What's Your Dream?

Last year I had many setbacks, not only in running but in my life. I never thought after the year that I had that I would even consider signing up for another ultra distance race, yet, here I am. All signed up for two more ultra races! Not only am I signed up, I am more excited about them than I ever have been with a race.  The North Face Endurance Challenge California 50k in November! Then the Black Canyon 100k in February!  One of the things that I have learned through running is that is ok to fail, it's how you get back up that matters. That isn't just about running. That is with all things. My favorite quote right now is from Star Trek, The Next Generation. Jean-Luc Picard "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life."  Even if you are not a Star Trek fan I highly encourage you to watch this short video. This resinates perfectly for so many different things.  The next several months are going to be...

Remember how I tried to run Sun Mountain 50k with a stomach bug? Try pacing a marathon with a migraine. Here's a tip, don't try to do that.  I was asked several months back to pace the  Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon , which of course I am always happy to do. I love pacing! The race was on Sunday and Saturday morning I woke up with a bad headache which quickly escalated to a migraine. I had it all day long. I stayed in bed, locked up on my dark quiet apartment. I messaged my pace team to let them know I wasn't feeling well and that I was going to do my best the next day. I woke up Sunday feeling a bit better, I was able to move around at least. I got ready and headed to the midway exchange point for the race. Still feeling blah but willing to give the pacing my best shot we started out and I was ok for the first couple of miles then I realized was working 10x harder than I should have been, I let my pace partner know that I was starting to really work hard to run. I start...

  Are you preparing to make the leap to an ultramarathon? Throughout this interview series, top ultra bloggers have shared their personal experiences and advice to help you accomplish your first ultramarathon. They have covered the most difficult aspects of running an ultra , debunked the common myths and misconceptions , and are now sharing their real, personal accounts of their first ultra. When asked “what do you wish you had known before running your first ultra?”, they each learned unique lessons during that first ultra experience. What You Should Know Before Running Your First Ultra Once you’ve gone to your other runner friends and have searched extensively through Google, you may still be left with some questions and surprises on race day. To help you have a better idea of what to prepare for and expect, we asked these top bloggers what they wish they had known before running their first ultramarathon. Each had unique experiences that stemmed into lessons learned: ...

Ok all y'all! I finally did it! I ran my first official trail half marathon. It only took 30 half marathons to get out there and finally do it, but there yah go! The Pie High Trail Run  got me out there, well, who can say no to pie!? I have always loved running trails way more than roads. I have been running on them for quite a while now but this has just been my first official race. I had a blast!!! My friends and I decided to give ourselves trail names and we even registered under them. The race director found this to be hilarious and asked us to pose for a picture. Doing inappropriate things to the bear... From left to right: Sweatband Jesus,  Briny Bradypus,  Rabid Raccoon, Trash Panda,  Red Velvet Underground, Crack Attack! Conquering that hill with a smile! Didn't even know this photo was being taken. This the hill we started off with. Just a nice hello from the start. A 500 foot straight up hill! Wasn't that bad once you got going, jus...

I just had the most wonderful weekend. I was able to do all the things that I love with the people that I love! My weekend started off by my bouncing out of work a couple of hours early on Friday to head down to the Rock N Roll Seattle Marathon Expo! One of my favorite race expos but this year I got to volunteer at two booths. I started off at the Seattle Green Lake Running Group Pacer booth for an hour or so and I was very fascinated by how many runners didn't know what a pacer was. It was exciting to tell them what we did and how we did it. I absolutely love being a pacer, helping people reach their goals is so rewarding, it's indescribable! I highly recommend it!  I then spent the last 3 hours of the expo at the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k booth! I love love love Chocolate, so why not share my love with other runners! It was a blast telling people about the race and how... there really are chocolate aid stations and chocolate at the finish and chocolate chocolate chocolate, did...

As you all know I have been training like crazy for my first ultra marathon. And in my training I decided to use a full marathon as a training run. So I chose a nice easy flat course, Blooms to Brews in Woodland, WA . It is a beautiful country course with lots of flowers and country fields. You even get to run buy a vineyard or two.  There were only two downsides to this who race. First, there is an inner loop that you have to run and you can see the runners on the loops from miles away. Which is neat at first then daunting later when you realize you still have that far to run!  The second is that the whole course is on the road but then there is a mile of rough gravel road at the end of the race. The course description was a bit short on how much gravel there was. Other than that, this race is very well organized and very beautiful.  This race didn't go well for me though. At mile 18 my ankle popped and caused me to be in an extraordinary amount of pain. I pushe...

