I’ve always preferred a lighter trail shoe that allows me to feel and react to the ground. I feel more nimble in a lighter shoe, which until recently was difficult to find in a trail shoe. The X-Talon's 190's are the lightest trail shoe offered by Inov-8 designed to have minimal amounts of cushioning so they were the perfect pair for me to try! They were comfortable from the moment I tried them on and walked around my apartment.

TheTransRockies Run by MPF Campmor Athlete, Jody LaPar. I had been thinking about the Trans Rockies Race for close to a year prior to the event. As race day approached, I had been working with teammate Elizabeth Azze to focus on race specific training such as lots of climbing and faster descending to get ready for the big mountains.

Back in February, MPF Campmor Teammate, Zsuzsanna Carlson. sent me a text message about a 50 mile race in the Finger Lakes that was filling up fast. It seemed like a great opportunity to see part of New York State that I had never seen and go camping with friends. On a whim, I registered. 

If you have been following my adventures, in 2012 – I am on a quest to complete the Beast series in VA. The third and last of the easy ones (aka 50K) is Promise Land.

With the encouragement of my Mountain Peak Fitness Campmor Teammates, I registered for The North Face 50 Mile endurance run. It was our “home” course after all! With guidance from teammates I was able to run on the course a few times before the race, but I had really only seen the first 12-15 miles. If I had only known what was in store – R O C K S!

Another one bites the dust Terrapin Mountain 50K is my type of run, mainly ups and downs (7,560 / 7,560 ft gain / loss).  I'm happy to have completed race #2 of the Beast series. Given another crazy work schedule, and running only eight times between Holiday Lake 50K and Terrapin, just finishing the race felt good.

I had the pleasure of running with my teammate, Zsuzsanna Carlson at Harriman State Park during the summer last year. At the time, I was training for my first 50 mile race. During our 3 hour run, I pestered her with questions about fueling, hydrating, how my legs would feel, how to train, what to expect, etc.

There are three types of trail runners, or so I thought, (1) hydration vests, (2) water bottles, (3) hydration belts, that was until  I tried the Nathan Elite 2V Plus.

Long distance running is a selfish sport. It requires long hours of training and the races can sometimes last for days, even weeks. Involving the family in any meaningful way is usually next to impossible. That is the beauty of fixed time, short loop courses.