Week 39 was a blur of preparing to head out of town. I’m sure I accomplished some things, but I don’t recall them three weeks later. Which is a testament to the timeliness of writing weeknotes for recall.
Week 40 was spent in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Emily and I went to Banff to celebrate our anniversary. The town was great. The turquoise lakes were great. Beavertails were great. Realizing that “rocky mountains” is not a synonym for “Denver” or “Colorado” was a growth edge.
The hike to the Lake Agnes tea house was the highlight. It was snowy and sloshy and cold and windy and rewarding. A pickle and cheese sandwich never tasted so good.
I tried to run one day. I ran strait into three elk. It’s mating season, so they’re all on high alert and aggressive, so they were not welcoming to my presence. I cut the run short and encountered a coyote while heading back to the lodge. Nature is wild.
I got sick on the tail end of the trip. This made travel more taxing than necessary. But we made it back to our kids with no delay.
Week 41 was the return to life after vacation. We went to Costco with the kids on a whim, and bought Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom on a fractal whim. The kids and I have been playing through it in the evenings—it’s the most fun I’ve had on a screen in a long time.
On Sunday I ran my first half-marathon. I finished the distance, but had to walk for two short stints. Everyone is running their own race, and it’s acceptable to mix walking and running, but my goal when running is to stay in a running cadence the entire time. So I didn’t meet my unspoken goal, but it felt good to run the longest distance I’ve ever ran. It felt even better to collapse into the grass for five minutes immediately after the finish line.
Published: 2024-10-14