip Girl the whole flight, even dozing off for a few minutes, which is unheard of for me. Took the train to the stop near Ben. He met me at the train stop and we walked to his office and he drove me home, stopping at Tokyo Joe's to pick up lunch. Took Olive for a walk and then did some laundry and unpacking. Alex had recommended a new (to me) scary movie to watch but I was pretty tired, so I napped first. Started to watch "Veronica" but wasn't able to finish before Ben picked me up to take us to dinner at Parry's. Once home, finished the movie, but promptly fell asleep on the couch and went directly to bed. Definitely sick with something!

Stats:

519,116 steps
205.09 miles run
5.98 miles walked
0 minutes of cardio
15 minutes of strength

Week in Review (November 4 - November 10)

2025-11-11T13:55:00.002-07:00

Tuesday (11,106 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work in the office. I had my meeting with our new supervisor and thought it went pretty well. Went to the gym at lunch and did various strength training and walking on the treadmill.

After lunch we all got an email from our new supervisor with the SOPs, and… there are a few things I’m not really thrilled with and am seeking clarification on. Took Olive for a walk. Dinner and FBI: Most Wanted.

Wednesday (14,411 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office. Went for my easy run (it was shorter than I had thought it would be) and actually did a yoga restorative video after before I went back to work.

Got out of work a few minutes late and it actually did make a difference for the amount of traffic I hit. Goosie’s newest outfit came - doesn’t she look festive/adorable?

Took Olive for a walk, dinner and more FBI: Most Wanted. I did actually fall asleep on the couch, which has happened more than once recently, even though I am getting plenty of sleep.

Thursday (12,168 steps) - Actually woke up feeling pretty refreshed, well before my alarm. Ready some of my book and drank my coffee before doing a Peloton ride and used the rower for the first time in ages. It needed a software update and I had to leave my phone down there while it was doing the update. That was only annoying because I had transitioned from Chrome to Edge and some of my passwords weren’t moving over and I had to use a QR code that was on the phone and then had to check my email for another code… let’s just say it was irritating and took close to 45 minutes for things to work properly.

MOM - I AM BORED

MOM - I LOOK ADORABLE CAN WE DO SOMETHING?

Took Olive for a longer walk to the lake even though it was incredibly windy.

Finally got more serious about getting all my stuff packed for Florida - I still think it is insane the drop bag size that we are limited to.

I had hoped to do some driving after work, but I did not get any offers. Met up with Ben for our usual dinner at Torchy’s.

Friday (10,341 steps) - Took Olive for a walk before going to work in the office. It was a pretty busy day. Went for a longer walk at lunch.

Dropped Olive off at home before meeting Ben at 4 Noses for a happy hour. It was insanely crowded and we had to share a table with two women. They were very nice though, so it wasn't terrible. We ate a few sushi handrolls, which ended up just being what we had for dinner.

Ben rented "The Astronaut," but I fell asleep before it was over. Oops.

Saturday (19,511 steps) - Slept in a bit. Took Olive for a walk. Ben and I headed over to New Terrain so I could do my run on the Freemont Trail. The run itself was fine.

Went back home for a snack and quick shower before I went out to do some driving since UE was offering incentives again. Well, my car had other plans. I drove to where I usually sit to wait for orders and when I tried to start my car the engine would not turn over.

After multiple attempts with nothing working I sent Ben a text to see if he was still home to come help me. He gave my battery a charge and the car started right up. We drove down the street to O'Reilly for them to do a battery check up. Unfortunately, I was not even able to get the car started again to drive up by the store. Ben had to give the battery another jump. I called Schomp and discovered they were still open, so unexpected trip down to Highlands Ranch. Ironically, I already had a service appointment scheduled for when I got back, but I guess they will just get everything done while I am in Florida. Always something.

We stopped at Parry's on the way home and had a burger and a beer.

Took Olive for a quick walk and then we watched the newest Frankenstein movie, which was pretty good!

Sunday (12,864 steps) - Tried to sleep in a bit and actually made it past 7:30. Did more packing while Ben ran to Dutch Bros to get us coffee. Our fitness activity of the day was taking Olive to the dog park.

After, we went to Rails End. The women we had been talking to on Friday told us that dogs were allowed inside, so we figured we would see if that was true - it is!!

Headed home and I briefly had to log in to work to email everyone and let them know I would need to take half the day off on Monday for travel... I ended up reading and taking Olive for another walk while Ben went out to wash his truck and pick up pizza for dinner. We watched “The Woman in Cabin 10” and it was much better than I think either of us expected.

Monday (11,398 steps) - Work from home.

Finished last minute packing, showered, took Olive for a walk. Logged out at 10:30 and the Uber picked me up shortly after to go to Union Station where I took the train. Ben randomly met me at the stop by his work to give me an orange safety vest - last minute mandatory gear requirement. Arrived at the airport with just over two hours to spare and there was thankfully zero lines for security. Walked around a bit to get my steps and then sat outside and read my book until it was time to board. I was lucky enough to sit in an emergency row so I had a ton of space.

I watched “The Perfect Neighbor” and an episode of Gilmore Girls. After getting off the plane, I went to pick up my rental, only to find out that they had cancelled my reservation since for some reason I had scheduled to pick up at 11 am (?) Luckily they were able to recreate it. I got a Jeep Compass, and thankfully the CarPlay worked. I had a drive of about an hour south to St. Augustine. When I got close to the hotel I stopped at Publix to grab some groceries and then got dinner at Whataburger.

