The Running Run-Down

in an effort to make this a running blog again (heh -- good luck with that!), I have decided to journal my daily activity here, including a section we will heretofore call "Small Victory." A Small Victory is just that -- a decision that I made that was better than the one I *might* have otherwise made, related to my health, my fitness plan, my eating. Or, it could be a breakthrough in the training, or a "Wow, that was great," completely unrelated to the health, fitness or eating, but otherwise made me feel like it's worthwhile to put effort toward the health, fitness and eating part of my life. So, look to that in the days to come.

Before we start again (is it me, or are we ALWAYS starting again around here? sigh), I need to give you a rundown of the run/walks I completed on the trip to Colorado. As I said earlier, I did manage to fit in a run nearly every there, and the one day I didn't run early, Elder Child and I did a 45-minute hike in Golden, so I'm counting that.

Wednesday -- Nothing planned. Flew into Denver early, then drove to Aspen. Had a light dinner at my brother's then we walked into town for dessert (for the kids! -- honest I didn't have any. Of my own...). But we did get in a leisurely 30-minute walk all told.

Thursday -- 40-minute walk/run along the Rio Grande Trail near our hotel. Gorgeous. Hard to keep the HR down, but nice.

Friday -- 55-minute walk/run along the Rio Grande Trail. This time, I was a little more acclimated to the altitude and was able to go a little further before I had to head back. But I headed back a different way, and ended up going down a different road toward town (OK, I admit it, I GOT LOST! but what a place to get lost!). Much more walking than running in the second half, mostly because of rolling hills.

Saturday -- headed down toward the path along the creek that cuts through downtown Golden. One option was to head toward the Coors plant, the other was in the opposite direction. The clerk at the hotel recommended the other. What he didn't tell me was that there are mountain lions and bears in the brush on the other side. And I didn't find out until I'd hit the trailhead, a good 10 minutes past where the paved path ended. Eeep! The sign told you what to do if attacked! I opted for climbing the hill toward the country road above me, and then took a LONG detour back toward town. OK, I admit it, I GOT LOST! But I preferred that to being EATEN BY A BEAR!

Sunday -- nothing early. After the reception that went on past 11:00 PM, I was too beat to even consider waking up. Then we had to pack and change hotels and see the sights in Golden. So I decided that if I didn't run, it would be OK. Ended up we went on a great 45-minute hike on Dinosaur Ridge. Challenging but not too much. Definitely got the HR up, but more because of the steepness than the difficulty level of the path. Then, we did some "swimming" in the "pool" at the Residence Inn. If you want to call it that. Mostly, I hung out in the hot tub, trying to unkink all the muscles in my legs.

Monday -- not a dang thing. Travel day. And crash-because-we're-dead-tired when we got home.

Tuesday - not a dang thing. Still recovering and had to get to work early since I'd been gone and had three things waiting for my attention. Plus, wicked hot in the afternoon, so that made running late difficult (EXCUSE ALERT, EXCUSE ALERT!)

Wednesday -- not a dang thing. Thought about it. But up against a deadline and never got to it. Not even making excuses. I just didn't make it happen. And I thought about it last night, but then I thought, nope. I needed to recover one more day.

Thursday -- 42 minutes through the park. Slow, slow, Slow. I thought I'd have been able to speed up considering we have all this oxygen here, but apparently not. Felt good, too, since we've had a break in the heat. Still slow, but I'll deal with it. I just need to get it going again. And make it happen.

So there. I pinky-promise I'll keep this up a little better, both the exercise and the logging. Have a great day!!

EDITED TO ADD:
Derr, after all that, I forgot to do the "Small Victory" for today. So here goes:
I got myself out of bed and ran today. I could have stayed in bed. I wanted to stay in bed. But I didn't. And it was good. Go me!