​We love spending a few days in the mountains biking and hiking during the summer months. Mike and I got away for a few days to do the things that we love the most together. We stopped first at Breckenridge to bike from Breckenridge to Vail Pass and back. It was a great training ride for our upcoming Triple Bypass bike event in July. Then we drove up to the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek (one of our favorite places) to stay for the night. It was so nice to have chocolates waiting for us in our room when we arrived. We quickly showered and headed over to our massage appointments at the spa and then enjoyed some time afterwards in the hot tub section of the spa. It was the perfect way to soothe our legs after our 50-mile bike ride.
 
After an incredible ride the day before and an evening of pampering we enjoyed a wonderful hike in the early hours while it was still cool and peaceful on the trail. We took the Beaver Creek Trail up to the pond and then took the trail back down but meandered to the Alleys way trail. At one point we came to the Overlook junction and should’ve taken that down. But we didn’t so we ended up going straight down the mountain at the end because we needed to get back for breakfast. We love this place so much. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been here and every time we come we are renewed!

​I woke up early and got ready for my big race. I carefully placed my numbers on my arms and legs and braided my hair. Then Mike drove me to the race venue and dropped me off with my bike so I could get everything set up in the transition area. He then headed back to the hotel and grabbed the girls. I was fairly nervous for this race as I had never done this race format before and I just wanted to do well and qualify for the World Championships. Right before the race started I tried to stay cool and stood and stretched in the only shade I could find. The challenge for me today would be to not get overheated. I was amazed at how well the race went. I finished my first road duathlon at USA Multisport Nationals and placed 3rd in my age group and qualified for the World Championships in Spaid next year! It was so hot which posed some challenges I wasn’t expecting like cramping on the first run and calf cramps on the first 3 miles of the bike. Still, my first 10K run I averaged 7:24/mile for the 10K with my first 1.6 miles being a 6:24/mile avg pace. I just tried to hold something in the 7s after the cramping started. The 40K bike was my favorite part after I got over the initial shock of calf cramps that I had never before experienced. It was good I packed electrolyte tabs in my back pocket because those were a lifesaver. The second 5K run I averaged 7:09/mile with my first 1.5 miles being a 6:52/mile avg pace. I learned a lot from this race like what I am capable of with more targeted training with my running and biking. I think I may have found my new favorite race format! It was fun to be at Nationals with my family! It is not often that the kids get to watch me race. That was such a treat! I’m so grateful for Mike and the girls and my mom who cheered for me, my dad, brother and sister-in-law who all raced this week as well! We headed back to the hotel after the race and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool eating hamburgers and enjoying some relaxation time!

There was a lot of running in the garden this month. I ran the typical workouts in the garden such as the garden tempo loop (clockwise and counter clockwise), Strausenback hill repeats, track like workouts in the lower dirt “track” and on the paved inner garden walking loop, and intervals on the paved section next to the ranch. I love running in the garden and never get tired of the amazing views. The workouts are usually pretty challenging and yet, I still get excited when our running group moves our location to the garden for the spring. I was a still able to get some biking in up in Denver and was able to ride with Mike on our normal route towards Garden of the Gods. I also put in a few runs off the bike workouts to get used to running after biking in preparation for my race next month. The new Tri suit and the vapor flies were key in feeling like I could fly!  

​It was such a wonderful treat to have my own mother in town for Mother’s Day. We all enjoyed a wonderful pancake breakfast that Mike made for everyone. Then we spent time together before heading to church. It was definitely a girl heavy photo shoot today since both of the boys were not here on this mother’s day. I miss my boys, but I am so grateful to have my girls with me on this special day. Being a mother has been one of my greatest joys. Watching my own mother and learning from her has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. She is kind, caring, loving, patient, and so giving. I am always striving to be a little more like her. I hope that I can pass down some good things to my girls and one day maybe they will say the same things about me as a mother! 

​I loved running at Garden of the Gods with the Sunrise Striders running group this month. We switched over to this location at the beginning of the month. The beauty of this place never ceases to amaze me. I took advantage of warmer days and started biking more this month. I tried to couple my temple days with biking up in Denver since the weather is usually a bit warmer up there. I continued to lift weights when I could but really focused on biking fast and running fast in preparation for the duathlon in June. I did a few runs off the bike to get used to that tired leg feeling. I even purchased a Tri suit for the race that I trained in. I also purchased some Nike Vaporfly shoes and started doing some short tempo training runs in them to get used to how they felt. Probably one of the scariest moments this month was when I was running in the Garden, and I tripped while running downhill on the outer trails. I tore my tights and cut my knee pretty good. It took quite a bit of time for that to heal fully. The lesson to be learned was to put my phone away when heading down. Sometimes it’s so hard to not take photos on the warm up, but after that spill, I have to be more careful and stop running when taking photos. Silly me!

