GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

This was the day after the snowshoeing trip not last weekend but the weekend before. Ted and I had a nice Sunday drive since I was being pretty tired and a lot lame.
Lake McDonald. Unreal.

I like it here.

FANTASIZING ABOUT WESTERN STATES

Amazingly, the normally slow Danni, who wasn't sure if she was trained enough to finish, beats Nikki Kimball and Bev Anderson-Abbs to the finish becoming the greatest upset in all of ultrarunning history!!! Chris O'Connor beats them too! A double upset!
But because I'm a very good sport I give Nikki a beer and she forgives me for beating her.

Pacer Cheryl and Kiwi Paul, who finishes right after Bev, and I kick back and drink more beer.

See how fun Western States is going to be??? I just need to get out and do my long runs, eh?

HOW NOT TO RUN A HALF MARATHON

Yesterday was the "Snow Joke" half marathon in Seeley Lake, Montana. This is more of a fun run, though I think it's the Montana half marathon championship, so it's not like I "race" this or am very serious about it. And, I'm not fast even at my fastest so running a hilly slippery winter race doesn't make for a fast race. BUT, I can tell you that this isn't the way to run a half marathon. I blame Sonja, who was attached to my waist.

7:11
7:18
7:42
7:59
8:12
8:53
8:57
8:45
18:59 (2 miles)
8:49
9:26
10:42 (1.1 miles)

Yeah. I was hurting on those last miles! Part of it was that we were running on snowpack and it was a little slippery, but mostly I just hurt. The bottle of wine the night before might not have helped either of course.

SNOWSHOE ADVENTURE IN THE JEWEL BASIN

Yesterday Callie, Kent and I went snowshoeing in the Jewel Basin wilderness area, which is an area in the Swan Mountains. Ths sky was an unbelievably perfect blue and temperatures rose to around 40 degrees. A perfect day to be out enoying the day. We were out for close to 5 hours and were totally wiped by the end. But it was so exhilirating and beautiful I was on cloud nine. These pictures are totally out of order so bear with me.
There was some sliding too. Kent wanted to slide straight down the face of the mountain but I thought that sounded like a bad idea. This little slope had to suffice.
There was a well-worn snowshoe path which made it easier than it would have been had we been breaking trail. We saw a backcountry skier while we were up there too. The only annoying thing was that snowmobilers were out in full force in the area and occassionally the loud sounds of their snowmobiles interrupted the otherwise peaceful calm. I thought snowmobiles weren't allowed anywhere in the Jewel Basin but evidently I was wrong.

The above picture is where we decided that perhaps we should loop back towards home. I really know little about backcountry snow safety but hiking over that cornice looking thingy didn't seem prudent. Not to mention the strenuous climb. We made our way down off the spine of the mountain and found the trail that led back to Camp Misery and then back down to the car.
This was a very steep climb. Sammi, behind me, kept stepping on the back of my snowshoe as if she were trying to hitch a ride, and Mukwah, in front of me, periodically laid down on the trail to take a rest. Sonja did pretty well though I think she would prefer to be off-leash.

The views of the valley were phenomenal. You can see Flathead Lake behind us. This climb about killed me. I am very sore today.

A PRESIDENTS DAY UPDATE

For some reason we got Presidents' Day off this year. Woohoo that's change I can believe in. I did go into the office this morning for a few hours but headed up to the hill for some skiing. I am getting better but my weak spot is turning on steep downhills. I will be going super slowly one direction but then I get a little scared to turn and head the other way for fear I will pick up too much speed as I'm making my turn. I need to just get over it. Geesh.

Leslie and Keith in Banff just returned from an awesome alpine touring expedition and definitely inspired me to work on my skills. I may just head up to Banff and let them teach me some basics of touring.

In running news, I ran 20 miles yesterday. The first 5 were really fast and the last 15 were nice and slow. I walked a lot the last 5 miles since it's all about "time on my feet." I only ran about 34 miles this week, which is about half what I was running this time last year. However, I got in 4 Crossfit workouts and while I'm a little uneasy about my new approach, I think it will work out fine and, frankly, I can't bring myself to run more than I am running. I'm also able to run faster and doing a weekly speedworkout with Leanne, which is better than I was doing last year.

