A lot has happened since my last blog update… I raced Smith Lake Xterra at Fort Bragg, NC and came in second overall by one minute and 1st in my age group.
Two weeks later, I raced the Southeast Championship and qualified for Worlds! There were only two other girls in my age group (which is a good turnout for the 20-24 female AG). The heat in AL was a killer! I spent two weeks visiting my family in Memphis prior to the race in an effort to acclimate to the heat but I was definitely struggling just like everyone else out there. Going out the day before the race to pre ride the course was definitely NOT a good idea, especially in the heat of the day. Even though I had an “easy” week leading up to the race, spending two hours in 95+ heat and humidity the day before the race will not leave you feeling fresh… lesson learned!!
After the SE race I was going to make the drive up to Richmond for the East Championship, but after my not so good run (a lot of walking and lack of running fitness from early season knee issues) I decided to skip Richmond, get some trail running in, and focus on the Mountain Championships a month later.
So that leaves us up to date with my racing efforts… I flew out West two weeks ago to Montana to hang out with MELRAD teammate Tim Holland, visit the Rockies and Pacific NW, and get some quality training in while escaping the heat of the Mid-South. Being done with school, I want to travel before finding a job and I knew I did not want to stay in Memphis another summer!
The first week, we spent in and around Bozeman, Montana. Tim’s sister got hitched, we got in some sweet altitude training (makes me a bit nervous for the Mountain Championships!) and I got to see the area. I’ve never been to Montana and I absolutely LOVED it! I tried convincing Tim to just leave me (and my Specialized) in Bozeman but he somehow talked me out of it.
The trails and riding in this part of Montana are incredible– one ride we did, we climbed for 2.5 hours and turned around and descended in less then 30 minutes! Besides holding my cherished packs of delicious Blackberry GU, I found a new use for the side pocket of my Nathan Hydration Pack… the drawstrings are perfect for holding flowers (even when you crash)!
SNOW!
On our way to WA, we stopped to watch the end of Ironman Coeur d’Alene.. so inspiring.!
This past week I’ve been hanging out in Olympia, WA, got in a couple of rides, did some rainy runs, and found a master swim program at the YMCA that I’m super excited about.
Wednesday night we headed out for a group mountain bike ride with the Friends of Capital Forest. This was an awesome and friendly group of almost twenty riders and included some dogs that incidentally kicked our butts, even going downhill! We rode for about 2.5 hours and then a bunch of people grilled out at the trailhead! Being new to the area, I figured this was a fun way to meet some cool locals with our same interests and to get introduced to some of the over 200 miles of single-track trails that are in the Capital Forest area.
Happy 4th of July!