2026 has arrived! I prefer “even” years, so I’m confident 2026 will be a good one. It’s been a few weeks since my last post and I have been enjoying some family time. Notes from the past weeks I’ve been missing…
It’s been a few weeks of highs and lows. The major low was that a very dear friend passed away. He was the best man in our wedding. Ethan began having issues in April 2024 and had surgery for a brain bleed. In June 2025 he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, which is an aggressive brain tumor with no cure. Since then his condition had deteriorated and it’s been heartbreaking to watch. I’ll remember him most for his hearty laughs and the crazy trouble he got into with my husband as they were growing up. He was someone we could always count on. We are still processing this, I can hardly believe it happened to him. He was the same age as me.
Major high- We had a wonderful family vacation. We skied 5 days in Colorado (Vail, Breckenridge and Keystone). I think my husband and I were especially aware of how truly blessed we are to be able to spend this time together with our kids.
I could post a million pictures of the beautiful area, but I’ll limit it to these few. I do love the mountains and snow!!
I ran ONCE on our ski trip. Back in the day (oh, about 10 years ago), we used to get up before our ski day and run! I couldn’t even run continuous for ONE mile on this trip! We made it to 2.5 miles and I called it good. Runnnig at 9,000 feet is no joke. Phew, how exhausting!!
Then the kids packed up and went back to college. Waaaa!
Which brings us up to this week!…. My goal this week is to get my step count every day (15,000) because I am now participating in a Garmin challenge with some friends for January. My step count won’t be that stellar due to the skiing days this month and the fact that I’m not training for any races, but at least I can give it a try! I’m ranked 8th out of 14 people right now. We’ll see how it goes!
Mon – 4 miles, treadmill run. Gym visit! My day started out extra early. When Alan got up for his 5:30am group run, he inadvertently woke me up. Ugh. I was not prepared to be up so early and felt zonked the rest of the day. I did get a lot of things done, but I was very cranky and tired all day.
Tues – walk after work – I have dropped to 9th place in the challenge. Doh! I woke up super sleepy again. I have never been one to use a snooze button but I did set another alarm for 30 mins later on my watch (which is what I use to wake me up). Unfortunately I have a very hard time falling back to sleep once I wake up, so I really just laid in bed avoiding the inevitable, and forgoing the opportunity to wash my hair. Oh well, I just couldn’t do it!
Weds – 3.25 miles treadmill run. At night, it snowed. Yay beautiful snow!!
Thurs – 4 miles running. A snowy morning run! Slightly slippery, but not too bad.
Fri – 5 miles running treadmill, and another gym visit. I have noticed that my step count is lower on the treadmill than running outside. Therefore, I spent a bit of time running around in circles in my house to get my 15,000 step goal today! Crazy? Maybe. I have been getting braver at the gym, using the Smith machine again for squats.
Sat – 8 miles, running. Oh wow, 8 miles? That’s practically a double digit run! Well not really, but it did feel like the effort of running a double digit run. It was nice to get out in the snowy weather and I felt accomplished afterwards. After my run I saw that I had raised to 3rd position in the step challenge, but later in the day I dropped back down to 5th place. Darn it!
Highlights of the day – watching Freakier Friday with my Mom, and having fajitas and margaritas for dinner. Ole!
Sun – walking at least 15,000 steps! 🙂
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Do you pay attention to your daily step goal?
15,000 has been mine for awhile. I’m finding it much harder when I don’t have a daily run! 🤣
Q: Is it snowy where you are?
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend Ethan. That is just so tragic.
I’m sure that did make you appreciate your family ski trip even more, but you already seem to enjoy the time with your “kids”. Looks like there was good snow out there!
Did you know Colorado is having one of their worst snow years ever? They are very low on snow. That being said, we did get some new snow and were able to ski some powder. But we also skied some runs with little pine trees popping out of the snow, and tall grass! I think the resorts did a great job of providing a variety of runs with what they had open (only 1/3 of the mountains were open!).
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend. Sadly, one of our friends, who stood up in our wedding as well, died of glioblastoma a few years ago. I also had a childhood friend who died of it as well. Both my age. It’s so unfair.
Your trip with your kids looks wonderful! I love spending time with mine and like you, realize how lucky I am that I can!!!
Good luck on your step quest!
