How Did I Get Here?

I am going to rewind a bit to a few months ago, when I was first making the decision to apply for AmeriCorps positions and then ultimately accepting the position here in Coffman Cove. I started looking at AmeriCorps postings in April, as graduation was looming nearer and I was finding myself unsure of what my next step would be. Unlike many people in my graduating class, I was not ready to settle down into long-term career mode just yet. I wanted some time to process, to get my feet back under me, and to get myself where I could feel that I had a bit more time to figure out my next steps with a bit more purpose. I also felt, I think, the need to slow myself down.

Coffman Bay- this shot was taken a two minute walk from my house.

The last semester of grad school had been the most hectic, most of which was self-induced. In addition to my coursework, internship, and graduate assistantship, I put a lot of things onto my own plate. I helped do the awards and a bit of side work for the two races put on by Pickled Feet. I went to New Orleans for a long weekend to run a 126 mile race. The following weekend I went to San Francisco for a week for the Annual Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association. I went to Portland for a wedding. I ran 100 miles at Pickled Feet. I paced a friend for her first 100 at the Bonneville Salt Flats. I went to Riggins to visit friends. I took two weekend courses. I attended meetings for the Idaho Society of Clinical Social Workers. I ran a 50 at the Grand Canyon the weekend after graduation and flew to New Orleans a few days later. Do you think I had a free weekend anywhere in there?

I loved every single last thing that I did over the course of the semester, but I found myself trying to catch my breath the whole way through. I had lots of great opportunities come my way, and I couldn’t imagine turning down any of them. Looking back, I don’t know how I would have done it differently, but I know that I need to learn to tone it down a bit. To relax. To enjoy stillness. My final trip after graduation- my trip to New Orleans- was supposed to be this time for me. My aunt (who recently moved out of the country) invited me to come spend six weeks with her family after I finished school. This was a help to her with the two young ones, but was also meant to be a time for me to decompress. I slept in. I snuggled with babies a lot. I ate lots of delicious vegan food (my aunt, her husband, and her kids are vegan). And it was good. It felt good to reconnect with a less frenetic bit of myself. 

While I was in New Orleans, I got calls to interview for the AmeriCorps positions. I had nearly forgotten about them, but after I was reminded of my own interest a few months earlier, it sparked excitement again. I applied specifically for positions in Alaska. On my ever-changing list of ideas of Things That I Want to Do in My Life, living in Alaska has always had a place. I had never been to Alaska before, and I knew that my desire to see Alaska would not be satiated by a vacation. In particular, I was drawn to living in a rural area, partially fueled by my intrigue regarding social work practice in rural settings, which has many different complications. Partially, however, I think that I liked the idea of being in a place where I HAD to stop spreading myself so thin. As I said to my former supervisor before I left Idaho, it is funny and perhaps a bit troubling that I have to move to a tiny town on an island in rural Alaska in order to make myself slow down.

Kisses for Gracie after a long run.

I accepted the position in Coffman Cove shortly after interviewing, and I am blogging more specifically about the work aspect of my life here at www.vistaincoffmancove.blogspot.com. On a personal level, so far, I would say that this year is already doing exactly what I needed it to do. Leaving Boise was more difficult than I anticipated, and the first few days on Prince of Wales Island were tough. I live in a town of less than 200 people. I have no internet, and there is no cell service within an hour of where I live. It takes over an hour to get to a grocery store. The first few days, I sat on the couch with my dogs after walking the half mile loop around town a few times and wondered what I had gotten myself into. I felt very alone, and I even talked myself through how the year might go if the discomfort of the loneliness and silence stayed with me through the whole year. It will be painful, I thought, but it will be a good learning experience. Fortunately, the fear and loneliness subsided after a few days as I began to adjust to not having any social connection outside of my immediate surroundings. If I am at the library, I can use the internet to stay in touch with friends, family, and the rest of the world. Outside of the library, though, I only have what is in front of me- my dogs, new friends, and myself.

