2017 Recap

So... I promise that I actually started this post in December, and then, I don't know, this thing called life happened, so here I am posting my 2017 recap in February of 2018... Could be worse I guess?!

I had a good chunk of it done and I like to recap on the year for my own records, so am finishing it up despite not much point several months late. The TL,DR version would be that I finished my first 100 miler! And the longer version is below... (and still not actually "that" long because, well... February??).

JANUARY

I started off the year with a pretty awesome trip to Houston to run the Chevron Houston Marathon. The race itself went kind of horrible (thanks to 75 degree temperatures with 95 percent humidity), but I had a blast meeting a bunch of my "online internet stranger friends" in real life!

FEBRUARY

My winter months are typically fairly slower paced and February definitely reflected that. The one major highlight of the month was running a good chunk of the Moab Red Hot 55K course as the course "sweeper".

MARCH

In March I ran Canyonlands Half Marathon for another year, as well as started training for June's Revel Rockies Marathon.

APRIL

I ran a new race in April - the Amasa 15.5 mile trail race in Moab. It was a beautiful course and I had a blast exploring a new trail in Moab!

MAY

While I usually end up with a jam packed May, this year was actually much more laid back (with June being my "crazy" month). My only race was the Black Canyon Ascent. Then for memorial day weekend, Scott and I drove down to the Great Sand Dunes for a long weekend.

JUNE

As mentioned previously, June was a CRAZY month. It started off with the Skirt Sports Ambassador retreat and 13er (Half Marathon). This is always such a fun weekend meeting and connecting with all of the other ambassadors and I loved it. The very next week was my goal marathon for the year - Revel Rockies Marathon. I trained pretty hard for this with a goal to hopefully PR. I ended up falling short by a mere 40 seconds, running a 3:42. I was a little bummed to miss the PR, but still happy to have my second fastest marathon time and my first sub-3:45 in 2 years.

Yet another weekend later I ended up spending the weekend in Frisco with some friends before running Mt. Evan's Ascent. This race was beautiful and so challenging - it definitely kicked my a$$, so I'll be back another year to redeem myself.  The next weekend, Scott and I headed down to the Cimarrons for a great weekend of camping and enjoying our new Kayak and Paddle Board.

JULY

July was another busy month starting with a Vegas girls trip the first weekend. A week later, Scott and I road tripped to Oklahoma to spend the week at Lake Tenkiller with my family. Another week later, I had the awesome opportunity to participate in the Skirt Sports Fall Photoshoot. Then, at the end of the month I ran the Grand Mesa 55K - my first Ultra of the year. It is always tough mentally running my first ultra in awhile and this was no different. I struggled getting through the last 10 miles, but eventually finished and remembered what I love about ultras!

AUGUST

I spent August enjoying as much mountain time as I could get in before summer ended. I spent one weekend in Estes Park enjoying some great trails and pacing the 2:20 group at the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon. This was my first pacing gig and I LOVED it, I definitely hope to do more pacing in the future!

My other major August adventure was running Four Pass Loop with some friends and IT. WAS. AMAZING. Seriously, this trail is one of the absolute best in Colorado and one of my major highlights of the year. If you did not see my blog post on it, definitely check it out.

SEPTEMBER

September, September, September... what a crazy, awesome, incredible month. To start, Scott and I took a trip to Zion National Park for Labor Day weekend. The crowds in the main portion of the park were a little nuts (almost unbearably so), but, I scored us a lottery pass to hike The Subway. This is a hike that is restricted to people with permits (which you attain via a lottery), so the crowds are low, and it was seriously an epic hike. The next day we braved the crowds in the park and hiked to Observation Point. I loved this trip, but hope to go back during the off season to do Angels Landing and The Narrows.

The next big trip of September was meeting my mom and sister in Crested Butte to spend the weekend and run the Crested Butte 55K by Mad Moose Events. This race was SO beautiful, definitely one of my favorites for the year.

And last, but most definitely not least in the month of September was MY FIRST 100 MILER!!! In late August, about a month out from said 100 miler, I decided I wanted to attempt one again this year. I spent a lot of time trying to decide which one before finally just taking the plunge and picking The Flagstaff to Grand Canyon Stagecoach Line 100. The second I hit "register" I had a big "oh $hit" moment.... what did I just do? I had only ran ONE ultra (at the time of registration) this year and it was only a 55K....and now I was about to embark on a 100 miler attempt!?! Thankfully it all went as planned and I FINISHED!!! Was it the hardest thing I've ever done (by a longshot)? Heck yes... but I did it! This was by far my #1 highlight of the year.

