The Bridger Ridge Run in Bozeman, Montana

Photo taken from winddrinkers.org/ridge-run

Catrina Clarke and I, both military wives, become running partners during our time in Dayton, Ohio. We bonded quickly over the miles. When you are training for marathons, you have lots of miles to really get to know someone! She become one of my best friends in a very short time. When the Air Forces separated our families, we made a pact to travel and run one race together every year-our one chance to see each other and use the miles to reconnect. Last year she traveled to me in Virginia so it was my turn to head to her in Montana. Somehow we found this race called "The Bridger Ridge Run". It is a 20 mile trail race that only 250 people run every year. Awesome! I had just started trail running this year so I was super excited about tackling what the website said "was once the toughest trail race in America". This is exactly what the website says...

"In 2012, Runner’s World Magazine named the Ridge Run one of its top 31 trail races in the country, giving it the title of “Most Raw Exposure.” In 2013, Outside Online named the Ridge Run one of its Top 10 Bucket List trail runs in the WORLD. The Ridge Run is 19.65 miles of brutal climbing and descending, complete with unstable footing, unpredictable weather, and, of course, miles of exposure along the ridge line of the Bridger Mountain range."

We had to write an essay to get in (and we did!). So we signed up! We watched videos of past races online, we read about it, but I still didn't know what I had gotten myself into until I stepped onto that mountain. My mom keeps asking how I didn't realize it...I mean just read the exerpt above! I don't know how I didn't realize it but I sure ate some pieces of humble pie at 9,000 feet elevation.

The course profile. The race starts at 7,000 feet elevation and ascends to 9,000 feet over the first 2 miles. Now that I have visited Colorado briefly and tried to run at 5,000 feet in the first week I know that running at elevation makes you feel like you are dying...literally running with a plastic bag over your head. I remained ignorant of the elevation until about a week before the race and started sweating over my VA sea level blood tackling this. I have only lived in Colorado for 2 days (not enough to acclimate!). But I was all in. And still even looking at this, I thought we would go 2 miles up, have a nice run along the ridge and then run back down. The evidence is right in front of me but I still didn't see it! Up, down, up, down, up down...yes I was blind. But at this point Catrina and I were in our hotel room, chatting away, already sleep deprived, excited about what we were going to see, and setting time goals (I laugh out loud about this now!!). 

After only a few hours of sleep thanks to angry man in room next to us yelling at his girlfriend on the phone all night, we hitchhiked with a girl we met the night before at an info meeting from the finish line to the start line which took an hour to drive to down this crazy bumpy dirt road (which was only 6 miles long)...yes everyone was hitchhiking! The start line was buzzing with excitement as the 5 different waves prepared to take off in 5 minute intervals.  The first wave were the true competitors. We were in wave 3 with a 6 hour time goal...again laughing out loud at that.

These are the switchbacks that you hit 1 mile into the run. There was a guy playing bagpipes with his dog howling away as we slowly made our way up. Again, I thought "we just have to hike up these and the hard part is over". I even thought that was the top...right there. Then we hit the top point that you see in this photo and kept going straight up for another half a mile or so. It took us almost 1 hour to get to the top of Sacajawea, the highest point of the ridge and the entire run. The elevation kept us at a slow and steady hike but we kept moving.

The view at the top of Sacajawea was breathtaking. I snapped some photos and selfies while catching my breath. I felt invigorated at this point (because the hard part was over, right?!) And who wouldn't be swept away by these views. We were literally on top of the world. By the way, we did run/hike that entire ridge line you see in this picture! After dropping down Sacajawea (sliding down along limestone shales) we did get to leave the ridge for about 2 miles and run through some beautiful forests. It felt amazing to actually run and stretch our legs at this point. We even laughed some and were sharing some stories with each other...you know reconnecting. We hit the 7 mile check point in a little over 2 hours feeling good. While guzzling some water, we overheard a girl going past saying "now the freaking hard part starts!". Catrina and I raised our eyebrows at each other...didn't we do that part already? Here is were the serious reality check came...we had about 3/4 of a mile of straight incline...using our hands to pull us up a lot of the time, sucking wind as the elevation climb depleted our oxygen. Along the top of the ridge, there were points were I was clinging to a rock as tall as me while skirting along the edge of another rock with my feet. (Sorry mom, I didn't plan on telling you about that part!). The views were amazing but if I lifted my eyes from my feet while in motion it caused some wobbling, and this isn't the place you wanted to lose your balance! Sometimes it even made you a little seasick as you were jogging but seeing the sky in your periphery. Catrina and I however did take every moment to stop (so we could breath) and capture pictures and take in the scenery. 

