Moving On

It has been over a week since we lost Aspen and I am still having grief-storms at the most inappropriate times.  The UPS guy had a bone for Aspen and I had to decline it. A neighbor asked where my “shadow” was. A piece of Aspen’s hair was folded into a clean shirt.  Her favorite stream is running high this year. I’m finding it difficult to make up any sort of daily routine without her, but I’m trying. I’m immersing myself in the fact that summer has arrived and my favorite trails are finally free of snow. I’m excited that distance runners are choosing Mammoth to train this year. I have been showing Wesley Korir, two-time winner of the LA Marathon, my favorite places to run. I just got word that Olympic gold medalist in the 10,000 meters Derartu Tulu will be coming up to train later this summer.

The USATF National Championships are coming up and a lot of my Mammoth Track Club teammates are racing. I am heading to Des Moines, Iowa to cheer them on. If you want to follow the races, log onto www.usatf.org for start lists, television schedules and results. My next trip will be to Death Valley for this year’s Badwater 135-mile race. Hold on now, I’m not that crazy. I will only be helping my friend Shannon Griefer of Moeben sleeves as she earns another Badwater buckle. I have been researching what it takes to be a good “crew member”.  This week I will go down to the desert to get in some heat training since Death Valley can see upwards of 130 degrees. I’ve been told to run on the white painted line in the road so the soles of my ASICS won’t melt. That’s hot. But I also need to be prepared for cooler nights in the desert as we run with head lamps. I should probably try that in a training run too. At any rate, I will be jumping in and out of an air-conditioned van for a couple days. I have so much respect and admiration for the Ultra-running world and I’m glad to help support the crazy people who do it.

Here at home, I am starting to see high school and college teams as they come to Mammoth for running camp. It is fun to think I’m alone and far back on a trail only to find a pack of 20 runners heading right towards me. Andrew’s and my running condo just had our first summer running visitors. They loved the maps and running info left for them to get a great Mammoth running experience. At the condo, I share my favorite things to do, best restaurants to refuel as well as favorite places to run. If you want to come stay at the ultimate running retreat, visit www.mammothrunningcondo.com or call Mammoth Mountain Reservations 888.204.4692. Running is every local’s favorite summer pastime.  There are some fun races put on by our local running club www.highsierrastriders.org,  as well as regular Tuesday morning practices at Shady Rest Park. The races are:

*Footloose Freedom Mile on July 4^th

*Charthouse Footloose 10K August 8^th

*Moeben Mammoth Mountain Ultra 25K and 50K September 18^th

Summer is heaven here in the Eastern Sierra, and aside from my few days in Death Valley, I plan to be home training for the Philadelphia Half-Marathon and ING New York City Marathon.  There is a lot of training to do between now and then and Mammoth is the perfect place to prepare for it all. Hope to see you on the mountain someday.