Day 28, Friday, October 16th

Rest Day in Steamboat 

I am going to apologize in advance for the negativity in this post.  You can’t be your best everyday, sometimes you just have to embrace the rough days to fully appreciate the good days.

The day started great…productive!  Although I am running 500miles across CO, I still have to work. I woke this morning at 7:30, opened my computer while still laying in bed, and began hammering out online programming for my clients. I hadn’t heard Vaughn or Tory rustling around yet and Marcus lay next to me breathing peacefully in a deep sleep. It was a perfect time to concentrate. Next thing I new it was 10:00 and I was closing my computer. Done! I tried to quietly sneak out the door to let the girls go potty and feed them. When I got back inside, Tory and Vaughn were moving around and Marcus not far behind them. We all gathered up all our junk and packed the trucks again. It’s truly amazing how much stuff we move around on a daily basis between the four of us.

As soon as we started to drive out of the parking lot, I got a call from my mom that she’s almost into town. Perfect timing! Then all of a sudden, I had this crazy mood swing. I don’t know what it was that set me off, but I turned into serious grumpy pants. Maybe it was that I was completely sleep deprived. Maybe it was the slew of people I knew that were coming into town. Maybe it was the self-inflicted stress of trying to make sure everyone was happy. Maybe it was the sadness that Move Mountains was coming to a close. Maybe it was me finally letting down. No matter what it was, it was my day to rest and it was turning into what felt like herding cattle. Everyone but me was hungry and wanted to get a burger. I wasn’t hungry and just wanted to go to the hotel and check in and take a nap in the sun with my dogs. It was my fault for not speaking up (just trying to go with the flow, but going half way crazy in the process). It seemed like forever that we were at the restaurant waiting for their food (in reality it was probably pretty quick). You know how time goes by really slow when you’re in an environment you’re not looking forward to. Then Marcus’ parents showed with the sweetest intentions, but I was not in the mood for more people (they did nothing wrong). Again my irritability was shining through. I felt so bad for everyone, I wasn’t being nice, but I was so tired and just wanted to be alone! Their food came, they all ate, and I there I sat basically throwing a silent fit like a 5 year old. Passive aggressiveness at it’s finest. Not my proudest moment, but I just couldn’t pull myself out of it.

After the meal was over, I jumped in a car with my mom as everyone else figured out vehicle shuffling and we met up again at the Sheraton Steamboat Resort minutes later. We were greeted at the front desk by the beautiful Gatlynn, a friend of Sarah’s and manager of the hotel. She had organized us a nights’ stay with 3 rooms (typically $350 each) for a total of $50 for all three!! Wow, I mean wow! We thanked her from the bottom of our hearts for her generosity and carted all of our gear to the second floor. The “click click” of the hotel key unlocking the door, followed by the opening of a beautiful large wooden door led us into a sudden feeling of being kings and queens for a day. The suite was nicer than most places we have lived. A full kitchen opened to a warm living room. To the left was the bedroom with the fluffiest white pillows I had ever seen propped up on a king sized bed (finally a night’s sleep ahead with some room to move). The bathroom, with a glass walk-in shower, jacuzzi tub and double sink vanity was attached to the bedroom. All of this, just nestled in at the base of Steamboat Mountain.  To top it all off, waiting for me on the kitchen counter was a “Good Luck” basket from Gatlynn and her team.  They put so much thought into it… With the sweetest card, there was a Steamboat beanie, some Smartwool socks (local company), HoneyStinger goodies (local company), a water bottle, and card board cut out junk food (Doritos, Twinkies, PBR, Frosted Flakes).  So generous!  Thank you so much!

It was midafternoon, the sun was shining and I needed a break. I realized that all of my scheduled “rest days” so far have been loaded with things to do. Either PR events or catching up on work/blogs/etc…all great things I am so thankful for, but I needed more this month than the one hour of solitude I had yesterday. Then all of a sudden, Tory notifies me that Move Mountains was on CNN-Health!!! Oh my gosh… this was huge!!! We made national news!! I bolted down the hallway to my mom and Tory’s room where Tory immediately taught us how Twitter could work to our advantage to spread the word. So, the three of us glued our eyes to our phones for an hour or so promoted Move Mountains. After plucking away at my tiny phone screen and pitching the story to everyone we could think of, my eyes were starting to cross and I felt anxiety starting to creep in again. I NEEDED to take a break…sanity was going to have to take presendence of promotion.

I leashed up the dogs and we headed outside with my mom to the base of the ski hill. There was a nice little babbling creek that streamed by a span of grass. The grass, although coarse and browning for the winter, was the most comfortable I’d been all day. I laid out flat and just took in our surroundings. I tried to calm my negative, grumpy thoughts by focusing on the blue sky speckled with white clouds, the sound of the creek, the smell of the aspens, the feel of my mom’s hand in mine. Marcus took the dogs for a walk with his parents and I got to actually lay there with my mom, trying to figure out why I felt the way I did… or more just trying to accept and attempt to move on. Not sure I ever reached that point…some days I guess you just need to be grumpy and that’s okay.

That night I tried to be social and get out of my funk by going to a sushi restaurant at the resort with Marcus, Tory, Vaughn and my mom. I didn’t want to chance eating sushi in case my stomach didn’t agree, so I ordered some asparagus while they all devoured yummy rolls of every flavor you could imagine. It was about 8:30 and I was starving. They all had more rolls coming and I could still sense my negative mood, so I excused myself so they all could enjoy an evening without Miss Grumpy Pants… I headed to the truck, got my usual pre-made dinner from True Nature Kitchen and heated it up in our room and gobbled it up in quiet with my pups by my side.

Time for bed in hopes of waking up on the right side tomorrow.

 

Lesson Learned:

• I REALLY need my “me” time.
• Some days you just need to be grumpy.