I am pretty awesome at: running long distances. I love the process, the challenge, the friends I make, and continuing to improve myself.
Future goals in running: I want to run road marathons into my 80’s if possible. I started in my 20’s and my goal is to run at least 1 road marathon per year. I want to continue trail running as long as I can. I love both!
RR100 (Grace eats ultras for breakfast!)
Random fun fact: My husband loves to surprise me at races. He proposed to me at the end of the North Face 50-mile race in November 2015. We got married in August 2017 on the top of Hope Pass which is the highest point of the Leadville 100 mile trail run. We have both run the race and love it!
Why I’m a runner: I don’t really think of myself as a runner. I have spent the vast majority of my life hating running. I’m sure there was a time as a child when I enjoyed running while playing tag or chasing butterflies, or for simply joy and freedom. Sometime thereafter I began to hate running. I’m not sure how or why it happened, but I have a pretty good guess that it’s linked to punishment. By the time I started playing softball competitively, running was hell! I would dread our warm-up laps before practice or the sprints we would have to do after. It’s no coincidence that my favorite position was a catcher, which pretty much required the least amount of movement. Running is every coach’s favorite form of punishment. Show up late to practice, you run laps. The team makes too many errors, you run sprints. The majority of my running life was forced upon me by angry authority figures tying to prove a point. To this day I have a memory that induces queasiness. I had a college teammate who failed to show-up to our mandatory study hall that was required of scholarship athletes. As a result, we all were punished for two straight hours of running sprints with burpees along the football field, stadiums and hills. We ran until a few of us, myself included, threw up. If I didn’t link punishment to running before that day, I sure did after.
After I graduated college, I had a level of freedom that I hadn’t had since the 5th grade. No more getting up at 5 in the morning for weight training and conditioning! It was a dream come true, but also a slow and steady decline of my physical health and mental well-being. I started graduate school and found myself over-worked, over-stressed and over-whelmed. My nutrition started to suffer and I rarely engaged in any physical activity. There were a few blips here and there, particularly in the months leading up to my wedding (the only event that will make any woman get up at 5 in the morning for boot camp classes!). But, eventually I got sucked back into the stress of graduate school and I never kept up with it. Now many years, more than I would like to admit, and two beautiful children later, I find myself overweight and looking back at my “glory days” with nostalgia. While I never considered myself a runner, I was an athlete.
I had always had this weird bucket list desire to run a half marathon, probably because it seemed an impossible task for me. Being a catcher for so many years took a significant toll on my hips and back, and those areas always seemed to flare-up after a few weeks of trying to run. What I didn’t know was I was going about it all wrong. I mean, you just put and shoes and run until you want to die, right? My memory fails on how exactly I got started on this new path, but I believe it was because I made the mistake/best decision of telling a certain, wonderful but persistent new friend of my bucket list item. With her encouragement and my desire to start getting back into shape, I decided to start exercising again. It has been a bumpy road, and a bit of a learning process. From making sure I’m not pushing too hard too fast, which is particularly difficult for me as a “balls to the wall” ex-athlete, to making sure I am doing proper warm-ups and cool-downs to avoid injuries.
So, why am I a runner? I am honestly figuring that out every day since I started this new course. Some days I’m a runner because I want to be healthy and have a better chance of living a longer life for my family. Other days I’m a runner because its my only me time, damnit. Some days I run when I need to clear my head because stress and anxiety are wearing me down. Other days I’m a runner to get out into nature and put myself in the path of beauty. Sometimes I’m a runner because I want to encourage others who, like me, don’t look like “runners” to get out there and move their body, to celebrate what their body can do and not focus on what it can’t do…yet. Most of all, I’m realizing running is my salvation now, a far cry from the years of associated punishment. I now run on my terms. I’ve returned anew to the joy of it, the freedom it provides. I’m young again, chasing butterflies.
I’m pretty awesome at: Man, this question is even harder then the first one! It hasn’t been very long since I started running, so I don’t feel like I am awesome at much yet, except for maybe towing the line of getting over-use injuries for trying to do too much too fast! I guess I would say I am pretty awesome at being determined and following through on my goals. I am not a fast runner, not by any stretch of the imagination. I probably never will be, and I am okay with that. My race, my pace! I am not quite ready to tackle that half-marathon yet, so I wouldn’t say I am awesome at longer distances. I am awesome at showing up, at putting in the work.
