I love this place...sweet, only mildly technical trail at times, and fairly long stretches of what you see here.

On today's agenda was 5 minute hill repeats getting into zone 4a to 5a, and making sure to hit 5a by the end. Coffee and my favorite fruit, kale and egg protein smoothie in, I made the hour and a half drive to Hobbs State Park for today's adventure. My new work schedule with rotating shifts offered me 3 weekdays off this week...penance will be paid…

Winter running in Jackson Hole and the Teton's is amazing, beautiful, and just as spectacular as hitting the trails in the Summer.  The BIG difference is the temperatures, often hitting minus 10, minus 15 degrees F during some of my runs.  Cold weather brings bright sunshine and perfect snow conditions on the trails.

With the polar vortex…

So, yesterday was the day of my return to a nice little 10-mile race around the local area, the Braunton 10. I ran the race last year, just as I was starting to get my eye in on racing in general and it was great to come back a year later, knowing a bit more of what to expect and how to go about tackling it.

The route is all on-road (that is, mud-slicked, flooded road at this time of year) and is more than a little undulating - in particular, there are two significant category 4-5…

"What if you striped away the need to know and the need for "meaning"'- Eric's comment on his blog post Today's Thoughts On Real Performance. Timely conversation. Those words, and comments by others rattled around in my brain yesterday and early this morning as I started to think about the race.  I tend to stress out more about the 5k - 10k races than the ultra distances...the farther the race the less "fear" I have. 5k and 10ks are so raw. For me it's a really stripped down way of assessing…

So, who's up for a run as long as you can race? Happening in my neighborhood. The Wings for life world run, a charity event to run for those who can't. http://www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com/en/locations/oeland/facts/#map-202

From the web page: "100% of the proceeds from the event will go to the Wings for Life…

So, fitball core stuff - sorted. Slant board leg/foot strength - sorted. Time to try those pistol squats. Right leg first... tum ti tum.... OK, not much range of movement, but fine. Down, up, down, up. Left leg.... down....OUCH!!!!! Yikes, that hurt. Tiny little dip and sharp, acute pain on the outside of my knee which feels like it's about to collapse - no strength or support at all. IT band also sore. Something in my left hip also sore. Strange thing is, none of this hurts when I run…

So I was due for one of those slow, steady mitochondria building Zone 2 30 minute type of runs. But I met an old student on my way out who wanted to come. Now she's seriously talented, super quick, and in the past, well, I've managed to stay with her for about a mile before having to collapse quietly in a ditch and throw up. Only reason I can stay with her at all is that she's 16 and some way off her potential. But after 10 weeks of Phase 1? Hey, I stayed with her for over 3 miles (way out…

This one was a blast!  ….mostly because I wasn’t running it! Ha!  Kidding aside, I did really want to run this race...but... I was gonna get the best of both worlds. I would get to run some of the course, work the aid station with my kiddos, and cheer on other runners and enjoy the fact that their suffering was not mine! Muahhahaha.

This is a rugged, rugged course. Rocks and roots and leaves everywhere. Plenty of climbing and descending as well.…

Hiya! If you area regular Garmin user and uplaod your runs to Garmin Connect, then you might like to join the group I've formed. Thought it might be nice to have a group where we could all share our run data.

The group web page is http://connect.garmin.com/group/525242

The group is called "Cool Impossible" - you'll need to request 'permission' to join the group - as I've set it up I'm already a member - my name on…

When Jeff sent out a call for anyone to join him on a expedition to shoot some pics of a waterfall, he had hoped would be frozen, I was in! I’ve seen some of his work, he takes amazing pictures in amazing places. Fortunately, I happened to be off work on Friday, and fortunately, I needed a good trail run. Luck was on my side. My only request was that he would point me to a good “hilly” trail. He wanted to get the pics at sunup which meant a 3am alarm...small price to pay.…

I was wondering what the small pang in my heart has been over the last couple of weeks and I've eventually realised what it is: It has been an absolute age since I've posted here. This is a situation I intend to rectify, so for now, a very brief bloggy update:

• I'm wondering whether to drop the 'how many weeks I've been trying to be a runner for' titling of my blogs, since after my twenty weeks in the 'wilderness' of not-blogging, I have returned actually considering…

Running can have a bad rep as a cause for all sorts of injuries. But following the Cool Impossible programme shows how through strength and form training you can avoid pit falls and run injury free. Which was I was surprised late last year I started getting a pain in my lower back / upper hip on the right hand side of body, and at the same time a stiff neck on the left side. The non-running medical professional may have pointed the finger at road running in only 4mm drop shoes. But I believe…

Today, here in Michigan, I ran in teens degree weather.  After slant board warm ups I ran miles on drifting, icy back roads.  I ran through unplowed cemetery roads and sidewalks.  All this wearing my minimalist shoes.  I remember Zig Ziglar telling the story how he went through the ritual of getting all his running gear on, and on day one, huffing and puffing his way past bushes and trees - all the way to the neighbor's mail box!  Years later he was running through a college campus on a…

I’ve had a tough time developing my Cool Impossibles for 2014. Back in November and early December I was stressing WAY too much over it. Lori Enlow asked me, “If you had nothing to consider what would you LOVE to be able to do this year?” My answer: I. Don’t. Know. Do I want to go faster? Farther? Steeper? Arg!! Which really freaked me out, since I plan EVERYTHING. And then I finally told myself to stop obsessing over it and just let it happen.

And it did, midway through Phase One of…

Well, I made it! What I thought was impossible became possible! I thought there was no way I could live without sugar, no way! My family thought I was crazy, co-workers would look at me and say "why are you doing this to yourself?" I would answer, "because I am tired of feeling like crap!" I did not realize the side effects of sugar! I knew when I would consume a pop and candy bar mid-afternoon I would feel groggy and…

It is interesting that Eric and others have started to talk about doubts and fear.  These are very real emotions for me at the moment as the registration for my Cool Impossible approaches on Feb 1.  Ever since I decided to do this race I have been racked with doubt: Am I too fat? Am I too slow? Am I strong enough? Am I just freaking crazy?  I have shared these doubts with my friends ad nauseam.  One of my friends who patiently listened and was supportive finally cracked and said "Just shut…

Skyrunner = Runs distance + vertical. Circumstances changed. I didn't make Tahoe 200, Western States 100, Wasatch 100.  My luck sucks...or is awesome, depending on how one looks at it. These "no's" made

 me question what I really want to do. What REALLY charges me as a runner?  Well, I wanna be a skyrunner! Picking tahoe 200 and Tor  Des geants is evidence of…

I have been tracking this event called La Ultra - The High (thehigh.in) touted as one of the cruelest events in the world for the last couple years because I have some good friends as part of the organising team. I have wanted to help out as a volunteer and also experience this event first hand.

I thought the opportunity and the time had come when the La Ultra announced a new Relay event called the Eleventy-One which was designed exactly for people like me. It would allow me…

Well I'll be darned!   Man howdy, I have been on the strength program! Doing the upper and lower body circuit straight out of the CI book even some advanced moves....exceeept for the balance sequence. You know the very first foot exercises?  I thought since I have been training with Eric now for a couple of years, I was far beyond the simple balance exercises....I mean, I 

did those 2 years ago...I can do leg lifts on the balance board now and fitball lunges and…