Wordless Wednesday

These dang Colorado clouds and weather. Yet another storm that literally went around us. Haha.  Enjoy a Toby walk with thunder rumbles in the background. ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Kicking ass...and getting selfies with horses. #trailrun #virtual5k #teamsparkle

Wordless Wednesday

The mountains never get old.

Happy Wedesday! 

Week In Review

Well last week I kinda got back at it - towards the end anyway! haha

Training Schedule (3.9.15 - 3.15.15)  
 
3.9.15 // Today I did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred - Level 2.  Great way to start the week!

3.10.15 // Rest day.  I forget why I didn't work out.

3.11.15 // Rest day.  Again, I forget why I didn't work out.  Can you tell it's been a long week?

3.12.15 // Rest day.  My running BFF's husband was actually speaking in Denver, so we got to take him out to dinner at Atomic Cowboy.  We had visited here over the summer, as they're known for their HUGE pizza slices, and were featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.  We had a lovely dinner out, and I enjoyed my first "mule" drink, which was fab - and sweeter given what it was made with - and I was so happy to finally drink out of a #trendy copper mug! haha

3.13.15 // Rest day, because it was Friday. ;)

3.14.15 // Ran the Lucky Laces 5K race in City Park.  This was the same park we ran the Pumpkin Pie 5k back in November, but it was a different course within, which was nice.  The weather was perfect, and everyone was wearing their best green attire.  The hubs and I decided to not run together, because I hadn't run in a month (since my Puppy Love Virtual 5k) and he has actually been QUITE active, so I didn't want to slow him down.  He did such an amazing job, finishing with an official time of 32:11 and I was a tad slower at 36:07.  We were both pleased, and it was great to be out running in a crowd again!

3.15.15 // Today we finally made the trip to Red Rocks.  We had both heard great things from others about it, and it did not disappoint!  I can't imagine going to a concert there, just because of the traffic getting up and getting down before and after lol but it's a great place.  A lot of locals go there to work out, and run and squat and do whatever on the amphitheater steps.  It was in the high 70s - summmmmmer weather! - and just a great day to walk around.  Toby got a bit over heated/over it and so we didn't stay as long as we wanted to, but we will definitely be back!  I don't know if we will get there this summer for a concert, but they also do Yoga in the summer, which I would LOVE to experience.

When we got back, I ended up running a quick mile since I was already dressed for a run and sweaty from Red Rocks.  I was able to squeak it out in under 10 minutes, so it felt really good.

I also killed it with the Fitbit.  I hit ALL of my goals (though I think the stairs is a tad inflated due to the elevation at Red Rocks) and it was fun to really track and see my progress for the day.

How did you spend your weekend - are you experience Spring like weather?

Week In Review

Happy Monday!

We had a snowy, snowy weekend here in Denver.  I'm not quite sure how much snow we ended up getting Saturday & Sunday - and it's still flurrying right now - but I'd say we definitely came close to hitting that foot marker.  Needless to say, it impeded the weekend activities we had been doing it all the lovely warm weather the past few weeks!

Let's see how last week went... 

Training Schedule (2.16.15 - 2.22.15) 
2.16.15 // Unplanned rest day.

2.17.15// Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred - Level 1.  I decided to just rotate the level each week - so we're back to the beginning!

2.18.15 // 30 Day Shred - Level 1.

2.19.15// 30 Day Shred - Level 1.

2.20.15//  Rest Day.

2.21.15// As we prepared for the impending snow storm, and I knew my motivation would go down greatly, I decided to take the pup for a lil walk around the neighborhood, and the hubs decided to come along too.  It was a chilly walk, but it felt good to get out and walk just over 1.5 miles so I could justify being all snuggled up on the couch.

2.22.15// (unplanned?) Rest day. Given the crazy snow fall happening outside, I had thought about doing the 30 Day Shred - as I certainly wasn't going to walk over to the gym - but ultimately chose to reallllllly veg out all day.  Thanks to my FitBit, I knew I had truly vegged given my insane lack of steps for the day.  SO, just before our yummy crock pot dinner, I opted to walk, basically circles, around our place to get in at least a mile/~2,500 steps counted for the day.  It actually got my heart rate up too, so I felt better about spending the day catching up on my DVR. ;)

Did you get any snow in your neck of the woods this weekend?  I hope your commute to work went better than mine!

And lastly, congrats to al those who ran in the Princess Half Weekend races!  I've enjoyed seeing the pics and cannot wait for   my next rundDisney weekend in September! 

Furry Friday

haha!

