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Captain Thurmond Challenge

Relay Running

August 11, 2014 by gracefulfitness 2 Comments

The summer I was 20 I was fortunate enough to spend some serious QT with an incredible woman named Sarah-Jane.  She was a good friend’s ex girl-friend (I was actually living with her ex and his new gal that summer but that’s not the story for today).  Sarah-Jane was several years older than me (mid-late 20’s at the time?), incredibly vivacious, and super active.  She took me to my first yoga class (I’d only practiced with videos before that), my first mat Pilates class, and my first run up the New River Gorge.

We were living in Fayetteville, West Virginia, a super sporty, outdoorsy town full of young whitewater raft guides, kayakers, mountain bikers, and rock climbers that sits on the edge of ‘the gorge’, a nearly thousand foot deep ditch with The New River sitting at the bottom.

I’ll never forget the day Sarah-Jane showed up in my lawn and said

“Hey, I’m going to go run the gorge, wanna come?”

My response was something like

“No way in hell”

I wasn’t much of a runner at that point, I don’t think I’d covered more than 3 miles and never run with anyone else.  I was super self-conscious of being slow and pant-y.

Sweet, supportive Sarah-Jane told me that I could do it, that she runs slow, that, above all, “it will be fun!”.

She has a way about her and so off we went.

It was fun! And, oh boy, did I feel like a bad-ass for doing it.

Over the last thirteen years I’ve done that same 6.25 mile uphill trail run two more times.   Both times were as the runner of a relay team for The New River Gorge Challenge and neither time would have happened without for that encouragement and support from Sarah-Jane back in the day.

Last Saturday myself and two friends competed as The VA Vixens.

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This ain’t your average triathlon.

It starts with a 14 mile mountain bike ride.

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Emma did so awesome.  She just started riding this summer and her longest ride before the race was 6 miles!

Comin in hot!

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A moment later she passed the ankle bracelet to Renee, who took off in her kayak for 8 miles of class 5 whitewater.  She paddled her arms off for a little over an hour and made us proud.

I was there to meet her downriver and take off running!

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I’ve been running approximately half a dozen times this summer, a far cry from training for this 6.25 uphill(stairs) trail run, yet I had a really good time running. I felt strong the whole way, despite the heat and 14,000 vertical gain.

photo (3)My team ended in 4 hours and 9 minutes and placed 2nd in the female relay teams.  I finished 9th in the run out of 58 runners and 2nd out of all the women!  I’ve never been a fast or strong runner, more of a tortoise than a hare, so this was a proud moment.

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Post race team huddle.

My main hope for The VA Vixens was that we all have fun and no one got hurt.  We totally exceeded that by all having a blast and feeling good and proud of ourselves (and each other!) for our respective relay legs.

We’re already talking about next year’s race. 🙂

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Posted in: running, Uncategorized, workouts Tagged: Captain Thurmond Challenge, Captain Thurmond's Challenge, fayetteville, races, running

August Goals

August 1, 2011 by gracefulfitness 5 Comments

Awwww, August.  The real deal of Summertime.

In the intense heat and sticky humidity of these Summer days (and nights!)  I sometimes forget that I love summer.  I love summer dresses and green trees.  I love outdoor concerts and rendevousing at patio bars.  I love crisp white wine and iced nettle tea.  I love submerging in woodland swimming holes and fresh-from-the-vine tomatoes.  I even love sweat-soaked, 90* summer runs.

It’s become a ritual/habit/practice for me on the first of the month to look at my exercise over the previous month and set goals/guidelines for the coming month.  July was an active month!  Full of hiking and Pilates, running and strength training.  But wait!  What happened to yoga?!   Hmmm, seems to be taking a little summer vacay from my life for the past few weeks.

My main goal for August is to get back on the mat.  Usually I set a number of workouts per week, like 2-4 yoga sessions.  This month my yoga goal is to practice “regularly”.

With three weeks to go until the Crazy Captain Thurmond Challenge, it’s time to get serious about running long distances UPhill in the middle of the day.  The running plan for August is 2-4 per with some longer distances (6-7 milers) and hill training for the next two weeks.  Yesterday I ran/walked a sweaty, slow, and hilly 6.5 miles and it made me really excited for this event!

Strength training and Pilates remain pretty steady lately.  I am happy with my 3 strength workouts and 2 Pilates workouts per week and plan to continue with that schedule.

Teaching updates!  Cville readers; I am teaching 7pm mat Pilates at the Downtown ACAC starting tonight, and a Vinyasa yoga class and a Modern dance class (two separate classes) at Dance Explosion on Tuesdays starting after Labor Day.  E-mail me, gracefulfitness at live dot com, for more info!

What are your August exercise goals?  How do you plan to challenge yourself or change your routine this month?

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Posted in: goals, workouts, yoga Tagged: Captain Thurmond Challenge, goals, gratitude, running, yoga, yoga mat

I am Faith Levine, a movement instructor, home gardener, mountain biker, hiker, pickle maker, closet poet, and best of friend to some of the most amazing women in the world.

I’d love to hear from you,
gracefulfitness@live.com

Header photo: Meredith Coe

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Hi, I'm Faith! New? Check out I Am for my story, I Cook for recipes, and I Move for some motivation to get moving! I'd love to hear from you, e-mail me gracefulfitness@live.com
Header photo: Meredith Coe

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