Blood , Birthdays and Burgers

Ups and downs over the past few days!

Wednesday
AM: Biked to work: 16.4 miles - 75 minutes
PM: Gave blood

I try to give blood every time there is a drive at work (every 12-14 weeks).
I was a little hesitant this time since the 10k race is next weekend and I would lose a lot of my blood and might not be as strong for my race.
I decided to do it, since it is great to do, and really my 10k time doesn't matter as much!

I have definitely been super tired since then. Wednesday we went to a Rockies game at night, and I was exhausted walking up to the top row!

Has anyone experienced this? Being tired for a few days giving blood?

Thursday
Just did free weights and abs/pushups at the gym because I was still very tired!

Friday (happy birthday to me!)
I was feeling stronger and did the 3.2 course at work. I was no where near as strong as the intervals I had done a week prior, but it was OK. I ran strong for the first 1.5 miles (10:15 pace), walked .2 then ran another mile. I usually finish all the way to work but was way too tired. I was happy with at least getting out A) on a Friday and B) on my birthday :-)

Panda Balloon :-)

Saturday
The plan was to go camping! But we were all super tired from Friday night and it was raining/storming so spent the day watching movies :-)

Sunday
Pegmatite Point Hike!
7.5 miles, 2900' elevation gain, 5.5 hours total time

Aaron got me an awesome hiking book for my birthday! It is The Best Front Range Hikes and has it categorized by location and gives great details. I had picked out a hike in Evans Wilderness, past Pine Junction. Here's a picture of the book :-)

A lot of the difficulty was the higher elevation, so you are immediately tired! Much of the trail goes through wooded trees, which would be nice for a hot day. The picture below shows as we are getting above treeline and it opens up to a meadow

Kels and AA with dogs in tow

Me and Kels with amazing views

AA and Ellie atop Pegmatite Point

Mountains and clouds for miles :-)

 Here is a picture of Aaron training for the Tough Mudder in two weeks :-) He carried two big rocks on the way down, while Kelsey and I counted sets of 10 arm presses :-)

So the weekend ended with a nice hike, and a good workout. I have a class all week at work so I won't be able to take time to go to the gym during the day. The Bolder Boulder is a week from tomorrow (Monday), so I am thinking I'll run M/W/F since I did not get in a long run this weekend. Tomorrow it would be nice to run before work, but I see that as unlikely - so probably have to try and do a run around Wash Park after work! I am hoping to get some strength back for the week and am excited for the run! Hoping to have another good week of eating as the race approaches! That is, of course, after the amazing Park Burger Aaron, Kelsey and I had this evening :-)