OCTOBER

The rest of the year after the 100 miler really slowed down in terms of running. I decided to give myself a running break and only run what and if I wanted to. Highlights from October include taking a day trip to Ouray to enjoy the fall color and Scott and I headed over to Denver for a weekend where we ran the Global Hope Apple Cider 10K and attended a friends wedding!

NOVEMBER

November started off by running Rim Rock Half Marathon. I had originally signed up for the full, but just wasn't feeling ready for that kind of distance after the 100 yet, so decided to drop to the half, which was perfect. I also volunteered at the Dead Horse Ultra in Moab.

DECEMBER

I spent the first weekend in December in Moab running the Winter Sun 10K for the 5th year in a row. While we were there we also enjoyed some great hiking - I absolutely loved checking out Slickrock Trail!

So that was 2017! I usually keep track of all of my mileage for the year, but after the 100 I just fell off the wagon in terms of logging all of that... and I am 100% okay with that. It gets a little mundane logging every single mile and I know the break was good for me! I'm now feeling refreshed and ready to get back into racing!

My 2018 race schedule is still being decided (especially the latter half), but here's what it's looking like so far:

Antelope Canyon 55K, Page AZ - 2/24/18

Canyonlands Half Marathon, Moab UT - 3/17/18

Revel Mt. Charleston Marathon, Las Vegas NV - 4/28/18

Skirt Sports 13er, Louisville CO - 6/3/18

San Juan Solstice 50, Lake City CO - 6/23/18 (Waitlisted)

Grand Mesa Ultra, CO - 7/28/18

Crested Butte 105K, Crested Butte CO - 9/15/18

Late Fall and Winter TBD....

I am also excited to be representing the following companies as a 2018 ambassador for:

Skirt Sports

(Save 15% with code 36Aver)

Mad Moose Events

(Check out their running events in Utah and Colorado!)

Balega

(The best running socks on the market!)

Moab Winter Sun 10K Weekend

The Moab Winter Sun 10K has become my December tradition - it's a fun speedy course and a great way to end my racing year. 2017 marked Year #5 for me and I was excited to also make a weekend out of it this year, as opposed to just driving over for the day. December is also a fun time to be in Moab because the fall crowds have disappeared but the weather is still usually fairly nice.

I drove over on Saturday morning and we arrived into Moab with a nice amount of time to get our race packets and get ready for the 10am start. This was my first race since joining the Moose Herd - which is the Mad Moose Events Ambassador Program, so I had to change into my new Mad Moose Jersey that I received that morning (Winter Sun 10K is now put on by Mad Moose Events).

As we got off the bus that took us to the start line, I was surprised at how warm it was! I did a quick warm-up, said hello to a few people and then it was time to line up at the start. In all honesty I wasn't sure how this was going to go this year. Ever since my 100, I've been spending my time without any structured training and some very low mileage weeks. This race is downhill and pretty speedy, so I was hoping I could still pull off a sub-50 minute 10K, but I knew it was going to be some work!

Mile 1 started off okay, but I could tell from the get-go that I had been taking time off from running, and specifically any form of speedwork. The first mile is mostly flat and I ran it in 7:53 but it wasn't easy... going sub-50:00 was going to be tougher than I thought. Mile two is where the downhill starts and I was able to pick up a little bit of speed, running this one in 7:47.

Right after Mile 2 is the biggest hill of the course - about 1/4 mile long and is always the hardest part of the race - but I always tell myself I just have to get over the hill and then it's smooth sailing downhill until the end. With the hill slowing me down, Mile 3 was an 8:29, but as expected, the nice gentle downhill began after that and I was able to pick up miles 4 and 5 running 7:46 and 7:45.

Right around Mile 5 you turn into a neighborhood and then onto a bike path until exiting near the Moab High School, where you run a short section across the grass (this is always though when you're tying to keep your speed up), and then onto the high school track for the last 400 meters. I always tell myself to pick it up on this section but my legs don't ever seem to want to listen... I finally finished in 48:38 - my second slowest time on this course, but still pretty good for me, especially given my lack of training lately!

RACE STATS:
Race: Moab Winter Sun 10K
Distance: 10K (6.2 Miles)
Date: December 2, 2017
Bib Number: 4
Weather: Warm - 50's and sunny
Official Time:48:38
Average Pace: 7:50
Overall Rank: 51 of 287
Gender Rank: 20 of 194
Age Division Rank (F25-29): 1 of 10 (this was a HUGE surprise!)
Splits: 7:53, 7:47, 8:29, 7:46, 7:45, 7:53

Age Group Award!

All of the Grand Junction runners!

