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A couple of days last week I was on the major struggle bus. I told Mike that I was having a really hard time and he asked what I needed. "To be in the mountains!" I said. Well, actually, I probably whined and moaned. And my gracious husband told me to take one day this weekend to head up to the mountains. Its been ages since I've done a difficult hike or trail run...and I haven't exactly been running a lot either. So, naturally, I decided to do one of the most difficult hikes around (according to the reviews on AllTrails). The drive up to Caesar's Head State Park was the perfect way to start. I was already feeling better just listening to music, drinking my favorite tea, and driving up that winding road. After getting all my gear together and filling out the trail card, I hit the trail at 8:30. It was calling for thunderstorms around 1pm, so I knew I had four and a half hours to do the loop. After some quick math, I determined that I needed to keep my pace under 3...

Quarantine log: day 12 I felt convicted last night about my exercise during this pandemic. Up until this moment, I haven't really felt that I've been doing anything wrong with my actions. But last night, I thought about the massive crowds that have been at local parks. (More crowds than the Fourth of July. Which, I guess, is significant.) I mean, even on that rainy day, I passed quite a few people on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. (Normally, I'd see maybe one or two people on a rainy day.) By being another body on a high-traffic trail, am I being part of the problem? For a while, my thought has been that I am not part of the problem. They. All the others. All those people who never go outside who are suddenly on MY trails. They are the problem. But the outdoors belongs to everyone. I don't have a greater ownership in it because I am a frequent user. I am, indeed, part of the problem. By being another body, when the problem is ALL THE BODIES...

Where: Paris Mountain State Park Distance: 10.3 miles Strava link Thursday brought me something I hadn't had in a while. Bright blue skies and both kids in school. So, of course, I took off to the mountains. It didn't occur to me until afterwards that planning a long run up a mountain was awfully ambitious considering I just had my race last weekend. I decided on my route by doing some math: How much time I had divided by what pace I expected to go. I parked at the first shelters, ran around the lake and up towards Sulphur Springs. Up the mountain, down to North Lake, around the lake, up the tough side of Brissy Ridge, and then back down the mountain again. It was when I was struggling up Brissy Ridge, wanting to really push myself, that I realized how much I missed my Tailwind. I don't think I realized until that point how much I depended on my liquid fuel. Candy is fun, but it doesn't have enough calories! Definitely need to make a new order for...

Race Information Name: Conquer The Rock Date: March 8, 2020 Distance: Bear Crawl 25K Location: Table Rock State Park Website link Strava link Time: 4:32:20 Our story starts the night before the race. I slept terribly! I had been a little nervous all week and, that night, I was very restless. This was my first very serious trail race. I had run 15.5 miles only once before, but not at that kind of elevation! (Granted, it ended up over a mile under that. That is one part of trail races that I still have to get used to.) As soon as my alarm clock went off at 5:30AM, I hopped out of bed fully dressed. Sometimes I sleep in my running clothes if I have an early start the next day and this was one such night. I guzzled some water, braided my hair, and made myself a peanut butter sandwich. Man, it was hard to eat that sandwich! I had to eat something, but it wasn't easy. I washed it down with a Gridlock (ALDI's monster energy knock-off). You know, breakfast of champions....