…to be running… and finding time to squeeze in an annual blog post…  😀

Man oh man, The North Face Endurance Challenge back on 12/1 got my ultra-running juices flowin’ once more. What a wet-n-wild ride! That rough-n-tumbler went well, all things considered. Recovery’s been good. We’re enjoying our new place just 10mi up the road from where we were in Santa Rosa. Now getting in some good morning spin classes at local Airport Club to supplement the running. Can’t say it’s not especially splendid living a stone’s throw from work either. Less time traveling to-n-fro means more quality time doing the things I love; namely hangin’ out on the couch with the bulldog!

Living in Windsor puts me about mid-way (give-or-take) between some of the best running Sonoma County has to offer, namely Annadel/Hood/Sugarloaf to the south and Lake Sonoma to the north. Local parks at Foothill and Shiloh scratch the trail-running itch throughout the week. It’s been pretty cool getting to run with lots of local folks these past few months.

Leigh Schmitt–North Face ultra-runner, fellow pedagogue, and H-Burg resident–and I have gotten to picturesque Lake Sonoma for some fabulous long runs. Today’s, in fact, ranks as the most epic I’ve ever done. I’ve basically signed up to be Leigh’s punching bag during his build to HURT 100 in Hawaii next month. Today, as I found myself underwater and/or being swept downstream on at least three occasions, grasping at low-hanging tree limbs and generally scrambling to stay with Leigh, I was totally diggin’ the adventure, even if it did take six months off my life-expectancy.

Yeah, so too bad for me that the iRunFar 50mi Holiday Challenge on Strava starts tomorrow, ’cause I’m beat to s*nta from today’s effort and pretty much feel like I should join some other challenge more suitable to my current state of being, like the iSleepLots 24hr Holiday Slumber, starting… now.