Let’s keep this simple.;)
You’ve read the posts on this blog, right? Cool.. Then you know I’m a nut job.
Well- Daniel bought me some medicine for that today….
Boxes
Many people in the world today are all about boxes. Pretty little boxes create a perfectly comfortable boxed in life.
Living in boxes, eating from boxes, looking at boxes, communicating through boxes, traveling in boxes, with thoughts that fit in boxes– Continue reading “Boxes”
The Canyon Awaits
click here to read Amber’s post, then come back for my thoughts:)
Continue reading “The Canyon Awaits”
Salomon’s Accidental Sexcapades, oh.. and Lunch!l
Haha, y’all I’m sorry but this is just too good not to blog about or to give a title like that! So.. Sorry, Mom. But it’s funny. Especially since it directly affects me, so I think I’m gonna go ahead and share more…
Continue reading “Salomon’s Accidental Sexcapades, oh.. and Lunch!l”
The Places Between
This past weekend, we took the kids to stone mountain and hiked up at sunset. We came back down after it was completely dark, and the kids were a little scared. Continue reading “The Places Between”
Stone Mountain, Travolta & De Niro, a Race, and Slight Return of Sanity
February in Georgia can be nothing short of strange. One day it’s 27 degrees. And when you are running, and you try to spit-it doesn’t go anywhere except down your chin, because your mouth is too frozen to function right. That usually makes for an embarrassing experience….
Oh yeah.. Tying all of this together
Well.. It wasn’t that type of dreadful day. Instead it was almost 80 degrees out, and while I was running I was spitting very happily! But this really has nothing to do with spit. And you’re just waiting for me to get to the DeNiro and Travolta part…
So I’m running along, very painfully might I add, and I see a blonde girl that kinda looks like me coming from the opposite direction. There’s not many blonde ultra chicks that look like me running stone mountain, and I knew it could only be one girl: ERIN GOLDEN! Erin runs ultras and just recently started training at Stone Mountain. So we stop and chat for a minute and Erin says, “Oh yeah, by the way, if you’re headed back that way, get ready to see some cops. Apparently John Travolta And Robert DeNiro are here today filming a movie.”
Whaaaat?
At my mountain???
Are you fur real?!
I decided to go see for myself, and sure enough when I continued onto the trail, there sat several cops and security guards and two massive trailers, and all sorts of shenanigans. I’m assuming John and Robert were just there to watch me run or something because they must have heard about how insanely dedicated I am.., but it’s more likely that they were just making a ridiculously awesome trail running movie. Because the Cherokee trail is awesome… And they must know that….
Of course I had to share my newfound interestingness with others, which turned into quite the twitter conversation:
…..and while I didn’t end up pranking John Travolta with a Danny Zuko voice, I did end up feeling a twinge of happiness that something entirely RANDOM happened at my stomping grounds today. Hah! How bout that. Don’t you just LOVE random?
So…moving on…
The next cool thing that happened is I ran up my mountain of stone and sat up top and did what I always do- call Amber. Amber is my partner in trail crime that I am headed to the Canyon with this spring. So we talk life, tri-polarisms, trails, adventuring.. What have you..
Don’t my feet just look so content???
Well after that good stuff of sitting and looking at the sky and earth below.. Thinking about many deep things like sunshine and butterflies, and why people bring trekking poles up a 1 mile climb…..(lame)…..I decided to run back down the mountain! Turns out someone spotted me.
“ERIN!? You’re still here?” I last saw Erin about 2 hours prior on the trails. She smiled, and said “yeah I saw you coming down” then she just took off running.
Oh you wanna race? It’s on…
Once I realized Erin wanted to let our competitive forces come out to play, I dug deep into my tired muscles (and slick un rock friendly racing shoes) to school this girl down the rock. I love Erin: but I wasn’t gonna let her beat me. Even with that head start!
We were flying.
I mean.. Really y’all. People were like jumping out of the way and hiding their children and stuff..probably intimidated by our insane displays of athleticism..
