Girls Gone Wildwood

It has been almost 4 weeks since I broke my wrist and 2.5 weeks since surgery. This is the first week since the accident that I haven't been so exhausted that I needed to take a daily nap, well that is until I ran 15 miles. Some of my one handed highlights and improvements from this week: I ran a total of 30 miles this week without my sling. Seeing The Mountain Runners  with Susan, a wonderful documentary on a race that took place from 1911 - 1914 to promote Mt. Baker in Washington. Dinner out with my parents, even though my mom still had to cut-up my food for me. I made peanut butter cookies (all by myself)! I was able to drive my car, but I am still a leery about driving a stick. I even painted a picture at Nedra's   birthday painting party . My first attempt at painting - ever.  Not bad for having only one good hand.  I am noticing small improvements with the flexibility of my wrist while doing my physical therapy exercises, but the PT definitely makes m

Well, it's old news now, but Ann broke her wrist on a Monday and five days later ran 8 miles with me on a trail with bits of ice. We ran again right up until her surgery, and then a mere six days after that, she started back up. We just ran 13 miles on some seriously icy terrain (luckily I slipped, not her). Having a few screws hold her arm together is truly no match for Ann. I am thankful to have such a tough, quick-healing running parter! Not even a broken arm can stop Ann.

Sun beams hit the well-graded trail I was at the coast for a rare sunny January weekend, so my husband and I took a little hike down to Short Sands with our young toddler. Although we parked in the usual lot, we noticed a little map and decided to try a different route down to the beach, along the trail to Cape Falcon. A lovely mess of mud awaits Gorgeous views down to Short Sands Beach I am so glad we did. As we walked, a voice in my head clapped and skipped, shouting "This trail is perfect for a run!" Sadly, when we got to the beach, there was no beach because the tide was so high. The waterfalls seen at the edge of the above photos A view of Neahkahnie Mountain I went back the next day and improvised a run slightly longer than just Cape Falcon out and back, about six miles. The sun was out, the mud wasn't too deep, and the views were absolutely spectacular. While there's some elevation gain, it's not steep and the trails are well

It has been 2.5 weeks since I broke my wrist snowboarding, I had my stitches removed and my first physical therapy appointment this week. I also got to ditch the splint and upgrade to a removable wrist brace. My physical therapist said my wrist looked good and had a little more mobility than expected, but still not a lot. I will be meeting with a PT 2x a week for awhile. The brace comes off in 4-5 weeks, and I can expect to be fully recovered in 3 months. I can run, but I am suppose to take it easy for the next 10 days. So all good news. Snowboarding and yoga will have to wait awhile. I am still really tired, I know it is my body healing, but I really want to make it through the day without feeling like I need a nap. This was my first full week back at work and everyday I came home and took a 1-2 hour nap. This is also the first time I have been out and had beers since the accident! I was so lucky that Apex had my favorite beer on tap, Tripel Karmeliet. First beer post ac

On New Year's eve I was snowboarding, when I caught an edge and flipped forward, which caused me to do a few somersaults down the mountain. As soon as I tried to push myself up I knew something was wrong. My left wrist felt really stiff and it hurt to put any weight on it. Luckily John was right behind me when I fell, he asked me if I thought I could make it down the mountain to the medical clinic. Somehow I was able to snowboard down to the clinic. My wrist getting iced at the Mt. Hood Meadows Clinic The nurse in the clinic got my gloves and jacket off, and as soon as I saw my black and blue wrist, it really started to hurt. They were able to take x-rays at the clinic, which confirmed I had a fractured wrist. The volunteer doctor at the clinic that day was awesome, his specialties are shoulders and knees, but he told us he practiced at a Sports Medicine clinic at OHSU in Portland and his partner specialized in wrist injuries. He told me that I probably had 2 options: surgery

Ann saw that some folks from Trail Factor were organizing a "fat ass" (a low-key, free, no aid run-- I only learned the term recently when James Varner, race director of Rainshadow Running , was on UltraRunning podcast ) on December 15, so we sucked up our new-kid-at-school fears and showed up.  John dropped us off at the Germantown trailhead of the Wildwood Trail, where about two dozen people gathered. Most of us ran through to the Wildwood trailhead on NW 53rd for the "half ass," 25k, while a few hardy folks-- including a couple in Christmas sweaters and knee socks-- ran back for a full fat ass 50k. Ann catching snowflakes on her tongue Here's the thing about the run: as we all waited to start, a man arrived with a dachshund. Just an ordinary wiener dog, but I knew that dog would pass me and trample my ego. So my one goal was to stay ahead of him. We started off and the vast majority of people were faster than us, but we settled into a nice line as a