I’m Back! 2nd Third of the Year Updates

August 26, 2019August 25, 2019 / racingthestates / 1 Comment

Wow. It’s been a while, huh?

I haven’t written in this travel and running blog because well, I haven’t been traveling or running. Since my last post, we’ve finally met our little bundle of joy! July 11th this little peanut decided to join the real world after about 44 hours of labor! Yikes, is right.

Since then, it has definitely been a life change around here (not to mention the lack of sleep). I was on maternity leave from work (my main job) for about a month. During that time, I was learning how to care for this little life and work on our business, Golden Mountain Guides (because when you own your own business you can’t really take time off) AND recover myself … it was a bit of a challenge, but I really did like only taking care of my family and helping run our business.

Sorting some files while holding the baby because he didn’t want to be set dow!

During my month off, the most difficult thing was feeling cooped up but not feeling well enough (or put together enough) to get out of the house. I desperately want to start running/exercising again but wasn’t recovered. I also just wanted to get out and do something, ANYTHING, but didn’t always feel like going through the hassle of getting the baby together and everything that goes with that ready. I still am really craving a trip to the mountains, hiking, camping, hot springs …. basically something outdoorsy; we just haven’t had the time.

Then, mid-August, I made it more of a challenge by going back to work at my main job the same week that cross country season started.

Despite all challenges, we have been trying to adjust to our new life and have been taking small adventures out of the house… to breweries for example, where I can finally have a beer – or half a beer – and to small local festivities like the Buffalo Bill Festival in Golden.

As August finishes up, I’m still trying to make it all work and figure out how to work and take care of the kiddo! It’s definitely taken some creative thinking to get some hours in!

He fell asleep on me and I didn’t want to put him down, so I worked while holding him.

To pick up where we left off…

May
-Track season finished off with a handful of athletes making it to the state competition and the end of season banquet
-I continued to work at my main job and timed a race
-We took birth classes to get ready for the little one
-And we were showered with love at or baby shower(s); one presented by Ben’s Sister and my Mom and the other by the 3W Team of Ambassadors. We felt very loved and spoiled (well, Layton was spoiled)

June
-June brought weekly baby appointments as my due date neared
-I timed a race and race directed my last race before maternity leave (which was very challenging on my body).

This is what I looked like most days during the last month of pregnancy

July
-We started playing the waiting game.
-July 4th was my due date and when that came and went, I grew restless (and finished about 5 different cross stitch projects).
-I tried to work (and make some money) but was so caught up from all my preparation, I barely had anything to do.
-Finally, July 10th at 2am, labor started…and stopped….started again…and went and went and went. To save you ALL the details, basically labor started, paused, started again, and we finally went into the hospital 30 hours after contractions started to see what was going on and make sure all was well. I was admitted and labor augmentation was tried to see if we could speed things up.
-July 11th, we were admitted to the hospital around 11am and baby decided to finally arrive at 10:54pm.
-We were showered with love and tons of visitors during our two-ish days at the hospital and went home on July 13th in disbelief that we were now responsible for a tiny little life (that came with no instructions!)
-Since then, we’ve been figuring this thing out. Everyone talks about it, but you really don’t understand the sleep deprivation until you actually experienced it yourself. I have never been more tired in my life but I’ve also never been happier in my entire life.

August (in progress)
-I got two more weeks of paid maternity leave and then needed to go back to work (or we wouldn’t have any money to feed ourselves)
-Cross Country season started and we have about 40 kids on the team this year – and I have been promoted to HEAD COACH this year!
-I just race directed my first race since being back (August 25th)
-We have three cross country meets this month to start off the season
-Layton is growing and growing and gets to come with me to work a lot!

We’ll see what the last third of the year brings us… hopefully a vacation! 🙂

2nd Half of August (and 1st Week of September) Updates

September 9, 2018 / racingthestates / 1 Comment

It’s Football Season! Go Broncos!

Like a lot of bloggers, I do regular “updates” posts talking about what’s going on, keeping me active on the blog and general updates related to my blog (running and travel). Ideally, weekly updates posts would be relatable for people, but that’s too ambitious for me; I have tried this in the past without much success. So, I’ve been doing (roughly) twice a month. I’ll also have current likes, obsessions, books I’m reading, tv shows I’m getting into, updates with each job have, etc.

Holy crap. I need more hours in the week. The end of August and September has been so busy between all of my jobs and house projects. I haven’t had a chance to do much blogging. I have a bunch of posts half written or ideas ready to go. Hopefully, soon I’ll finish them! You can expect to see a Fortitude 10k Recap, a couple running-related book reviews, and some gear reviews via being a BibRave Pro! Until then, here are some updates since my last updates post!

