She is such a good girl. We also never do fasted workouts though. She’s also a snuggle bug.

Body felt tired today. No ruck loop today. Went up the fire tower twice so add a couple hundred more feet of climbing onto this run summary. 16 more days of ramping up! I definitely had a moment where I wanted to have a deload week. But we keep building through the hard part. #runchat #runsky

I just did skin on, bone in thighs w legs. Made a spray bottle containing 1c each of canola oil and apple cider vinegar, 1T each salt and brown sugar, 1t each onion and garlic powder, 10-20 dashes of Worcestershire sauce, medium smoke at 350, spritz every 20 minutes, flip to skin down at 40 minutes

Core workout!

Birthday miles and speedwork on a REALLY nice track. Noped out of my last mile repeat bc I was about out of time and it was getting hotter very quickly. 20 minute core took a half hour. #running #runchat

Last run of gaming retreat today. 90 minutes to win it! Managed negative splits for my two trips up the hill and back (second hill run was faster than the first). #runchat #runsky

4 mile ruck run in the mountains with a half hour strength workout after. Legs feel like noodles!

Finished my first week of Trilogy training. 31 miles running + plenty of strength training. Today was a strength training session followed by speed work 😅 thankful for my coach for making me do shit if never come up with for myself. #runchat #runsky

Today is an important date for me. Ten years ago I got out of the hospital after spending three weeks there surviving a bout of catastrophic pneumonia. April 2016 -PR in half marathon and 10 mile races May 2016 -pneumonia June 2016 -slow shuffle down the street with an oxygen tank. #running #runchat

Went well!! 37 minutes and I took a little walk break at the end of mile 4!!

Got busy with training season and job hunting. Finally got some progress on my bedroom builtin!

Ran the Highball to Thurmond 50k ruck event this weekend. This is my third year participating in this race and my first time doing a ruck. A couple friends came with me, and they both rocked the 50k run. So pleased with everything about this weekend with the exception of the heat! #runsky #runchat

3 rucking miles with Millie last night! Legs are tired, a 10k was not in the cards. The pack bounces and I cannot seem to get it tight enough to my body to prevent it from bouncing. Still have a week and a half to get it worked out so the experiment continues. #running #runchat

Here’s the 25k data

Here’s the 50 miler data #running #runchat

The 25k this morning was a big surprise. It definitely felt like I’d done something yesterday, but this race was definitely doable. It started with a descent, then a climb (no view), a BIG descent, and the same hellacious climb from the day before complete with a 1.3 mile victory lap at the finish.

The race ended with a 5k climb of about 400m (1,200 feet) and it was a lot of walking and whining about this being an awful way to end a good day. BUT I think this was the first big test of my strength training this year, and a passed! #running #runchat

Ran the Grayson Highlands 50 miler and 25k this weekend. Oddly enough I don’t think anyone else opted to do both 🤷‍♂️ the 50 miler went great with the exception of nausea from ~mile 28 (46k) to the finish (80k). I was nervous for today, but none of those problems were a factor. #running #runchat

Feeling kind of gloomy, but I’ve been training this month and feel reasonably prepared for my races this weekend. It was fun to finally finish passing the white desert stuff, but I’m ready to look forward to the next adventures. Currently training for hilly races by doing most runs with a ruck.

I guess today was the only ultra of the trip. Glad to have run with people I hadn’t been running with for the fun run.

Marathon in the desert!

~1,000 feet of climbing and descending

Very flat! Finally getting around to finishing up posting about white desert stuff.

I stopped at the camp at 45k and cheered everyone else in. Then around 5:00PM I rallied everyone who hadn’t run the 50k and we went out for a 5k fun run. Caught an incredible sunset in the process. #runchat

White Desert Ultra Day 4: 45k was the goal but we all pretty much decided to do an even 50k to round out the event. This was the most challenging day full of head winds, loose sand, and predictably tired legs. It was also the day with the most varied terrain. Excellent way to end the event. #runchat

Fueling with fresh dates at aid stations was life changing. Our hosts treated us so well! It made a big impact on quality of life. #runchat

White Desert Ultra Day 3: ran through the White Desert! This is a strange land which has become recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The highlights were the chalk monuments and visiting an oasis! Got to camp at about 42k so I ran the balance to get 42.2k for the day. #runchat

No medal, no bib, but we did get a nice tee shirt.

Here’s the video of music. Very cool experience.

Watching the sand blow off the dunes was so freaking cool. Also, the Egyptian flags are what marked the trail. You’d run to one, then scan the horizon to find the next. Made for a constant string of immediate, small goals. Music is from our Beduin hosts at the end of run day 1.