making plans

I scheduled myself “home” today after a couple of days running around and doing errands. I visited my parents for the weekend and got in a great run on the Pacific Northwest Trail. Yesterday I headed out to Cle Elum to pick up race permits and on the way back stopped at Denny Creek (exit 47 off of I-90) for a short but beautiful out and back run at sunset; the whole time very thankful that I have the time and flexibility to throw in great runs like these.

So it is nice to be home for the day, but of course I can’t sit still. I’m excited for to put on Cle Elum this weekend and am looking forward to marking the course solo on Friday. I’ve also started making plans for my next adventure.

September 23 I fly to Santa Barbara to speak to a Mommies’ running group and participate in the 17 mile training run on the Santa Barbara 9 Trails race course. I fly back on the 27th after spending some time with my friends the Hillyers: Chris, Terra and Logan. On the 28th I head south to Silverton, Colorado where I will be house-sitting for Emily & Ernst Baer for 2 weeks. Along the way I will stop to visit Rob Shoaf in Steamboat Springs.

After the house-sitting gig, I’m planning a visit to Nate, Petra & Hailey McDowell in New Mexico and then over to Phoenix to bug some girlfriends from college (Ashley Koch) and running (Jamie Mieras) before bumping over to Flagstaff to see Rick and Dawn Hatch. Finally, on to the Grand Canyon where I look forward to celebrating my 29th birthday with a double crossing of the “big ditch.” What better than a big party on the trail!

After the birthday party I’m either thinking to tour southern Utah, on a route that Roch Horton devised for this running traveler, or head west and drive up the California coast… time will tell.