I wake up in the mornings, do some yoga, and take a walk with my dogs. I have a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast pretty much every day, and head to the library (a five minute walk) with lots of tea. I usually come home for lunch and another walk with the dogs again. After the work day is over, I come home and take them out again for either a walk or a run. I read books, I journal, I cook. I thought that being vegan would be tougher up here, but I think I am actually eating more healthfully than I ever have. If you want to be vegan in rural Alaska, you’ve gotta start from scratch. No vegan doughnuts, rice cream, or soy chick’n nuggets up here! I eat a lot of beans, rice, and veggies. I have upped my knitting game from scarves to little dolls. If I am tired at 7:30pm, I go to bed, though I only did that once! It feels good to slow down.

Sunrise over Luck Point.

I was thinking earlier this week about my big drive through British Columbia as I was en route to Alaska. For the three days of that drive, I was on very limited cell service so that it wouldn’t be ridiculously expensive. It felt quite uncomfortable to me on that drive to know that I was out of range of contact for three days. The compulsive checking of my phone did me no good, and it was frustrating that I couldn’t immediately stream my podcasts. When I got to Coffman and realized that my phone would be stuck on “No Service”- not even “Searching”- I felt almost panicked. I didn’t even consider myself to be that dependent on my phone, compared to many people I know! Last week, I went for a drive to the southern part of the island with someone from town to a place where I WOULD have cell service. I realized after we got there that it hadn’t even occurred to me to bring my phone. It’s amazing what a month can do.  

I have still had plenty of good adventures and made some friends, even in the newfound quiet of my life. I went to a few cross country meets on other parts of the island, which are a big deal here because the communities are so small and it is a sport for all ages of children. I also had a big day of exploring around on the north part of the island, finding some big glacially carved rocks, petroglyphs, and boardwalk trails through karst. In the process, I learned what karst is! I have begun to learn a bit about mushroom hunting and am keeping that in mind as I poke around in the woods. I also have been continuing to run, and I took myself out for a 31 mile run on the roads around Coffman last weekend. Even that was a new experience, as I realized while I was out for the run that I have never done such a distance by myself, even in all my years of long-distance running. 

So, that is my update from Month One. I have continued to be busy in that I am not sitting at home wishing I had more things to do. But I have also had plenty of wonderful time to myself. I am finding my center again, though I didn’t realize until I got here that it needed to be found. I am looking forward to a year of continued growth, self-awareness, stillness, and adventure. 

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.

Respect the Race! Nine Things to Keep in Mind on Race Day

Races are fun. Even for those of us that are more "running tourists" than racers lookin' for a fast time, there is something about showing up at a planned race and participating with the community that just can't be beat. As I have become more involved with the local running scene and have gotten to know a lot of the race directors, I have come to develop a deep respect and appreciation for all of the hard work and time that goes into creating a successful event. (Heck, even an "unsuccessful" event likely has hours upon hours of work put into it.) I've been able to be a part of the Pickled Feet Ultra Running Team over the past couple years and do my part in lending a hand in a very small part of the work in a few events, and these intimate look into all the details has given me an even greater love for our RDs and all the work that they do. 

As someone who runs events, I also have that insider view of what happens around the race- both on and off the trail. The outstanding majority of it is good, but there is sometimes the bad and the ugly as well. Here are some thoughts to bear in mind as you are approaching your next event that can help ensure that we enjoy the trails and races appropriately so that our RDs will keep on lovin' us enough to put on these events. 

1. Do your research. Most races that you sign up for have ample information posted for you to read on their website. This will often tell you what course conditions have been like in the past, what the weather has been, and what items will be helpful for you to bring. You can usually find a map and an elevation chart somewhere- study them. Don't show up on race day with questions about the course that you could have found online. Race morning (and the night before the race, and the week before the race) is very busy for RDs. While it is not unfair for runners to be able to approach the RD and ask questions, do your part to know what is going on.

2. Follow the rules. Does the race ask that you don't wear headphones? Are trekking poles prohibited? Are you required to have a light at a certain point in the day? Are you required to check in and out of aid stations? Do you need to leave the dogs at home? Rules are not put in place for fun or to torment runners; they are for safety concerns. While it may be true that your dog is well behaved (and I am a dog lover, myself) and that you can aptly pay attention with headphones, try to avoid thinking that you are the exception to the rule.

