Girls Gone Wildwood

Dad and me jumping into our pool in the mid-80s When I traveled to  Italy  a month ago I started listening to the  She Explores podcast , which about women in the outdoors. I've really been inspired by all the different women and their stories of long distance hiking, starting outdoor companies, etc. It has made me think of what more we could do more with Girls Gone Wildwood, but that is a different blog post This post is about a She Explores podcast I listened to running this week called,  To Dad, From Daughter.  The podcast is stories from different women on how their dad shaped their outdoor experiences.

Katy Trail in Dallas I flew to Dallas for the weekend to surprise my nephews, and my Dad and Stephanee-- who were also visiting. I grew up in Dallas and had not been back in 7+ years. If someone asked me what I thought about Dallas or Texas I normally didn't have very positive things to say, so I was curious if going back after all this time would change my perception. I also wasn't much of a runner the last time I was in Dallas, so I was eager to see what kind of trail my sister Gretchen would take me to.  Saturday morning Gretchen and I ran from where we were staying to Dad and Stephanee's Airbnb, to surprise my Dad (Stephanee was in on the surprise). I wish I had a picture of his face when he saw me. I tried to surprise him in November by flying to Michigan for his birthday, but he is nosy and read an email I sent to Stephanee. So this time I was very careful not to send her any text or emails about the visit. It also meant not posting to social media and tur...

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.  ...

North Country Trail                    Almost every summer I go visit my dad and family for a week in Michigan at their house on Gun Lake . The lake is surrounded by Yankee Springs State Recreation Area , which has enough trails to host a trail marathon . The North Country Trail also runs through the park. I only became familiar with the North Country Trail a few years ago, when dad and I were looking for a new trail to run. It passes through 7 states: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota and is the longest of the 11 National Scenic Trails  at ~2,800 miles. After discovering and running it a few years ago, I have wanted Susan to come visit Michigan and run it with us.  Susan, dad and me trying to do a selfie Susan has become part of our family, so convincing her to come wasn't hard. My step-sister, Gretchen spends the summer at the lake with her 2 sons, Alex (1...

On Saturday, November 1, Ann's dad, Fred, turned 70 and we celebrated with a big party in Hood River. Many of us stayed the night or weekend in town, including Ann's stepsister Gretchen and stepbrother Noel-- both of whom traveled from Texas and both of whom are runners.  Bridge to rocks to bridge Noel is injured, but Gretchen, Fred, Ann and I all wanted to go for a run on Sunday morning (Made possible by my dad hanging out with my son. Thanks, Dad!). Ann looked for trails that weren't too hilly for our flat-land visitors, with enough miles to keep us all happy. After some waffling we settled on Post Canyon, even though there wasn't much information or detailed maps available. Look how long this bike balance beam keeps going! It's primarily a park for mountain biking, but with so many well-kept, wandering, interconnected trails in a lovely forest setting, it made a great place for a timed run. We just drove up Post Canyon Dr until we found a goo...

See that tiny rainbow, and where it ends? Ann & I have run the Columbia Gorge half marathon since its start in 2009. Every year there's terrible weather up til the start (and sometimes for the first few miles). But every year it clears up and we thank our lucky stars for the beauty of the course and the fun of running fast (for us) through the colorful, autumnal landscape. More rainbows and autumn color In 2011 we finally dropped under two hours, and every year since we've improved by a little bit. This year I wasn't sure if we would be any faster. Although we had been doing a speed workout once a week for months, we stopped after our race at the beginning of September and haven't been back since. And I forgot my watch to time our splits. Our friend Sally joined us-- her first-ever race! She was nervous, but when she runs with us on the trails she often pushes the pace. My dad also came out for the race (his fourth time, I think) from the east coast, w...

West Highland Way trail marker In June I went to Scotland with my Dad and step family to hike the West Highland Way . The West Highland Way is one of Scotland's most popular multi-day walks, it is ~100 miles from Glasgow to Fort Williams. The hike starts in the low-lands but most of the hike is in the Highlands. You pass quite a few mountains, spend a few days walking along the forested shores of Loch Lomand . Towards the end of the hike the trail becomes more remote without a lot of options for shelter or escape routes, in case of bad weather or injuries. Luckily we had good weather our whole trip and never found the trails too crowed. Most people do it in 6-8 days, we decided to do it in 7 days. Most days were around 13-15 miles, but we did have one 9 mile day and a 20 mile day.  I decided to run at least one leg of the West Highland Way, of course I picked the longest day (20 miles). Luckily all we had to carry were day packs, the rest of our luggage was transporte...