camping

Be Smart and Be Brave – Be Brilliant

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Disclaimer: I received Brilliant Reflect Stick-on and Iron-on Strips to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews! 

BibRave is in the process of looking for more pros! They have opened up mid-year applications! If you want to apply, click HERE!

Safety is super important to me. I’m probably a safety nazi (is that politically correct to say!?). Seriously though; I am pretty good about following “the rules” when it comes to safety…

-Bright colors on night runs….

-Run facing traffic….

-Always tell someone when/where I’m going….

-Blah, Blah, Blah, Etc, Etc, Etc…

I don’t mean to downplay safety; in fact, I want to do a whole post on safety. It’s just that I know YOU know what you need to do to be safe. Everyone knows, but nobody does. Just the other day, I saw two women running two abreast going WITH traffic on the skinny road where I live that has no sidewalk. Seriously!?

The fact of the matter is a lot of people just don’t take the time to be a little bit more safe on their runs. On the flip side, I also think that a lot of people restrict themselves because they don’t feel brave enough to run at night, not having the right gear.

That’s where Brilliant Reflective comes in; they make being safe SO MUCH EASIER.

Before getting the opportunity to test their product by being a BibRave pro, I had just recently heard of them and was so glad I was selected. This product is ingenious and way more people need to utilize it. Already, I feel a lot more confident and safe, even for me and my already safety-conscious ways. I like that I can feel a little bit better about running at dusk or dawn or after the sun has gone down. This helps a lot during the summer when it’s just too hot to run during the day.

Brilliant Reflective is a company that sells iron-on and stick-on reflective strips that you can add to just about anything! Their mission is to reduce automobile-based injuries to children, runners, walkers, and cyclists.  Mostly geared to runners and bikers, you can put the strips on clothing, helmets, and items you take with you for a run or bike ride. However, there are so many more places they could be used!

Brilliant Reflective uses 3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Material which is retroreflective. “This means when the light shines at the reflective strip, the light will reflect off and go directly back to the source” (source). This is the highest brightness of reflective that you can find. You can be seen up to 300+ meters!

The best part about it is that they take this technology and put it on individual stips. That means you can keep using your normal gear and add reflection to it! You can use the pre-cut strips, or do what I do and get crafty! You can cut them into shapes or designs and make everything unique.

Oh yeah! That’s a reflective frog I made for my Amphipod hydration vest!

They are super easy to use, even the iron-ons. You just position and stick! The iron-ons require 60 seconds of heat and that’s it! I may have had a teenie, tiny…ok, ok, a huge pile of stuff I put brilliant reflective on. I went a little crazy!

It’s not just great for running and biking things. Start pulling out your hiking packs, climbing gear, helmets, water bottles, dog leashes, trekking poles, camping gear…you get the point.

My Brilliant Reflective sticking party

Seriously. The possibilities are endless! The next thing I’m about to put Brilliant Reflective on is my tent! Just think about it…. You get out in the middle of the night for a bathroom break and it’s so hard to find your campsite in the pitch black. One strip of brilliant reflective and your nightly troubles are gone!

One pack of Brilliant Reflective is $14.95. Get them online HERE!

Ragnar Trail Snowmass Bound – Again!

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If you’re reading this on Friday, the day I scheduled it to post, I’ll be up in Snowmass, Colorado! Depending on the time of day, I may still be in the tent, catching some sleep, getting ready for my first loop, or recovering from the 6+ mile red loop!

Follow me on Instagram for real-time updates and posts! 

This is my 5th time running the Snowmass Trail Ragnar. I’ve run it every year they’ve brought the trail race to Colorado. It’s a blast and a new adventure every time with a new team and new memories.

Read about some of my past Ragnar adventures:

My favorite blog post ever and it’s about Ragnar (2016)

Trail Ragnar 2014 Part 1

Trail Ragnar 2014 Part 2

Road Ragnar 2014 Part 1

Road Ragnar 2014 Part 2

Climbing in Joshua Tree National Park

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(Did you know it’s the Centennial Celebration of the National Parks? It is! The National Parks Service is officially celebrating their 100th birthday on August 25th. I absolutely love and respect the National Park Service and plan on doing a whole bunch of National Park posts this month. Check out my last posts about Rocky Mountain and Arches. Next up is this one, Joshua Tree National Park….)

Back in January, way at the beginning of the year, my boyfriend and I got the chance to take a two-week vacation and go on a road trip. We chose California, with the main goal to climb Mt. Whitney (because it’s my name, duh). While we did not summit Mt. Whitney (and a whole different story), we got to venture and explore some other places on our way to and from home.

Attempting Mt. Whitney

Attempting Mt. Whitney

On our way back towards Golden, CO we stopped for a few nights to camp and climb in Joshua Tree National Park. All climbers LOVE it here, supposedly. I wrote a little bit about it when I first returned home from that trip here.

Joshua Tree was a really cool place to visit. The scenery, plants and animals is so different from anything I had ever seen. I loved it and wanted to take a million pictures.

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We visited in January which meant it wasn’t that hot in the desert. In fact, it was a bit chilly which made it really hard for me to climb. (If you are a climber and are reading this, please keep in mind I am sorta new to climbing and a bit of a pansy. I don’t like cold hands).

