Getting to the Starting Line: A Postpartum 100-Miler

Getting to the Starting Line: A Postpartum 100-Miler

Nearly two years ago, I told a friend that I was hoping to get pregnant soon but that I was terrified about the impact that doing so might have on my ability to run long distances. This friend replied with…

A Candid Report on My Trip to Planet Postpartum

A Candid Report on My Trip to Planet Postpartum

I think everyone who gives birth leaves Earth for awhile to visit another planet. Time does not exist there. The days bleed into one another, swathed in the relentless and bleary-eyed fog of new parenthood. That fog is everything the…

Delights for All, Please

Delights for All, Please

In an essay I wrote for the latest issue of Trail Runner, I collected some of my thoughts on anxiety, running, motherhood, COVID-19 and the cultivation of small delights in our daily lives. I looked forward to sharing this essay…

In Praise of Running, In Praise of Not: My Longest Off Season Yet

In Praise of Running, In Praise of Not: My Longest Off Season Yet

My years living in the mountains in Colorado taught me the value of taking an annual off-season from running—and every fall since, I’ve tried to take a few months off from training and racing in order to give my body…

Finding Heart: 2019 Cascade Crest 100 Race Report

Finding Heart: 2019 Cascade Crest 100 Race Report

Sometimes it seems that the more I run, the less I write—both pursuits require muscle, and muscle requires consistent exercise to maintain; there are only so many hours in the day, and for the past three years, I’ve given running…

Issy Alps 100, Third Time’s a Charm: Thoughts on Fear, Fun (Type II) and Faith

Issy Alps 100, Third Time’s a Charm: Thoughts on Fear, Fun (Type II) and Faith

Six years ago, when George asked me to help him scout out some connections between our local mountains, I don’t think he had any idea of the monster he was creating. I won’t go into the full history of the…

The Day The Mountains Almost Took My Mom

The Day The Mountains Almost Took My Mom

Lives change in an instant. Our instant came deep in the woods, two and a half weeks ago, on an otherwise ordinary Monday afternoon. Though it has taken me time to do so, I’m writing about this in great detail…

These Are Our Hearts: Plain 100+ Run Report

These Are Our Hearts: Plain 100+ Run Report

(Note: This is a fairly blow-by-blow personal account. Only read it if the detailed minutiae of ultrarunning race reports interest you. For less navel-gazing and more details/history about Plain itself, stay tuned for a future article in print-magazine land.) In…

The Merits of Obsession

The Merits of Obsession

After Fat Dog, I enjoyed getting interviewed by Eric Schranz on Ultrarunnerpodcast. It was fun to be on the other side of interview questions for a change. But, as is the case anytime I’ve shared something personal in a non-written,…

Friends Who Are Mourning, Take Heart

Friends Who Are Mourning, Take Heart

Photo by Jamie Street | CC 0.0 On Tuesday night, I joined some friends in Seattle to watch the election returns. We met up at a neighborhood pub packed to the gills with left-leaning folks ready to pop bottles of…