….and My Story Runs On….

I assume this is a common way to refer to your trail training partners that spend more hours with you on the trail than they do with their actual spouses?  I’ve heard the term golf wife so I’m sure it applies.

I have many trail wives but today I want to focus on Elaine.  She is the one who convinced me to do the race in the first place. She is the one who said I could get birthday cake at one of the aid stations. She is the one who said it was going to be a gorgeous race…

Well, she wasn’t wrong!  I might’ve cursed her a few times because of the sand but there is no way I could’ve have got through some of those long training runs and her help when my fear of heights kicked in.

One of the biggest things I have found when you decide to add fitness to your lifestyle is that you meet so many amazing people.  These are the people that you do fitness activities with and then somehow you keep encouraging each other to reach more out of your comfort zone. Elaine is one of them!  

I always love to look back to see how I’ve met all my crazy fitness friends. She happened to be hiking and met one of my personal training clients as one of them had 3-Day apparel on.  They chatted about the event and she joined my Breast Cancer 3-Day team, Las Bombas in 2009.  I can’t remember when she did her first marathon at Pf Changs, but I was not at that point yet and remember being so proud of her! She completed Arizona Iron Man in 2012 (I will never do one of these!) and I remember being out there to cheer her on.  Elaine is one of the most dedicated people I know when it comes to training and has always been an inspiration for me!

Then, she decided to do her first 50 miler last year in 2015. She did Old Pueblo and I had the honor again, to be out there with a few other friends cheering her on.  In September of 2015, we attended the AZ Distance Camp and I had already completed 5 marathons and my first 50K (which by the way, she took several vacation days from work to go show me the Elephant Mountain trails and run them with me so I can be familiar with them before the race.) I had started contemplating my first 50 and during the Distance camp is when she started talking about Antelope Canyon….when I found out it was the weekend of my birthday, I knew I had to do it!

I am not afraid to share my feelings and I just want to say that I love Elaine!  She’s a great training partner, motivator, inspiration, mentor, and friend. I look forward to more miles together creating crazy memories along the way!

Always finding ways to not act our ages 😉

Annual Cedar City half marathon trip with friends. We even wash dishes together!

Arizona Distance Camp where the 50 mile Antelope Canyon conversation started 😉

First night run! Elaine took our friends out a month before to train us on how to trail run at night time.

Elaines first 50 miler at Old Pueblo. We went to cheer her on!

Antelope Canyon!

50 mile finish line!

50 Miles of Gratitude: 50 Posts about my first 50 Miler

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)