From the last weekend in August, I have had quite the packed schedule and haven’t had a day off, until today (Sunday). I finished up August by race directing our Erie Half/5k for 3W Races and a couple of Cross Country meets. That put us into September with more cross country meets, more 3W Races work and more races to direct.

End of August
-Race Directed the Erie Half and 5k. It was a full day of running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
-I did get to work a really cool event for 3W at the end of August. A local health center (UC Health) was filming a commercial that involved creating a fake 5k race. The artistic director for the commercial wanted the “race” to look real and borrowed a lot of our timing and race equipment and I was needed to go set it up and take care of it! I was so enthralled and fascinated by the whole thing; seeing a film crew and watching all that goes on behind the scenes just to make a one-minute commercial is pretty crazy. I can’t wait for the final product to come out! And no, I didn’t get to be IN the commercial! My break into stardom comes later…… (in case you didn’t get it, this is foreshadowing for something later in this post!) 😉

-August 31st: Arapahoe Invitational Cross Country Meet. This was our first real meet of the season and was a true cross country course with grass, dirt, water crossings, etc! Our kids did great, many had personal course records, and our new runners getting their feet wet (literally) in the cross country world.

September
-September 1st and 2nd were very busy!
-On Saturday the 1st, we took the cross country team up to Leadville for a great race! This super fun course at 10,000 feet elevation brought a lot of hardware home for our kiddos. Our JV and Varsity boys teams took first, our Girls Varsity took 3rd and our JV girls took second! In three of the races, we had the overall winner and in the 4th race, we had the 2nd overall winner.

The Leadville Meet

-Then I high tailed it to Denver to set up a 3W Booth at Mile High Stadium for the next day’s expo/race.
-Then I high tailed it up to Longmont for my Mom’s husband’s 60th birthday party.
-On Sunday, I woke up early to work the booth at Mile High Stadium (not my favorite thing to do for my job) and then back up to Longmont again for a family dinner with my Mom’s side of the family.
-MONDAY was fun as I ran the Fortitude 10k! I’ll do a whole race recap, but I met up with my friend Katja and we ran the 10k “together.” She’s way faster, but we hung out at all other times. I ran it in 51:56 which isn’t a 10k PR but is the fastest I have run a 10k in a REALLY long time! I also randomly got pulled to the side to be on Channel 2 News for an interview! So, now, I’m TOTALLY famous! 😉

: My Mom recorded it

: At the finish line

: At the Start

: The 2nd Fortitude 10k, but my first!

-And Tuesday, it was back to the grind at 3W and cross country; I worked in the office at 3W HQ getting ready for the Denver 5k in the mornings and then had to jet up cross country practice in the afternoons!
-Thursday and Friday were packet pickups for the Denver 5k and truck loading.
-Saturday was the big day; The Denver 5k! I’m used to race directing half marathons and a 5k is much more fast-paced, but it helped to have four other staff members there since our lack of volunteers would have shown! (Side note: no one wants to volunteer anymore for races! What gives!?)

Enjoying a post race beer with the crew and racers

And finally, I get a day off… but alas, I have to get off the computer and help on the house… say la vie!

New/current happenings in the world of Golden Mountain Guides:
Not much new, just trying to keep up with it all between my other jobs. It’s slowing down a little bit, but every weekend has been fully booked. I just wish I, personally, had more time to work on some marketing stuff.

New/current happenings in the world of 3W:
Not much NEW. As I said earlier, yesterday was the Denver 5k and next weekend I am race directing the final of a four race series for the Prairie Dog Half Series and then the next race that I’m working is the first weekend in October when I time the K9 Canter.

New/current happenings in the world of coaching:
Cross country season is in full swing with meets every week and practices every day (except Sundays). I’ve missed a few here in there due to my other jobs, and I hate missing them because I love coaching those stinkin’ kids, but you do what you have to! Our next meet is Tuesday down in Elizabeth, CO and then next Saturday (but I can’t go due to race directing) at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

What I’m reading:
-I just finished up Kara Goucher’s “Strong” which was pretty good. It’s a little too hokey for me, but I get the main point and purpose (using the power of the mind).
-I’m now in the middle of “End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood” by Jan Redford. No, I’m not pregnant, but the book is about a climber girl trying to figure out her place in the world as she deals with life and death in the mountains. So far, I’m really enjoying it even though there have been some terribly sad moments.
-You can see what I’m reading regularly on GOODREADS! Give me a follow!

What I’m Watching:
I haven’t been watching much lately. In my last post, I told you about my Disney Movies challenge. This week, I did get to watch a few oldies like “The Watcher in the Woods” (CREEPY!) and “Herbie Goes Bananas” (Not a good one). I’m into the 1980’s!