Watched SVU while relaxing before going to bed late (although it was about when I would normally go to bed at home).

Stats:

91,799 Steps
9.38 miles run
15.79 miles walked
35 minutes of cardio
75 minutes of strength

Week in Review (October 28 - November 3)

2025-11-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

Tuesday (12,984 steps) - Peloton and a very cold Olive walk before going to work in the office. Long gym session at lunch of StairMaster, strength and a brisk walk.

Work was insane the whole day. When I got home it seemed sunny and warmer so I opted to take Olive for a longer walk to the lake since it was still light out - spoiler, it was not as warm as I thought.

After dinner we watched the Werewolf of Snow Hollow - a little cheesy, but a decent Halloween movie. The quest for another scary movie continues!

Wednesday (17,615 steps) - Awoke to very cold temperatures, so I guess the heat goes on. Took Olive for another very chilly walk before going to work. I took my lunch break early so I could get my workout in - a not-so-horrible tempo run.

Had a lunch meeting during work. Took Olive for a walk after work. Dinner and House of Dynamite. It was a good movie but the ending was a huge disappointment!

Thursday (12,218 steps) - Peloton before work at home. Took Olive for a long walk to the lake at lunch. Barre video in the afternoon and did one delivery before heading down to Belmar with Olive for "walk" club. It was great to see everyone!

Colfax was adorable dressed as Dumbledore

Winning costume was Harry & Lloyd with the dog dressed as a Hooter (Icelandic snowy owl)

Rushed home to drop Olive off before Ben and I headed to Torchy's for our usual dinner - even though it was late. ALMOST finished Dark Wolf, but we had to stop when Ben dozed off during the final few scenes.

Friday (13,218 steps) - Skipped the morning walk with the gang but took Olive for a walk around the neighborhood.

Headed into the office all dressed up for Halloween. Took Olive for a walk at lunch and then we had to do the Halloween parade through the office - which was a little silly since hardly anyone works on Fridays.

Took Olive home, did a delivery and then met Ben at 4 Noses. Actually had one beer (just 6 oz) before heading home for dinner, which Ben ordered in from Cupbop - which was DELICIOUS.

We watched "Vicious" - which was a very strange movie.

Saturday (25,319 steps) - Up early to head down to Belmar again to run with Runners Edge! The route was 7 miles, and that is all we planned on doing. We did the first mile or two solo and then joined Alison.

Eventually we had Janet and Kristin with us, so it was fun to run with a bigger group again. Ben's foot started to hurt pretty bad the last mile, so I left him to finish the loop and then went back to get him. Ariel met us at the store to visit with people before we went to brunch together. We chose to go to Danny's. We hadn't been since they moved to their new location - what a difference! So much more space and we were able to get seated right away.

We then went to Dutch on the way home. Took Olive for a walk to the lake. I took a shower and read my book before going out to drive for a few hours since they were running a promotion for bonuses on deliveries. There was an event happening at the new Toyota location in Wheat Ridge, so we grabbed Olive and went over there for a few hours. It was complete chaos.

This coffee truck cracked me up

Everyone LOVED Olive!

For dinner we stopped at Parry's to get food to go. Watched "The Ward."

Sunday (25,018 steps) - And the first day of daylight savings had us up at six. UGH. Took Olive for a walk and then went solo for my run up in Broomfield. The run itself wasn't horrible, but there was a trail detour that gave me an extra 2/3 of a mile that I wasn't happy about.

Met Ben at 4 Noses for a NA and a Topo since it was warm out. Unfortunately, it was also windy, so we didn't stay too long. Ben picked up a Costco pizza (food court has FINALLY reopened after MONTHS) and we went home and put on our pjs at 2 in the afternoon! First, we watched "Blink Twice." I took Olive for a walk and then we also watched "The Devil Below" and finished the last episode of Dark Wolf.

Monday (17,835 steps) - Work from home. Thanks to the time change I was up more than an hour before I needed to be. I started organizing some of my clothes, did laundry and started to gather things for my next adventure. Took Olive for a walk and then went out for my run. Run thankfully wasn't bad.

Did a few deliveries on my way to meet Ben at Costco for the week's groceries.

This is at like 5 pm :(

Put dinner in the oven and took Olive for another walk. We started a new series, FBI: Most Wanted.

Stats:

124,207 steps
25.52 miles run
16.19 miles walked
55 minutes of cardio
45 minutes of strength

Week in Review (October 21 - October 27)

2025-10-28T11:04:00.004-06:00

Tuesday (13,756 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work in the office. Gym at lunch - StairMaster, strength and a walk on the treadmill.

Really only have the selfie because I want pics of my festive Halloween shorts!

Took Olive for a long walk to the lake when I got home. After dinner we watched "Speak No Evil" which was better than expected.

Wednesday (18,295 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office. We had a mandatory staff meeting where we were informed about some pretty big changes at work. While on the surface they seem like great changes, some people are worried. Ugh. I went for my run shortly after the meeting - my least favorite type - a tempo run. The workout was spread into two 19 minute segments. The first one was mildly terrible and I had to take a few walk breaks. Second wasn't as bad and managed to complete the whole thing.