 Feeling strong

 The road behind

 The road ahead

 Another hill climb

 There were plenty of moments when I thought we would never finish (especially when we hit mile 10-halfway-in 4 hours and seeing that 6 hour time goal vanish), but there were plenty of moments that we smiled and laughed (like when Catrina ran into a tree while looking at her feet).

A rare moment of running (yes I will say we mostly hiked and power walked) and navigating the limestone shales).

The volunteers at the checkpoints were angels. They smiled, encourage, and allowed me to fill my pockets with gummy bears (my new go to on long trail runs!!). They took my pack off for me, filled it up, and helped me get it back on. They cheered. I wanted to hug them every single time. The camaraderie I built with other runners over the miles was also special. I chatted with Greg from Florida, who is fighting cancer and running this for the 4th time, and Juaquin from CA who kept us laughing, and the girl with the dangly pink earrings who can power walk like a champ, the girl from Michigan was dying along next to us, the guy from Nebraska, the guy from Minnesota, the girl who was doing this for the 8th time and wasn't feeling so hot (but still beat us), and the 80 year old man jogging by us smiling as he was running it for his 20th time. Of course I am wondering why these people keep signing up for this torture! At 14 miles (and 6 hours), my watch battery died and I grew somewhat panicky not truly knowing how many miles I had left. But we kept putting one foot in front of the other. As we topped the last peak (Baldy mountain), the volunteers cheered and said "it is all downhill from here!". I filled my pockets with gummy bears, took a deep breath, and began the 4 mile descent. It was like we were skiing. It was so steep that I would side slide down leaning on my left leg, then switch to side sliding down leaning on my right leg, and switch. We bounced off a few trees and with 1 mile left my legs began to shake uncontrollably. At the end, you reach a point where you have a choice whether to take the steep .55 trail to the left, or the 1.5 gradual trail to the right. You look straight down below you and see the finish line, you hear the cowbells, and you want to be off that mountain. We chose the steep trail and began side sliding to the finish line.

We crossed the finish line at 7 hours and 45 minutes, 2 hours after our time goal, only 20 runners behind us, and over 4 hours behind the winners! Yes someone actually ran that thing in 3 hours and 28 minutes. But I have never been more proud to finish anything. It was truly the hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life. As I crossed the finish line, I looked to my left at the guy ringing the cowbell and reached for him as my legs gave out and I collapsed. He graciously carried me to this bench as I cried (yes I CRIED). I was so happy to be finished and just could not believe what I had just done. I sat on this bench for quite awhile answering the texts from my mother who I think believed I may have died and my darling husband caring for our 4 kids back at a hotel room in Colorado. And watched others rejoicing as they finished climbing their mountains. 

So was it fun? People keep asking me that. Fun just isn't the word to describe it. Not many words can. It was the adventure of a lifetime. I don't regret one single step and will always cherish these moments I got to share with my dear friend. I am strong. I can do anything. I see that now more clearly than ever. Will I do it again? Catrina and I laughed about those crazies as we hobbled around the next day. 5 days later, I still can't walk right and scream anytime one of my kids bumps into my legs. I am not sure how long it will take to recover from this and I am anxious to sign up for my next race. But as I write this recap and talk it over with Joel (who wants to do it now), I think yes, I could see myself doing it again. I just might be one of those crazies.

The Road to Colorado

We took 8 days to travel cross country from Northern VA to Denver, CO. You might say we took the "long way" as we first went to West Virginia to visit my parents (and drop our dog off for a temporary stay), then went to Minnesota to visit Joel's parents, on to Omaha to visit Joel's grandmother and finally landed in Colorado. Our longest day was an 18 hour drive from West Virginia to Minnesota. I had planned on a hotel stay during that journey but my husband convinced me to push on and we made it! The kids did much better than I expected on all days! But all were happy to unload in our final hotel room knowing we do not have to load up again until we go to our new house!

Breakfast with my Mom in West Virginia before we began our 18 hour driving day. It was very very hard to say this goodbye. Being a military family, we go through times were we are far far away from family and times when we are close. For 4 years now, we have lived within easy driving distance to my parents. We usually see them once a month or every other month. It is heart breaking to go so far from them again. Thank you Mom and Dad for always being there for us at the drop of the hat when we needed you!

A quick stop in Ohio to visit with my lifelong friend Hillery Gaiser. We have been friends since we were 7 and have never lived in the same place or gone to the same school! It was great encouragement to my kids who are missing their VA friends to know that these lifelong friendships do exist!

