Girls Gone Wildwood

Mt. Baker Back in Portland, I never ran races on Forest Park trails. Why would I pay to run trails I already ran every day? Plus, I had plenty of running friends to explore with. Bellingham is different. I moved here in February 2025, and I'm still figuring out the trails. And I don't really have running friends yet. So when I saw the Galbraith Mountain Trail Series — three races on the 2nd Saturday of November, December, and January — I thought: maybe this is how I do both. Learn the trails AND meet people. Due to my schedule, I was able to partake in the last race in the series.  I picked the long course: 15.6 miles, about 2,600 feet of climbing (according to my Strava ). Classic PNW winter conditions — cloudy, 43 degrees, muddy. Me at the start The long race was tiny, maybe 15-20 people. Most of them took off at the start, and I never saw them again. Things spread out fast. So I didn't really get a chance to chat with anyone during the race, but honestly? It was nice to...

Well hello there — is anyone still reading this thing? Despite not really blogging at all in the last two years, we are still running and having lots of adventures. And, unsurprisingly, a lot has happened in that time. Torres del Paine Susan got divorced, is solo parenting, adopted a few new cats, lost her job at Nike, and is leaning into some much-needed “me” time. We sold our house in Portland and moved to Bellingham in February (2025). I quit my very stable job and joined a startup. I had a birthday and officially aged into a new race category. I also started outrigger canoeing. Susan, Cedar, and I also welcomed a few more humans and dogs into our pack — Billy (dog), his human Rachael, Miriam, and Kellen. How we all met and became friends definitely deserves its own blog post. To keep this post to something I might actually finish, I’m going to stick to monthly highlights from 2025. And without further ado… January My sister Courtney, Susan, and I traveled to Chile and Argentina...

  Best campsite ever, Alpine Lakes Wilderness It's been a while, but don't worry-- we're still running!  Our big event for 2025 was Devil's Gulch 50 miler on 12 July in Wenatchee, WA. To train for this longer distance, we did our traditional Peterson Ridge Rumble 20 miler on 13 April in Sisters, OR, then Orcas Island 50k on its brand new date in June (rather than the end of January). We were diligent with our speedwork, heat training, back-to-back longer runs, and LOTS of elevation. Sasquatch sighting before Peterson Ridge Rumble Rachael at the top of Mt Constitution, Orcas Island When it came time for our big race, Ann and Kellen finished strong, Rachael rocked her half marathon, and I had a DNF after getting hot spots early and visiting the aid station medics for the first time ever (at two of the aid stations). Top of Mission Peak, Devil's Gulch 50 miler With that accomplished, we moved on to the adventure portion of the summer. Fastpacking 50 miles around Three ...