Took Olive for a walk after work. Ben made burgers for dinner (yum!) and more John Wayne Gacy documentary.

I actually fell asleep on the couch, which hasn't happened in ages.

Thursday (11,858 steps) - Peloton ride before logging in for work. Ben had picked up surprise Dutch for me, which was amazing! Worked for a bit before heading into Arvada to donate blood for the fist time. Long story, but the gal doing my intake had to log my first iron reading (12.4) which was too low to donate and then the second reading of 13.0 could not be input. So after over a half hour (plus drive time) I was deemed ineligible to donate - I guess the machines can totally take over after all. Took Olive for a long walk at lunch to the library so we could drop off our ballots.

Olive says "Woof! Voting is fun!"

After work I did a few deliveries before meeting Ben at Torchy's for dinner. Another walk with Olive before catching back up on Dark Wolf.

Friday (15,184 steps) - Wash Park! I hadn't planned on going since I've been pretty tired all week, but since I was awake with enough time to go, I did. Glad I went, it was a nice morning!

Headed into work, skipping Stella's. Andrew caught me right away and asked if I could hand deliver a few settlement checks since his assistant is out. I waited for Erica to get to the office so she could walk with me and hang out with Olive while I ran inside.

Took Olive for ANOTHER longer walk at lunch - she is really getting her steps in this week. Took Olive home after work and then met up with Ben for an NA happy hour. Ben ordered in Panda for dinner and a movie "There's Something Wrong with the Children" - didn't get great reviews but we thought it was pretty decent.

Saturday (28,398 steps) - Up early to head down to Runner's Roost to meet up with Alison! I haven't run with her in ages and she was wonderful company for a longer run. Felt pretty good the whole time and really enjoyed people's creativity with their Halloween decorations.

Ben drove Olive down so we could stay and socialize with people since it was the Colfax pancake run. Olive even got a caricature done!

We went inside and did some shopping - actually a lot of really good deals! I texted Larry and Terri on the way home and we met up at 4 Noses. It's been a LONG time since we all got together, it was great to see everyone. Took Olive for a walk and then went out to do some deliveries - it ended up being my busiest night in a while. Soup for dinner and more Dark Wolf.

Sunday (23,064 steps) - Failed attempt at sleeping in. Ben is still not running since his foot is bothering him and I messed up on my workout - I thought I just had 6 miles to do, but turns out I had a vert goal. I took Olive for a walk and after a long time decided to go to North Table to do repeats on the fire road. The parking lot was packed and I told Ben to just drop me off and head to New Terrain and I would just run there after finishing my climbing. The run was actually not bad and I didn't get too irritated with bikes!

Golden's fall colors are hanging in there!

Be Real after the second (?) repeat - of four

This whole area was a burn zone a few years ago - looking a lot better these days!

Met up with Ben at New Terrain. I had a few Hoplark Citras before we stopped at Parry's on the way home for a late lunch.

Ben had placed a Costco grocery order for delivery and it showed up while I was walking Olive, but at least we didn't have to go to the store ourselves. Lazy evening of movies - we watched Candlewood (not good). While we were waiting for dinner to cook I did my yoga video (not bad) and then watched the most recent I Know What You Did Last Summer, which was semi predictable, but good.

Monday (18,278 steps) - Work from home, hurray!!! Took Olive for a walk and then I went out for my run. The run was actually pretty good, but I could not decide if I was cold or hot and at one point I did ditch my top, but then 10 minutes later had to put it on again.

Went out driving after work and actually had a really good night - again! Took Olive for a walk when I got home. Dinner and another movie - Nefarious - which was... meh. I am used to a much better scary movie selection this time of year.

Stats:

128,833 steps
32.49 miles run - wow, big mileage week for me
14.86 miles walked
38 minutes of cardio
67 minutes of strength

Week in Review (October 14 - October 20)

2025-10-21T10:22:00.001-06:00

Tuesday (12,281 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work in the office.

Went to the gym at lunch and did some strength training and a walk on the treadmill. Headed home after work and took Olive for another walk. I had received a notification earlier in the day that we were having an internet outage - it ended up lasting all evening, which meant NO television!! I still have all my DVDs but no player. We also basically live in a cell phone dead zone. SO, that meant cleaning up the mud room - it's been an overwhelming task but we got a great start on it.

Wednesday (23,345 steps) - I actually had to get up early so I could get my workout in before work. I had hill sprints to do and wasn't sure I would have time to do it after work, sooooo up at 5:10 and on the trails within 15 minutes. I did pick a good hill for the springs, but I unfortunately misread the workout and it ended up being about 20 minutes later than I had planned, so I had to semi cut it short and do a less steep hill closer to the house, PLUS cut the cool down short. Better than nothing!

Olive walk before going to work in the office. Took a longer walk at lunch since the weather was nice. Olive walk after work. We made dinner and watched "Nobody 2."

Thursday (11,136 steps) - Work from home!! Was pretty busy with work all day. Took Olive to the dog park for a run/walk.

Got in a short ride on the Peloton and more strength training. After work met Ben at Torchy's for dinner. We are running out of things to watch, started a show called "Dark Wolf" that isn't terrible.

Friday (10,378 steps) - Olive walk before going into the office for a half day. Left at lunch so I would have time to walk Olive before the guys showed up to blow out our sprinklers. After work we met up with Ben for happy hour at 4 Noses - their NA beer is really pretty terrible. Took Olive for a walk.