The 18 hour day was super hard but it was true joy to wake up to Grandma and Grandpa Thorson and Great Grandma Fox in the morning! We had never visited them in their Cottage Grove, Minnesota home so it was very special to see their new digs and visit the Hope Community church were Larry pastors. It was also very nostalgic for Joel who lived for some time in the Twin Cities area during his childhood and teenage years.

 The Rock Island Swing Bridge in Inver Grove, MN was so beautiful and offered amazing views of the Mississippi River.

I even got a chance to run underneath it during one of my long runs on the Mississippi River Regional Trail. Even during a road trip, running is included! I am in my tapers weeks preparing for my 20 mile trail race in Bozeman, Montana on August 9th! It was wonderful getting a chance to run in different places and see different scenery. It always makes running feel brand new and invigorating. Running along the Mississippi River was such a beautiful blessing.

The grandparents took us to Valley Fair for a day! We will never say no to more roller coasters! Well, Anna will...lol. The younger 3 rode lots and lots of spiny rides. Us adults could handle all the roller coasters but had to draw straws every time it came to the spiny rides.

Larry paid for 30 rings in the ring toss preparing to let all the kids get a chance to win. However with 1 toss, his first ring went on and he won this! Josie was the happiest 3 year old in the world. I have always wanted to be one of those people carrying a giant stuffed animal around an amusement park. It totally rocked!

Asher of course rode every ride in the park (and some 2 or 3 times as there were no lines). Grandma Thorson rode the majority of them with him too (see her shivering in the back row next to Joel and Jesse)...but Asher always in the front!

Jesse lost his 3rd tooth in 2 weeks during our Minnesota stay. He was very concerned about the tooth fairy finding him there, but she (I mean he) managed to make it!

Onward to Colorado! It was tough finding space for our new pet in the car but Josie would not let us leave it behind.

And we made it 8 days later! 

We are so happy to be here...still in a state of disbelief. The kids start school on August 13, so we have escaped the hotel walls by back to school shopping and exploring. There are going to be lots of adjustments! School hours are 9am-4am as opposed to 7:30-2:30...when do they do homework? And you have to pay 50 cents each way per child to ride the school bus...that is $3 a day! The mountain views never get old but we are all going through elevation acclimation (me with my running more than the others). I will keep you posted on how long that takes! Not sure how I feel about a running trail that says "Beware of cliffs and rattle snakes"...might stick to the hotel treadmill for a little bit! We close on our new house on September 9th (yes, that equals 5 weeks in a hotel) and Joel starts his new job on September 15. This limbo phase is going to last awhile, but the party has started!

Goodbye Virginia

As I am typing this blog entry, we are somewhere in Ohio already on our cross country journey during our move from Virginia to Colorado.  Joel and I have now been married for 13 years. In that time frame we have had 4 kids born in 3 different states, and are now journeying to state #5 to have lived in and our 8th move. Yes we are veterans to this life but it never gets easier, especially when you have to watch your kids go through the pain on different levels every time. We have done our best to capture moments over the past few weeks and jam pack those days with quality friend time!

The moments started with our annual trip to Busch Gardens. It is free for military in the summers and we always take advantage of this! We also bring along "cousin Alyson" to help mange having kids running in every different direction.

 Jesse and cousin Alyson on the swings

 Josie is definitely not getting her license anytime soon!

 Anna's favorite ride is the swings. Since she nearly had a heart attack on the roller coasters last year, we didn't push the issue this year. We just kept riding the swings!

Asher is our roller coaster junkie! He rode every single one in the park 

(and a few he rode multiple times!)

We had farewell parties with Hawaii military friends, church friends, the swim team friends, and our neighborhood gang. The tears never seemed to end! I am just sitting here struggling with which pictures to post because there are so many dear moments.

Me and a few of my best running girlfriends. In a period of 6 months, my running gals have come to mean so much to me. They even surprised me with a girls farewell night out! This was my last run with the group...a beautiful 11 mile trail run. I cried the whole way home.

Joel with Graham Boutz, Jeff Beers, and Russell Foxworth-dear Hawaii friends. DC has been an amazing opportunity to reconnect with this group of friends. Funny how the military separates you but always brings you back together again! We had a blast hanging out a the base pool at this farewell. We had a diving competition and the girls worked together to perform a synchronized swimming show for the adults. Then the kids clung to each other at the end.