I'm pretty tired after my "weekend warrior" long weekend. Time to do it all again!!!

Skiing -- Part Deux

Yesterday was a perfect sunny day and I went skiing with girlfriends Krista and Stephanie. We stuck to the beginner lift but did several runs going down the hard way. I had my first "yardsale" where I scattered my stuff along the mountain, though the chair lift guy says it's not really a yardsale if I didn't lose my goggles. We had a really nice day. I can't believe I actually enjoy skiing. Part of it is mastering getting on and off the scary chair lift. Part of it is realizing that I am strong enough to stay in control if I choose to easy down slowly and cautiously.
The best part is I can pretend to be all sporty-like and then enjoy my apres-ski beer doubly.

Putting my race schedule together

So, I've signed up for Diablo, a very tough 50 miler near San Francisco known for getting hot. I am told that it is a great training run for Western States, so I decided to run Diablo rather than Ice Age. I can't see going to Chicago/Wisconsin without taking the time to see all my friends, so I decided to save that one for next year and make it a goal race and take sufficient time off work to see everyone.

I had been planning on the Pacific Rim 24 hour, but Longview, Washington isn't where I thought it was and so rather than being a 5 hour drive it's a 9 hour drive. I must have been confusing it with the Yakima marathon or something. So, I'm not sure now. That's in March, and it would be a good endurance exercise and a good mental exercise and I think it would be fun. But I need Ted to come along and drive me home -- or else I will need to take an extra day off work. Hmmm. I'm not sure whether this will work. I should maybe look into the train.

My eating is a disaster lately so I need to get that in check. But with a very difficult 50 miler coming up in two months I feel more motivated than I felt before to get out the door. For some reason though I've just really been struggling. I think today I'll take my snowshoes out and see if I can't feel the love.

I took my snowshoes out and felt the love. Being outside alone in the woods is recharging. I need to remember that. The sun sure helped.

A Break from the Regularly Scheduled Programming

Today I had my first trial. I mean, I've been on trial teams but today I was first chair and tried a case. I had the benefit of my friend and boss Kim coming to help/supervise/support which made things much easier. She was like crew and pacer rolled into one -- only she was allowed to mule. It was a real estate case that I won't bother to explain, but it was an important day so I thought I should mention it. I don't know yet whether I won or lost, and chances are good that I won't mention it since I try to make it a habit to not really talk work here. But this was a big deal to me so I wanted to share. That is all. Carry on.

I skied!

Corey and me grinning before my ski adventure. I did pretty well on the magic carpet ride and then rocked the Easy Rider. I think I'll stick to the beginning runs for a little while and work on my french fries (I am good with pizza). It got cold though. I basically dressed for XC skiing and about froze.

Thanks everyone! for the training thoughts. And Dorothy it's awesome to see you :-) Olga I looked at the Jurek schedule (forgot I had it) and think I can easily modify it. My problem, as always, is that trails are snow covered. But I can get enough endurance/cardio with long runs and snowshoeing and stuff. I figure if I do Crossfit 3-4 times per week, I will gain some of the strength in my glutes and quads that I would otherwise gain out on the trails. It will all work out. I sketched out a rough plan and am officially at least thinking about the fact that I have a race in June. The Crossfit coaches are helping me. I am lucky to have so many resources! And if you have strong opinions don't worry about seeming arrogant -- just email me :p

To make up for how incredibly boring this blog post is/was, I will treat you to this picture I stole from the Crossfit website. Penny took it. We're learning to KILL people. Well, ok maybe not exactly but I am learning to punch people and heavy bags. It's really fun.

ANYONE WANNA PLAY COACH???

Your student ran strong in 2008 but hasn't done a lot of running since October when she ran 50 miles. She believes her base is good enough to jump back into things without risking injury. She has started Crossfit and is a little stronger if a little diminished endurance-wise. She wants to incorporate Crossfit into her training regimine (3-4 times per week?) and is, remarkably, still a little burned out from last year's focused training that spanned about 7 months. She might have a bit of a short attention span. She has lots of gear (skate skis, classic skis, downhill skis, snowshoes, bike trainer) for crosstraining. The trails are covered in snow so any and all running will be road running or snowshoe "running." She plans to run a flat 24 hour event in March. Her goal race is the Western States Endurance Run in late June. That's roughly 24 weeks away. She is dropping the holiday 5 pounds just fine, ok?!?! How would you coach her if you were to offer your free $0.02???

