Where Have I Been?

Where have I been for the last year!? Buried under my last year of grad school, mostly. It has been a crazy last few semesters that have kept me running from place to place getting in work, internship, and school hours. I also had a lot of great adventures over the past year (probably seriously overbooking myself, but they were good adventures nonetheless).

One thing that I HAVEN'T been doing is updating my blog... obviously. So, here are the cliff notes of the last school year.

August

My trusty Saturn.

I road tripped back across the country from my summer back on the East Coast, new kayak in tow! My trip back home took about six days instead of the two weeks that I spent driving on my way there. The pups were good travelers, and we were glad to be home for a few weeks before the start of the semester.

Lynette and I tried to find trail on the back of Snowslide.

When I did get back to Boise, I had a few weeks of playing on trails before the semester began. I took some time to get settled in, but took the chance to head up to McCall with Lynette and get some mountain miles in up on the IMTUF course.







September

Mel, Jane, Jim, and me. (And Rosie, Jake, and Gracie.)

Yikes, September was a BUSY month. I had all the weekends of the month booked up, trying to squeeze the last bit of summer out of the year. Over Labor Day weekend, my friend Mel and I headed up to Riggins to spend some time with my friends Jim and Jane. We spent some time visiting at the house, but also drove up to the Seven Devils to get in some high country miles.

Grace and me with Hell's Canyon in the background.

All four of us went up and did a shorter hike to see some sights, and then on the second day, Jim and I went out for a 20 miler around some of the most beautiful country that I have ever seen. Thinking back on that day, it is one of the favorites that I have ever had. Jim was a great trail guide, and we had an amazing day. (It was also one of the only days that I have ever seen Gracie get tired!)

Lynette looking fabulous at the top of the big climb. 

The following weekend, I paced Lynette at the Wasatch 100. I picked her up at mile 75, and we went together for the last 25 miles. Lynette is a great runner to pace, and I really enjoyed being able to put in those miles with her. For some reason, Wasatch still scares me a bit, and I love seeing everybody out on this tough mountain run.

Mile 30ish? At IMTUF.

Then it was my 100! I ran the IMTUF 100 for the third year, finishing with basically exactly the same time that I have had the last two times. It's a tough race, but has a special, special place in my heart.

Tent city at Idaho Mountain Festival.

THEN the next weekend, I headed to the Idaho Mountain Festival, which is a trail running/rock climbing event that takes place at the City of Rocks over a weekend. The idea is fabulous, but the weather was not pleasant, which took a toll on me after having so many weekends running in circles. I had planned on it being a weekend of relaxing, camping, and reading books, but it wound up being a soggy weekend of wishing I was reading in my bed.  It was a good lesson in winding down, taking it easy, and giving myself a mental break as well as a physical one.





October

Finish line fun times. 

I ran the Foothills 50k Frenzy- which was my first ever ultra and one of my all time favorites. I love running this race just as much every year, and it always marks a nice wrap-up of the running season for me. (An especially nice factor is that it is in my own backyard and I can be from my apartment to the race start in 5-10 minutes.)














November

What did I do in November? Hmm. Well, like I mentioned, this is the beginning of my off-season. :)

Vegan Thanksgiving feast.

December

As the fall semester wrapped up, I was able to get back out more and have some relaxing fun-time miles.

Mel conquers her first race with a 10k at
the YMCA Christmas run. 

Evan on his first trail adventure- up Cervidae!

The family (sans one, who wanted to sleep in).

I did have the great gift of being able to go home for Christmas, where I was able to spend some time with my parents and extended family. It was the first time that I was home for Christmas since... 2010? It was so nice to be home.











January

Another good adventure with the Updegroves.

I flew back from Massachusetts at the end of December. For New Year's, I took the pups out for a nice snowy morning run and spent the rest of the day relaxing. As winter break came to an end, I spent another weekend up in Riggins with Jim and Jane and got the chance to see the Rapid River Trail for the first time.

Wilson Creek!

School started again, and I ran the Wilson Creek Frozen 50k the weekend after classes began. This is another race that is an absolute favorite- 30 miles in the Owyhee Mountains in January.