 Anna had one last sleep over with her best neighborhood (and swim team) gang: Ava, her, Jillian, Maddie, and Katie

 Jesse being silly with his swim team friends Jackson and Chance. They were doing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle poses. Jesse had a great first year on summer swim. He won his first blue ribbon which sent him squealing and running laps around the pool. He won it in the 25 breast stroke-all the other kid his age DQ'd! He also won the end of the year "Coach's Award" for his ability to always make the coaches laugh and hard work. He went to the moon and back when they awarded it to him at the end of the year banquet.

 Our summer swim team, the Ashburn Village Aqua Jets, has been such a blessing to us during our time in Virginia! We all made such amazing friends, felt like a part of our community, and watched our kids grow in joy and confidence. Our last swim meat was Divisional's where Asher's group won the most points in our Division in their age group of 9-10 year old boys. This group has also been his best friends over our 2.5 years here. This last meet was just another day for him to be with his friends. In his last race, the 100 IM, he won his heat and dropped time and qualified as an All Star-the joy on his face is a moment I will bottle up and keep forever.

Josie with our dear neighbor's daughter Heather Stone. The Stone family was...well, there are no words. Their 2 daughters are like members of our family. We were quite a spectacle to watch as we said goodbye each other-a mass of sobbing and tears. We can only pray that our new neighbors will be half as amazing as the Stone's!

Joel's last day in his Air Force uniform-bittersweet.

 And we are off! 

We were a little unsure there would be room for the kids.

Finn found his space!

Goodbyes are so hard. It has killed us to watch each kid walk through it in their own way. Although we are sad, we are so excited to see what blessings the Lord has in store for us as we go on this journey together. We have spent time praying for that space carved out for us in Colorado, a space with good neighbors, a friend for everyone, a running community, a church, great school experiences, a place to plant our feet and grow roots.

To Colorado We Will Go

I have left a lot of you in the dark about our upcoming move to Colorado. I have not done this on purpose but more because of the lack of information there has been to share. The past 4 more months leading up to this move have been quite a roller coaster and now that all the puzzle pieces are fitting together I am super excited to share the journey!

In early February, after much prayer and discussion, Joel applied to separate from the Air Force through a "buy out" program. That decision alone was one of agony as it is all we have known since we got married in 2001. We didn't find out until March 6 that Joel's application was accepted with official separation happening in September. There was no turning back! We felt like the whole world was at our fingertips. For 12 years the Air Force has told us where and when to go. Now we could go wherever we wanted! But where was that? We weighed areas we had always wanted to live, areas that were familiar, areas where our families lived, areas with the best job opportunities for him, and settled on a few choices. I wanted to head to Seattle (I think Joel was game with this) and then our back up was to stay with the familiar here in Virginia. But we stayed on our knees talking to the Lord about His will for our lives, asking for wisdom and His blessing. Every time I was deep in prayer over where to go I felt the Lord gently say to me "I already told you where you were going". Now I get to back up a little, but maybe a year ago when Joel and I were discussing whether or not to buy a house in Virginia, I had a dream that we were moving to Colorado this summer (summer of 2014). At that time I interpreted it as a sign that this was not our final home, and we decided not to buy a house. But now as I am praying, this dream vividly came back to me and I heard His urging. So then I finally get the guts up to go to Joel and say "Joel I want to move to Seattle but I believe the Lord has told me we are moving to Colorado....so if you see any job opportunity that way and in any way have a desire to look there, I am OK with it". Joel turns to me slack jawed and said "Oh my gosh Mary, I think God told me the same thing!". So then all efforts were put towards job hunting in Colorado with the prayer that if we were hearing wrong, then the Lord would make it clear. This whole process has kept us truly truly on our knees. At one point we finally decided that job or no job, we were moving to Colorado in August trusting in His provision. That is how confident we were in this calling. Every move we have made in the past 5 months has been a step in faith and the Lord fills in behind us as go.  It has been weeks of waiting and preparing and uncertainty. Joel landed a job interview for the one job he was the most excited about in late June and then had days and days of silence. July 10th comes around, and Joel and I head to Denver on an "area scouting" trip for 6 days without the kids. I had always prayed that this trip would end up being a house hunting trip but without a job, there was no way we would put an offer on a house. As we packed up the car, I was frustrated and wondering why we even going. Joel was very excited to pray over the area and decide at least what neighborhood of Denver we actually wanted to end up in. On the drive over (on his birthday), Joel got a job offer for the only job he has seriously interviewed for and had his heart set on.  Then we entered the "negotiation" phase which still left us unable to put an offer on a house. We did have a wonderful kid free time exploring our new home, falling in love with it more every day, but it was a time filled with a lot of anxiety as we waited every minute for the offer to be finalized. After looking at 20 houses, we decided on the neighborhood we wanted, fell in love with 2, and were still waiting. As we were sitting in the airport to come back to Virginia, Joel got the final job offer from Lockheed Martin, accepted, and we put an offer on our #1 house (with they accepted right away). I can't even explain the relief that has flooded over our lives having these giant pieces in place.  But it has not been an easy process by any means! I can't recall any other time in our married life that we have made decisions like this, stepping out in faith, being filled with His peace knowing we were going the right direction, but still having so much unknown! We are so excited to see what blessings He has in store for us in Denver, a move orchestrated by His amazing grace and provision. We pray that this is our final home and will be a place of stability for our family. We are so grateful (but now I have to learn what the word deductible means!!!). The movers arrive tomorrow and we plan to arrive in Denver on August 6th (school starts on August 12...yikes). Bon Voyage!