Lame. . . I know. . .

NERVES

The last time I ran "long" was at LeGrizz in October. I stopped logging in September and can't really be sure what I've been doing for the past few months. After Nikki Kimball told me she doesn't keep a training log I felt temporarily emboldened and justified in not keeping a log. Afterall, I do begin to obsess with my weekly mileage and not logging keeps me from the obsessing. But, alas, I am fairly sure I haven't been doing a whole lot. The point of all this is that Saturday I'm running a "Fat Ass 50k" with the Helena Ultra Running League ("HURL"). I hope I still have it in me to run long. If this goes well I will be optimistic about my training. If it goes poorly I will still be optimistic but will likely have to put the pedal to the metal with my training for Western States.

The running club's Thursday night runs are in the cemetary these days -- it's a nice place to run. With all the snow and the warmer temps it was a mess up there. But we had a good time. Kent's two dogs saw a fox or something and took off at top speed -- Kent looked like he was skiing -- I wish I could have taken video of it. It was totally unreal.

So, let's see how it goes on Saturday. Between the great company and my iPod as emergency backup company, I bet I'll be fine. But I really don't know since I haven't run more than a few hours in, oh, who knows how long!!!

Sunny Skateskiing

Left to right, Ty, Leanne, Sonal and TJ. We went skate skiing today, which is a fun but difficult activity for me. I am pretty bad at it. It was gorgeous though and pretty much perfect.
Although I still have no technical ability, I could tell that I am stronger because I had much more control on the downhill parts. Otherwise, I'm a flailing mess. Remarkably, I fell only once, and that was while standing still.

The sky was a perfect blueberry color. Days like this are rare in the wintertime 'round these parts.

I think that skate skiing is more work than running. Much like snowshoeing. Probably in large part due to the fact that it's pretty new to me. Also because it's more of a full-body endeavor. After 2 hours of this I thought I was going to fall over in exhaustion. Hopefully this winter I can make some big improvements. I actually had someone ask me if I was new and gave me a card for lessons. :-)

WELCOME 2009

One of my Christmas presents from Ted was overshoes for showshoeing. They are thick neoprene and are basically mega-gaitors. Today I took them for a spin and was really happy to be wearing them. My feet were warm and dry and happy. But the real reason I was happy was because it was a beautiful snowy day and it was nice to get out and work out some of the New Year's tiredness from being up late and stuff.

Sonja and I snowshoed (sort of ran) for about 2 hours and I was ready to fall over by the time we were done. What an incredibly challenging workout. I'm tired all over, including my trunk which worked hard trying to maintain balance in the uneven snow.

Sonja cools herself off by burrowing in the snow and rolling around. It's prett y cute. When I hook her harness to my waist on a snowy trail she seems to be in doggie heaven.
Gotta get a cheesy self-portrait to prove I was really there.

2008 was a good year for me. I ran 100 miles, which was a very proud accomplishment for me, knocked an hour and a half off my 50 mile time and became an aunt. I took some great trips and had a lot of fun. Sadly, 2008 also marked the 10 year anniversary of my mom's death -- it's hard to believe it's been 10 years since she passed. That's almost a third of my life. However, 2009 will mark 10 years that Ted has been my special friend. It's hard to believe that he's been in my life for 10 years. That's almost a third of my life!!! And truthfully, it just gets better and better.

With each passing year I have found more balance and more happiness. Accordingly, I greet 2009 with open arms and say "bring it on year."

NOT A WHITE CHRISTMAS

For Christmas I met up with my brother Dave, SIL Tina and neice Stella at my Grandma's house in Arizona. I got in a couple good runs while there -- wearing shorts! The picture above is on Mount Picacho on Christmas morning. I wussed out sadly on that adventure because it became a little technical for me all alone. There were rocks to be climbed via pulling myself up cables, and I was scared :p
The above picture is where I turned around. I ran into a really nice group on my way back who invited me to finish the hike with them -- they offered to share food and water even. I figured I should head back to Grandma's though.

This part I managed! A lot of steep rock on Mount Picaco!

