The Paradigm

I was lucky enough to get a pair of Paradigms from the fine folks at the Altra Running booth at Summer OR.  I gave them a spin or two and I think they're pretty nice.  I still like my Lone Peaks best, but a girl can never complain about an extra pair of shoes!

Some other goodies I get to check out from some awesome companies!  

A new UltrAspire belt!

Darn Tough Vermont socks.  Super nice! Plus, it doesn't hurt that they're pink!

I do not have a problem.  And, no, these aren't all my running shoes, just the Altras!

 

Life has been wild the past few weeks.  School started, I got a part time job at Liberty Mountain and I've had some exciting new developments with TrailandUltraRunning.com come up.  (There will be more on that it the near future.)  Along with all these changes, I've almost completely quit keeping track of mileage.  I've been running as much as I can, whenever I can.  I had a couple of 35 mile weeks, then this week has been really quiet on the running front, but I did lift and go to yoga!  

I'm really looking forward to running Katherine's first marathon with her next weekend, Mid Mountain Marathon!  We are going to have a blast!

Bells, Round 2

After our first run torturous slog up Bells Canyon, Kurtis and I were much more prepared. We started earlier, brought more food, more water and most importantly we knew what we had ahead of us.  This time we flew up the canyon chatting and enjoying the sights.  After the second mile, the trail turns to some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen in my life.  Seriously.  The pictures just barely do it justice.  We were at the upper lake before we knew it!  Not only did we cover more mileage this time, we did it in less time!  It was a fantastic day on the mountain!

The moon was full at the start of our journey.

 This kid.  I wonder where he gets it?

 Climbing up this boulder field makes you feel pretty powerful.  Plus, generally speaking, I'm pretty goofy like that.

 Being able to see across to all the other canyons is really really amazing!

 Upper Bells Canyon Reservoir. 

 You can see the dam that was built I don't know how long ago.

 We got to the upper reservoir just in time to watch the sunrise over the mountains.  It was breathtaking!

 I recently bought this Lifestraw, so we thought we'd take it for a test drive.  The water was delicious and nobody got the trots, so I'm calling it a good investment!

 Yes, this man is my son.  Yes, I birthed him.  No, I wasn't a teenager when he was born.  But, thanks.

 I'm going to have to get this boy some gaiters!

9.06 miles

5:15

34:46 average pace (and yes, I'm still calling it a run because we ran every possible runnable section, that just happened to be very little)

MY BARF IS BACK!

My BARF is back!  Katherine was gone all summer and I was so sad and lonely!  We didn't wait long for an adventure in the mountains!  White Pine Lake was calling our names.  So of course, we went!  Man oh man, I missed this girl!!!

 I got some new endurance fuel to try.  The jury is still out.  I'll have to try again on a longer run!

 A marmot!

 So happy this girl is back!!!

 Hey, we got high!

And because we are just that goofy!

We went about 9 miles in just under three hours.  It was nothing if it wasn't fun!