Future goals: One of my goals is to eventually complete a half-marathon, as previously mentioned. But my main goal is to just keep going. To keep learning to find the joy in what my body can do, without judgment for what it used to be able to do but maybe can’t right now. To continue to find the peace and freedom that running has provided.
Random fun fact: I am extremely clumsy. So much so, that my husband is nervous whenever we go on trails together. I have been known to trip over my own feet, or simply nothing at all! Since I started running, I have already bit the dust once on a relatively easy road, scrapping my knees, hand and elbow. But, as one of my favorite running tanks says, “bruises are like trophies you get to wear!”
Why I Am A Runner: I was in cross country in high school for two years, but didn’t “love” running at the time. I signed up for it because my mom told me I had to! I got away from running and didn’t run a step for a long time after high school. I got back into it for the same reason anyone does. When I was 29 I was in not so good shape. I was not exercising and had all the wrong eating habits. On labor day weekend of that year I threw my back out and was in horrible pain for weeks after. It was that wake up call that got me exercising again, which eventually led me back to running. After much prodding and cajoling from a friend, I did my first marathon at age 38. Shortly after that the same friend sent me an article on a 50-mile race in Nevada and jokingly said “I found you your next challenge!”. I was dumbfounded to find out that people actually ran distances longer than 26 miles. I started reading more and more about ultras and was hooked on the idea. I started training and ran my first ultra, the Mt. Hood PCT 50-mile, in 2009. I then went on to volunteer at the Cascade Crest 100-mile race later that summer, and I haven’t looked back since!
I’m Pretty Awesome At: Race directing. Although I love running, I’ve never put 100% of my effort into it. I had some early successes and did ok. Like most runners, when I started it was all about “me”. I finished on the podium a couple times, and in the top third of the pack at several more races, but I never found the urge to work harder. I enjoyed the training process, and I enjoyed races, but I didn’t fall in love with competing. I finally figured out I was happy just running at my own pace and having fun along the way. Race directing fell into my lap in 2015 and I immediately knew I’d found something that I could put 100% effort into. Just like running, the harder you work at something the more success you get. But with race directing the success belonged not only to me, but everyone that raced, and to everyone that volunteered. As a runner I only made myself happy, but as a director I made a whole group of people happy, and along the way I found more joy. I also discovered that the finish line of a race was even sweeter when you were the one that made that finish line possible. Every runner that finishes gives me the same rush as finishing a race myself. But the up-side is that I get to experience that finish line feeling over and over. [Jason directs the Badger Mountain Challenge, Sole Survivor (a backyard ultra), Run With The Goats, and Jump Off Joe – and if that isn’t enough, he also co-directs other races and hosts aid stations. I got tired just typing this.]
Future Goals: Longevity. One nice upside to not pushing yourself to the max is that you don’t burn out. By taking a chunk of time off from training every year, and by not pushing to 100%, I’ve been able to run ultras for over 12 years now. I’ve had plenty of injuries and had to take time off, but each time it happened I came back smarter and better prepared than I was before the injury. I have finished one 100-miler every year since 2011 for a total of 9 buckles (and hopefully a tenth buckle will be earned this year). I like to call it my “stupid streak”. I’d like to be able to continue this streak as long as possible.
Random Fun Fact: I got into Western States in 2015 on ONE ticket! It was the first time I’d tried to get in and I couldn’t believe it when I found out my name had been drawn. In 2015 entrants with only one ticket had less than a 5% chance of getting picked (since then the odds of getting in on one ticket have obviously gotten WAY steeper). Finishing that race on the track in Auburn was one of the highlights of my running career. I’ve tried to go back every year since then but not had the same luck yet. Next year will be my 6th attempt to get back to Squaw Valley. Wish me luck!
I experienced something new [to me] and fascinating at some inclusion conferences I attended last year. At the beginning of the event, someone would recognize the Native American tribal group(s) that had lived, and continue to live, in that area. As a runner, there is something about being so close to the earth, to the literal and profound connection of feet to soil, that fosters a feeling of connectivity to all who have traveled the land before you. However, this awareness feels more distant to me in my day-to-day life, and sometimes (especially at the current moment) life is so complicated, it’s hard to remember to pause and look up from your personal lived experience to see that of others.