We had a couple of days to get in some climbing but was thwarted with the cold weather, rain, and difficulty of climbing. I cried a lot of tears as we kept reaching different challenges (including a super stressful down climb).

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Climbing in Joshua Tree is old school. All the routes are way more difficult than they are rated in the guide books, the rock is rough and feels like sand paper, there are not a lot of rappel loops to get off the rock (meaning you have down climb the back sides of routes) and there’s mostly crack climbing, which is not fun for a beginner. Picture wedging your toes and hands between two giant rocks and using those appendages to pull yourself up. Yes, it hurts.

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We camped at the south end of the park which meant that we got to drive through the beautiful sights every time we went to a climbing area. Joshua tree is characterized for the giant rocks (sometimes looking like a giant kid piled them up) and for the actual Joshua Tree plants that grow there.  All of these characteristics offer great photographic opportunities (and me wishing I had a better camera).

Some of my favorite things:

-The Cholla Cactus Garden: these cool, super pointy cacti that grew only in one section of the basin in the park.

Cholla cactus

Cholla cactus

-Skull Rock: Literally as it sounds; a rock that is in the shape of a skull.

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-Indian Cove: a ton of climbing!

This is the main views of Indian Cove.

This is the main views of Indian Cove.

Getting there:

  • Enter the park from the south side off of I-10 or the north side off of HW 62
  • Park Website

Tips:

  • A smaller National Park but with a lot of things to see. If you are just a sight-seer, you could totally make a great one day trip out this place.
  • Climbers: you could spend a week (or more) climbing all that Joshua Tree has to offer!
  • Tape your hands, if you’re going to climb. 😉 (A little bit of an inside joke between my boyfriend and I. We’ll see if he catches it).

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Greetings from OREGON! And other updates!

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Yikes, it’s been awhile. Again. What can I say? Other than, “I’ve been busy!” It’s true, of course. But I know everyone is busy with different things. So my other excuse for not blogging is: I am on the computer all day at work and don’t want to be on it when I’m home. So there. I’ll just catch you up on my life. My last updates post was in mid May followed by the Bolder Boulder Post Race Recap! After the Bolder Boulder… 1. I ran the Beer Relay in Lyons, CO. SOOOO SOOO SOOOOOOO much fun!!! Highly recommend it! 11389990_10206468676693312_4354079847329693639_n June: 2. Went on a random adventure to Buena Vista with a new boy. 😉 Hiked, got beer and and visited the hot springs! 20150612_142230 3. I hosted another one of my Brew Tour runs. (In case you don’t know: I work for a running company, 3W Races, in Colorado. I mostly do marketing, production and run club promotions but I also helped make the 3W Run Club – the Brew Tour and am a mini race director one time per month, run club style, meeting at a different brewery each month!) 20150707_181355 4. I did Ragnar Trail – Snowmass. It was fun-ish. It rained the whole time on us. race_900_photo_19781070 5. I started climbing A LOT more! IMG_8282 6. Went to a TON of run clubs in June (and July) to promote 3W Races. 7. Worked the Skirt Sports 13er. 8. Had a fun date-adventure up in Fort Collins. I had to go to a run club, so I brought a special someone to join me and we explored a brewery up there! 9. Ran the Father’s Day Classic. Placed 2nd in my age group. 18442509564_e49deace35_o 10. Went on another date-adventure to Colorado Springs for a run club and decided to hike the Manitou Incline with said special someone. 20150622_145353 11. Saw Joan Jett in concert!!!!! It was… AWESOME!!! 11168864_10206689004691193_6053794539637138268_n July: 12. Worked the Longmont Half on the 4th of July. 13. Got out of town and went camping. Watched fireworks in a small town in Colorado.

Yes, that's my dog!

Yes, that’s my dog!

14. Hosted another Brew Run 20150721_182304 15. Did my first multi-pitched climb with my first rappel! SCARY! 11737808_10102306204764153_6127050431583264416_n 16. Hiked Hanging Lake with my Mom.

That's my mommy!

That’s my Mommy!

17. Hiked Golden Gate Park while the special boy and his friend climbed. 20150712_131320_Pano 18. High school reunion. Meh. 19. My second multi-pitch climb, this time with a super scary traverse and a free-hanging rappel. SCARY but fun.

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Yep! Climbed that!

11262305_10102320268734843_3290696359301787565_n 19. Worked another big race for 3W Races, the Prairie Dog Half/10k/5k.

In general, I have been working 40+ hours per week between 3W Races and my Personal Training/Group Fitness job at the rec. I have been hiking and climbing a lot and I have still been running 3-4 times per week. I am not specifically training and have been going more by feel. If I feel like a run, I’ll go. If I don’t, I don’t run…… And I have been spending a lot of time with this boy…. he makes me smile and takes me on all those crazy climbing adventures! ….wait for it…. AND right NOW I’m in OREGON!! Doing some hiking, running, and site seeing! It’s been fun so far!

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Portland

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Multnomah Falls

Yep! I finally get a vacation! (First one in about two years!) For the first few days, I am with the cross country team I helped coach last year (Arvada High) and once they head back, I will be running a race (a half!) to knock off a new state and hanging out with my step sister! WHEW! And that’s what’s been going on!