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2018 Races…TBD!


Monday, May 31, 2010

A Serious Case of the...Rides??

IT'S A FREAKIN' CONTEST!!!!


I know this is pretty un-running related...since it's a bike...but, since it involves my very most favorite earth-friendly company, Atayne, I felt compelled to share this here.  Yes, it reduces my chances of winning the contest by a good deal, but I think most of you would be pretty pumped about this as well, so enter while you can!

Here are the deets: Atayne is launching their newest addition to the apparel lineup, the Grind Cycling Jersey, and in celebration of said new jersey they have teamed up with fellow Mainers, Dornbox, to give away a handcrafted, custom fit, performance road bike.  This ain't no cheapo, big-box bike...it's worth something like $4500, yowza!  (I've always been a fan of the big-box bike since I'm cheap with things like wheels, but hey, free is as cheap as it gets, right?!)

Basically, all you have to do is fill out some quick info and upload a picture of you in an Atayne shirt (and I know most of you already love the Atayne as much as I do!) and BAM, you're entered in the contest.  You just need to do it before July 4th, that's when the contest ends.

Here's the link to enter:

http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/38327

Good luck!!

Crash, out.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Trash Talk


Before I launch into (almost) All Things Leadville, I wanted to share something I'm pretty stoked about, even a month later.  I got to play cover girl for a month back in April!  Chicago Athlete contacted me in March to do a piece on a running group I started here in the city, The Chicago Trash Runners.

At first, I thought they meant they wanted a little blurb on the last page, under the foot doctor advertisements.  Nothing big, ya know.  But then they asked me to schedule an appointment with their photographer.  Ummmmm, what?  Why?  That's when the editor, John, came clean with me, "We're actually going to make you the cover story." 

Well that's a first.

So there ya go!  Here's a link to the story if you should feel so inclined to skim it:


Catchy title, huh?

Next up, Leadville's going to be In Yo Face!  Training has officially begun.  Day one = done!

Crash, out.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Ode to Fast Twitching


Dear Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers,

I do not know where you came from, or where you've been, but I sure am happy to have you back in my life.  We spent some time together many years ago, but then one day you just left and I had no idea where you were going or if you'd ever come back.  I eventually got used to not having you around and I became one with my dear friend Slow Twitch.  We did a lot of fun things together; heck, they got me through my first year of ultrarunning and two 100 milers!  Then, I fell.  I couldn't even use my good friend Slow Twitch for a short bit, while I hobbled around like the putz that I was.  So, I was left with no other choice but to do the unthinkable...cross train (*gasp!*).

One day I woke up shortly after embarking on my cross training, and it was as if the planets had aligned and suddenly you decided to return to me.  Oh how I've missed you Fast Twitch!  You've put life and spring back in my stride!  You've put the wind in my hair, and mid-run sweat back on my brow!  My ponytail is so grateful to swish so fast during a run again.  My running shoes are thrilled to share the road with you! 

You do kind of make my left hip a little cranky, but I think the hips will get used to you being around so don't take it personally.  You seem to be getting along well with my calves and connective tissues.  I think the mitochondria in my cells really enjoy working overtime to produce more energy to help you propel me forward.

:)

I really love having you back in my life.  You make my morning runs fly by, literally.  I think that we should keep it to the weekdays though.  I don't want to wear you out, so you can have the weekends off and I'll recruit ol' Slow Twitch for my weekend long runs.  Gotta share the love, ya know.  I hope you enjoy the compression sleeves I give you after each run; you make them look good! 

I'm looking forward to a long and bountiful relationship with you again, Fast Twitch.  It's been too long my friend!  Make yourself at home and let me know if you ever need anything.

Welcome home, Fast Twitch, welcome home!

Love,

Crash

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

How Dynamic!

You know the saying, "if it's broke, fix it."  What?  That's not the right saying?  Ooooh, you mean it's actually if ain't broke, don't fix it.  Oops.

:) 

Well, in my case, it was broke so I just changed that quote up a bit.  So, what to do? 

I happened across one of Stacy's blog posts, In Case You Missed It, on Wilderness Running a couple of months ago and after reading it I decided to give it a try.  It was a link to an article/video about this little thing called dynamic stretching for runners.  Hmmm, I've heard of that before.  But, me being me, I've never looked into it because I didn't see a need to change anything up.  Well, now I have a need to change things up.  Ever since watching the short video and reading the quick write-up about the stretches I've been doing them.  Before every run now I go through 10 reps of each stretch, rather than the old static stretches I used to always do (figure-4 stretch, calf stretches, ham and quad stretches).  Static stretching should be reserved for post-run, technically, when your muscles are warmed up and pliable.  Dynamic stretching is best before a run.  Your muscles are cold beforehand and all they need are a little warm-up (hence, dynamic) and slight elongation (hence, stretch) without any real stress placed on them.

These stretches feel good and loosen up all the right places (hips, hams, calves) really well, they also kind of get my heart rate up sometimes.  Going on two months now and things feel pretty darn good.  I highly recommend giving these a try.  It takes all of two minutes, three minutes tops before heading out for a run.  It certainly can't hurt!

Here's the link to the video and article.  Enjoy!

A Dynamic Routine, by Nikki Kimball

Crash, out.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The Great Voyage

I woke up craving writing a blog today :)  Then, I remembered that I had some news to share...I signed up for race number two of the year!  Time to do a little jig.

Geof and I decided to go ahead and sign up for Minnesota Voyageur 50M on July 24th, up near Duluth, MN as a last really long run before Leadville, less than a month later. Seems like forever since I've run a 50M...but I guess, technically, it's only really been since February (and that was 50M x2!). But the last actual 50 mile race I ran was last October at the NFEC-Wisconsin.  This same time last year I was heading into my fourth race of the year, and here I am excited about number two, which won't be until 7 months in.  I love ultras so much I don't want to ruin it by racing too much :)  I also don't want a repeat of my injury-laden year last year.

So that's pretty sweet!  Voyageur was Geof's first ultra over 10 years ago, so he's pretty excited to return for another go of it, and I'm looking forward to running somewhere I've never been before...I mean, how often are you up in northern Minnesota for a weekend?  I've never even been to MN before!  This time, I plan on actually being ready to run 50M, rather than just throwing caution to the wind :)

Crash, out.

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