The hay was in the barn for shooting training and ruck training for Mammoth. I'd be away in Denver for the holidays, but it was about time to taper anyways.
Thursday, Dec 21:
My sister (and my dad) like to play board games. This one was kind of like Jenga.
Friday, Dec 22:
Hiked in Golden, at Lookout Mountain, starting from near the Buffalo Bill museum. There were some sketchy icy spots, where it was helpful to have spikes.
We hiked downhill from the top of the mountain. There were some interesting views.
Since the trail was a little sketchy, my parents wanted to walk the road back up to the car, which to me is sketchy in its own way. I'd take a slip on the ice over a hit by a car. We went partway up all together, and then my parents waited at a switchback grassy area while my sister and I went the rest of the way up to get the car. We took a little shortcut to save on distance by going up vertically, which was fun. I told her that this was like adventure racing.
You could see Denver from up there.
We watched the Hunger Games prequel... held off on seeing it beforehand so that we could see it together. We don't go to movies or restaurants often, so this was special.
Afterwards, we walked over to the Christmas market, which was super crowded. Most of it was about selling snacks, it seemed. None of it was super appealing to me, though. It was stuff like sugary drinks. Getting to walk inside the light-based tree was cool.
Saturday, Dec 23:
To move around a bit, I did Morning Yoga - Energizing Morning Sequence & Fill Your Cup Yoga with Adriene
We played shuffleboard and grilled burgers outside in the light rain. Fortunately, the weather in Denver was pretty mild at the time.
Sunday, Dec 24:
I love gyms. The one at my sister's condo is nice. I started with a max leg tuck challenge, completing 18. Then, I did HDT "Jump Release", a 25 min AMRAP, with 7 rounds and 12 reps. Then, I tried another challenge with pushups and pull-ups ladder but only got to halfway through level 5, with 2.5 pullups before failure. The leg tucks probably took something out of me by then, though.
Next, I did GORUC, SRT "Flat Tire" part 2 in 15 min, which was an AMRAP with a 60#KB for DLs and 2x10#KBs for curls. Since I enjoyed spending time in the gym, I finished with wall planks and knee touches.
There's nothing like earning some good food!
Monday, Dec 25:
We went to Clear Creek Canyon Park, which is like a trail that goes along a creek in the mountain pass. It's pretty long, but we only hiked a short portion of it, just to enjoy the feeling of hiking in fresh snow. It happened to snow for Christmas!
Snow is so fluffy.
We tried to spell "24" with our bodies but didn't do such a good job.
We went back into town and played Pickleball. It's crazy to me to want to play pickleball out in near freezing temps.
Tuesday, Dec 26:
Yoga Belly & Yoga for the Service Industry with Adriene.
Later on, 18A "Dynamic Warmup" in 19:37, "Kettlebell" in 31:59, and Glute and pec PT v1 in 30:48.
My sister and her BF had made a Trader Joe's gingerbread house. The little guys are cute, and I want to eat them, but they probably wouldn't taste very good.
Wednesday, Dec 27:
After my sister got off of work, we went for a little walk around downtown.
Her new bed arrived, too.
Thursday, Dec 28:
I went to the gym with my mom, each of us doing our own thing. 18A "Lower Body Prep" in 19:58, then HDT 31.1.2 (core) in 32:54, since it felt like it had been a while since I had worked my abs.
We went to Sloan's Lake in town later on. The houses there have an incredible view of the lake, plus mountains in the background. It would be a nice place to go running in the future.
My dad and I found a geocache while waiting for my mom to catch up.
It got really cold when the sun set.
Friday, Dec 29:
SB recommended that we check out the Vail area. In the morning, we walked around the ski village. It was cold, so we endured the temps as we bounced around from one shop to the next.
It was fun exploring that iconic place, even if we didn't ski. The skiing looked crazy, anyways... very steep.
Afterwards, we went up the road to Walking Mountains Science Center for a little nature tour. We love ranger tours. This one's not quite as official as one from the NPS, but it was still informative and fun. We learned about aspen trees, the little pockets under the layer of snow where animals live, and the incredible memory of chickadees.
Afterwards, I couldn't help myself but to buy a cute little owl from the gift shop. SB was home, just a mile away, so we swung by her place for a quick visit, too.
Saturday, Dec 30:
More pickleball, this time, with my sister's BF.
One court over, a similar arrangement of demographics of people were playing, which was funny.
We had pho afterwards. I went to town on the bean sprouts and basil. It was good, although maybe the veggies hadn't been washed very well. Nothing too serious, though.
Sunday, Dec 31:
At Tivoli Quad, the city was hosting a free event called Fire and Ice, where they had a few small ice sculptures and hot air balloons. They want to revitalize the town. It was very cool seeing the balloons out there. It must've looked nuts to people who happened to pass by without knowing what was going on. The balloons weren't flying anywhere, but they looked awesome when they blew their fire to keep them inflated.
We had mulled wine at night. I forgot that we were not in the Eastern timezone, so when I went go watch the ball drop after staying up for it, I was 2 hours late.
Monday, Jan 1:
Time to go back home and get ready for Mammoth!