As you all know I am training for my first Ultra Marathon in April. The Frisco Railroad Run 50 Miler  and I have been reading several Ultra Marathon Books in preparation including Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald .  This book is so full of information that is can be a bit overwhelming. It's NOT a light read, however, it has some really good information in it and I highly recommend it if you are an endurance athlete of any form. Since January 1st I have been working on my Racing Weight. I have only lost 8 lbs thus far but like I said before I do keep record of my body measurements. I didn't take measurements the first week and I sure wish that I had!  In the last two weeks I have gone down 5lbs (out of the 8lbs lost so far) and 6.25 inches over all! According to my scale which measures Weight, Fat %, Water %, Muscle % and Bone % I have dropped from 25.2% Body fat to 23.9% in just two weeks. It's not anywhere near my goal but is definitely a Huge change!  I kn...

This year has been so crazy I can't explain it all! I am going to give a super quick run down for the last couple of months. Ragnar- I was able to participate in Ragnar Northwest Passage for the first time this year. It was so different from anything that I have ever done before in my life! It was so so so hard. I thought my total of 17 miles was harder than running my full marathon! This is because of all of the breaks. You run, take a several hour break, run, break, and then run again.  Seattle RnR- I ran the Seattle Rock N Roll Half marathon again this year as part of my Cascadia marathon series. It was hot again this year and I was sick... but I made it through. Derby Dash 5k - This was a lot of fun, a short local 5k, super flat and fast. Anthony decided to run this one with me as well. Ran with friends but no PR.  Beats Half Marathon - This was the first year that the Beats Half Marathon has been run. It wasn't a bad race but it could have been a bi...

My first marathon, Mountains 2 Beach in Ventura, CA. May 24, 2015. I finally did it! I ran a full marathon. It took a few tries and a couple of last minute bail outs but I finally found enough courage to commit. I know I wouldn't have been able to do this without Anthony, him being there made it seem way less terrifying. The road to my first marathon hasn't been a short one. I started running/working out in 2011 and had my first half marathon in the spring of 2012. I have endevoured to make it for a full sense that first half. It's been a long hard road to get here but I did, and in the end that is all that matters. For our one year anniversary I surprised Anthony with a race entry to the Mountains 2 Beach marathon in Ventura, CA. We had 6 months to train for the race, which, when I presented him with this gift, I thought was plenty of time. Especially since I had been running half marathons for a couple of years by then. But time flew by so fast! We ran the St. Patr...

In my last post I announced really awesome news that I was to be a race pacer for the Wenatchee Half Marathon. Unfortunately this did not come to pass, there were some difficulties in trying to find enough volunteers to be pacers. Because there wasn't enough volunteers they had to cancel the pacing part of the race. I had already paid for my hotel room for the race and as compensation for my efforts I was given free race entry. So I trekked over to Wenatchee and had a really great experience, despite the hiccup.  I arrived in Wenatchee the day before the race to go to the race expo. Which I am really glad I did because my entry, along with two of my fellow runners in the Seattle Green Lake Running Groups, registrations were wrong. So I switched them over and enjoyed the expo. I toured around town for a while, going from boutique shop to boutique shop and ended up at a Pub/Bar called McGlinn's and had probably the BEST salad of my life. It was soooo good! And I ...

Wow, is pretty much the only way to describe today. Anthony and I woke up at the butt crack of dawn and headed down to the city of Tacoma for the St. Patrick's Day Half Marathon. After making a much needed pit stop at Starbucks for breakfast we arrived in plenty of time to pick up our race packets and get ready for the run. This run was especially memorable because it was Anthony's very first half marathon! Looking forward to this day all week I kept checking the weather report only to be met with dismay. 100% chance of rain. The weather report didn't let me down. It seemed as if we were met with more than 100% chance of rain and were out matched by the crazy wind! We were all lined up and ready for the race to begin and we were already thoroughly wet and my feet soaked. The weather didn't seem to phase Anthony, thankfully! He faced the run without hesitation. We started off with the 2:10 pace team. I was pretty excited about running with them but my excitement quick...