Below is the star of the show, Miss Stella. She is a really cute and happy baby!!!

Below is my ultimate poser picture. I was really overheating in the longsleeve shirt. It's a scary reminder of how important acclimitazation is for Western States -- I am not used to heat.

Below is from Ted and my Solstice Celebration. We spent Christmas apart so we celebrated the solstice. Ted made me the hat.

I'll be back soon with snowy pictures -- I am going for a snowshoe hike today!

HOLIDAY CHEER

The past couple of weeks have been busy with lots of travel (for me anyhow) -- the upshot of it was that I got to go to Boulder Friday to see Joanna, Kale and the girls. It was great to see them!!!

Hedy amused and dazzled me with her dancing and brushed teeth!

Maggie showed me how much she doesn't care for people who aren't her mom.

But it wasn't all tears. See? We're peas in a pod. Finally, if you need some holiday cheer check out Hedy's graceful ballet performance -- set to Sufjan Stevens' rendition of Oh Come Ye Emmanuel (or whatever it's called). It's somewhat interpretive.

FINALLY!

We have snow and cold. Sonja and I ran this morning in the 2 degree weather and it felt really good. I missed winter!!! And as you can see from the picture below, we warmed right up after we safely returned home.

CUTENESS

Dave (my widdle brother) and Stella, my niece. I am looking forward to seeing them at Christmas at our grandmother's house (Stella's granny!)

Have you ever seen such ginormous cheeks in your life? I have a sneaking suspicion that the girl was "blessed" with the same healthy appetite I have (and my dad has and my grandmother Edythe had).

Half Marathon and Girls Weekend

Yesterday Sonal, Leanne, Callie and I drove to Missoula for the Freezerburn Half Marathon. I had low expectations for the race itself since our office Christmas party was the night before and I was still recovering from Thursday night's late-night Christmas party fun. I was short on sleep and heavy on belly. We had freezing rain Friday night so I wasn't sure whether we'd brave the roads but we did and we survived. However, the race course was pretty icy, which made me even less optimistic about the race. But the important thing was that we were going to go shopping afterwards and eventually bar-hopping. So the race didn't especially matter.

We lined up and started the race -- I had to pee so I immediately went to the porta-potty (yeah why didn't I do that before the start???!) and started the race as literally the last person. It was actually kinda fun passing people and moving my way up and I ran the whole race this way: trying to pass the next person ahead of me. I'm not a competitive person so I don't typically run this way but it was fun and kept me moving. Much to my surprise, I finished the race in 1:47 -- which includes my potty stop. Not bad for running on ice, taking a pee break and being relatively out-of-shape. I'm happy.

For the first time in my life I felt like my strength was better than my cardio capacity, which was an interesting feeling. I truly think Crossfit is helping me run better. Considering how fat and out of shape I am (relatively speaking obviously) I'm shocked that I ran as well as I did. Must be cross-fit and my fantastic playlist.

We met up with a couple of Callie's buddies, who were super fun and awesome girls, and had Mexican food. Kalispell has no good Mexican restaurants so it was nice to get a decent meal in the metropolis of Missoula.

Above is Leanne, me and Sonal all dolled up (dolled up for us that is) ready to hit the town.


Leanne and Danni at the bar. We first went to this bar called Stockmans which got really crowded and was really hilarious. Some country singer named Keith Anderson was there and the drunk girls were ridiculously following him around the bar. There was some confusion at first because someone said Trent Reznor was at the bar, which I suppose was possible since NIN was playing in Missoula that night, but instead it was this random country dude. Oh well :p

I was excited to run into the Missoula Hash House Harriers -- our running club will try to go down for a hash soon :-) (The Hash House Harriers are an international organization of "drinkers with a running problem.")



We met up with Kent, one of our running buddies, who had a friend visiting from Boise. The group of us is pictured below. It was fun to go barhopping (ok we went to two bars :p) in Missoula with the college kids. I wouldn't want to do it every weekend but it was really fun. We actually closed down the bar. Aren't you proud? That's way past my 9:00 pm bedtime.


Because Leanne's college experience involved drunk Pita Pit, we hit the Pita Pit before returning to our hotel room. Lord knows I needed more to eat.

It was a really really fun weekend and a good race. Thanks girls!