So much going on! It’s exhausting! But in a great way. I have been so busy these past few weeks that my husband and in-laws allowed me the gift of staying home today to do, well, nothing. THANK YOU! They are off enjoying a day at the pool with our three boys. I am hanging out in my very quiet home, catching up on laundry and letting my legs and feet rest.
So let’s get started…

Beautiful Mt. Madonna Trail
Mt. Madonna Challenge
Big news of the weekend is that we had a very successful Mt. Madonna Challenge run yesterday. With 216 finishers, it was the largest turn out ever recorded. In addition, it was the inaugural year for the 18K.
The field looked like this:
6K finishers – 111
12K finishers – 68
18K finishers – 37
I was reminded when marking the course just how steep it is! I was reminded again when Kathy, Raina and I decided to run the 6K after we finished cleaning up.
I think the addition of the 18K distance was a great idea by our race director, Allan Abrams. It seemed to attract a number of trail runners from the PCTR crowd. I was supporting the finish line aid station and feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
My favorite comment was by a man brand new to trails. ”I don’t even know how to describe this to my friends. We only run roads. I can’t even begin to tell them. It was so beautiful. And so hard. So, so, so hard. But so beautiful.” That was the best summary of trail running that I have heard in a long time.
I realized, yet again, that runners simply rock! I met more than one person who had planned to run, got injured, and decided to come volunteer. How cool is that?! And, as always, everyone said thank you. We added a few little touches this year, including PB&J, potatoes, watermelon, and pretzels. I can’t tell you how many people personally thanked me. And our shirts were a crowd pleaser! We were worried. They were a light, frosted, lime green. We thought they were killer, but as race committee member Jimmy said, “I bet we look back in a few years and say, ‘Why did we do lime green shirts!? We thought we were so cool in 2009.’” Ha!
Of course, not everything went as planned. Seems we didn’t mark one of the hair-pin turns as well as we could. A few people went off course. We needed more water. Awesome volunteer Jennifer ran to Safeway just 10 minutes before start time. We needed more electrolyte fluid at the finish. We were pretty much out when the final runners crossed. We also need to figure a better way for the 18K runners to join the 12K course (the 18K is the 6K + 12K). We had too much congestion. We will try to think about how to do that better for next year.
All in all, a great day! I was very proud to be a part of the team organizing this run. I am totally stoked to take over as Race Director for 2010. Thank you to all the runners, volunteers, Allan the RD, and the rest of the SVRC race committee.
TransRockies Stage Race

The 113-mile TransRockies run started this morning. The first stage is 20 miles, with over 2000′ feet of ascent, starting at 7900′ of elevation. Tons of big names are there: Kami Semick, Hal Koerner, Nikki Kimball, Dean Karnazes, Caitlin Smith, Anita Ortiz, Prudence L’Heureaux and Devon Crosby-Helms.
But even better, my two pals and fellow SVRC runners are there! I have never personally known anyone who has been in a major event. Lynn and Kevin are the talk of the town. Like two kids in a candy store, I don’t know that I have seen two people more excited about anything. Their enthusiasm is contagious. We all know it is going to be very hard, but we also know they can do it. They are both amazing.
I am following the race and will be updating my Twitter feed with the daily report. You can follow the official report on the TRR site. You can follow Lynn and Kevin on Lynn’s blog.
Top of Utah Training
On the more tradition side of life, I am four weeks from Top of Utah. My training is going very well. No injuries, knock on wood. No interruptions to my schedule, knock on wood. I am at the challenging point of the plan.
You know that point where you max out mileage and speed, and your body is just tired? I am there. I need a lot of sleep right now. My kids and husband laugh at me as I climb into bed at 8:45. Then again, they know the drill.
My training plan is pretty aggressive. I am wondering if I bit off more than I can chew. My long runs are 18, 31, 20, 22, 20, 16, 23. I did the second 20-miler today. It was nice going for 16 miles, when I had Craig and Charles with me. The last four were alone and, well, boring. Thank goodness next weekend I have a half-marathon in the trails. I think I am going to race it in place of the 16 miler. Then one more long run and I taper. I better qualify. Ultra training is so much more fun than marathon training! I am itching to start preparing for the North Face Endurance 50-miler in December.
So that’s it for now. Better get back to doing nothing/laundry/dishes/nothing.