Happy Birthday To Me!

My birthday was great this year! I woke up to a year subscription of Strava sitting at my spot on the counter, so I could mess around with it during the day. When Mark got off work, we went to dinner with Sawyer and Amanda to Texas Roadhouse. After that I was sent on my annual scavenger hunt for my gifts. Fun fun! Then I hurried off to the Women's Run at the New Sweden Corn Maze. My awesome running friends were there with a gift and had Amanda's land cruiser all decorated for me. They are the best! We had lemon meringue pie for dessert when I got back from my run. 😋 It's my favorite! My birthday usually lasts all week, and this year was no different. I went to lunch with my ward/neighborhood ladies later in the week. I also had my birthday get together with my fab five later that week as well. I'm spoiled every year for my birthday, and I'm very grateful for it!

Amanda hand painted this cute fall sign for me. I love it!

My scavenger hunt loot!

The best pie ever!

Sawyer got me a 3 month subscription to audible! 👏

Bailey and Mason got me a national park scratch off map. I'm so excited about it! I already have two parks planned in AZ for February.

Women's Run celebration!

Love all these ladies!

Women's Run gift.

Gifts from my fab five!

Spitfire Ultra

The Spitfire Rebel Addition

#livingourbadashlives

Mark and I thought we'd be running the Spitfire Ultra in April, but because of COVID, it had to be postponed until the beginning of October. We were originally signed up for the 25K (me), and the 12K (Mark), since it was an early season race. When the date switched, we were in heavy training for the Dead Horse 50 miler (me), and 50K (Mark), so we took the plunge and increased our distances for Spitfire. I ran the 50K, and Mark did the 25K. We both had great races! 

The 50K started in the dark, which I was thrilled about. I made it all the way up and around the first volcano and was headed for the second one before it was light enough to turn my headlamp off. Perfect! I would rather conquer as many of the hills as I can in the dark, and when it's still cool outside. The course changed and added the south butte this year. It was a really cool area to run! I was making great time, and covered the first half of the course pretty fast. I felt so good! I paid for it on the second half though. This is the first race where I've had trouble with nutrition. I think I just got in a zone, and forgot to eat on the first half. By then, I couldn't really stomach anything. I made it off the north butte the second time around, and I could really feel my energy being zapped from me. That's right about the time Amanda caught up to me, and it was perfect timing. We ran the rest of the race together, and it helped the miles go by so much faster.  Fran was working the aid station on the south butte, and she cut up some oranges for us to take with us in a biggie. That's exactly what my body wanted. It's about the only thing I could even consider eating, so it really saved my butt! I placed 11th overall. Amanda and I were the 4th and 5th females, and I won my age group. It ended up being just shy of 33 miles, so that officially makes it the farthest I've ever run.

Time: 7 hours, 37 minutes

Amanda-Tricia-Steph-Jenn
Getting ready to start.

This picture was taken from the top of the south butte, looking back at the north butte, where I had just come from.

Sunrise!

Round one, and still feeling great!

Amanda
We were on our way to climb the south butte for the final time. This section of trail along the water was my favorite.

Swans in the water!

Round two-not feeling as great, but still going strong!

At the south butte aid station. This is looking across the caldera.

When I was two hours into my race, Mark was starting the 25K. This was totally his kind of race; pretty technical, lots of good downhill, and hard climbing (which he isn't a big fan of, but he's getting really good at). He finished 7 minutes faster than his goal time. I feel like this is the best he's run, especially for such a hard course. He finished 10th overall, 9th male, with a time of 3 hours 31 minutes.

Nick-Mark-Mat
Getting ready to start!

Climbing the rocks on the north butte.

We all wore our IFTR 'Women Run' shirts.

Yay for another great race in the books.

This race is awesome because it's local, and it's fun to see all of our fellow IFTR people out on the trail, or working the race. It was a little mental pick me up every time I saw a friend on the course. Mark and I passed each other twice!

Tackling two volcanos, twice, is no joke. This course was a brutal one, and perfect training for our upcoming adventures. I'm sure we'll be back in April to tackle it again.

Indian Creek Camping

 We had a free weekend, and we knew the fall colors were amazing in the Palisades area, so we decided to go camping up Indian Creek. It's one of my favorite places to camp. We knew we weren't gonna be doing any really long hikes or runs, so we decided to bring the pups with us. They were beyond excited, and loved every minute of it!

We got there and set up camp on Thursday afternoon. We had enough time to hike up North Indian Creek with the dogs. We went to the second water crossing, past the Idaho/Wyoming border. The trail was amazing with fall.

Happy puppers.

On the border!

So pretty!

The hike was about 4.5 miles, and they were pooped out! They go on a 2 mile walk every day, but much more than that is a lot for them. They are getting old.

Friday morning we got up and hiked with the dogs up Spring Run. I love this trail in the summer, but now I love it in the fall too!

I love when the trees have multiple colors.

Cute, happy Reeses!

These girls were troopers. They went 5 miles with a lot of uphill on this hike.

😍😍😍

They basically passed out when we got back.

While the dogs were taking a nap in the trailer, Mark and I went on a run up South Indian Creek. The beginning of the trail was nothing spectacular, but about a mile and a half in, the trail was on fire with fall. It was awesome!

After our run, Mark and the dogs relaxed in the hammock and I scrapbooked in the trailer. We played games, and got lots of reading done. The perfect kind of day.

All three of them just living their best lives.

Scrapbooking!

On Saturday we got up and hiked Big Elk Creek. 

These old girls covered 14 miles in 3 days, and they were wiped out! They both had a blast, but they were sore and tired. They basically slept from the time we got home on Saturday night, all through Sunday.

While the dogs were having a much deserved nap, Mark and I ran up Driveway Canyon. We heard something big in the trees beside us, so that was a little unnerving. There was a group on hunters camped in the meadow, and they said a bear came into the meadow the night before.

It was a prefect fall camping trip, and was probably our last one for the season.