Kitchie Coo

Another Run for the Luck of It is here and gone.  Just like the 1st place winner that whizzed across the finish line in a blur, the day of the event snuck up on us and was gone in a flash.  A flash of over 700 PEOPLE!!

For anyone that might not know, my superstar friend Jen and I co-direct a St. Patrick's Day foot race.  The race is in its 3rd year and the first two years the event was just a 5k fun run.  This year we also added a (lucky) 7 mile distance which attracted 200 more people than last year. What a success!

Race Director Extraordinaire's!

In any event of this size, there are going to be a few hitches.  But the hitches were minor and the day was glorious!  The sun was shining, the participants were dressed in their finest St. Patrick's Day garb, the bag pipers were kilted and played jovially throughout the morning.  Yup.


We were blessed with a plethora of rock star volunteers.  Over 60 people dedicated their morning, their hearts and their voices to our event.  We never ever in a million years would have been able to pull this off without them.  Simply stated: they made this day what it was!

And our husbands....oh, did they work hard.  They spray chalked, duct taped and marked the heck out of the courses.  In the dark.  For hours.  There is a 0% chance that Jen and I would have had time to do this, so without them there wouldn't have been a race at all.  Or maybe it just would have been a mob of crazy green chaos running blindly through Missoula.  Either way, they paved an easy way for the runners to follow.


When the runners returned to the staging area they gorged themselves on corn-beef stew, soda bread and beer.  Because, seriously, who doesn't want to drink a beer at 10:00 am?  We went through 3 kegs, so I guess that answers that question.

Anna even made an appearance toting my mother & father-in-law along with her, and crossed the finish line in record time.  Go Anna!  My in-laws hung with Anna for two days and made it possible for Mace and I to run around like crazy people and get everything done.


If you want to see more awesome photos of the day check out Run Wild Missoula's Facebook page.

Oh what a day!  Oh what a day.  A huge shout-out to Jen, to our awesome hubbies, my in-laws and everyone that made this day what it was.  Thank you everyone for your cheers, your love and your patience while I dropped off the planet for a couple of weeks.  It takes a village...yes it does.

And now, I am collapsing for a day or two to get my head on straight.

Hello friends...I am tired.  Please excuse my absence this past week.  I am in the midst of planning Run for the Luck of It, a 5k and 7-mile foot race I organize for the St. Patrick's Day holiday.  As always, it is all-consuming.  Fun, but all-consuming.

Which is why it comes at a perfect time that Sofie over at The German Foodie has chosen to feature me in one of her posts this week.  Each week Sofie chooses a blogger she follows and admires and does a write-up of them.  I am honored to take this spot this week!!  Thank you Sofie for your kind words.

Sofie is a German living in the U.S. and she shares some amazing German recipes on her food blog.  And, lots of bread recipes to boot.  If you know me, you know one of the quickest ways to my heart is through a good hunk of bread.  Sofie is witty, intelligent, an excellent photographer and an amazing baker and cook.  Please check her blog out at The German Foodie and see for yourself what a great space she has created.

So, I promise you, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I am just wearing my "Race Director" hat this week rather than my "Blogger" hat.  I will be back...it will just be after I collapse next Saturday afternoon in a heap of exhaustion and race director glory (or at least I hope!).  Until then...Top 'O the mornin', afternoon and evenin' to ya!

Missoula 1/2 Marathon-July 2011

This was one of my prouder moments in life, and without question my proudest running moment.  In July of this year I ran a 1/2 marathon, 10 months after giving birth to my daughter.  It wasn't the best 1/2 marathon I had ever run, but it also wasn't my worst.  And also, it didn't matter.  I was just so happy to be running again, to be getting back in shape, to be setting a good example about fitness to my daughter.  I bought a pair of shoes the day before the race (a risky move that turned out okay).  These shoes have had exactly 13.1 miles on them...until today.  Today I ran.

I haven't run, not because I don't want to, but for lack of time/motivation/(insert excuse here).  Mace left for Guard duty 5 days after the 1/2 marathon and I have been struggling to find time to fit any form of exercise into my days since.  Anna hates the jogging stroller, she screams and cries and hates every minute.  This does not make for a relaxing jog.  I just can't justify spending money on a sitter so I can run.  So, I don't.  And I haven't. 

I am tired.  I am tired of having to be "on" all the time.  I'm tired from never getting a break.  I am tired of being so damn responsible all the time!  Also, I am terrible at asking for help.  I have an arsenal of amazing friends that would do anything for me if I asked.  But I don't ask.  Whether its out of pride or stubborness or just being afraid of imposing, I am not sure.  But, I don't ask.  So, I don't run.

I had a meltdown this week after some especially hard, stressful and lonely days.  I was relaying my woes to my awesome friend Jen, who happens to think that running can cure anything from a minor cold to major depression, and she offered to watch Anna today so I could run.  A gift for me, without even asking.

I got up today and I was nervous.  I was thinking of any excuse in the book to back out, hoping maybe the weather would turn nasty at any moment.  Didn't happen.  I hadn't run a step in over three months and was sure I was going to bomb this.  Jen said "Kill it!" as I was heading out the door and I gave her back a sarcastic look that said "yeah right."

You know what?  I am amazed at how easily I re-found my stride.  My muscles remembered!  They remembered and they were happy.  I ran and I breathed and I took 35 precious minutes for me.  ME!  ME! MEEEEEEEEEE!!!  I took 35 minutes and prayed, I dreamed, I envisioned, I hoped, I stared at our mountains, breathed in the crisp air and breathed out "thank you" over and over.  And finally, I remembered why running always always always makes me feel whole again.  I remembered that every time I take running out of my life I also take balance out of my life.  I need to run.  Its a big part of who I am, and without it I am lost.

I don't know how much I'll be able to get out and run between now and when Mace comes home in December.  But what I do know is that I am going to try harder to make it happen.  I am going to find time, I am going to try putting Anna in the jogging stroller again and maybe, just maybe, I'll even try asking for some help.