​March is the month with some of the most diverse weather in Colorado. We had it all…sun, snow, blizzards, extreme cold and then warm enough to wear shorts. I ran with the Striders all month doing tempo runs at Bear Creek Park, track workouts at the CC track, and intervals at Prospect Lake and on the Santa Fe trail. I managed to get in a long run with Caryn and Emma one weekend and a snowy fun run after the big blizzard. The weather was warm enough at times to go outside and get in a ride on the bike. I tried coupling my temple days with bike rides after up in Denver as the weather was a tad warmer up there. I rode the Bear Lake loop a few times as I started to prepare for Duathlon Nationals in June. Of course, I kept lifting this month as much as I could, so I didn’t lost progress after finishing Mike’s 45-day weight lifting program. It was a solid month of training.

​Mike and I headed out to Garden of the Gods to go snowshoeing. We attempted to snowshoe near Spruce Mountain Open Space the day before, but the wind was so strong that we had to bail on that adventure. The weather was perfect, and the sun was shining which made for a more pleasant experience. We took the outer trail loop from the Kissing Camels parking lot and did a short 2.5-mile loop. We had intended on going longer but the elevation change was pretty difficult on the narrow trail with snowshoes on. Eventually Mike took off his snowshoes since most of the trail was pretty packed, which was shocking as it snowed a ton during the previous blizzard. One thing is for sure, people love to get on the trail even during blizzardy weather. 

​Mike and I were able to sneak away for a quick weekend to San Diego so that he could attend a work conference. I took advantage of the downtime and the warmer weather and went on a long run around Mission Bay, relaxed by the pool and got a massage and a facial. It was so nice to trade in the dry elevation for the moist sea level air. We spent the last morning running to the ocean and walking along the beach. When we got back we got dressed up and had brunch overlooking the water. We stopped and took a tour of the USS Midway before heading back to the airport. Sometimes all it takes to get through the horrible winters of Colorado is to get away for just a day or two and be somewhere else a little bit warmer. This trip did that for me and it did that for Mike!

​I love running with the Striders in the winter months because it gives me a reason to keep running when it is cold outside. We did several standard winter runs this month including hill repeats and tempo runs at Bear Creek Park, intervals on the CC track, tempo runs and mile repeats on the Santa Fe trail, and some fartlek’s around Prospect Lake. I even managed to sneak in a longer run on the Santa Fe trail from Woodmen with the Kokopelli run club while Emma did her long run with her clubmates. While I ran mostly outside with maybe one run on the treadmill, I managed to keep up with my 45-day weight lifting program and biking on the Peloton. Mike and I managed to sneak way up to Denver to bike during a warmer day on the Bear Creek Trail loop, which is a 30-mile loop.  

​We started the New Year with a 24-mile ride down the Cottonwood and Santa Fe trail. It was a relatively warmer day for the winter and so we put on our layers and headed out. The good weather didn’t stick around for very long. Most of my runs this month were on snow covered trails or really cold mornings. We did hill repeats at Bear Creek Park, hill repeats and tempo runs along the Santa Fe trail, a hill endurance run up Rampart Range Road, and a tempo loop at Bear Creek Park. I was extremely proud of myself for staying on task with the 45-day weight program that Mike and I started last month. I was consistent and started to see real results by the end of this month.

​It was no surprise that we slept in again and then headed to the fitness center one more time to lift weights. After getting ready and eating breakfast at the Peacock Alley again, we headed to the Air and Space Museum by Uber as it was snowing. We loved seeing some of the new updates to this museum and understood why we needed reserved tickets. Over half of the museum was still under renovation. After we were done exploring we walked over to the National Art Gallery and saw some of our favorite paintings and then ate lunch at the Garden Café. The food was surprisingly good! As we walked back to the hotel it was still snowing a little bit. We finished packing our bags and relaxed for a little bit longer since my flight was delayed due to the snow. It ended up being a long trek back home as my flight got delayed even more at the airport. Although that was not ideal, I wouldn’t have traded this weekend for anything.

