Summer fun

I am honestly ashamed that I have been completely absent from this blog over the last couple months. I think it's because my personal race schedule has been pretty low-key (up until now). I'm certain my level of blogging correlates with the number of races on my calendar. No races, no blogs.

Just to bring you up to speed however, it hasn't been a boring summer at all. Please stand by while I bend the space-time continuum and take you back through some of the highlights from the previous months.

June

• Paced GG at San Diego 100. His first hundo ever and he did a stellar job finishing in 30 hours. Night miles are the toughest miles and we learned that GG gets very sleepy at night and needs stories to keep him awake. He also gets grumpy doing 1% incline switchbacks up a mountain in the 80 degree sun.
• Got to spend some quality time on the trails back home in South Dakota. This included running with old friends and setting a PR at the Fat Tire 10k.
• Got to pace JK at the Black Hills 100. His second hundo attempt and I'll be damned if anyone DNF's on my watch. I picked him up at mile 50, ran him through the night and helped him earn that buckle. It was a beautiful night to run and he reached pretty deep to come back from some GI issues.
• 170 miles for the month

The Black Hills of SD

July

Not much to see here except an epic family road trip across 7 states (yes, I ran in every one of them!). 150 miles for the month.

August

• Not a lot going on except the weekly San Tan Trail runners group (Tuesday and Thursday) and the Cadence Running trail run on Saturday. Turnout has been growing and new folks are continuing to show up each week. This makes me happy.
• Got a weekend pass to head up to Payson and hang with JD - race director for the Mogollon Monster 100. I do love that area and the trails are some of the most awesome (and brutal) in all of Arizona.
• A pretty good month considering the heat - 240 miles

Running through the ferns on the MOG rim

September

• Going to be working pretty hard this month to get ready for the Bear Chase 100k in CO on the 27th. I expect some pretty tough weeks and lots of miles.
• Also trying to keep the mileage up in preparation for Javelina Jundred in November.

Above all, I'm on day 171 of my running streak...which I'm pretty proud of. It's been tough through all the races, pacing and vacations. A mile here, a mile there. Through allergies, humidity, hangovers and just plain "I don't wanna"...I've managed to gitt'er done.

I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures of course but about the time it starts to get cool, I'll probably complain that it's too chilly :)

Happy running friends!