Home for dinner and Dark Wolf.

Saturday (30,041 steps) - We were supposed to run with Christina, but she texted early to say her son was sick so she was going to run solo. Took Olive for a short walk.

Impatient - "MOM LET'S GO"

On to plan b, running in Boulder. This was... ok. Not good, not bad, not awful. With about an hour left a front seemed to blow in and we were happy there was no moisture accompanying it.

Went to 4 Noses and thankfully we were able to sit inside since we didn't have Olive with us. We took Olive for a walk when we got home. After that, not sure what else we did. Dinner? Watched "Play Dirty" which wasn't great, but probably better than the 3 stars it was given. Tried a new NA beer. Taste wasn't bad, but there was... chunky/pulpy things in the bottom? I guess the key is to not drink the very end of it.

Sunday (17,180 steps) - Up early to head to Louisville for the Roost "fall party." I had a workout on schedule, so Ben, Olive and I went for a run on the mesa. It wasn't bad, especially considering Olive doesn't super enjoy running.

We got back to the store to find out that everyone was delayed leaving so we headed back out to meet Maureen and Colfax.

Stuck around for a bit before heading towards home. Stopped at Ziggi's for a protein smoothie and a trip to Noses for Ben. Food truck looked delicious, so we got something to eat - the bacon was phenomenal.

Nap, shower, took Olive for a walk and then I went out driving for a bit.

Did my pilates video with Olive and Ben ordered in pizza for dinner and watched "Locked" - which wasn't great. Tried another NA - this one didn't taste like a juicy IPA, but at least it didn't have weird stuff in the bottom of the glass.

Monday (16,449 steps) - Work from home! I had a run to do and hoped that if I went early the wind wouldn't be too bad. Spoiler, it was already horrible when I woke up. I dressed crazy warm for it and was relatively comfortable until I was heading back towards home and had to take off the jacket.

All in all, I was dressed fairly appropriately. Took Olive for a walk and then did laundry, ran the dishwasher and took a shower. Ariel came home for the day and we went to get the new latte from Dunkin. Delicious!!

Watched the Haunting of the Queen Mary while finishing out the work day. Took Olive for a walk after work. Made dinner and started the documentary on John Wayne Gacy. Definitely learned some things!

Stats:

120,810 steps
28.89 miles run
14.61 miles walked
30 minutes of cardio
80 minutes of strength

Week in Review (October 7 - October 13)

2025-10-15T11:56:00.001-06:00

Tuesday (10,863 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work.

For some reason Olive wanted to stand and watch me ride this morning

Gym at lunch. Took Olive for a walk after work and ran into Ben, who had put Batman in the backpack, so we added on a bit of distance. That was fun and weird for Olive, I don't know that she had seen that before.

No recollection of anything after that.

Wednesday (16,250 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office. Went for my run at lunch - speed work. Blah. It actually wasn't terrible and thankfully a bit warmer. Ben was home early enough that he joined for the afternoon Olive walk. We randomly had Chili's delivered for dinner. The loaded mac & cheese was fantastic!

I *think* we watched Murders, but can't remember this far out.

Thursday (16,172 steps) - Definitely was an annoying day. So many many months ago Ariel started to have issues where her horn would just honk when she was turning. Some days worse than others. We have spent months calling around and trying to figure out what it is, checked fuses, etc. We really wanted to get this taken care of before she went back to school. Well, a few weeks ago (like the day before I left for Divide) the honking got MUCH worse - like every single time she turned the wheel it would honk, so Ben & I actually disconnected the horn. We called the local shop that has worked on her car before to get something scheduled and all our research led back to a clock spring - which is an unusual part to replace. The guy asked "has this vehicle been in an accident" - and yes, it had. He suggested we push harder on the shop that did the repair work from when she was hit last April. LO AND BEHOLD, we had taken her car in last week and found that yes, that was the part that needed to be replaced AND they submitted everything to the insurance company and they were going to take care of it. ANYWAY, the shop is in Aurora, which is on the opposite side of the city where we are AND I had to meet Ariel there at EIGHT (on my remote day!!) so that she didn't have to sit there all day while it was getting worked on. We picked up coffee on our way back to the house. I went for an early run, which wasn't awful, and then we went to Chili's for their lunch special (ironic to eat Chili's two days in a row when I don't think I've been there in 3-4 years). We were JUST getting ready to get an update when we got the call her car was done. It was one jillion hours of driving back to Aurora and home. I never want to go there again. Met Ben at Torchy's for our usual Thursday night dinner. Took Olive for another walk. Watched... something. Finished up all our packing for the weekend!

Friday (15,722 steps) - Up much earlier than normal for a Friday! Took Olive for a walk and then Ben drove me and Olive to my office. Olive broke out her bee costume for the month!

I had multiple meetings but got the clearance to head out right after the early afternoon one. Ben picked us up around 2:15 and we started the LONG drive to/past Moab! The forecast was crap, it was supposed to rain most of the weekend. I was working on my laptop using my hot spot and kept losing coverage, which was ANNOYING. Ben wanted a beer at Outer Range and I still couldn't use their WiFi since it wasn't secure. At least I was able to log out before we got back on the road. It started raining while we were there and it proceeded to rain for the next 6 or so hours.