​After sleeping in, which we never do, we got on our workout clothes and headed to the hotel fitness center to lift our weights for the day. The gym was pretty nice but there were several people on the cardio machines, so it felt pretty stuffy inside. After finishing our workout and getting ready for the day we ate breakfast at the Peacock Alley inside the grand atrium area. I had the most amazing mini waffles and Mike had a stack of pancakes. It was delicious and filled our bellies for a full day of roaming around the mall area of DC. We headed first to the Natural History museum and loved seeing all of the new upgrades since the last time we there almost a decade ago. We just kept saying how much we wished Madeline could be there because we knew how much she would love this museum. Then we headed toward the Air and Space museum but realized upon arriving that you needed reservation tickets. Since there were no more for this day we got tickets for Monday. We made our way towards the Capitol building and needed to burn some time before our reservations at the Capital and Library of Congress, so we ate lunch at a cute little French inspired café not too far from the Library of Congress. It must have been a popular place since it was packed inside. After eating lunch, we walked over to the outside of the Supreme Court building which I had never seen and snapped a few photos before our reservation to go inside the Library of Congress. I was so impressed by the inside of the Library of Congress. It was beautiful and I enjoyed Thomas Jefferson’s library as well as the many amazing quotes in the main area of the building. Next we headed to the Capital building for our tour. We have done this tour once before with the older kids but it was nice to do it again without little children in tow. Our favorite statue, by far, was one of the Colorado statues. It truly is one of the coolest looking statues at the Capital. As we made our way back to our hotel after a lot of walking, we felt a little like we were in a different country with people from the middle east lining the sidewalks going to and coming from the protest. I must admit it felt strange to have the feeling of being a minority in your own country. Luckily the protest was dying down and people were going home. I’m glad we avoided that throughout the day. We decided to dine in for dinner and canceled our other plans to go out to dinner. We ate at the Peacock Alley again and got to witness firsthand the attitudes of those that deem themselves high and mighty. It was quite comical to watch different groups of people as they dressed in fancy clothes and drank their liquor. It made me grateful that Mike and I are very much down to earth kind of people.

​While Mike was doing his reserve duty in Washington DC, I decided to head out there for the long weekend for a quick little couples’ getaway. When I arrived at the airport, he had food from one of my favorite sandwich shops just in case I was hungry. He also looked so handsome in his suit which he wore just for fun. We headed from the Reagan airport to the Waldorf Astoria which is where we would be staying for the next few days. When we made it up to the room, I was floored by how nice the room was and how sweet it was that Mike put heart chocolates all over the bed. He even had a nice little chocolate cake with ice-cream sitting in a bucket of ice. There is one thing that is for sure, Mike is such a romantic. We relaxed for a bit before heading out to dinner at the Hamilton. We walked by the White House on our way to the restaurant. In preparation for the Palestinian protest the next day there were already people set up with their own protest signs. Without saying too much about that I will just say that’s what you get when you live in America where everyone thinks they can say whatever they want. Luckily people were pleasant so that was good. After getting to the restaurant, we were seated early which was nice. There weren’t too many people there at the beginning which was nice. I had crab cakes, and they were amazing. After dinner we decided to head straight back to the hotel instead of wandering around more. It was getting colder, and it started to sprinkle a bit. We got back to our hotel just in time before the weather started to turn. As we walked through the grand atrium in one of the most impressive lobbies ever, I felt so lucky that we were staying in such a fancy hotel.

​Most of this month found us with relatively decent weather which made running in the cold not so bad. I ran plenty of times with the Striders and was even able to go outside for a ride at Garden of the Gods. One of the biggest changes this month was working in more cross fit workouts into my routine. For most of the month Mike worked on developing a lifting program for us to do in the new year. We actually decided to start our 45-day program on Christmas day. It was fun to start something new and to be able to do it together.  

