Last weekend I ran the half-marathon at the Run to Remember in Oklahoma City, which is a yearly memorial to the 168 people who died in the bombing in 1995. The race began and ended at the memorial to those who died, which is a constant reminder to the powerful meaning of the race.

I didn't really train for this race, figuring the low altitude and flat course would make it a piece of cake.  I didn't consider that the humidity would be a form of kryptonite for me, the firefighters…

I'm excited to officially announce that I'll be donning the purple and gold of the PikesPeakSports.us Triple Crown Runners race team this summer! This year's team of bloggers/runners includes the following founts of fabulousness: Shelley Hitz, Bill Beagle, Brianne Pierson, Jill Gaebler, Sean O'Day, and Gene Chavez.  I am incredibly pumped for this opportunity to write and run, and then run some more, as part of such a fun group!

 Keep following my blog for training updates, random…

If you are interested in training for a half- or full-marathon in the fall, I am starting a training group, USA Fit Colorado Springs.  It will be a group training deal open to all ability levels.  For more information, visit www.usafitcos.com or email me at info@usafitcos.com

We will have an information table at Jack Quinn's Running Club on May 6 and 13 and UVC Running Club May 12.

Now that I've gotten over my self-depricating break down after Sunday's run I've regained my sense of humor and perspective about running.  

For one, I have reminded myself that running is not a life or death sport, unless of course you're being chased by wildlife, in which case - don't think about it, just run!

Secondly, no matter how sucky a run feels in the moment, a few hours later my brain unfailingly snaps back into runner-nerd mode wherein it thinks in terms of mile…

As the weather warms and more of you join us for our weekly runs, we welcome our faithful runners as well as all of our newbies! It always makes us happy to see so many of you come out and share the trail with each other. So please, once again, join us this week and get your heart rate up, get some stress relief, sign up for a race, maybe try on some new shoes, or grab…

People talk about being "strong". I hear, "you are so strong" a lot. I know it is meant as both a compliment and a way of encouraging me to remain "strong" (whatever that means). It is not that I do not appreciate people believing in me. I need people in my life who have my back. We all do. However, it all makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I wonder, if I express fear or sadness, will I no longer be "strong"? I wonder how our society…

Last year I hiked several times on the Barr Trail, whether it was hiking back down from the infamous incline or actually hiking to the summit of Pike's Peak.  This year the Barr Trail has a much different meaning to me as I will be running in the Ascent.  Well, I'm not sure I will be running...it might be more of a power hike most of the time. ;)  

However, between now and race day on August 16th, I'll be spending a lot of time on this trail.  

But I don't mind.  At…

My goal for this summer is moderation.  After running five hilly workouts in the past week this morning's long run felt like running through quickly-drying concrete.  Nothing hurt, but my legs would simply not turn over with their usual quick response.  It was frustrating - I'm a self-conscious person to begin with, and when I totally drag on a workout I feel like some sort of fraud.  Beyond that, it's always frustrating when your body refuses to function in the manner your mind…

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! We want to give a HUGE thank you to Falcon Physical Therapy for hosting our fantastic road trip last week! Looked like the free hamburgers, hot dogs, and massages were a big hit! We had such a great turnout- almost 500 of you joined us! This week we will be back on the trail at Quinn's and starting this week the pub will have Odell Brewery's Loose Leaf American Session Ale on special for $2.50. We look…

Consider it a sunrise service at Garden of the Gods or the "Church of the Sunday Morning Long Run" to use Shalane Flanagan's term.  Whatever you call it, Sunday mornings, I'm convinced, hold a special meaning to runners.  There is no other day of the week that you can abandon everything for two solid hours on a trail.  For me and two other runners this morning that chunk of time was spent winding up and down and around the Garden.  We did 7.75 miles together and I put in another 2.26 at the…

As we do every week, my husband and I went for a ten mile pre chemo run on Monday. It had snowed over night and was cold to start, but the snow was truly beautiful. I snapped this picture of Pikes Peak from the car on the way to the trailhead.

I've been trying to get to the Incline every other week beginning shortly after I moved to the Springs and today was one of those days.  I've been told it's a great torture training tool and I can't argue.  It demands more of an athlete than any other 0.88 miles I've ever encountered - from lung power, to quad strength, to the mental toughness that keeps you going step after step after step.  Most other terrain sounds like a walk in the…

From Duane:

I'm twenty three days out today from the Fear the Deer half marathon, May 10. Quick history: in the inaugural running of the race three years ago I placed third. Then I was injured for a whole year--plantar, a whole other story--and then last year I went back and fell from first position to fifth in the last mile. Fast forward to this year. The race isn't getting any shorter, the competitors keep getting faster, and I keep getting older; nonetheless, I've really…

Coming back to running is tough. Whether an injury, a baby, a major life change, a “break” in the normal pattern of training is difficult to come back…

Hard work really does pay off, I thought to myself as I finished the workout with the Attack Pack at Garden of the Gods this morning.  Last Tuesday I was the last of the group to make it to the top of Ridge Rd.  Today, I was in the middle the pack.  It's not the number of people ahead or behind me as we finish a hill that matters, and I know that.  What really made me realize the progress I've made over the past few weeks of hill repeats, boring cross-training, and long runs in rain, wind,…

In a couple days as I write this it will be 3 weeks since my second hip surgery to repair a torn labrum.

I wrote about my recovery from the first hip earlier this year. Partway through that rehab my other hip started to shout out in a mild fury, and it turns out that one was injured, too. So the quickest way to get back to action is to fix it. So I went under…

Field Trip this week to Falcon Physical Therapy. Their Gleneagle location is at 12229 Voyager Parkway. Hamburgers, hot dogs, and vegetarian option along with chips, veggie trays, and Odells brew. Enjoy a free gait analysis by the FPT staff and post run…

This is the second week I've managed to drag myself out of bed at 5am to get to training runs at Garden of the Gods by 6am.  While it sounds awful as I hit the snooze button and nudge my dog to wake up (she doesn't; she's still curled up on my bed when I get home) as soon as I pull on my running tights I'm looking forward to putting in a few miles (and hills) before my body is really awake enough to grasp what's going on.  Perhaps best of all, by the time I'm driving home, Starbucks in hand,…