Here's hoping this isn't what Toby turns into this weekend with the expected foot of snow we're to get between tonight and Sunday.  I feel like we've been rather spoiled here in Denver so far - especially after the winter I went through last year in Philly, where it snowed basically every single week to some degree - so knowing that this first really big storm is happening is not making me that happy.  

A crock pot is planned for Sunday - so don't worry, we will have food! ...at least that is always my biggest concern anyway. ;)

Enjoy your weekend - whether you're running in Disney, or enjoying the snow like me.

Week In Review

Training Schedule (2.9.15 - 2.15.15) 
2.9.15 //  Keeping it in stride with 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels - Level 3.  I have to say that I think I like this level the most, it certainly is the one that pushes you the most, but not in some crazy way given the build up of levels 1 & 2.  It is a great sweat.

2.10.15// Another evening with Jillian and Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred.

2.11.15// I ended up having to work late due to some crazy news that came out at work, which involved my boss being laid off.  Months of speculation because truth and it was a rough day all around.  Needless to say, I didn't feel like working out by the time I got home.

2.12.15// Today was another rough day at work given the previous day.  My boss was one of a handful of people laid off, and the stress of it still fresh.  I ended up leaving worth with a crazy headache, and feeling nauseous.  So again, no workout for me.

2.13.15//  I had a half day at work today, which was lovely and allowed me to yet again enjoy the nice spring like Colorado weather.  I first ended up taking Toby for a 1.5 mile walk around the neighborhood with the hubs (who took the afternoon off as well) and then we ended up walking to pick up our dinner, and then bring it home to eat, which was another 1.32 miles walked.

2.14.15//  Today was the last of the nice weather (for now) here in Colorado.  I had intended on running my virtual 5k race today, but after a walk and play time with Toby (2.32 miles all together) I just couldn't get myself off the couch.  After a mentally draining week at work, I was spent.  We had already previously decided to have a nice low key Valentine's Day at home, and ended up getting take out from the Mellow Mushroom - their pizza is divine, but high in cals! haha

2.15.15//  After look at the weekly forecast, I KNEW I had to run my Virtual 5k today, or I was going to be stuck either out in the really cold, or on a treadmill - which I did not want!  I had decided last month that I would run some type of race each month - this month I decided to try out a Virtual 5k!

Having never done a virtual race before, I thought this would be a great way to try it out - and get a cute medal to boot!  My first virtual race, and 5k for the month, was going to be the 2015 Puppy Love Run.  I didn't find out about this race until after the first was sold out - um look at that medal! - so I am in round 2.  All this means is my medal won't ship out for another month, but that's ok.

My first virtual race!

How cute is this doggie medal?!  A dog + running = a win for me!  Like I was saying earlier, the weather was about to turn back cold, so I hit the road in 30 degree temps, which is not something I like doing.  However, given the snow in the forecast for next weekend, it was this or even WORSE. Haha  The parameters for the race were to run between 2.14 - 2.22, so today was the day to do it!  

I couldn’t really get into a good groove for this run, but made the best of it.  My first mile was slower than I would’ve wanted, and while I shouldn’t blame the cold weather, I am. =P  I prefer running in the heat any day to this winter weather.

Not the best time, but better than I was expecting.

I ended up finishing up my run/walk in under 40 minutes and just as it was starting to flurry – there was a reason to run!  Needless to say, I was looking forward to the warmth of couch for the rest of a lazy Sunday.  First Virtual 5k complete!  =)  I think I would definitely do this again, but running alone vs running with a crowd is QUITE the different feel (obviously!)

I started tracking my weight – we have the Aria scale, so it links with FitBit – and seeing a decline last week was definitely a motivator to keep up the work.  We – the hubs and I – are really starting to watch what we eat through My Fitness Pal, so hopefully we can both keep up the decline in the lbs!

Looking forward to a better work week, and healthy choices!

Week In Review

HOT DOG!  Week In Review...ON TIME!  Yahoo!  Lots of fun stuff happened last week...I'm on a role!


Training Schedule (2.2.15 - 2.8.15) 
2.2.15 // Today I did the 30 Day Shred, Level 2 video. I decided to change it up each week, since I've done them all before (though it's been awhile).  Jillian kicked my booty in a short 28 minute video - and I was feeling it!  This is proving to be great 'cross training' for me, as my abs and arms definitely feel it!

2.3.15//  Rest day.  Unplanned?  haha.  Just didn't have the time.

2.4.15//  Another round of Jillian's 30 Day Shred, Level 2.  It's amazing the sweat you can work up in such a short amount of time... ;)

2.5.15// Rest day.