We were getting hangry and had originally planned to stop in Grand Junction to get food but stopped at the brewery in Palisade instead. Even though they were busy, thankfully the food came out pretty quick. Delicious!

We still had to stop in Grand Junction to get gas and to do some last minute shopping at Walmart. We had not been to Moab since we raced the 240 in 2020 (outside of driving through in 2022 to go to Antelope Canyon) so we were "excited" to be back. The aid station that we were going to be volunteering at was closer to Canyonlands, so we had to drive through Moab and then go another 45ish (maybe an hour) past town. We arrived around 11:30 pm, and thankfully Makinsie was there to show us where to set up and park. By the time we got everything unloaded and the bed made in the back of the truck it was nearly 1 am!! What a LONG day.

Saturday (22,751 steps) - We were awoken by the pouring rain just before 5 am. We didn't realize that it had started to rain again and we had the side windows cracked and poor Olive was getting rained on - and didn't even let us know! We closed everything up and then got up to head over to the "beginnings" of the aid station in hopes of finding hot water to make coffee. It was pouring rain and we still had the canopies that needed to be set up, the sleeping tents, and we had to move the drop bags PLUS start making all the food. Luckily, no one was upset about Olive being there - she was kind of a hit, to be honest.

We got our coffee made and Olive realized that inside the food tent was dry.

It was pretty much a nightmare trying to get the canopies up with it pouring rain, but there were enough of us there that it didn't take too long. We set up chairs and the fire pit - mostly for us volunteers since we were already chilled. By 9:30 we still hadn't seen the first runner and it seemed like it was going to be a bit before he got there, so I took Olive for a walk - thankfully it had stopped raining by this point. It was too muddy to go on the dirt, so we just walked on the side of the road.

I still had to do my run, and I figured I should get it done before we got busy. I changed clothes and went to head out and Olive was NOT having me leaving her at the aid station, so I took her with me. Hoped for the best since I was supposed to get a mid-length run in and she isn't much of a runner. I still set my watch up for intervals.

She was about 50% interested in running on the way out. Finally gave up on trying to get all my miles in and turned around. On the way back she did much better, which is normal for her once she knows where she is going. Honestly this was probably her longest actual run - most of our mountain activities are more hiking anyway.

The first set of volunteers - we had many people join on/off all weekend

The first hours back to the aid station it was actually pleasant weather! Sun came out and dare I say, it was even slightly warm. The first runner, Kilian Korth, came through and only was there a few minutes. It would be at least 3.5 hours before anyone else came through. Thor, the medic that I had met in person for the first time at Monster showed up with her new puppy, Athena. Isn't she the (second) cutest??

We had a TON of volunteers, but we didn't have a ton to do without there being that many runners out. I offered to take charge of the parking monitor on the road (only half the runners were allowed to have crew at this aid station, so we had to check for parking passes). Candice stopped to talk to me on the way to the aid station and got a cute picture of me and Olive "working."

The rain unfortunately came back, although it was on/off for a while and we kept getting amazing rainbows!

It finally started to get busier once the sun set. Ben was mostly assisting with medical since Thor and the other medic, Dawn, both also had to get sleep. They swapped duties so people could rest.

It was unfortunate that the runners didn't have an indoor sleep station, it was so cold and rainy! We had a lull in both the rain and the number of runners, so I decided to take a 2 hour nap with Olive around 11 pm. It took a bit to fall asleep and it was rough getting up just after 1, but I didn't want to be away for too long.

Sunday (12,950 steps) - The overnight had been ROUGH on people. It was rainy and muddy and cold. All in all, the athletes were in high spirits. I spent most of my shift getting food/drinks to runners so they could stay seated by the fire pit. We had a hard time having enough chairs for people and trying to find blankets, but I think we did a pretty good job of keeping people as warm as possible. Once we had a break in the rain (again) I took Olive for a quick walk.

We saw a herd of deer, which was super fascinating to Olive. It was also funny because the deer clearly saw HER and they were doing the "sneaky" walk.

Since we both had to work on Monday, we were going to have to leave before the aid station closed, which was sad. We were having a good time getting to know runners. Around noon a runner and her pacer came in, and as I try to do, I chased down the pacer and asked if she had put in a food order and she looked like she was about ready to burst into tears. I gave her a quick hug and asked her what was going on. Well turns out she is vegan and has been hungry for 50+ miles because the aid stations didn't have the vegan food as promised. Went out of my way to get hot food for both her and the runner (who ended up being the DFL runner of the whole event, Christine #225!!). They were both really appreciate of the personal attention and help and it was a great way to end our volunteering sending them happy and fed back onto the course. We stopped at the start/finish so we could get some swag. I was delighted to see that there were stickers from other races, as I really do want to put a Tahoe sticker on my car! Talked to Candice and Brian for a bit and then we really did have to get out before it got too late. Olive was exhausted after the weekend!!

We stopped in Frisco to grab a slice of pizza from Whole Foods and have a beer at Outer Range (my first one in weeks!). By the time we got home it was 10!!! We unpacked only what was necessary. After not having slept anything other than about 90 minutes on Saturday night I basically blacked out when I went to bed.

