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!



Fenwick Island, DE Vacation 2019

We just took a family vacation to Fenwick Island, DE and we even got to take the doggies.  Brian and I were so happy they were able to join us on the trip.  We went with my parents and my sisters family and rented a house only a few hundred feet from the beach.   The weather wasn't too bad either considering it was the end of April.  I made a highlight reel of our week which included relaxing, bike riding and exploring Asseteague Island.  We got to see the wild horses and it was  childhood dream come true.  I do have to mention that one of the nights we were walking the dog we witness a fireball.  The video above is only a short clip of it that my sister took but the whole thing was much longer.  The sky turned all sorts of bright colors and it almost looked like daylight it was so bright!

Even a police officer pulled over and asked what we just all saw.  He was also a little confused.  Honestly, it had to be one of the most exciting things I've ever seen.  If you go here: FIREBALL VIDEO FROM SOMEONES DASH CAM and fast forward to the one in Delaware you can see what I mean by how long it actually took to cross the sky.  There apparently another one in Germany that same night.  

ANYWAYS.  I am so glad we got to do this with the dogs and they absolutely loved the ocean- though they were horrible for the 7 hour car ride.  

I posted some photos below of some of my favorite parts of our vacation. 

Blood Mary with crab meat and angry beans! So spicy and so good!

Fireball Photo

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.)

The Room

Here is another video I threw together one night with the help of my husband filming me.  This had to be the coldest night of the year and he was so willing to help me out with this!  I am so grateful for his support all of the time.  This was something I wrote in my notebook a little while ago and always was fearful to share the problem a lot of us share.... creative blocks.  

I hope this helps you know that you are not alone in these!

In Between

I have had a real craving to start filming and editing again so ... I did one of my poems/rambles that I threw on some paper and made a little video.  I hope you enjoy!

I really want to keep doing these, let me know what you think! 

Animal Spirit Oracle Deck & Guidebook

This is the longest project I have ever worked on.  I am super duper proud of this one.  

When Brian and I were getting married and my sister was planning my bachelorette party she did the most awesomest (yes, awesomest) thing and booked a tarot card reader.  RIGHT UP MY ALLEY! 

This eventually lead to me purchasing my own Tarot deck and teaching myself all about this new world that I discovered.  I was drawn to the art and the meanings of these cards and how each deck was different but also the exact same.  This eventually lead to me learning about Oracle Decks which have much looser guidelines than Tarot.  You can really do whatever you like with them as long as you have a way to explain it.  This is what drew me to creating my own as some day I would love to create a Tarot Deck but I'm still wayyyy to new at it.

This was a big project for me and it was a huge challenge as I tend to lose interest in things that take such a long time to create.  My mind comes up with all sorts of reasons of why it will fail and why I shouldn't complete it but I pushed through and I'm so happy that I did. 

So... here we are.  The Animal Spirit Oracle Deck by Two Dingoes :) 

There are 40 cards and one guidebook that explains in detail how to use them.  There are four suites represented by the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water.  Each suite has 10 cards with animals that I felt best represented each element.  

 To help explain what I have created I made a video:

I would be so excited to hear about what you think of this project.  I really want to finish my affirmation cards as my next big project but I may take a little break in the meantime.  I hope you enjoy and consider adding this into your life. 

As always, thank you for reading,

Love,
Shannon