And just like that, December is here! It feels weird to be closing in on the end of 2014. It’s been a long year with many life changes so I am more than ready for whatever 2015 has to offer…but at the same time it feels weird to close out such a massive year, to just be done with it. Of course, I’ll still be signing everything with “2014” well into March so I have plenty of time to adjust!
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This post comes with two disclaimers. First, I was given the opportunity to run on an AlterG Treadmill free of charge in exchange for an honest blog review/recap. I was not compensated and all thoughts and opinions are my very own. Second, I will never be the best at describing technical things or explaining the specific science behind things so instead I’m sticking to my experience. If you’re looking for the nitty gritty details check out the AlterG site or shoot me an email/comment with specific questions and I’ll get you legit answers!
About a week after I ran the Run Rabbit Run 100 Miler a PR agency reached out to me offering a chance to “run on the moon”. At first I wasn’t sure…mostly because just thinking about running made my very crank Achilles tendon have a panic attack. But who says no to a chance to try out technology!? It took nearly six weeks to get an appointment scheduled but that was no fault of the physical therapist I visited – my life was stupidly busy! Last week I finally got the chance to try out the AlterG Treadmill at Windsor Spine & Wellness.
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This past weekend I did a little exploring on the west coast. Oregon was one of the many states that I hadn’t been to yet so a few weeks ago I booked a flight, sent Erin an email and made Read more…
Well, winter finally showed up in Colorado. We had far more weeks of 65+ degree weather than we should in October/November but that all changed yesterday! On Monday I showed up at the office in Fort Collins at 8am…it was 62 degrees and sunny. By 10:15am it was 28 degrees and snowing sideways. Welcome to Colorado where the weather cannot make up it’s mind!
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After a long week with many, many moments of “gah, I wish I could just turn the internet off” I spent my weekend doing exactly that. Sure, I had my phone on me and yea, I double tapped posts on Instagram but in the grand scheme of things…the internet did not matter!
It started with a friendly meet up with Chris and Marissa in Boulder. It was a freaking gorgeous day with bluebird skies and temperatures that should have left us in September. We spent some quality time frolicking around trails and making fools of ourselves before we decided we’d earned our weight in fries + beer. I guess the internet isn’t all bad if it gets you friends like these crazies…
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I unfolded my legs and wobbled a bit as I got out of my car at 9pm on Saturday night. It took a few steps before my hips felt normal again. My entire day was spent at the Indian Creek Fifties near Sedalia, CO and by my random whines you would think I had actually ran the races, but…no. Turns out an untrained body who knows the couch better than the local trails gets sore after 14 hours of volunteering!
My original plan for the weekend was to run the Indian Creek 50K with Marissa as it was her first ultra and it would be my first big run back after the Run, Rabbit, Run 100 mile race. Apparently my Achilles did not get the confirmation email from UltraSignUp because it was NOT on board for any sort of running in the weeks leading up to the races. I decided to listen to my body and pass on actually running but I’d already thought up my costume for the race so I headed to the race as a costumed volunteer!
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On this Monday, six weeks ago I got to sleep in and no one was allowed to judge me for it. I was also incredible proud of myself for walking down a flight of stairs without limping or whimpering and I was weirdly proud of my enormous cankles. It was the Monday after my Run, Rabbit, Run 100 mile finish. I was feeling accomplished and I thought I was prepared to take some time off my feet for recovery.
Going into RRR100 I told my crew + pacers that I was willing to get injured if it got me across the finish line. I knew the cards were stacked against me – I’d spent my “peak weeks” of training sitting on my butt nursing an overuse injury in my right Soleus/Achilles, I was just lucky to be toeing the start line undertrained rather than injured. I remember saying “I don’t care if I have to give up running for three months, I want to finish!” more than once during RRR100.
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What motivates you to get outside and explore? Who is the one person that is always there to give you that extra push to move? If you’re feeling lazy where do you go for a little inspiration? Is there a certain group of people you depend on to keep you accountable day in + day out?
For me…I don’t have a quick answer. I don’t have one individual in my life that keeps me going, instead I have a whole passel of #runablers that are forever giving me a reason to try something new. I don’t have a single goal that gets me out the door every day, I have an entire range of mountains on the horizon full of single track just calling my name.
That is what keeps me going, what gives me a reason to get up at 4am for a training run, encourages me to eat ice cream instead of try to out run an injury, keeps me grounded when things get surreal and has me asking questions even if they seem stupid.
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The past few months have revolved around running…but I haven’t always been the one with a bib pinned to my shorts! I have discovered that some of the best motivation and inspiration to get yourself outside for a run is to help others do the same. And the best way to do this?! Volunteer at a race! You’ll get to watch runners take on new distances, push the pace, turn an ultra around and just enjoy life. It makes you want to get out there yourself…but it’s also a reminder that running without fully recovering is a bad idea!
Just over a month ago I roped Marissa into volunteering at the Tommyknocker Ultras in Woodland Park, CO. I was a volunteer at this race by default – I had been working with Human Potential behind the scenes and I wanted to watch their first official race unfold. Since racing a 50K the weekend before Run, Rabbit, Run 100 would have been a terrible idea I showed up to volunteer instead. I knew the Race Director and most of his core crew personally so when I arrived with Marissa in tow the night before the race they didn’t hesitate to put us to work. Our first task? Rock hunting.
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When the majority of your life is spent online it is EXTREMELY easy to topple over the event horizon and spiral down the black hole of “their life is SO much cooler than mine, why do I suck so much?!”. Trust me, I know this. I spend an insane amount of time online and since Twitter is literally my job I cannot just shut off the computer and walk away. I am required to pay attention to everyone else’s adventures + accomplishments + awesome lives. It’s inspirational, it’s motivating and it’s full of gorgeous pictures.
It is also extremely easy to hate on my own life because it isn’t one gigantic snow capped mountain surrounded by farting unicorns and the perfectly composed photo. On the weekends I can turn this off. I can walk away from Instagram, from Twitter, from Feedly…and just get lost in my own little mountain bubble where the mountains majestic and the weather is perfect and everything feels right.
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