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Showing posts from November, 2015

Hawaii Four-O

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sunsest from our airbnb Seven months ago I decided I didn't want to spend my 40th birthday at home, I wanted to go somewhere with just John (my husband) and relax. As much as we travel it had been a few years since just the 2 of us had taken a vacation together. I looked at how many airline miles I had and based on that and wanting to go somewhere that wasn't cold and rainy, I picked Hawaii (the Big Island). Added bonus, we hadn't been to the Big Island before, so I was excited to be able to go somewhere new.  end to end rainbow over a lava field  What I didn't know at the time was, shortly after booking that trip, I would spend the next 6 months interviewing / looking for a different job. I had a co-worker who took another job at a different company, who wasn't really looking but responded to an inquiry on LinkedIn and ended up with an awesome job working from home. I really didn't have any intention on looking for another job, yet alone leaving t

Pre-birthday, semi-celebration run

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As we've done the past few years-- with our birthdays only six days apart-- we wanted to run our age in miles on Wildwood trail. Since we're three years apart, we have a bit of wiggle room on the total distance. This year, however, is a milestone birthday for one of us and we wanted to run that particular number. Travel plans have us apart and out of town for nearly three weeks around our birthdays and the conveniently long Thanksgiving holiday, so we decided to postpone the official birthday run. Instead we ran all of Wildwood, from the zoo to Newberry Rd (simply because we hadn't done that direction since 2011) on Saturday, before Ann left on her trip the next morning. Wildwood's start, at the zoo I parked at the Newberry terminus, then John and Ann picked me up, and John dropped us off at the zoo. To cement his spot as Top Trail Spouse of the year, John then parked the car at the 53rd Ave trailhead so we would have an aid station at mile 9, and he hiked h

Michigan in the Fall

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Hall Lake Last weekend I flew to Michigan to surprise my dad, which ended up not actually being a surprise since he read an email I sent to my stepmom about coming. It was still nice for him to pretend to be surprised. As we normally we do we spent each morning running on the trails around Gun Lake and Yankee Springs Recreation area and the afternoons trying local microbrews.  Me and Dad Every summer when I visit we run these trails, I have posted about them a few times, but this was the first time I have been on the trails in the fall. The trails felt so different with all the leaves off the tress and being able to see a lot more of the surrounding area.  Every time I start to get a little burnt out on running the same trails all the time, the seasons change and the trails start to feel different and new again. This is one of the things I really love about trail running.  I am ready for all the changes this Winter is going to bring us. 

Running Unplugged

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It's been a long time since I've run solo and in silence-- no talking, podcasts or music to distract from my thoughts. But Ann was in Michigan, and I didn't realize I forgot my headphones til I was almost to the trailhead. I frantically txted her husband to see if I could stop by their house an borrow a pair. Moments later, I decided the silence was just what I needed and rescinded my query. Sunrise silhouettes Mt Hood I had meant to start out at the Thurman end of Leif to do my standard Ann-less loop, but drove on autopilot to Birch. So instead I did the 18 mile loop Ann picked for us the previous weekend, with a few added flourishes-- like going up Morak on the way out and Keil on the way back. With four hours of quiet ahead of me, I was nervous I would bail early because the time would go slowly and make the run feel like a drag. But the first hour whizzed by. After a recent, impromptu trip to Florida for a family issue, I had a lot to think about. I consciousl

Runicorns' Hood to Coast 2015

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This year's Hood to Coast was singular, if only for the weather. With gusts of wind up to 70 mph, rain from all sides, and lots of lightning, it was very unusual for August in western Oregon. Despite that, we had a great time in van 2, did some running we were all proud of, and reveled in our new team name: after years of being the Honey Bucks & Buckettes, we are now the Runicorns. We were lucky to get a team this year after last year off; my dad and brother, Ted, came out for it and Ann's dad, Fred, and step-brother, Noel, did too. At the last minute her step-sister, Gretchen, was able to join us, which meant that Noel got a reprieve from running to help out as one of our required three volunteers. Our team start was 6:45am, the earliest I've ever had, which meant that van 1 had to get to Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood at a painful pre-dawn hour. Awesome tshirts designed by Travis Gretchen kicked butt as our first runner, but Fred wasn't feeling well after hi