Girls Gone Wildwood

Hiking TMB in 2013 Every week our friend David has been asking us how our training has been going and if we are still planning on running CCC. We half jokingly respond, "what training?" There were probably only a few times after I went to the ER , that I thought I would have to cancel the whole trip to Europe, but I had more than a few doubts about making it to the starting line of CCC .  But that was several months ago, every week for the past 2+ months I have been adding 3 miles to my weekly long runs and I am up to ~27 miles for this week. Initially my main goal was recovery more than training, but the last few weeks I have been focused on the race and using the time we have before the race in the most efficient manner, without over doing it.

In 2013 we pushed ourselves harder and further (1700 miles+ for the year). I had to deal with a few injuries, a broken wrist and back spams. Susan, with a toddler, had never ending colds. But we were able to keep running and we ran our longest distance to date (41 miles) in an unsupported run (mostly) around Mt. Hood.  We managed to squeeze in quite a few races . Here are a few of our favorite things from the year: Challenge I (Ann) don't want to repeat again: Training for a 50k with a broken wrist . Best Race: Gorge Waterfall 50k Best Training: Animal Athletics mountain goat class Pushing it further (best run): Running around Mt Hood on the Timberline trail Best sticker: > 26.6 Best/Worst Disaster: Susan's fall down Elliot Basin Best Gear: Life Proof iPhone Case   Smartwool training beanie   MSR HyperFlow Microfilter Black Diamond ultra distance trekking poles Best Food: Tortilla wraps Best accessory: A performance-enhancing Kokopelli ...

2012 has been real discovery of what it means to be trail / ultra runner. In 2011 we were just running on trails, this year we experimented with nutrition, discovered gaiters, got packs so we could run longer without stopping to fill up water bottles, found a whole community through pod casts, picked up water purification tablets and a first aid kit. We wanted to share some of our favorite things from this year. We are looking forward to continuing our trail / ultra running adventure in 2013, hopefully running longer distances, tapping into the local trail / ultra community, trying and posting more recipes, and who knows what else. Best Event Long: PCT Bunker to Bonneville 50k Epic:  The North Face Endurance Challenge - San Francisco 50k   Short: Mt Hood Scramble Best Disaster Running out of (potable) water on a 26 mile run in 92 degree heat in the Columbia Gorge. Best Trail It's a toss-up between the sheer joy of taking a day off work to run the waterfall...

A few years ago Susan made an impulse purchase that the Nike outlet store, she bought us both a pair of running gloves. The Nike convertible running mittens have become an essential part of my running gear. They are light weight, breathable and thin, but still do an excellent job of keeping my hands warm on cold days. The best part of these gloves is the pull over flap which helps to keep your hands warm, but running in the Pacific Northwest I use it more to keep my hands dry. When you aren't using the mitten flap it tucks nicely into a little pocket on the front of the glove. They have also held up to almost weekly washings. Susan lost her gloves on a run recently, I was happy to find that Nike still had them in stock online. I bought several pairs, so we should have happy hands for a few years. Mitten flap Glove without the mitten, the glove on the left has the mitten tucked into the pocket