2.6.15//  My boss gave me the afternoon off today for all of my fab work I've been doing and coverage over the last month for a co-worker whose been out - which was GREAT timing given the super warm temps here in Denver.  The hubs also took a half day, so we decided we would go for a run once I got home.  We decided to just do a 2 mile run...which turned into a fab 1 mile run (9:48 pace baby!) and then a mostly walked 2nd mile chatting (14:57 pace, haha).  It was nice though, to get out and run the open road in February - and just to have the afternoon off spent with my hubs. =)

I also decided to return the Forerunner 15 that I had purchased just before the WDW Half Marathon, as my husband was convinced I needed a FitBit Charge HR instead.  

My fancy new Fitbit Charge HR!

He had one prior to the whole issue last year, and got the newer version just after Christmas, and loves tracking everything.  I have to say, having used it for the weekend, it is pretty fab, and not as bulky as wearing that watch on a daily basis to track my steps.  I really wish it were more fashionable though - and I still really don't like sleeping with it (though the sleep stats are interesting!) but I'm definitely tracking myself more with things and starting to track what I eat - which is a little scary since I love food, haha, but it's been ok.  So far, so good!

2.7.15// As I said on Friday's post, we had plans to continue to take advantage of the super warm (see: 70 degrees!) temps, and check out a park in Boulder.  The hubs had sent me a link earlier in the week, but I didn't really look at it - he said it was dog friendly and we could bring Toby, so I was like sure!

We went to Chautauqua Park, which is located a few minutes from the popular Pearl Street in downtown Boulder.  This place was POPPING.  Now, given the beautiful weather, it was obviously easy to see why, but it was just great to see people out and about enjoying nature.  We had stopped to pick up bagels on our way up, and found a picnic bench to enjoy a yummy late breakfast and just bask in the sunshine.  We then made our way to the closest trail, which turned out to be a legit trail, as in hiking.

I have never really hiked in my life before, not that this was anything MAJOR, but it was a steep climb, involving mud and rocks - which I wasn't really mentally prepared for as I was just expecting a stroll through a park.  While I got over the sadness of getting my Mizuno's dirty ("they're shoes," my husband said, "it's fine!") There were tons and tons of people of all ages, shapes and sizes - some even sans shoes! - on the trail.  With every twist and turn, something new was discovered.  Toby was a bit unsure of things at first as he can be, I'm sure it was the even higher altitude! haha but really got into the higher we went.  

As if the mud wasn't bad enough, the trail soon became rocks, and when I say rocks, I mean legit ROCKS, like that was the trail.  My first thought was Toby, but he took to it like a champ - he is a Cairn Terrier after all, it's in his DNA!  The next thought was, holy hell how are we going to get down said rocks, but hey - that was a later problem.

The views as we continued to climb were beautiful.  We could even see Denver in the distance at one point!  We took a lot of pictures on our "good" camera - aka the Cannon DSLR that was my wedding present =) - so I only took a few phone snaps.  

Check out the rocky pup!  This wasn't even the worst of it.

A look up!

Action shot!

This picture doesn't even really do the muddyness justice, but my shoes need a bath!

 

Another cool thing we happened to see was a group of free climbers at one part of the trail.  These kids just started climbing vertical on the wall! I couldn't help but stare lol it was SO cool!  I don't think I could do something like that without being tethered, but it was awesome watching them.  The clouds were just moving along above them too - it was hard to capture, but it was an awesome scene.

Can you see the people making the climb?  Talk about vertical!

We ended up doing a mile up, so we had a mile back down on the same path.  Going down was so much easier (duh!) but it was treacherous going back down the one really rocky part.  There were many other dogs on the path that we encountered, including TINY dogs, to the larger types you'd expect to see hiking with their people.  We happened to encounter a tiny, tiny Pomeranian on our way down on the rock part, and I joked that if she could do it, Toby sure could!  He probably did better than I did. ;)

After our descend, we headed down to the Pearl Street to continue on our travels.  Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed on the 4 main blocks to Pearl Street.  While I noticed the sign, and mentioned it to the hubs, he said we'd continue on as we saw another dog in the distance and if we were told to leave, we would.  We were actually stopped by some nice bystanders that told us we really shouldn't be there with him, and that they do ticket if we would get caught - sooo our jaunt around Pearl Street was cut short - as we did not want a $100 ticket.  Boo.  It was definitely a cute area though, and we will be back (sans Toby) in the future.

2.8.15//  I knew that I wanted to keep up the active weekend, and we started the day on a 2 mile doggie walk with Toby around the neighborhood.  It is so nice having this weather - I can't wait for the real spring to be here and stick around...let alone summer time!