Monday (15,668 steps) - Thankfully, a work from home day. I saw a Facebook post in the morning about a Trail Sisters unofficial run/walk of 4-5 miles. Well, that's basically what I had on schedule for the day so I decided I would just take Olive for a long walk at lunch and meet up with STRANGERS for a run at 5. It has been MANY years since I have joined a run group and it's probably been at least a decade since I joined a new group without Ariel (waaaaah). Spoiler, the women were all really nice and I'm super glad I went!

Jenny, Sarah, Kate, me and Sadie

Me, Jenny and Koda

I definitely was the slowest one in the group, but since Jenny was sorta doing intervals I didn't get left behind. Which would have been "ok" since I know the area, but I'm glad it didn't happen. Headed home and we made dinner. Still had some unpacking to do, but we really just wanted to sit on the couch and recover (yes, still) from the weekend.

Stats:

110,376 steps
18.21 miles run
12.4 miles walked
20 minutes of cardio
40 minutes of strength

Week in Review (September 30 - October 6)

2025-10-07T10:48:00.001-06:00

Tuesday (14,328 steps) - Peloton ride and Olive walk before going to work in the office. I was on the fence as to whether I wanted to run or just do inside gym stuff. Ended up doing a brisk few miles on the treadmill (walking, not running) and some weights. After work went home to let Olive out before meeting Ben at Costco for a long overdue grocery trip. Dinner and Wednesday! Dressed Goosie up for Halloween, isn't she adorable??

Wednesday (17,446 steps) - Up early and walked Olive before going to work. Went for a run at lunch, doing intervals.

Stopped at REI mid run to check out the dry bags that I might use for my next race. Spoiler: they are going to NOT work at all. I'll have to return. Ben and I took Olive for a walk. Only Murders in the Building

Thursday (17,299 steps) - Work from home. Ariel called to let me know that her tire light is on (AGAIN) so I met her down at Big O. We ventured to get "coffee" from Ziggi's since we both had coupons and took Olive for a walk while we were waiting for her car to be done (it was just the sensor, but we didn't feel the need to spend $90 on a new one).

Did my run at interval run at lunch, it wasn't bad, but another activity where I'm ever so grateful for the bathroom at the trailhead! Took Olive for an afternoon walk and then met Ben at Torchy's for dinner.

More Murders!

Friday (16,711 steps) - Wash Park with the gang! I wasn't sure if I was going to go because I've been really tired and lethargic all week, but since I woke up before my alarm, off we went. I was glad to see everyone. Skipped Stella's so I could get to the office a bit earlier. Olive and I walked to REI at lunch to return the dry bag I had bought earlier in the week. It was hot hot hot, unseasonably warm, nearly hitting 90 degrees today!

After work we met up with Ben at 4 Noses for happy hour. I had their new NA beer and it was not the best, so we left pretty soon after that.

Saturday (19,369 steps) - Up early to take Olive for a quick walk - although we ended up doing a bit longer than usual since the sunrise looked like it was going to be extra pretty, we headed east instead of our normal west route.

We headed over to Golden so that we could run the Homecoming (Blaster) 5k! Last year we didn't register in time and missed it, so I was much more on top of it this year. We found everything pretty easily and had plenty of time to use the bathroom before starting. We found Ariel and her friend/roommate Margaret before the start and got this picture with adorable Blaster!

Could Blaster BE any cuter??? Wearing the race shirt and his own bib!!!

I had told Ben we should do our own thing for the run, so I had one earbud in so I could listen to music. I knew the course was going to be relatively hilly and I had a (lame) soft goal of sub 35 minutes. Well, the course starts as an uphill and I took my first walk break like a half mile in. There was some crowding on the bike path and this stupid woman was running with her two kids, holding at least on of their hands and taking up most of the trail with zero situational awareness. Second break maybe 1.5 miles in, shortly after I saw Blaster (yes, he ran the whole 5k!!) and Ben. Ariel and Margaret caught up to me and we walked together for a minute. I started to run again around 2 miles in and did pretty well until the last hill up to the finish - what a cruel finish!! Official splits 11:04/11:01/11:41/10:21 for a 34:39 finish.

Finisher pic with Blaster!

That felt stupidly hard. Trying to give myself a break since I haven't done speed work in AGES and I have been sick for a week or longer. Anyway. Ariel and Margaret finished just a few minutes after me. We got a sno cone and a burrito to take home for later. Ariel had to head out for additional Homecoming activities, and we had to head home as well. Did some reading while Ben took a nap and then took Olive for a long walk before we headed down to Bear Creek for our volunteering shift at the Bear Chase races! Bear Chase was my first 50 miler in 2011 (!!!!) and I ran varying distances there for years up until Covid - this was my first time back since! We arrived right on time at 1:00. The weather seemed to already be rolling in and it was cloudy and windy when we arrived. Stella was volunteering, as was Jim. Well, it was quite an adventure out there. The wind only got worse as time went on. We ended up having to tape everything down because full containers of food would blow off the table. We even got some rain and I wished I had brought more clothes!!

By mid afternoon the wind had gotten exponentially worse - to the point where all four of us were hanging on the canopy to keep it from blowing away.

We were able to head out shortly after the last runner at 8:45 pm. I cannot believe how exhausting this was! Had hoped to get food on the way home and we were way too tired. Ate some leftovers and sat on the couch for a few minutes before bed. What a long day.