3. Don't bandit. I am not sure if this needs to be said; I don't know that I have ever seen a bandit runner in an ultra. However, I know it can be a bigger deal in road running, so to prevent the trend from migrating to ultras, I think it should be addressed. Someone has taken the time to find a nice course, mark it, stick some food and water out there, have rescue on standby, pay for permits to use the land.. I could go on and on. Of course, it is public land usually and anyone can be there, but running a trail race without registering adds additional concerns outside of the normal road race bandit stuff. In addition to putting more bodies on the trail and running the issue of not signing the waiver for participating for race liability, there is a really great difference in the amount of resources that could be used. Runners are usually methodically recorded running in and out of aid stations so that search and rescue can be called in if someone is suspected to have gone missing. The chance of this being done unnecessarily increases dramatically if participants are unaccounted for- either by not checking in or not having a number. I (vaguely) understand in large profit-driven road races the desire to skimp on the cost, but you're not fighting the industry by not paying for ultras. Somebody put in the work; if you're there, be a registered runner.

4. Consider where your money goes. This is something that I don't think I truly understood until I became more involved with race planning. Several hundred dollars for permits, several hundred dollars for portapotties, enough food for x amount of runners at each aid station and at the finish line, tent rental, fuel, your race swag- it all adds up. Some folks are making careers of putting on races, but the vast majority are just trying to do a bit more than break even so there is money to put towards next year's event. 

5. Show the love to your volunteers! Give high-fives, tell them thanks, try not to be a grump, even if you're feelin' grumpy. If a volunteer shows up and doesn't enjoy their time, they are not likely to come back, and these events would not run without volunteers. Volunteers are often on the course before you and off the course after you, so even though you've got a long day of miles, they've got a long day of standing in the cold/sun/rain/wind/snow/sleet to make sure that you have a good day. If you have some time, volunteer at a race yourself so that you can give back and see what it feels like on the other side.

6. Don't forget to mention the good stuff. You'd better believe that an RD hears it every time a runner goes off course- whether it is the fault of the marking or an inattentive runner. I always make a point to mention it to the RD if I found the course to be particularly well-marked, if the aid stations had just the right snack, if the volunteers were great, if I loved the finisher swag, etc. If you are an unhappy runner, mention your concerns with care if you can. If you are a happy runner, make it known! It's nice for folks to hear what went well, especially if they just got an earful from someone who went a quarter mile off course. 

7. Be nice to the trail. This is another one that should go without saying. We are trail runners because we love to play in the dirt, see the forests, and experience nature. Don't wreck it by throwing your gel wrapper on the ground. I have noticed in several races over the last year that garbage is a common occurrence during a race. It's easy when you know there is a sweep to assume that things will be picked up if dropped, but take care in putting your trash in a zipped pocket or someplace where it is not likely to find its way onto the ground. If you see somebody else's garbage, take the extra second to pick it up. In addition to being kinder to the environment, this will help ensure that permits are issued so that the race can be held again. 

8. Take care of other runners. I was at a race last year where I met a man who dropped from his 100 because he had stopped to walk with another runner who was terribly sick and wound up not having enough time to make the cutoff. I was rather astounded by this gesture, but he said to me that "people are more important." For this man, who had run his share of 100s, the finish was not that important. Now, I'm not saying that you should ditch your race for someone else, but be ready to help if the need should arise. This may mean taking a second to ask someone if they are okay, it might mean offering a band-aid or an extra snack, or it might mean running ahead to the aid station to send someone back to help. 

9. Have fun. Have so much fun. It's cheesy, but really, just have fun. You worked hard, you paid the money, you spent your time getting everything just right. Enjoy it. Don't get uptight. Be gracious, be patient, be responsible, and be a badass. Remember that this is not just a race, this is a community of really, really amazing people. Take the time to get to know some of them. Some of the best friends, the best stories, and the best wisdom I have encountered have come from ultrarunners. Don't be so busy that you miss out on that part of it.