Friends, Family, and North Face

Things have been busy over the past few weeks, and never seem to slow down. Before Thanksgiving Paul, Flyer, and I went to Ultracentric 24-hour to support Jamie. We also got to support her friend, Debra, and enjoyed catching up, although only briefly per loop, with Amy.

During the race, when the sun went down, I had the treat of hitting the trails with Luis Escobar. In my mind he is always of photography fame. He takes the most incredible Ultrarunning shots. But, now-a-days he is of Born to Run fame. We had great talks and sloppy feet running in the woods. It was during this run that we talked about how Jamie and I became friends. We met at Mountain Massochist years ago when she was a Montrail Athlete and then I became one. From there we kept in touch and seemed to link up at races or when Paul and I would come through Colorado. I will forever be thankful for being on the Montrail team for the gift of her friendship and other people who have touched my life as a result (hugs to Sophie here!!).

After a short week Paul, Flyer, and I headed to H-town to visit my family for Thanksgiving. I enjoyed the time with my family, memories as we moved items out of my grandfather's house, hearing him tell stories of his family history, celebrating my dad's birthday with him, and wonderful moments with Paul. We went for a run on the trail I first ran on. It was 40 degrees and raining, but we had a blast slopping around the woods. I loved that when I needed a hug we sat on the couch upstairs at my parents and he just silently hugged me. I am so very thankful for every moment we get to share together! People ask if we have needed an "adjustment" period since he has moved home, and the answer is, "not at all!" We enjoy eachother so much that being together more is just such a huge bonus!

On that note we are headed to North Face Endurance race in San Fran this weekend. We are doing the fun run 50K! The weekend is more about spending time with eachother and friends, so I didn't want to be out there running or focusing on the run. That being said...we are working up some kind of race wager for time predictions between us :) Any ideas are welcome! I give us a 30 min diff. He ran 1:14 at San Antonio half as a training run, so he is in stellar shape. I am just happy that Anna is running the 50-miler so that Paul doesn't use her for pacing like he did over Hope Pass...