Our new home in Castle Rock, CO 

(we close on September 9th so fingers crossed the the whole process goes smoothly and it does in fact stay our home!)

 OK, so this picture is the day before we left. It has nothing to do with Colorado but it was my birthday on July 9th. I got Georgetown Cupcakes for my birthday and then Joel got a job offer on his birthday (July 10th)-YAY!

 Road tripping to Denver. We stopped in St. Louis for some amazing BBQ at Pappy's Smokehouse. Joel LOVES road tripping. Let's just say I was a little less than enthusiastic about 28 hours in the car over a 2 day time frame.

 Eating at the Cherry Cricket in Denver, CO-ranked one of the top 10 burger places in the US. We LOVE our burgers and it lived up to its name! Joel and I had a great time having "dates" every day without worrying about finding a sitter. Thank you Mom and Aunt Priscilla, Uncle Pat, and Alyson for taking care of the troops for us!

 I enjoyed a few runs while we were there, but running at 5,000 feet is NO JOKE! I was sucking wind bad. At one point during a run on the hotel treadmill I started feeling light headed and I though "how bad will it hurt to fall on a treadmill? What will these people around me do if I pass out?". But I didn't! It will definitely take some time to adjust to running there but I hear it will make me faster!!

 We went to a concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheater.

We saw the Goo Goo Dolls, Daughtry, and Plain White T's. I will not reveal how many songs we knew...we were totally there for the scenery! A truly breathtaking place.

I fell in love with it while we were there. I can't wait to enjoy it with my family!

...And We Run!

So I LOVE the fourth of July! So what better way to kick off the holiday than with a 5K so that 2 of my loves can be celebrated on the same day! Sharing the event with my family made it even better. It was an awesome morning (I feel a new tradition coming on!). 

Asher and I both ran the Firecracker 5K in Reston Town Center, VA. Is was such a well organized event that truly celebrated the military and their service for our country. I was super happy to PR another race with a 22:56 (7:23 minutes per mile) 5K placing 7th in my age group. It has been a great racing season for me! Asher ran his 5K in 30:20 - he will be passing me in no time!

It was also joy to run this race with my Tuesday/Thursday morning Moms Run This Town (MRTT) running group. We have trained together for this race and it was so much fun to have the whole gang there. Such amazing encouragement! I started running with this group in April and in such a short time they have come to mean so much to me. I am going to hate leaving these ladies!

This picture just cracks me up! That is Asher to the left with the green socks and shoes on. He always lines up with the elites at the front. I am sure they give him some dirty looks but it never seems to bother him! Go Asher!

 Josie, Jesse, and Anna did the kids fun run. Josie is crossing the finish line with pure determination as Joel cheers her on. I think she is taking after her mother! She now keeps showing me how fast she is as she takes off down the sidewalk.

 Anna, another chip off the old block!

Jesse is the one right in the middle looking around taking it all in.

The Thorson runners proudly displaying their medals! 

Anna's biggest excitement of the day was running into Anna Duggar from TLC's 19 kids and Counting. Anna and I LOVE watching this show together and Anna was the one who spotted "the other Anna" and insisted to Joel on who it was! We knew her and her husband Josh Duggar had recently moved to DC but never thought we would actually tun into them! Josh Duggar did the 5K and his kids did the fun run. It was fun watching the cameras buzzing around them and we actually had a normal conversation with them-they were so nice and gracious. Our Anna was just glowing.

Then it was on to barbecue's and fireworks! I am so grateful to have had such a special morning with my family, being the proud momma watching my kids find joy in something that means so much to me. And again I am so grateful to Joel, my biggest supporter who always rallies behind me as I keep dragging us to races. I am so blessed. We pray you all also had an amazing holiday sporting your red white and blue and American flags and cherishing some precious family moments.