Dirty Mother SNP weekend

Wow. I'm still processing the adventure from the past weekend. I spent last Friday, Saturday and Sunday running the length of the AT through Shenandoah National Park with 4 other awesome
Ultrarunning women who are all moms- we called our group "the dirty moms" and the run "dirty mother SNP run". Annie Stanley, Maratha wright, Sophie spiedel, Stephanie Wilson and myself composed the group

I won't go into all the logistics because I think Sophie and a couple others are going to blog in detail about that, but today, in my mind:
It's full of all the wonderful imagery of the trail- there are some really sweet sections and amazing overlooks. I didn't use an iPod all weekend so my head is full of birds chirping and insect noises and the crunch, crunch, crunch of out Cadence on the trail. We had some very fun miles full of laughter and excitement in shared adventure. For me by the end of day two their were some tears of both happiness and some tears of frustration because running 75 miles on single track in two days HURTS. I'm so incredibly proud I got through day 2 and got up and ran day 3- which was blissful because I knew the journey was drawing to a close and wanted to relish every second I had left even if my feet were trashed. We ate together, slept in close quarters, ran in the woods together - this was like summer camp! And we all got along so beautifully and were so supportive of each other. This was a magical dynamic I wish more women in our sport were able to experience.

It was so amazing to bond with such strong girls with whom I have so much commonality. I drew from their tenacity and life experience as much as I could, and found it extremely inspiring- each one of the group I felt had something special and unique to bring to the table- Sophie: her leadership skills and organization. Annie: steadfastness and consistency, Maratha: loving, nurturing- she was our "trail mom" very quick to always help others in time of need even if it was at the sacrifice of her pace. Stephanie: quick witted, hilarious and always optimistic- she and I bonded over our love of making things ( art) and shared suffering on the trail- many many funny Jenny and Steph stories from the weekend.

What I take away from this experience is this was UltraRunning in its purest form: no competition, no egos,  we just plotted a course, got a minivan with tons of shared aid and went out and had a great epic adventure and enjoyed ourselves and each other- end of the day, it won't matter how many buckles or medals you have collecting dust- what truly will come to mind is your experiences you've shared with others and that is what they will remember you for- not how many wins, finishes (or dnf) you had- your fellow ultrarunners will remember how you made them feel when you talked to them, or that one time you both ran out of water and had to struggle to make it back--etc I really understand now when david Horton stands at hellgate and says "people need people. We all need each other."
 I truly feel blessed to have had this experience and be apart of such a wonderful community.
 I love being competitive and racing, but  I most certainly am in a place in my life where I plan to make time for MORE of things like this.

Here are some pics from my super awesome 3 day epic journey!!

CHEERS YALL!! My next blog post ( hopefully tomorrow)  will be some Gear Reviews for Stonewear Designs new FALL 2014 line:)