The Fall Tour
October 14, 2014
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When I was younger I used to watch a show called “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” Best. Show. Ever. Check it here.
Anyway, I’ve felt a little like “Where in the world is Stephanie?” Since early summer I’ve been on the road. A lot. It’s been a lot of fun, and there are still a few upcoming trips, but it’s really nice to be home! Fall in Bend is wonderful.
I’ve had some awesome opportunities recently. Without further ado, I present The Fall Tour:
Crested Butte
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Hiking near Crested Butte |
August started with a trip to Crested Butte for a friend’s wedding. It was a short trip, but we were still able to enjoy some great scenery and see good friends 🙂
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NMU & UAA College Teammates 🙂 |
Next up was a big one.
My wedding
I couldn’t have asked for a better day, well week really. I wasn’t stressed about it, so I enjoyed the whole week. It was fun to see so many good friends and family come to support us.
Post-wedding we spent a few days in Portland to celebrate. We did things like drink copious amounts of coffee, eat ice cream for breakfast (
Salt and Straw), shop, visit OMSI, taste wine, and eat amazing food.
Andina anyone?
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Ice Cream for breakfast |
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Newly weds!
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Run Rabbit Run
It was a brief trip and once we returned Zach headed out to chase Elk and I traveled to Steamboat Springs, CO. I was planning to race Run Rabbit Run 100. It was a bit of a stretch- I didn’t exactly have a lot of time to prepare, but I thought I’d give it a try. I wanted to challenge myself.
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Early fall colors on the trails |
Steamboat was a lot of fun! I had never been before, so I definitely took some time to check out the area. I had a little mishap in a parking lot right when I arrived (resulting in a broken nose. Ugh), that prevented me from doing too much. I still did a couple hike/runs and went to Strawberry Hot Springs.
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Getting excited to race! |
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Fish Creek Falls |
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Strawberry Hot Springs |
Run Rabbit Run was not the race of my life. But, it was a good experience and I was proud of how I handled the race.
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Love these girls! (yes, we sort of planned the matching braids 🙂 |
I started out strong, feeling amazing. In fact, by around 40 miles I had a 40 minute lead. It was great! I was a little nervous about running through the middle of the night, but I had stashed lots of warm clothing (READ: down jacket) and various aid stations. And sure enough, around 2:00am my down jacket and hand warmers came in handy!
Sometime in the middle of the night my knee started hurting. I stopped in one of the aid stations for 5-10 minutes to warm up, and when I started running again my knee was not happy. So unhappy in fact that it forced me to walk the next 12 miles downhill. I was pretty sad. I still felt great and wanted to keep racing, but my knee was not cooperating. After some deliberation with my crew I decided to try walking the out and back back section (about 9 miles) and then make a decision. I already knew at that point what my decision should be though.
It’s really hard to pull out of a race that you are leading, especially when the rest of you feels great. But, I have learned from the past that it’s not worth running through pain and ending up sidelined for months. So, I made the hard decision to quit at 4:00am, 78 miles in to RRR.
I was sad, but also proud of myself for pulling the plug. It means I learned something in the last couple years. And, post-race my knee was feeling better after a couple weeks. Much better than sitting out the next several months.
Bittersweet. But there’s always next year 🙂
Try Something different
What do you do when a race doesn’t go well? Jump in another sport! Ha. The day after I got back from Colorado there was a cyclocross race in Bend. I’d never done one before, so why not now?
The race was a lot of fun and definitely lifted my spirits! I think I spent about a 1/3 of the race running next to my bike…. 🙂
Wyoming
I didn’t have long to be bummed about RRR before my next trip. Three days in fact. Before I knew it my car was packed full of frozen plasma samples and I was on my way to Laramie, Wyoming. The final phase in my dissertation study was analyzing the blood samples I took in the spring for the appetite hormones. Since OSU doesn’t have a lab equipped to analyze hormones (PYY, GLP-1, and ghrelin for you science geeks), we decided to collaborate with the University of Wyoming.
The drive to Laramie was pretty, and it provided some distraction to the fact that I couldn’t do anything active. I was also solo, which gave me a lot of time to think. About running. About the big picture. I needed it to help me reset.
While in Laramie I spent most of my free time in the lab. It was great. I secretly (or not so secretly) like to geek out on science stuff. It was really cool to learn the techniques and get one step closer to
finishing my PhD!
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This was my Friday night. Pipetting! |
I did find some time to get out in the Snowy Mountains. So beautiful. I wasn’t really ready to run yet, but I did a couple beautiful hikes.
About halfway through my time in Laramie Zach flew out to join me! I was so excited that I got sick. Well, that’s not really why I got sick, but unfortunately I came down with a killer cold. Bad timing. We still managed to get out for one hike together though.
Zach near the Gap Lakes
Kauai
As soon as I finished in the lab I got in my car, drove to Salt Lake City, and was on a plane to Kauai. When I left Wyoming it was snowing. When I arrived in Kauai it was 85 and sunny. Talk about temperature extremes!
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My favorite beach in Kauai |
I was only in Kauai for 72 hours, but I got to spend it running on the Na Pali coast trail, hanging out with some awesome people, and working on my tan lines 🙂 Not too shabby!
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Sage Canaday and I at ‘the’ waterfall on the trail |
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Being a goofball |
NYC
From Kauai I took a redeye to New York for a North Face media event. I had never been to the city before so I was super excited! I landed at 6:00am and planned to do some shopping and sightseeing, but instead crashed on my bed. I woke up at 5:00pm. Just enough time to eat dinner and go back to bed. Bummer- I totally slept away my free day 🙂
Rory and I getting ready for some rooftop Mountain Athletics!
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Times Square |
The North Face media event was a ton of fun though. I was with teammates Rory Bosio and Angel Collinson, and we sure had a blast. The event took place on a rooftop near Times Square. Lot’s of energy and tons of fun!
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Photo: Matteo Vettorel |
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Leading a Mountain Athletics workout Photo: Matteo Vettorel |
The next morning I was able to do a short run in Central Park before my limo (yes, limo) drove me to the airport. What? I just asked for a taxi, but I didn’t turn down the ride. Good ending to the trip 🙂
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View of the city from Central Park |
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Fall in Central Park |
Home
I am so excited to be back. I was on the road for over a month and really missed my husband, my friends, and my dog!
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Top of South Sister |
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Best friends ever. Love you guys! |
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Riley Osama |
Beautiful bride! And lovely pictures! Sounds like such an incredible summer. But the bio nerd in me is drooling waiting to hear some of the results of your research! 🙂
Hopefully soon! I can't wait to publish my study 🙂
So great to see you are doing well, congratulations on the wedding, you look amazing s always! Best of luck finishing your research 🙂