Photo by Rick Ahern

After the race, we went and had lunch at Zak's (one of my favorite restaurants in Moab), and then went for a hike on Slickrock Trail. This trail is a well known mountain bike trail that I had never been on, and it was awesome! Right from the get-go you are on this vast expanse of slick rock with great views of the La Sal Mountains. We hiked about 3 miles just enjoying our incredible surroundings before heading back to our hotel.

The next day we enjoyed an incredible sunrise, went for a short run, and then made our way to Fisher Towers for a great final hike before heading back. This was my third time hiking Fisher Towers and it remains one of my absolute favorite hikes:

Incredible Moab Sunrise from our hotel!

So overall, this was a great weekend in Moab! I just love living so close to this incredible place - it makes for some AMAZING weekends. I'm also super excited to be a Mad Moose Ambassador this year because that means I'll be heading there more than usual, starting with their newest race, Arches Ultra in January (I'll actually be volunteering at this one!), and then following it up with some road running for my 5th time running Canyonlands Half Marathon in March. If you want to enjoy some epic running in Moab, definitely check out their events!

Skirt Sports Fall 2017 Photo Shoot

This past summer I had the AWESOME privilege to participate in the Skirt Sports Fall 2017 photo shoot! If you have ever read my blog, I'm sure you've heard me rave about Skirt Sports. Not only do they have great clothing (I fell in love with them when I first started wearing their Gym Girl Ultra skirts back in 2014 - in addition to their clothes being super comfortable, they are also practical - what sold me was that they have leg pockets to carry your phone, so I no longer had to worry about how to bring it with me on a run), but what's even better, is that this company is founded on the idea to encourage ALL women of all sizes, ages, and abilities, in all walks of life, to lead a healthy and active life. They work hard to spread this message with their #REALwomenmove campaign! This is just so cool to me, because I know when I first started running, it was pretty intimidating! I truly feel that Skirt Sports does a great job providing a genuine, real, inclusive environment for anyone, whether they are just starting to get into fitness, have been an athlete their whole lives, or are even elite level (after all, the founder, Nicole DeBoom is a former Pro-Triathlete). Everyone I have met at Skirt Sports and within their ambassador program is so nice, it creates a real sense of community.

So, when I had an opportunity to participate in their photoshoot (because they always use "real", every day people for their models), I just knew I had to do it! The shoot was two days long with Day 1 in an urban setting in downtown Denver, and Day 2 in a mountain setting up in the mountains above Boulder. As is every event I go to with Skirt Sports, it was a ton of fun and I met some great new people in the process! Below are some of the fantastic photo's by photographer Kim Cook with some descriptions of their clothing.

And as always, if you want to try out Skirt Sports - you can use my ambassador discount code for 20% off: FALL20WIN (this code changes every so often, so feel free to reach out if it doesn't work so I can hook you up!). And please note that while I do receive some incentives for being an ambassador, I do not make any commission from "selling" their clothes. I truly just believe in the product and want to share my love for it! And if you want to be a part of this awesome community, the application for 2018 Ambassador's is currently open until December 20th - APPLY HERE.

DAY 1 Photo Shoot: Downtown Denver

As mentioned before, Day 1 was shot in downtown Denver. We mostly wore more of their warmer weather clothing - the skirts (Gym Girl Ultra, Lioness, Jette, Hover, Happy Girl), Capris (Pocketopia Capri, Lotta Breeze Capri, Hover Capri), and Tank Tops (Wondergirl Tank, Take Five Tank). We did mix in a little of their new Wonder Wool Collection with the Wonder Wool Tee and Wonder Wool Long Sleeve.

Can you find my butt? ;)

I still kind of suck at jumping shots, but that doesn't make them any less fun!

Selfie time!

Their Happy Girl skirt (pictured) is their most popular selling skirt!

DAY 2 Photo Shoot: Gold Hill, Colorado

Day two was shot in the mountains above Boulder - mostly in a small town I had never been to before - Gold Hill. We had a great time shooting more of the "winter" line of clothing with their tights and pants (triple pocket tight, wonder wool tight), long sleeves (tough chick top, wonder wool long sleeve), the press play collection (sanita's pant, dakota capri, and magnolia skirt) and their new, fabulous lounge collection (hangout hoodie and hangout pants).

This is one of my favorite shots!

Just frolicking in the woods in my ever so soft Hangout Hoodie!

The Sanita's Pant are my favorite hiking pants!

This is their "Gotta Go" Collection...see why it's called that HERE.

That backdrop though...?!?

Overall, I had a blast at this... and again, if you have any questions about Skirt Sports - be it their clothing, their ambassador program, or the awesome 13er/10K/5K women's only race they put on every June, please reach out!

-Kate