Trail marking for Wilson Creek.

February

Running in the finish with my peeps.

Ohhhh, February. Another CRAZY month (and also my birthday month, which I celebrate well). I had a weekend class the first weekend, followed by a trip down to New Orleans to visit with family and try my legs against the Rouge Orleans 126.2 miler. This race was... not my favorite. I However, with the essential support of my amazing friends Lindsay and Sean- who made the trip all the way from DC just to crew my race, I was able to make it to the finish.

I came back from New Orleans for a hot second, then I jetted out to San Francisco for the Annual Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, which was amaaaazing. I detoured to San Jose for a few days to visit with my friend John, and he took me adventuring in the redwoods for the first time. It was a place that stuck to my soul- a place that I felt like I had known all my life. It is something wonderful to be in the presence of something so huge. We got in a nice long hike, even only a week after Rouge-Orleans.

John dropped me off in San Francisco, where I spent a week at the conference and got in a lot of miles on the Embarcadero and around the city. I tried to get out early in the mornings to see the sun rise, and then I spent the days in the conference. It was my first time in San Francisco, and it was another wonderful place where I felt at home. Then, like that, I headed back to Boise, and February was over.

March

Multnomah.

March, I kept with the craziness. Weekend class at the beginning of the month, and the following weekend, Evan and I headed to Portland for his brother's wedding. We took off on the trip a day early and slept in the car by Multnomah Falls so that we could head out for a run. We had a nice little adventure to the top of the falls, and then ran the first several miles of the Gorge Waterfalls 50k that I did in 2012.

Strolling across the finish.

We came back to Boise with one weekend to rest at the beginning of spring break, and then it was Pickled Feet all week! Pickled Feet is another race that I have run a few years straight now, and I was looking forward to tackling the 48 hour run again this year. My original goal was to attempt to get closer to 150 miles after finishing 123 last year. However, as the race got closer, I reevaluated based on how crazy the previous months were and the fact that I had come down with yet another cold. Evan decided that he was going to attempt 100 miles, and we wound up doing most of the race together. I finished with him and capped off an extra 4 miles to make my lifetime miles on the Pickled Feet course an even 400.






April

Aldape Summit at Robie Creek, happy to see Dennis.

Okay, April! At this point, I really wasn't sure if I was going to survive the last month of school, but I somehow did manage to make it through. I didn't run much in my day-to-day life, but I was able to get out for some good weekend miles. I ran Robie Creek for the third time, and I hated it much less than I usually do! I wound up feeling WAY more sore than I usually am- even after running a hundred. It was a good reminder for me to push myself in training sometimes so I can move a bit quicker on race day.

Running Bertha into her first 100 mile finish. 

The next weekend, I drove down to the Salt Flats 100 to pace my friend Bertha for her first 100 mile attempt (and finish!). This weekend was one of the highlights of the year, and I feel so lucky that I got to be a part of this big achievement. Bertha crewed for me for IMTUF in 2012 and 2014, so I was overdue to come help her out for a race. This woman has real guts, and while we rode some normal hundred mile highs and lows, I never had a doubt that she would grit it out to the end.





May

Up on the mountain!

And then, FINALLY, May was here. I made another cleansing trip to Riggins after the last week of classes was over. I got some fresh air, slept under the stars, and enjoyed time with some of my favorite people. It was a great way to decompress after the last year.

Hotel Updegrove.

And then.... GRADUATION! It came quick, and I'm happy that it's over. Two of my good gal pals from the program and I hiked up a hill to watch the sunrise, and then I biked down to graduation in the rain. Soggy wet, I put on my cap and gown, and put a close to the chapter of the last two years.













I don't know what is coming next in life, but there are certainly lots of adventures ahead.













FIN (for now)

Happy Trails!

I'm looking forward to getting back on my trails, and back into a routine. I've got the Grand Canyon 50 miler coming up in a week, then I'm scooting down to Louisiana for the month of June, where I will run my first stage race at the 777 Inferno. I'll be back at it on here with some greater frequency, so keep posted for some musings and adventures.