Approaching the world through a lens of inclusion doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating. It can begin with something as simple as a recognition of the presence of others; in this example, a recognition of the rich and varied Native American tribal presence that permeates every corner of this country, a presence that lives in our nation’s history but also in our nation’s present, in the lived experience of Native individuals who live in your town and shop at the same supermarket and run the same trails.
I recognize and honor the Native peoples who lived and ran, and who continue to live and run, on the lands of my childhood and adulthood:
Willamette Falls, Oregon City, OR image: TripAdvisor
I grew up a stone’s throw from Willamette Falls in Oregon City, OR. Although modified dramatically by the locks and mills built to power local industry, the falls still retain some natural beauty. They were a significant fishing (primarily salmon and eels) and trading location for the “original Chinookan…tribes in this area, which included bands known as Tumwaters, Clowwewallas, William’s Band, John’s Band, and others”. https://ndnhistoryresearch.com/2014/12/15/clackamas-people-of-willamette-falls/ ; Dr. David G. Lewis.
Smith Rock, OR image: Kori Barnum
My favorite place to run on the planet is in Smith Rock State Park. Nowhere do I feel more joy, peace, and connection to a higher power than at this place, which looks like it was dropped in central Oregon by the hand of god – there’s nothing else like it anywhere around. According to The Oregon Encyclopedia, “Smith Rock is the traditional homeland of several Native American groups, including the Tenino (Warm Springs) and Northern Paiute people. The Northern Paiutes referred to the environs of Smith Rock as the Animal Village, a reference to the abundance and variety of plants and animals in the area”. https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/smith_rock_state_park/#.Xn_cW4hKg2w
If you are interested in learning more about contemporary Native American history, I would highly recommend “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present” by David Treuer (2019). Although the author dedicates a significant portion of the text to the pre-1890 historical record, I found this background to be a necessary foundation to better appreciating the more recent history; to be honest, much of this information was new to me even though it comprises the majority of our continent’s populated history.
For Treuer, this book “is an attempt to confront the ways we Indians ourselves understand our place in the world. Our self-regard – the vision and versions we hold of who we are and what we mean – matters greatly. We carry within us stories of our origins, and ideas about what our families, clans, and communities mean” (11). Acknowledging others is the first step towards an inclusive perspective. The second step is learning more about others – history, lived experience, cultural perspectives. The complexity of our nation’s tribal communities coupled with the hesitancy of asking questions as an outsider can make research intimidating; this text is a good place to start. It is compelling and well-written, and I struggled to put it down.
running the curves in Leonidio, Greece 2020 image: Chris Wright
Why I’m A Runner: I’m a runner mostly because it just feels so good to run. Even when it’s not epic, it still feels good to get outside, to move, to stay fit, to explore new places, to have some time by myself or with friends, to be out in the world, and it’s just so simple. So many of the other sports I do like climbing, skiing or riding bikes all have so much equipment and faffing involved, but running – even if I complicate it with heart rate monitors and watches and backpacks and whatever, is just so simple in the end. You put on shoes, you run around, maybe for a while, then you come home. It’s like the simplest form of playing outside, and it still feels that way to me whenever I’m up high on some ridgeline or exploring some quiet trail or road or checking out some idea on a map where I saw something shiny. Maybe one day when my knees hurt too much or I stop getting the little butterflies when I’m out in some drop-dead gorgeous place wishing someone else was there to see the light hit just right on the hills or the water or whatever I’ll quit, but fingers crossed that’s not coming anytime soon.
I’m Pretty Awesome At: I’m pretty awesome at still finding the simplest, most strangely enduring satisfaction in running, and that makes it feel like a gift. Even after living the internal debate on whether or not to get out the door for over twenty years now, I’m still glad almost every single time to just be out, to be moving and to feel free being a human running around. I’m also okay at staying out for a while and going uphill rather slowly, but as an alpinist/mountain guide that’s pretty much what I do anyway.
