Glacier Ridge Trail 30k

My husband and I don't have a lot in common (we actually love that about each other) but we do love to hike together.  It's becoming a serious passion of ours.   Last year I had witnessed hikers at a local park with bib numbers and exhaustion on their faces so I looked up the race- they were doing an ultra hike and I was dying to sign up.  Why not challenge yourself to the point of absolute exhaustion and burning muscles and pain... yeah, that's the way I work.   Problem was it was the end of summer and when I googled races to see what I could sign up for, they were all too far away and we would have to drive a few hours for them.  So... we decided to sign up the following year.  When I went to sign up I was disappointed as you have to earn something they like to call Karma which they use towards a lottery and pull your name to see if you get into the race - then you pay to sign up - so therefore, you're not even guaranteed to hike with the person you want to hike with because their name may not be pulled.  I was bummed but if you know me, you know that did not stop me from finding a race.  In January of this year we signed up for the Glacier Ridge Endurance Hike 30k.  So that's about 18.7 miles.  They also had a 50k but we wanted to make sure we could do the 30k first. 

 

We started training at home on our stationary bike and eventually to our treadmill and when there was the first bit of spring we were in the woods hiking as much as possible to get prepared.  I had a countdown going for work and I really couldn't wait for race day.  I was so excited!

Then... we did a practice hike on the race trail a week before the race (luckily Moraine State Park is only about 40 mins north of us so we could drive up and see what we were in for. 

We hiked 10 miles and it felt great...

I woke up on Sunday sick.  Thought maybe it was allergies- HOPED it was allergies ... then I accepted it.  I had a major head cold with snot and coughing and phlegm ... was I not going to be able to race?  After all this time??!!!

I tried EVERYTHING.  I did sinus rinses, tried nasal sprays, blew my nose until it hurt, I used Vicks Vapor Rub, ate healthy and drank so much water!  But - I realized it had to run it course and I didn't know how it was going to go.  On top of all of this... I had my monthly visitor show up the day before the race. Great. Now I have to deal with that too (that's a whole other story by the way- I used a Diva Cup for the first time and it was totally worth it.  If you are running a long race/marathon, look into this!). 

 

The morning of the race we woke up at 5:45am and had to be out the door by 6:30am.  We packed everything the night before and drove up to Moraine for our first Endurance 30k hike.  Check in for the race was quick and went smooth, parking was easy and everyone was so kind!  They really put on a beautiful race and it was so well organized! We got over our nerves and warmed our muscles for a little and enjoyed the chilly morning in front of the lake before we lined up at the starting line.

Just look at how beautiful this morning was!

The countdown to start commenced and before we knew it, we where on our way.. 18.7 miles and a long day laid ahead of us.  I have a way of turning that off in my brain though and listening to my body and working in the moment so I know I was enjoying it already!

A thing I didn't mention earlier was that we have a time limit for the race.  7 hours.  We have 7 hours to complete it - so that means we have to do over 2 ... close to 3 miles every hour to finish on time and the course was muddy (it had rained every day that week, I swear it) and the hills/elevation change was no joke.   

The course was muddy.  The hills were hard and we hit the mile 10 turn around to head back. They had a nice station set up at mile 10 with all sorts of food and refreshments to keep us motivated.  I personally wanted to stay and continue to eat but we had to make our way back.  It was rough. One of the hardest things we have ever pushed our bodies to do.  At this point we were getting moody and purely exhausted but my body just kept pushing me forward.  My good to me body that I sometimes have to remember to be better to. 

About 5 miles left

The photo below was the best part of the day... and it pushed me to quicken my step- at this pace I would finish in a little over 6 hours.  Everything in my body was cheering me on and my heart was pounding... were we doing this!? Where we really hiking 18.7 miles!? To make up on time for some of the uphill struggles we actually ran every downhill or flat levels that we could... it was so difficult but I seriously was LOVING it!

Crossing that finish line was one rewarding feeling complete with utter exhaustion.  You cross the finish line and your body almost knows it and just starts to shut you down.  Thankfully, there was pizza and the 30k finisher medal to keep our spirits up ... along with all the candy you could dream of!

Finishing in 6hrs and 15mins!

Here are some of my stats for the day... I did forget to turn off my fitbit after crossing the finish line for a little... lol

I am still riding on cloud 9 and it's the Thursday after the race. I am just so so happy and CAN NOT WAIT TO DO ANOTHER RACE! 

The biggest advice is (besides training properly) WATER! You literally can't have enough of it!

Thanks for reading my post guys and letting me tell you about my latest adventure. Life can be incredible!

Here is a little video showing the anxiety surrounding the race and me being sick- they were on my instagram stories so I thought I'd post them here too!



I had my Aura photographed

So... My friend, Amy, and I went to have our Aura's photographed today.  It was such a cool experience.  I actually haven't stopped thinking about it all day.  When receiving our mini reading afterward she told me that a big reason I had a lot of yellow around my head was because I was receiving and downloading a lot of information all at once in my light right now and that is SO TRUE.  She also said that I use both my right and left (logical and creative) sides of my brain pretty evenly and yes, I feel that is also true.  I've always called it a battle within myself.  I did move my hand at one point and kinda goofed the reason as my friend told me my color started out white and purple and then when I placed my hand back down it started to turn the yellows and orange colors you see below.  The other good thing our Aura reader told us was that both Amy and I are pretty darn balanced at the moment, which is cool.   I totally want to do this again someday!  I placed my photos in a little album so I can add more in the future.  I have wanted to do one of these for so long and my friend Amy pulled through with finding the event that was offering it.  We then shopped around a really awesome spiritual shop which was, unfortunately, going out of business.  I picked up a really neat numerology deck for 10$ and then we found a really awesome place to eat that offered the best crepes in Pittsburgh and gosh darn it, they were the best! I want to take the hubs down there soon.  I got the spinach, feta and avocado crepe and it was just soooooo amazing.  I really enjoy hanging out with Amy too- we have so much in common and she is just one really cool chick.  

