Tiny Thunder Running

Last year , my lovely friend Katie asked if I was interested in doing this race called Double Trouble . It is a trail race that offers a 15k loop and you can run it once or twice. You don't even have to decide which one you are doing until after you finish the first 15k loop. The only caveat is that you MUST finish your first loop in a very strict 2 hour time limit. If you don't make the cut-off, tough luck. The race takes place at French Creek State Park which is beautiful and you should visit if you have the chance! Between being newbies to the race and not being trained for 30k, last year we ran the 15k. For anyone not familiar, 15k is about 9.3 miles. We have a local lake which we use for training which is a similar distance, so we felt that a 15k should be more than do-able. This year we strapped on our big girl panties and decided to go for the 30k. Two weeks prior, we did a 15 mile training run to remind ourselves that we were capable of running this distance even t...

On Wednesday July 19th, I was signed up for the annual Harrisburg Mile for the second year in a row. Even after last year royally sucked and I thought I was going to vomit from coughing so hard when I was done, I signed up to torture myself another time. I knew the heat was going to be an issue once again and that it would actually be a little more miserable than last year. My heat didn't start until 7:15, but I met up with friends around 5:45 pm to partake in a little adult beverage consumption prior to heading to the event. (borrowed from Beer Runners facebook group!) I shared a yummy summer shandy- some kind of pear flavor- with Bekah, then a few of us started a slow, sloppy jog up to the finish area. We saw a few friends, then headed to the midway point to drop our bags and then finally to starting area.  Team #runwild  We found some more friends and stood to wait for our heat to be called. Unfortunately, the sky was getting REALLY black and we ...

Last weekend I was running trail with my friend Ana  Saturday morning and she tells me they are going on a hike that afternoon. I love following her awesome hiking/exploring adventures and often find myself oo-ing and ah-ing looking at her pictures. When our run was over and I checked my phone, my afternoon plans had cancelled and I found myself wondering what I could do to still enjoy the beautiful weather we were having (finally!). Ana and I enjoyed some coffee at a nearby coffee shop and before we left, she invited me to join her and her boyfriend on their afternoon adventure. I didn't want to feel like I was imposing on their time together and she assured me it was totally ok. We both planned to head home, clean up a little and they would pick me up. I had no idea what the rest of the day would hold for me. We would head to Glen Onoko Falls in Jim Thorpe, PA. I have been to Jim Thorpe before, but never knew where the trails were. This was the first amazing view we ...

When I first started running long distances, I was obsessed with asking people how they fueled for long runs. In the beginning of my running journey, I didn't realize there were people that ran more than a few miles at a time, let alone 26.2 and longer. My eyes were opened to the wide world of nutrition and hydration that make these acts of madness possible. My running experience comes full circle now that people have started to ask me the very questions I used to ask. I am here to tell you that while for some people, finding what works is a quick easy process, it can also be very difficult and frustrating at times! Of course, me being me, I belong to camp #2.  In the years since I started long distance running, I have discovered a few things that work flawlessly and way too many that just don't. I am here to share my journey to the perfect solution for me and if you dare to journey on with me, please understand that there will be TMI moments. My goal is to be honest in an ...

There's no denying that it's been way too long since I sat down to write. So many times I wanted to but was so wiped out from doing all the living life stuff and just couldn't. I stare at a computer for work 8 hours a day and sometimes I just can't stand the thought of sitting down for more than that no matter how much my brain is spinning with stuff to write about. So here I am with a little mini catch up on where the month of June took me. I went to two weddings, celebrated my youngest nephew's 2nd birthday, celebrated Father's day, worked my part time gig on two weekends, ran in a trail race, participated in a rockin' global running day, and co-planned a run for global sports bra squad day. Whew. That made me tired just thinking about it all again. Let's start with the first wedding. Enjoy a few little snippets of the evening. They got super lucky with the fantastic weather and lots of fun guests. Next up was Global running day which ...