So I trailed Erin the entire way down, and saved just enough pack in my punch to slide past her before we reached the bottom.;) sorry Erin. You know I love you, but I seriously HATE losing. “And that’s all I gotta say about that.”
Erin and I said our goodbyes and laughed about our competitive tendencies, and I decided to do one more 5 mi trail loop before I headed home… I swear it had nothing to do with movie stars lurking nearby..
And about a mile into that loop, my quads completely failed me, my heart rate sky rocketed, and I felt like I had asthma.. While walking.
Crap: I forgot I took the past 4 days off because I’m trying to get past a bout of over training syndrome! Maybe running 16 miles and racing mountains wasn’t the “you can’t workout you have to rest” type of…workout?
Ugh. I trudged my sorry butt slowly for 4 more miles around the trail, quietly-and sometimes loudly-cursing myself for being such a cotton-headed-ninny-muggins.
And then I smiled. 🙂
The sun was shining, the clouds were all white and puffy, I had a very fun and different kinda day, and it was just what I needed. Who cares that I can’t walk tonight and I may not even make it halfway through next week’s hundred??? Shoot, not me.
Today was fun! 😉
Waiting For What’s Next
I don’t know exactly where I’m going, but I know exactly what I’m searching for. Every single night I lay in my bed and think about it, every day I’m distracted with the thoughts: I want to push my body to the ultimate brink. I want to feel it again- the moment that I realize I’m truly human-when Im close to death.. Scary, I know. But it’s also in that very moment that I have the ability to fight- to push back- to scream that I want more, and let God decide the rest.
I want to run farther than I ever have in my life… Not in circles.. Not on some flat easy terrain. I want to run something hard, gripping, wild, dangerous, and deadly. The toughest mountains, the loneliest path, the deadliest cliff. I want that moment again. That moment is when I feel the absolute closest to God I feel I can get on Earth. It’s a strange female craving I guess.. definitely isn’t a freakin chocolate chip cookie, but it’s me. It’s right there alongside my need to live life outside of the box- to venture outside of the American Comfort realm and to a place that suits my chemical makeup more- the real deal Earth. I feel like I’m on the edge of my tomorrow.. Just waiting for the clock to turn. I wonder what’s going to happen next?? All I can do is run and pray and think and wait. But I know whatever happens next in my life won’t be an accident. Everything is perfectly mapped out from the get-go, so I’ll just hang on tight for the ride… And in the meantime.. Keep waiting.
PS: going semi AWOL again. I’ll have my phone, and will still check my email.:)
Comfortable? (brain chatter)
Couldn’t sleep- up at 3am. Not abnormal. My brain wouldn’t shut off, so I decided to write out everything I was stuck thinking about! Kind of like a journal, I guess (one that thousands of people read every month??) Doesn’t matter to me. It won’t make sense to ANYBODY, it doesn’t flow or necessarily fit together, but I like to document my brain when it runs rampant in this direction.
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Climbing Class & Canyon Crave
Loved my first climbing/belaying class. It came pretty naturally, and I climbed to the top of my first wall quickly and easily.
I’m excited to go to the women’s class again next week! The cross training is great for both ultra running & for my training with Daniel. I get to work on my quad strength and my upper body pull strength for fun. So I’m happy I picked this as my “spinach” outlet! Of course- as with any sport I try- I’m sure I will dive in full force to be the best climber I can be. I’m geeky like that. (Plus I wanna get out and climb the real stuff!)
Today I got to get a quick chat in with Amber after I ran to the top of stone mountain.
My legs were a little tired from the 10miles prior, so I just sat up top and daydreamed for a minute. Got thinking about my adventure list- and then my phone rang! Perfect timing! We discussed booking flights, car, and camping for our R2R2R trip (yeah no hotel for these chicks). I told amber maybe we should do some climbing while we were in AZ.. and she was down, of course! I love how we think- always daydreaming about adventures, OR having them;) I love Amber!
We’re like excited little girls…adventurous outdoorsy hardcore ultrarunning type little girls??
Anyway.. I’m really pumped for all of the cool stuff taking place this year.
First up- zip lining adventure taking place this month.
Life is so worth living.
ASHRUNS100s 