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend- did you do anything you have been wanting to do for a while? 

(On a side note, the head shot is said to represent what we put out for others to see where the whole body/charka one is what we are to ourselves.)

Twenty One Pilots and some Art

Oh hey there!

I'm so excited because Twenty One Pilots released their new album Trench and it's so incredible and amazing!  I have been counting down for it and have had my headphones in the entire day so far.  Twenty One Pilots is quite popular which is out of the norm for me to listen to... I don't really enjoy most mainstream music... and I hate to say it but they are kinda mainstream. 

Tyler, the lead singer, is an incredible writer and his lyrics just hit me (and so many people).  He has some amazing things to say in his music and it's just so refreshing.  The music is so different too- there has not been a band that I have listened to like this.  Honestly, I put in any of their albums and I can listen to every. single. song. on it and I love each one of them (except the overplayed radio songs- they are a little old now).  If you know me, you know that music plays a huge part in my life and always has.  My dad loved music and raised me on so many good musicians.  I feel very lucky that I have the appreciation for it that I do. 
If you decide to listen to it- Chlorine and Pet Cheetah are my favorites so far!
So. Yeah. Totally excited!! :) :) :)


I also bit the bullet and bought myself an iPad and the Apple Pencil.  I downloaded procreate promptly and started playing around.  I decided to recreate a painting I did a little while ago and was really happy with how it turned out.   I can't wait to keep practicing with it. 

I actually feel very inspired by the new music I have been consistently streaming into my ears all day so I am excited to get to drawing some more.  

Courage. (and some life updates)

“We all spend our twenties and thirties trying so hard to be perfect, because we’re so worried about what people will think of us. Then we get into our forties and fifties, and we finally start to be free, because we decide that we don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of us. But you won’t be completely free until you reach your sixties and seventies, when you finally realize this liberating truth—nobody was ever thinking about you, anyhow.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Elizabeth expanded on this by stating that people have their own lives that they go back to and that the world won't ever revolve around your art.  Instead, think of it as helping them escape reality for a moment- but don't do it for others- DO IT FOR YOU! Because it makes YOU happy! Gah, I promise I won't keep talking about this book in all my posts for forever and ever but it's just that amazing! I am almost done with it.  I keep rereading pages and making notes so it's taking me much longer than I'd like but I am just in love with it! <3

Anywho, this is Chance and I's most recent photo for the oracle deck and well, for fun! This is a ton of work and will be but I am just loving this project with him! Check out our photos for "Courage".  I did this photo because I need some courage lately.  Life has been... a bit difficult.  But, that's also what makes us appreciate when times are great... gotta have the downs to appreciate the ups :) 

Before and After

Brian has a lamp in our Bedroom that changes colors and he can control it with is phone but when I want to use it, it comes on red and I don't have the ability to change it.  I tried some photos with the red light but it was a little much- I did, however, catch chances annoyed look.  He just wanted to cuddle and I kept picking him up to face the camera.... 

See! He really just wanted to nap and cuddle! 

I hope you enjoy the photos!

I thought I'd take this opportunity to also do a quick update on what's been going on in our lives.  We got a fence. The dogs LOVE it and they don't need to go out on leashes anymore! It's strange to get use to as it's a privacy fence and maybe a little too private for me but... I am sure I will love it once we start gardening (no deer) and when we have people over and it will keep skunks out! YAY!

We had to tear up the dead pines in the backyard so we will have to plant some grass but here's to freedom for the dogs to play! 

We got together with our close friends Nikki and Matt and went to the drive in's to see the movie IT.  I really loved taking our chairs and sitting outside to watch the movie, it was the most beautiful night! IT was a little disappointing though, not scary. ;) 

My babies - Chance had to go to my mom's during the fence installation because of his anxiety with noise and the photo of Bear (below) is when we had a bonfire. I know the focus is poop but I loved the lighting and black and white has a special place in my heart!

I also got to see my old co-workers from Straka's office.  I can't tell you how good it felt to see them.  I really love these people and I'm so glad we can all keep in touch! I miss them! 

We celebrated my Father-in-laws bday last Sunday and we always have so much fun getting together.  I just love my in-laws. They are so freaking cute!

I've been doing some cleaning in the house and changing some things up.  I just love our wedding photos and I may have too many around the house... 

I saw a blog post not too long ago where they took the photos of the geyser in Iceland and framed them in a series.  Well, I had the same series that I personally took when I was in Iceland as I was snapping away when the geyser went off.  I decided to frame them up and put them in our dining room.  I love them though I do have to space them a bit better (my own worst critic). I was thinking bigger prints of it down the line but I'm happy with this for now! 

Well, this post was pretty random but the snapshots are just thinks that are going on in my life right now- thanks so much for reading and Chance and I will have a new photo soon! <3 

Mom's 65th Birthday

Two posts in one day!!! I know- I couldn't really wait... they start to build up and give me anxiety and I have had a lot of that lately. 

So for my Mom's 65th Birthday on June 24th (I know, she doesn't look 65!) we took her to do something she has always wanted to do- a train ride!  We drove about an hour and a half to Ohio for the experience.  We had some snacks once we got there, explored the small town and then hopped on the train!  It really was a nice, relaxing 3 hour ride (went by very fast) and we enjoyed chatting a glass of wine.  It was a beautiful day and was wonderfully spend with family! I'm going to let the photos do the talking for this post as it was a pretty simple day so I hope you enjoy them!  

Well- Happy Birthday Meems- we love you to the moon and back and then back again!