Future Goals:To keep at it and to stay away from injuries. I don’t really have any big running goals, but there are a few things here and there that I’ve always wanted to. One day I should run an actual race I guess, but I kinda like just going out and running by myself a lot too. Maybe if it melts out early I’ll finally get around to the thing I’ve wanted to do here in Bend, which is stash a bike at Tumalo Falls, and then run from my house all the way up Mrazek then down North Fork to grab the bike and ride home. I think that’d be about 25 miles and 3,500’ of climbing, which isn’t that serious, but I’ve just never quite gotten around to it. Things like that get me excited.
Random Fun Fact: It’s not that fun really, but I haven’t run in almost a month because I came home from a climbing trip jet lagged and missed a step coming down my stairs in the middle of the night and thought I broke my ankle or something. I didn’t (I had x-rays), but man that felt like it was going to be the dumbest season-ender imaginable until I thought I broke my thumb trying to learn to surf a week or two later. That wasn’t broken either but man was it swollen and bruised up and it still hurts actually. New sports are hard and dangerous, apparently. Even up against walking down the stairs running is doing pretty well I’d say.
Why I’m A Runner: I am a runner because I love to compete with myself. I love the subconscious moment when my mind and body shift into auto pilot, the wind is on my face, and I am at peace. Some days are better than others but I love knowing that I will run another day. Running is one of the few things that I do for me, it’s not contingent on anyone else, and I’m more than okay in a crowd or totally solo. I’m not a “fast” runner so for me it’s about being in the moment and celebrating every accomplishment. My model is “strong and steady will finish the race”; it’s never let me down and keeps me coming back for more.
I’m Pretty Awesome At: I’m pretty awesome at downhill trail running. I have been known to walk 6-miles uphill on trail so that I can run back down…I can’t certify it but I’m pretty sure I can fly.
Future Goals: I am currently in “Comeback Mode.” Last year I went through a major surgery, which brought all of my physical activities to a halt. I have been working to rebuild my strength with weight training, dance classes, yoga and of course, interval training runs. My goal for 2020 is to complete a ½ marathon (13.1 is my sweet spot) and pick up a number of fun runs in between. I am officially back on trail, because I can’t stay away, but there are more miles to come in my future.
Random Fun Facts: I am the Original KP- KimPossible. A few years back I spent my 40th Birthday completing the KimPossible 20 for 40. I set out to compete in 20 running events over the course of my 40th birthday calendar year. I invited friend and family to join me on course as often as they could and I competed in runs all over the US. I successfully ended the year having exceeded my goal of 20 events with 7 half marathons under my belt. I’ve already started dreaming up a plan for my 50th Birthday, which is only a couple years away – let’s see what KimPossible can do next…yikes!
“You become strong by doing the things you need to be strong for. This is the way genuine learning takes place.” -Audre Lorde
I have recently been fortunate to begin volunteering on Mt. Bachelor with Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS). OAS has been providing instruction for over 20 years to adaptive athletes of all ages in skiing, snowboarding, climbing, biking, hiking, paddle sports, and more.
If you’ve ever skied or rode Bachelor, you’ve seen the size of this operation – athletes and their instructors and volunteers in orange vests taking full advantage of the beautiful terrain every day of the week. OAS helps bring the empowerment and joy of outdoor activities to every athlete. Yesterday I got to help a young man snowboard for the first time, and it was beyond awesome!
If you live in central Oregon, check out OAS. They have a lot of fun things going on all the time, and a lot of ad hoc volunteer opportunities that don’t even involve skiing, so you can easily donate a couple hours of your time to help this fabulous organization.
Why I’m A Runner: I’m not sure I consider myself a runner but I’m certainly trying. I like the feel of being part of the outdoors. Walking/running makes me feel connected. I see, hear and feel new things and feel much more alive. It makes me feel like I’m in charge.
I’m Pretty Awesome At: I’m pretty awesome at hills. I get charged up. I feel like if I can conquer a hill I can pretty much conquer anything.
Future Goals: My current and future goal is to complete 2,020 miles in 2020. I’m well on my way!
Random Fun Fact: I read about 4 different books at the same time. One or two that teach me something new. One that is inspiring. And one that is just for fun.