What I’m Listening To:
I finished up all the OLD episodes on the BibRave Podcast but have a few more of the latest ones to catch up on, but I’ve been taking a break and actually listening to the radio! Weird, huh?

What I’m loving at the moment:
Coaching. Those two hours of the day that I’m coaching are the only thing getting me through the weeks. During those hours, coaching is all I’m thinking about and getting to interact with the kids and share running tidbits and advice is awesome. Plus the actual time running lets me clear my head a bit (until the next kid asks a question) and relax.

What I’m hating at the moment:
Feeling SO TIRED! Everyone knows me as the tired person and I hate that. Maybe someday in my life, people won’t see me as always being tired.

Noteworthy:
I’m signed up for the Scooby Doo Virtual Run Challenge and you should do! There are two virtual races for the challenge, one in September and one in October. They are meant to be something to do with your dog, but you don’t have to have a doggie to participate. You get a medal for each race AND a challenge medal (and so does your dog!). Plus, part of the proceeds goes to the Best Friends Animal Society!

-Sign up and join me! 🙂 Use coupon code: BIBRAVE for 10% off!

Not quite halfway through the year – Updates!

May 30, 2017May 29, 2017 / racingthestates / Leave a comment

Hiking at the Apex Trail

I was going to call this post “quarter year updates,” but then I did the math and realized that wouldn’t be quite right. Where did the months go? I haven’t been able to write on a consistent basis, but here’s just a random, popcorn list of what’s been going on:

Work/Career

Golden Mountain Guides
-Many of you know I own a climbing guide business, Golden Mountain Guides, with my boyfriend. We are just starting year two of business!
-The year is starting off better than last year, but not as good as we hoped.
-We’ve hired a couple new guides and we’re doing anything we possibly can to market our business (and researching new ways.)
-YOU can climb with us if you want! Check us out online or when you visit Golden, CO

3W Races
-Still going well! I have been assistant race director a few more times and we’re amping up our marketing plan.
-Our next race is this weekend, the Skirt Sports 13er/10k/5k on June 4th!

Coaching
-Track season is was kept me busy and off of the blog. I was at Green Mountain High School again coaching the long and triple jump.
-It was a great season. Many athletes made it to the state competition and I had two jumpers just inches away from qualifying for state. INCHES! Keep in mind only 18 people go to state in either competition and they were inches from it.
-With my triple jumper, she had a great jump of a distance that would have put her in state but it was disqualified due to win. My long jumper has one more year and I’ll get him to State for sure next season!

The Coach V Rap

Cross Country Season coming up…
-During track, we got word that the head coaches wouldn’t be able to coach next year. That left the head coach positions open (and the scary idea that any new person may not keep me around). However, two of my friends and fellow assistant coaches got the job. Yay!
-With the switch around, I get to stay for jumps coaching during track season and it left another spot open on the cross country coaching staff as well. I have officially accepted it and will be moving from Golden HS to Green Mountain for BOTH the cross country season and track season in 2018!
-I love this idea of being at the same school for both seasons, but it wasn’t an easy decision to make. The kids and other coaches at both schools are amazing.
-Summer running for cross country starts in June and then the season starts in August.

10Hikes.com
-I landed my FIRST freelance writing job with this company!
-I have been writing about the top 10 hikes in the Denver region and having a blast on the beautiful trails.
-I’m super excited about this and will be doing the best job I can. Follow me on Instagram for my latest hikes.

Hiking at Beaver Brook – a new Colorado fave!

Personal Running/Fitness

Running:
-Since the beginning of the year, I have been trying to get my running back up. It’s been hard, so difficult, mostly due to motivation.
-For the first few months of the year, I was running about 2 to 3 days a week. I bumped it up and up and now I’m up to running about four days a week, on average.
-A lot of this is due to having a few goals in mind (I’ll announce soon!)
-It’s also due to finding this AWESOME app, Zombies Run! It’s a blast and I find myself thinking about when I can “play” next, i.e. run!
-I just ran the Bolder Boulder and will be doing Ragnar Trail Relay in Snowmass in a couple of weeks.

Bolder Boulder

Other Fitness:
-I started lifting again! I am training for something great and I starting lifting weights, doing plyometrics and other strength training. It’s fun, I’ve missed being a gym rat, but I’m pretty much starting over again and that is hard and disheartening.
-I do CrossFit every once in awhile (my boss at 3W Races also owns Trailhead CrossFit, so I work out there sometimes) and did the Murph workout for the first time. I have been reading (listening to book on tape actually) Lone Survivor in honor of Memorial Day and the Murph workout is in honor of Lt. Michael Murphy. It was a brutal work out and I’ve been sore for days now. Learn more about the Murph WOD here.