After a little breakfast fuel, I knew I wanted to go for a run.  I have yet to run on the track (we live next to a high school, so it's convenient) and the hubs wanted to run there, as it's better for his knees. So, off we went.  I have to say I enjoyed the track better than the treadmill, and could find it good for doing interval work, but I still just like running on the fee road the best. haha  I ended up running just over 2 miles, and then decided to run/walk the mile home (we drove as we had plans to go to the grocery store afterwards).  All and all it was a solid day - let alone weekend - working out.

A celebratory homemade Vanilla Chai after the active weekend. <3

Looking forward to more Jillian and runs this week!

How did you spend our weekend?  Do anything fun and exciting outside?

Wordless Wednesday

My commute this morning. Bumper to bumper almost the whole freakin' way. 

Why do Coloradians not know how to drive in the snow?!  No accident. No traffic signal issues. Just stupid drivers. Haha. Half an hour late to work and there was a backup getting into my parking garage. Meh. 

Wordless Wednesday

There have been so many beautiful sunsets that I've captured recently it was hard to choose!

**this didn't post on Wednesday, so here it is 2 days late!

Week in Review

Ok sooo I need to get back into my weekly roundups of work outs...now that the hubs is all about getting fit for himself (hello 2015!) it's a little easier for me. 

Last week I did 2 days of the 10 minute trainer workout program, something that's husband has and wanted to get back into. We ended up doing 2 different videos so it was roughly half an hour each day with the warm up and cool down.

All in all, I think it's a good series and is a quick way to get the job done, so that was a plus. It also reminded me of when I did Jillian Michael's 30 day shred last fall and what a great series THAT is. So, that will probably be coming back into the mix. 

I also retuned, for one night, to the gym to run on my beloved treadmill. :P It was....rough. Haha I just decided to take it easy in walking a quicker pace and running. I did just over 2 miles in about 35 minutes so it was something. 

Now that I'm a Coloradian, it was a warm weekend in the 60s (today was even warmer!  Too bad for working inside...) so I knew I wanted to do something outdoorsy.  My thoughts are with those back on the East Coast though...I'll be missing out on that snow day tomorrow!

Yesterday we took Toby out for a nice stroll and got to get him off leash and play some fetch at the field at the high school by out place. After some running fun, we walked to Petco to try out their self serve bathing station - that was an experience for ALL of us. Haha

Toby was not the biggest fan (I'm use to bathing him inbetween grooming appointments in a jacuzzi tub so this was very new!) but we made the best of it and he was showered in treats once he survived.  We then walked back home, so we had a nice active Sunday morning. 

With the hubs traveling the beginning of this week I plan to stick with it and stay active!

How have your 2015 active plans been going?

The Secret Stash - Crested Butte, CO Dining at its Best! Part II

After licking my wounds and taking a cat nap we decided to head into the quaint downtown area of Crested Butte for some dinner. We we're told that The Secret Stash was the place to go if you'd never been before so that made that decision very easy (and given I love pizza and that was their specialty, it was a no brained!)

Not too far from our hotel was a bus stop that was free transportation around the local Crested Butte area. We had just missed a bus but didn't have to wait long for the next one to show up and we were off!  

Even in the dark, the main street downtown was still quite cute and, even though the shops we're closed, we did a lap around just to see everything before heading to our destination. While we did have to wait about 10 minutes for a table, it was fine as they have a small little gift shop we pursued and I hopped I hopped on Yelp to see what people recommended. 

The decor at The Secret Stash is awesome! Much of it comes from the travels of the co-owner who traveled the world before settling down in Crested Butte to open her restaurant. There are many India influences and relics and I kept spotting something different as I looked around during our meal. 

The guy tossing the pizza behind the counter was so much fun to watch!

Thanks to checking out Yelp, we ordered the Crack Fries as a starter...and OMG were they amazingly good. The mix of truffle oil and parmasan cheese was out of this world good...and we gobbled them up, almost wanting more!  We hadn't had much to eat that day (a bagel on the go in the AM and then a waffle post snowboarding) so we were quite hungry. 

Before *drooools*

After.

Finally our Hamptons pizza arrived. I liked this not only because of what came on it, but also because of its origin. East Coast baby! :) Though we subbed in the corn meal crust and it was so fab. 

SO.GOOD.

Add the 'lemon crown' as the final touch!

For as hungry as I was I only had 2 slices...but knew this would be a great late night Thanksgiving snack since we were having an earlier dinner, so it all worked out. :)

Before heading back to the hotel, I decided it is never too cold for ice cream and we made out way over to grab some yummy sweet treats (chocolate covered pretzels and more!) and I got a yummy cookies and cream ice cream cone to enjoy while making our way back to he hotel.  While cold, it definitely hit the spot!

Feels like 16 degrees...so what!?

What yummy treats have you found on vacation?