Oh, I really don’t like the sound of this. I mean, there was a time I didn’t know anyone with breast cancer and now unfortunately I have more friends with it than I would have ever imagined. Glioblastoma was something new to us as we learned about as Ethan’s issues. I really hope it remains a “rare” diagnosis. It’s so awful.
Your ski trip to Colorado sounds so fun, and how wonderful to have that time with your son and daughter! Working out at that altitude is no joke!
I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. He sounded like a really nice guy and wonderful friend, and I’m sure he will be greatly missed.
Thankfully we had an elevator at our resort because I did get winded just walking up stairs this year!! oof. I’m not sure how we even managed all of the running that we used to do there. We were super fit back then I guess 😆
It is truly a blessing to get to spend time with our adult kids doing things we all love. I treasure our holiday family time as well. I do try to hit about 12-13K steps daily some days are better than others. It kind of annoys me that I can do a 45 m strength class and get no step credit!
So sorry about your friend Ethan. That’s so very sad for all of you. Hugs
I think my step count is less for the same run on the treadmill vs outdoors. I’m sure there’s some logic to that (longer stride on the treadmill maybe?). I guess this will be my motivation to get outside for walks more this month! I agree – Garmin thinks that skiing is only a light workout even though we are out there all day long!
Oh Lisa, I’m so sorry for the loss of your dear friend. I can’t imagine. I trust there are many great memories, I hope you can find some comfort in remembering all the great times you had together. As for daily steps…my step count is always lower in the winter than in the warmer months. I’m walking a lot in the skywalk (over lunch), but in the warm weather, I usually walk a few miles in the evenings, etc. and sometimes an early morning walk (amidst the sunrise). That kind of stuff ain’t happening in the cold, LOL.
I’m not used to showing up in the lower percentage of a challenge! It’s humbling LOL. My hope is that their daily step goals are 10K and with my 15K count I will eventually surpass someone!
Oh, that’s such sad news. It’s shocking when something like that happens to someone we know. I can see how it would make you even more appreciative of the good health you enjoy, and treasure every day with your family.
So… how did your knee hold up? It sounds like with all the skiing and running you’re doing now, it’s fine! That’s good news. Good luck with the step challenge. I don’t track my steps- I probably should.
So about that knee situation… I have canceled two appointments to see the Dr now! I was going to go on Thursday because it was sore early in the week, but by Weds it seemed like it was barely there (maybe going away for good?). I did ski with a knee sleeve, and that was fine. I only felt it a little when I moved a certain way. BUT since I still feel a little something, I think I’m going to go see the Dr this week. He can hopefully give me some guidance on how to make it go away completely even though it’s just “a little odd” feeling.
I am so, so, so sorry for your loss. It’s always so jarring when someone our age passes, especially from something like that.
I am glad you had a wonderful vacation. We don’t often take ski vacations, but I bet it would be fun. Id love to go out west. I probably wouldn’t get on the slopes, but it would be beautiful to see.
Sending you thoughts of peace and comfort. I hope you’re right about the even year being a good one.
The mountains out west are magical. The snow on the trees – so pretty!! Keystone has a restaurant at the mountain top and “pedestrians” can ride up there in the gondola. It’s very popular.
Ah, love the snow photos! Can’t wait to go skiing again… but you’re hardcore RUNNING in the snow. Do you use trax grips? Or different shoes?
I use my trail shoes for the snowy runs. I do have trax grips but haven’t worn them for years! They give me a weird feeling… it’s a texture kind of thing 🤣 Saucony Peregrine are my favorite hiking and trail running shoes.
Such beautiful photos from your skiing trip! There must have been some fog? The hazy light is stunning!
I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. That’s so sad. Brain tumours when they progress are horrific with what they can do to a person. A friend’s friend was diagnosed with the same brain tumour type a year or so ago, she’s still doing ok after treatment as far as I know, but we’ll see.
I usually try to pay attention to my step goal but I also know that in the winter I’ll rarely get up to 10 000 and then I’m happy enough if I get some cardio in of whatever type between my gym days.
We did have a few day with some snow while we were skiing. Not my favorite conditions for the daytime, but I guess it’s better than no new snow at all! I do love a sunny ski day!
so sorry about your friend.
but your family ski trip sounds wonderful. I have two friends that have a place in Vail… ski at Copper Mt.
I used to track my steps but no more. I have no idea and I bet there are low except on long run days.
Good luck with the challenge. I used to have to walk in circles in the a shopping mall..
Yes we have snow…