#60HikesDenverChallenge:
-Still going strong, although I’ve only done 14/60 hikes, I’m still trying to knock them off this year. I still have a few that I’ve finished but haven’t written about yet.

Other/Random Happenings

-I’m sure you all heard about the massive hail storm in Colorado, right? Well, I got stuck in it while driving on the highway and accumulated more than $8,000 in damage on my nice new Jeep. I miss my Jeep and can’t wait for it to be fixed and back!

Poor Ginny (yes, that’s my car’s name).

-I’ve been trying to hang out with friends as much as possible but it’s very far and few between with everything going on.

-I turned 30 somewhere back in there. I didn’t do anything too exciting, just hung out with family and a few friends. I did get a Zombie cake though and tried a zombie themed escape room! We didn’t escape but it was pretty awesome.

: The Zombie is eating me

: We didn’t escape…

-I did get to have a little fun a few weekends ago for my boyfriend’s Sister’s bachelorette party! #Being30WhenEveryoneElseis25orYounger

In the limo

Now that I’m all caught up; what have you all been up to?

Greetings from Washington, state that is. (+Updates)

September 8, 2015February 6, 2016 / racingthestates / 2 Comments

Hello from Ellensburg – er….now I’m in Seattle. The Sea/Tac Airport to be exact. And I’m on my way home.

I have been in Ellensburg, WA for the past 4ish days visiting with some family. As much as the travel bug has been biting me lately, this was not on the list. Not to say it’s bad – just unplanned.

You see, my Grandparents live in Ellensburg which is about 1.5-2 hours east of Seattle. Over the last couple of years, my grandfather’s health has been declining, as what happens in life, but after a recent trip to the hospital, my mom and I decided to just make the trip out to see him.

So, last Monday, we bought tickets and on Friday we packed our bags and headed to the airport. Well, I’m sure my Mom packed her bags within reasonable time. I, being a professional procrastinator, packed the hour before leaving. No joke.

As much as I was looking forward to camping and a 14er hike with the boyfriend’s family, I am glad we finally got out to see my Grandpa because that is more important. I hadn’t been out this way for 6 or 7 years, although I did see my Grandparents at my Mom’s wedding a couple of years ago.

It was a good, relaxing break from work. There wasn’t even WIFI (gasp!) so I spent a lot of time reading, watching football with Grandpa, coloring and watching the Disney channel with my cousins and hanging out with my Mom, Aunt and Grandma in the kitchen.

I even got in a run with my some special running buddies!

My Mom and two cousins!

(Follow me on Instagram to see more pictures from my travels.)

Updates:

Since my last post from Oregon (geez, I need to get better at this blogging thing), I have been keeping busy as always.

-The day after I got back, I organized another one of my Brew Runs.

-I ran road Ragnar the weekend after returning from Oregon.

-Went on a lovely date with the boyfriend to the Melting Pot….mmmmm…

-Volunteered at the Splash and Dash, a kid’s Triathlon.

-STARTED COACHING CROSS COUNTY AT GOLDEN HIGH SCHOOL! This deserves all caps because A) I have been wanting to coach here for a while, for many reasons but also B) Because this is quite a refreshing coaching job!

These kids are super motivated, really respectful to the coaches and each other, and just all around good kids!

If you’ve been following Racing the States for a bit, you would know that I have been coaching Cross Country at Arvada High School for the last two years (my alma mater). This year, the head coach left, leaving the spot open, but the athletic director filled it with a non-runner-teacher without posting the job. For gosh sakes the guy didn’t even know my name or realize he had another coach on his staff! Don’t even get me started on that guy/school….

Anyway, I was pretty bummed that I didn’t get the job, nor the opportunity to apply for it, but accepted the fact that I wasn’t coaching that season. However, on my friends coaches at Golden High School, which is conveniently in the city I live, and said there was a spot open…without hesitation, I say “DUH!” and started coaching the following week. IT’S BEEN AMAZING!

And yes, I still will be coaching track at Green Mountain High School in the Spring. Besides, Golden does already have a Jump’s coach.

Back to my updates….

-I went on my first backpacking trip to Conundrum Hot Springs in Colorado.

-Went to a Cross Country meet that we did REALLY well at (the boy’s team took first and individually we had a 1st, 3rd and 7th place boys and a 1st place girl)!

The smiling faces of the Golden HS Cross Country Team!

-That brings us to last week, I had another Brew Tour run and got on a plane to Washington.

All the while I have been working my normal job, marketing at 3W Races, and at the recreation center in Golden. Hopefully it wont be nearly as long till my next post and I’ll be getting some race recaps finished up!