Sunday (22,920 steps) - Definitely exhausted when I woke up. Crazy how much volunteering takes out of me! Took Olive for a walk and then we headed up to Louisville for our long run. I didn't look until after we got back home, but it was my longest training run in MONTHS.

Apparently the only picture I took all run

Pretty sad that I haven't run double digits outside of a race in who knows how long. Guess this means I need to get back to work on base building, as 9 miles seemed REALLY tough towards the end. I had worn long sleeves for this since it seemed chilly when we left the house. It was partially perfect, but any time the sun came out it felt really warm. On the way home we stopped at Torchy's for lunch/snack. Went home and took a shower, read for a bit and then went out to do some driving. By the time I got back it was raining so Olive did not get an afternoon walk. Ben had Panda delivered (YUM) and we started "No Time to Die" but between Ariel showing up for a surprise visit and the length of the movie, we weren't able to finish it. Goodbye weekend?

Monday (18,227 steps) - Work from home. I had to run to the obgyn to get my IUD replaced, fun times. Picked up a coffee from Dunkin' as a reward. Took Olive for a walk before taking her to get groomed. I went for my run on the US36 bike path. Really not bad at all! I also had to wear tights and long sleeves as it was pretty chilly. Never gonna survive winter!! After work I did a few deliveries and then took Olive for a walk before dinner. Ben ordered Domino's, which we haven't had in ages. Finished "No Time to Die."

Stats:

126,300 steps
25.95 miles run
16.43 miles walked
15 minutes of cardio
5 minutes of strength

Week in Review (September 23 to September 29)

2025-10-01T10:37:00.005-06:00

Tuesday (11,850 steps) - Peloton ride and walked Olive before going to work in the office.

It was a rainy and crap commute into the city. Went to the gym at lunch and did a strength video and a couple miles of fast walking at 7-9% incline. After work I walked Olive, STILL in the rain. Ben brought home pizza for dinner. Caught up on Wednesday.

Wednesday (13,158 steps) - Olive walk before going to work in the office. Went for a run at lunch. Since I have another "flat" race coming up, I did intervals, which makes running go so much better!

Did a lower body video before going back to work. Home for a walk with Olive. Stir fry for dinner and Wednesday!

Thursday (16,148 steps) - Work from home. Took Olive for a walk, went for an interval run, another Olive walk and then a chest/back video.

Had to go to Costco to put air in my tires and then we went to Torchy's for dinner. Yes, even though it was our five year wedding anniversary, we still chose to go down the street for queso and tacos.

Watched the remake of Naked Gun and an episode of Wednesday. Surprise visit from Ariel before we went to bed.

Friday (16,219 steps) - Wash Park with Olive and the gang! Ended up being really busy in the morning at work because I had missed a huge stack of work Joyce had left for me while I was in Canada. Took Olive for a walk at lunch. Left early to finish the day at home so we could get everything packed up for camping! Unfortunately, Ben didn't get off early, but we still got out before 5:30 and met Lee at Outer Range at 7:30.

Headed to Safeway to pick up food and decided to just have snacks for dinner.

Saturday (16,491 steps) - It was COLD when we got up - frost on our chairs! We had coffee and then headed to Vail to do the "traditional" Berry Picker hike. GORGEOUS.

We had a beer at the summit and then took the gondola down. We were starving, so hit up Garfinkel's for lunch.

We headed back down to Frisco and met up with Lee again at Outer Range. We did get back to our campsite before dark this time. Since we were pretty full from a big, late lunch we just had snacks for dinner again. Both exhausted, we went to bed really early.

Sunday (15,410 steps) - I wanted to do another activity before we had to head back to town, and the North Ten Mile trail is always nice. Not too crazy and lots of water access for Olive.

After we finished we headed back to the campsite so we could get everything loaded up. Traffic still didn't look terrible, so we stopped at Outer Range before heading out. Olive was exhausted after the weekend!

Traffic wasn't great on the way down, but we have certainly sat through worse. Stopped at Parry's for dinner. Once we finally got home we had to unpack the camper and then watched more Wednesday.

Monday (10,331 steps) - Work from home, thankfully. I had thought about running but never felt like it. Took Olive for a walk at lunch and finally saw an owl again.

Drove up to 4 Noses to meet Ben for happy hour, then had to take Olive for a longer walk. Wednesday.

Stats:

99,607 steps
16.35 miles run
12.77 miles walked
15 minutes of cardio
40 minutes of strength

Week in Review (September 16 - September 22)

2025-09-24T08:48:00.002-06:00

Tuesday (15,404 steps) - I about had a stroke when Ana came to wake me up. Right as she said my name a car alarm started to go off in the parking lot. Anyway, I got dressed pretty quickly and we met up with CJ to drive to CP13 to see Paul and to drop CJ off for pacing. I was glad that I had Gaia with me as the map CJ was using to drive there wanted him to take something that was not even a road?? It was about a half hour drive to get there. Once we were parked we headed into the aid station. We decided to walk to meet Paul since we figured he couldn't be that far out. We were probably a half mile out when SAR stopped to let us know that he was 1-2 kilometers back. We did find Paul and boy, was he moving well! I actually had a bit of a tough time keeping up with him! We got back to the aid station and got him prepped for a power nap and clothes change, and Ana and I got food prepared for him. After we got them out of the aid station I drove us back to the hostel. We weren't sure when Andrea would be finishing, but I set an alarm so I could walk up and see her. I snoozed through it a few times, I was suddenly exhausted. Headed up to the finish line around 7:30 maybe and watched a few people finish before she came in.

