Three Little Birds

Up. A direction toward a higher place or position. A term that's used frequently in the trail running world... Pick your feet up... Keep your head up... Keep your heart up... That first statement would be the necessary mantra to avoid catastrophic injury on the trails during my time recently in the NC mountains at Sally McRae's trail running camp (when it didn't happen, I felt the reason for this mantra's purpose, haha). The last statement would be the one that keeps the fire burning for running and for life when it seems the last ember is burning. It's been almost 3 weeks since I arrived at Camp Grier with butterflies in my stomach at the thought of meeting my trail and ultra running idol, Sally McRae. When I found out my husband had gifted me the opportunity to go to this intimate running camp with Sally for my birthday, I knew I'd not only get to finally meet her (I'd stalked her on Instagram forever and in person when we went to spectate at Weste...

A stage race is something that takes a lot of preparation - not just with physical training - but in planning ahead!!   During my long week there in the remote Colorado Rockies, I gave a LOT of thought as to what worked and what didn’t work for us, what items I could have left at home and what things I could not have lived without, items I wish I would have brought with us, and certain reservations/amenities worth the extra money. Here is a compilation of those thoughts for those of you considering TRR or for those of you who’ve already made the leap and are now scratching your heads at where to start… beware, it’s a long post!! But I looked for something like this before we left and found nothing. Reservations / Amenities Hotel/cabin reservations before the race - you will need to book early, like as soon as you register, if you want something good and in downtown Buena Vista. We stayed at a gorgeous cabin about 6 miles out of town - this doesn’t sound like far away, ...

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller When we arrived in Denver on Sunday afternoon, we were picked up by the TransRockies shuttle and rode about 2-3 hours to Buena Vista with other runners. The ride was long, I had to pee, and it was either -40 degrees or 140 degrees on that bus!! I was so happy to arrive in BV. However, it was dark by the time we got there thanks to a traffic jam on the interstate headed out of Denver. The shuttle wouldn't take us all the way to our cabin because apparently 6 miles is "way out of the way" - my smart hubby had already arranged for an Uber driver (the only one in BV!!) to pick us up after we caught dinner in town and take us up the mountain to our cabin. We would later befriend a different TRR shuttle driver who would make sure we got to and from town without having to arrange for an Uber - so thankful for our friend Ray!! shuttle ride to BV Dinner was at Eddyline, and we were starving. They didn...

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face." - Eleanor Roosevelt It is Day 2 of the Transrockies 6 day stage race. My right hip is out of joint thanks to completely tearing my hip labrum. I am vomiting profusely and cannot breathe. My lips are blue and a fellow runner's pulse oximeter states that my heart rate is 210 and O2 saturation is 79%. I have a wet cough that can only mean pulmonary edema. I am dying. That was the way I had 100% envisioned Transrockies Run (TRR) to go... t hankfully it did not go that way at all !!  I was truly terrified of the altitude and of the climbing and of the many, many miles that I had not trained for thanks to a right hip issue that flared up about 6 weeks before the race. I did not know what to expect. The reality is... that altitude definitely made it hard to breathe. At times my HR approached 190 beats per minute and I have no idea what my O2 saturation was, bu...

Running is a road to self-awareness and reliance ‑ you can push yourself to extremes and learn the harsh reality of your physical and mental limitations, or coast quietly down a solitary path watching the earth spin beneath your feet. — Doris Brown Heritage I almost titled this one... "The day I broke up with running."  Haha, just kidding, sort of, not really.  May 5th, 2018 was certainly a day to remember. Honestly, this really was the race that broke me. Humbling is another word I'd use to describe that day. You'll see why... fairly quickly. I went into this race knowing I'd not done enough training - my weekday short runs were not consistently long enough (they really need to be 6-10 milers, and I consistently did 4-6 milers)... my weekend long runs were interrupted by life (it happens) but also by a crippling fatigue that began in January of this year. I went to my doctor after 2 months of the severe fatigue, all tests were normal (my Vit...