After quite a big year of racing and endurance events, I took 9 days off of any real running or biking. Once I was ready I slowly started adding back in Peloton rides and running with the Striders during the weekdays. I was amazed at how strong I was during my first two running days back with the group. The first workout was fartleks on the Shooks Run loop and I was able to hold a pretty good pace. The next workout was the Bear Creek tempo loop where I think I actually hit one of my best times, but I will never for sure know because my watch started the segment before I even started. After training mostly uphill on trails, it was good to know that my fast, flat pace wasn't all that bad. The following week we hit 4 min tempos on the MVP mile loop which turned out to be harder than expected. It was a relief to have a fun run the next meeting up Section 16 and the Palmer trail. I'm not sure Section 16 is ever that much fun since it is a grueling 3/4 mile up some pretty narly steep sections. However, the group was pretty big that morning and I enjoyed keeping up with people that I deem pretty fast. The first 3 weeks of this month were pretty awesome but then I got sick and was forced to take 11 days off all exercise. My first run back was the last day of this month, and it was only 3 miles, but it felt good to be back on my feet again doing what I love.

This month started out with some last preparatory runs before R2R2R followed by a taper week, our big adventure in the Grand Canyon (see post HERE), and finally some recovery time. One of our last big runs was running some downhill trail miles on Rampart Range Road. Dionne and I had her brother drive us 6 miles up so we could run down to simulate the first part of R2R2R. I was also able to do some hill repeats with the Striders at Red Rocks. By the time I hit my taper week I was so relieved! After we got back from the Grand Canyon we took some time off and then got back out there slowly by riding bikes with Madeline. We took her to ride both on the Santa Fe gravel trail and the paved section up by Costco. She had more fun on the paved section and enjoyed playing at the park at MVP. After 10 days of resting and riding bikes or the peloton, I decided to jump back into the Striders run. I did some intervals at the CC track and felt surprisingly good. 

​Running Rim to Rim to Rim at the Grand Canyon was so incredible. It was my first ultra, and Mike's first time running anything over a half marathon. This was one of the most exciting adventures ever! There were so many good moments. The atmosphere, views, and people were awesome. Dionne, who is our good friend, was our ultimate guide as this was her 7th time running this. She knew the tricks to ultra-running, and she gladly shared them with us. Those things were truly lifesaving. Here is a breakdown of our adventure:

Total Distance: 43.68 miles
Total Running Time: 6:14:52
Total Hiking Time: 7:23:07 
Total Ascent: 11,405
Total Descent: 11,429
 
South Kaibab to Phantom Ranch:
This 7-mile section was done mostly in the dark as we started at 4:20am. We ran the entire downhill section, and it was way more technical than even Barr trail that I trained on for the Ascent. I was so happy to follow Dionne on this section.
Phantom Ranch to Manzanita:
This 9-mile section was amazing. We ran 90% of the canyon floor as it was a flowy trail with a gradual ascent of almost 2000ft. We stopped plenty of times for photos and once to apply moleskin to my toe.
Manzanita to North Rim:
Manzanita was a zoo. There were so many people who were coming from the North Rim and South Rim since this was the last weekend before they turn off the water at the North Rim. This 5-mile ascent was relatively easy, and we hiked the entire thing except for a few flatter sections that we ran. We even got to see the solar eclipse. The only tough part was the last 2 miles. When we got to the top we were floored to see Mike wander up there only 15 min after us. We thought he was going to turn around at Manzanita! He’s a beast and even did a few pushups at the top to prove it!
North Rim to Cottonwood:
We thoroughly enjoyed running down this section and spent some time admiring the amazing rock formations and cliff views. We blew past Manzanita and filled our water at Cottonwood. Then it was time for the hot box.
Cottonwood to Phantom Ranch:
I had been warned about the hot box (Canyon floor in the afternoon) on the way back. Most people do not realize but the canyon floor is 15-20 degrees hotter than it is at the rim. We were extremely blessed with magical wind and shadier sections when we got to the canyon walls. After a few miles I knew we weren’t going to make it in time for the lemonade before it closed at 4pm. Dionne encouraged me to keep going and since I had legs left I booked it for 5 miles down the canyon floor. I flew and it was fun. I got to the lemonade stand at 3:58pm and then saw it was open until 8pm. They had changed the time. Oof. Either way, we got our lemonade. We waited around for an hour but didn’t see Mike, so we made our way out of the canyon.
Phantom Ranch to South Kaibab:
First 2.5 miles were spectacular with great views. We even saw Mike making his way up and he was fast. He is such a good hiker. As the sun was setting we put our headlamps back on. We eventually waited for Mike at Ooh Ahh point and made the most horrible 4 miles out of the canyon in the dark together. Those were truly grueling miles that tested everything I had. I didn’t think I was going to make it. It truly was one of the hardest things I’ve done in terms of endurance. I’m so glad we all finished this amazing adventure together!