I think I probably headed back down to the hostel to shower (?) and retrieve Ana. We were at the finish line for a long time waiting for the final finishers. Paul was DFL and came in a little over 20 minutes under cutoff. Talk about stressful!! We all got something to eat and sat around talking. We all decided to go back to the hostel to rest and get all our things packed up. I got bored at some point and went back up to the finisher area just to find people to talk to. The post-race dinner and awards started at 5. Sat at a table with all the usual suspects and the addition of Lee, Karmell, Marc (Ana's crew) and Lance, the volunteer that got me and Ana both back to the start/finish after our respective DNFs. The food was ok, I was glad to get a beer, and the awards were fun.

CJ wanted to get us all back to Calgary in the evening since they all had early flights. Somehow, FIVE of us (CJ, Paul, Ana, Andrea and me) managed to fit in a Ford Bronco AND all our gear. It was definitely a tight squeeze.

I got dropped off at the hotel that Ben had booked for me and was pleasantly surprised with room service showing up about 5 minutes after I got into my room.

I stayed up long enough to eat 90% of the pizza and drink the beer before I passed out. I slept absolutely wonderfully.

Wednesday (11,225 steps) - I had scheduled a seat on the shuttle at 9:45 and my alarm was set for 8:30. Took a quick shower and then re-packed all my stuff. Don't even ask how I was able to condense into just Big Red and my tiny backpack, especially since I bought gear!! The bag weighed at least a thousand pounds.

The shuttle was super quick and efficient. I could not WAIT to get rid of Big Red. Dropped the bag off and then went through security - getting flagged again. Batteries and weirdly the cargo pants I wore on outbound flights with no issues were suddenly suspicious. I had some time to kill and needed to get my steps in. I picked up a delicious smoothie for breakfast.

The flight, like last time, was super quick. We were on the small plane and no one sitting next to me. I watched an episode of Gossip Girl. Was told I would not have to get my bag prior to going through customs - yay!! Headed towards my gate only to realize that I had to go all the way back past the gate I was at before. Picked for random screening and was told I had to take the case of my iPad and the guy went through all my things. Then I went through customs, which I wasn't expecting to do until the states. The guy asked why I was in Canada. I told him about the race. He asked how it went, I mentioned the bear and that I quit and he said he didn't blame me. By now I am feeling rushed since we are supposed to be departing soon. I ordered a beer and mac and cheese to go from a place right across from my gate.

We boarded on time. Taxied. And then sat and sat and sat. Some part apparently broke off when we were taxiing and maintenance is not on site? (Which seems odd). All in all I think we were delayed over 90 minutes - most of which was spent on the plane. Once we finally left, the flight was fine. Once again, I lucked out not having anyone next to me. Watched multiple Gossip Girl episodes. Upon arrival my bag was there and Ben picked me up without incident. We stopped at Parry's on the way home. Took Olive for a short walk - boy was she happy to see me!

Thursday (10,497 steps) - Thankfully, a work from home day. Got all my things unpacked and put away, did laundry. Took Olive for a long walk at lunch and then another walk after we went to Torchy's for dinner. Finished up Bosch... sad.

Friday (10,719 steps) - Took Olive for a walk before going to work in the office. Per the usual, she was bored at work, but got lots of treats.

After work we headed up to 4 Noses to meet Ben for happy hour. We decided to check out a "new to us" restaurant on the way home, G's. Food wasn't too expensive and it was pretty good! I actually ate this entire burrito.

Ben and I took Olive for a short walk when we got home since I still needed to get my steps in.

Saturday (11,636 steps) - Really nice to not have to get up early! Did a Peloton ride so that I wouldn't break my streak. Ben picked up Dutch Bros for us and then we took Olive to the dog park. Ben had to go to a work function, so I went out and did a few deliveries.

Also - it is Robin's 15th birthday! We adopted her ten years ago, and although the shelter didn't know how old she was exactly, they guessed around 5. Happy birthday! Took Olive for another walked and watched multiple episodes of Gossip Girl waiting for Ben to get home.

Sunday (12,343 steps) - After coffee Ben and I went for a "recovery" run. He picked the route to run along the dam. I didn't feel too horrible and took just a couple walk breaks when I didn't really feel like running.

I took Olive for a walk, and then we went to Torchy's for brunch while we were waiting for an Amazon Fresh order to be delivered.

Headed to the Alamo to see "The Longest Walk." It was a pretty good movie and reminded me a LOT of most ultras. I would not have made it was far as they did, that's for sure. Ben grilled chicken and vegetables for dinner and we started the newest Mission Impossible movie. Since it is THREE HOURS LONG, we did not finish it. WHY ARE MOVIES SO LONG?!?

Monday (10,543 steps) - Work from home. Took Olive for a quick walk in the morning and then another long walk at lunch. A really nice day!

I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon - why did I schedule a 4 pm appointment??? It started raining on the way home. Ben picked up pho for dinner - perfect for a chilly evening.

Took Olive for a quick walk around the block when we had a window of no rain. Finished up Mission Impossible and then onto Wednesday.

Stats:

82,367 Steps
3.65 miles run
17.26 miles walked
20 minutes of cardio
0 minutes of strength