Tall Tara

Holy fuck.

These are the two words that best describe this race.

Coincidentally, these are also the two words that I uttered the most frequently while running this race.

If that doesn’t give you some idea of how hard this race was, what about this picture?

Yeah. Not so pretty.

But I finished. Not in the time I was shooting for (2 hours) but then again, that’s what I get for attempting a PR on a trail I’ve never run six months after giving birth. I was somehow able to manage sprinting across the finish line. Pretty sure it was the thought of beer that did it.

Read on for the many things I liked (and the few I didn’t) about this race…

–The location. Bear Creek State Park is adjacent to Red Rocks Ampitheater, in Lakewood. It’s about 40 miles from Boulder and made for an ideal race course. Parking was easy with the Start/Finish line & post-race festivities a mere .4 mile away from the lot. But the real draw of the course was the fact that the trail race included this kind of stuff…

–Water crossings. Love them. It makes me feel like a kid, splashing my way across water and trying not to eat shit. The race had three such delights and while none of the water crossings were waist-deep, they were deep enough to really soak your shoes. Here I am, using that long stride of mine to get me to the other side…

–Post-race festivities. I’m a fan of races that take care of the runners when they’re done. This race went above and beyond. And I’m not just talking about the microbrew beer this time. Oh no. After we were done running, we were treated to stacks of flapjacks. I kid you not. It seems so logical. And yet, this is the only second race that I’ve ever been to that has served pancakes at the end of the race. I’m hoping more race organizers catch wind of Flippin Flapjacks, an amazingly delicious mobile pancake service. (Not only was Danny a great chef, he was also a really nice guy and humored my husband when questions about the pancake recipe came up.)

–My hair. This may sound silly but I never know what to do with my hair on race morning. One would think that after ten-plus years of racing, I might have figured out this particular detail. Unfortunately, the same thing always happens. I wake up, thinking of how I’m going to do my hair. I get frustrated trying to get my hair to do what I want it to do (namely braiding). Then, I think I’m going to make myself late for the start of the race so I just throw it into a ponytail and put my visor on. The problem with the ponytail is that it makes my back super-sweaty and becomes bothersome about six miles in. Buns can work sometimes but they can also feel heavy and lop-sided as well. The morning of this race, something clicked. I made two dog-ears and then successfully braided each. I tried going all Princess Leia but the braids wouldn’t stay in the buns. So instead I pulled the two braids together at the back of my head and put them together in a ponytail. TOTALLY AWESOME. My head didn’t feel heavy and with my visor on, the ends of the braids were just touching the top of my back. It felt bomber. This picture does not do the hairstyle justice. (Although it does my lats justice.)

–Free photos. Seriously. Normally, after a race, you get an email with a link to pictures of you and many options for buying the pictures. With this race, we got free downloads of our pictures. WHICH IS AWESOME. Like the pancakes, why don’t other races do this? You can still pay for prints, if you should so desire, but free downloads? Genius.

–Hills. To no one’s surprise, this was something I did not enjoy about the race. I checked out the race course online before running it and remember seeing a few hills, but boy, was I mistaken. There were lots of hills. Really steep hills. We even ran up Mount Carbon. My hill training was completely inadequate for this race and I’m not ashamed to admit I got my ass handed to me on many of the last hills of this race. Here’s my translation of the race elevation…

–The last 2.5 miles. This is where everything started falling apart for me. The official bonk, if you will. I was doubting if I would finish, I was walking up hills and everything was conspiring against me. There was a huge cloud of gnats that swarmed my head for half a mile, there were the runners doing the 50-mile race easily passing me although they still had 25 more miles to run, and there was an awful part of the course that ran alongside a highway. Blergh. And the worst thing of all? I had a really shitty song stuck in my head for this last stretch. I’m talking really shitty. If you’re going to get any song stuck in your head when you’re running, it’s best if it’s one that you like a little bit. I don’t know how it happened but I ended up with a country song in my head…that I’d only heard a few times before…in 1987. Yep. 18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses…Kathy Mattea’s hit. You want to know how much of the song I know? Approximately one line of the chorus. I was in ABSOLUTE HELL. And with all this going on, I was still able to totally fake a smile for the camera…

(Also, my husband asks that you politely ignore his third chin in the above picture.)

(I, on the other hand, not so politely ask that you ignore the baby weight I still have to lose.)

Would I run this race again? Most definitely.

Would I train differently next time? Most definitely.

Would I eat even more flapjacks next time? Oh, it’s on.

P.S. A quick report on nutrition for this race, since I know at least one person who likes to geek out on it like I do: I did everything wrong. This is definitely one of the causes behind the end-of-race bonk. I drank coffee before the race (only my second time since giving birth), thinking it was going to act like a performance-enhancer. The coffee did not help and in fact, caused some serious dehydration. I didn’t have any sports beans or emergency GU in my pockets. And on top of it all, I fucked with the pre-race breakfast. Normally, I have a mix of carbs and protein, like a bagel with peanut butter. On this morning, I went with a LARA bar. Not enough fuel. Sigh. Looks like I’m still learning.

It’s not often that you get to run through waist-high water, climb over walls and crawl through mud.

Unless you’re a Marine.

Or escaping from prison.

Which is why the Muddy Buddy is such an awesome race. It’s 6.2 miles of running, riding a bike and random obstacles that finishes in a mud pit.

And you get to do it all with a friend.

Hell yes, I’ll pay for that.

The Muddy Buddy did not disappoint.

Being a team race, one person is running while the other is riding a bike. Then, at the end of each leg, there is a transition area where the biker drops off the bike for his/her teammate. It’s in these transition areas where the physical challenges take place.

Right out of the gate, we had to run through muddy water. Nothing like starting off a race with heavy wet shoes that squish with each step. In addition to that one, there were two other water crossings, one just for runners with water up to my belly and another at the end of the race.

The first obstacle was a wall covered with rock holds that you used to climb up with some netting on the back side of the wall to help you get down. Think typical movie military boot camp scenes and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I thought the obstacles were fantastic because they introduced something different between those miles of running and biking. A great reminder to have fun, each obstacle made me feel like a big kid. When you’re sliding down a huge inflatable slide into a bowl of noodles…well, there’s just something so Double Dare about the whole thing.

In terms of the rest of the race, the running and biking were fairly flat, non-eventful and hot.

The biggest lesson I learned during the race happened at the very end. Fortunately, my husband was able to capture it in pictures.

This race was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it for those who don’t take them too seriously. If you’re uber-competitive, this is probably not the event for you. But if you like having fun, getting dirty and drinking beer before 10 am, I’ll see you out there next year!

(Many thanks to Shelly for the suggestion and for being a great partner.)

Doesn't everyone take pictures of their new running shoes?

During and after my pregnancy, I took about seven months off from running. This qualifies as my longest break from the sport since I started running thirteen years ago. (The only other break was when I had runner’s knee. I took six weeks off that time.)

But I’m back.

In a serious way.

Like “already signed up for races and started training with a plan” serious.

But also “starting out with thirty extra pounds of baby weight” serious.

I’m doing the Muddy Buddy with a friend in three weeks. I’ve always wanted to run through a mud pit (weird desire, I know) and this event gives me the chance to do just that. Not to mention it’s a bike/run relay. With physical challenges.

In order to register for the Muddy Buddy, each team has to come up with a name. Keep an eye out for Team Dirty Moms. You can bet your sweet ass I’ll be writing up a race report for that one.

However, the Muddy Buddy is only a training run for the much larger goal: a half-marathon in September. Specifically, this half-marathon. I was four months pregnant the last half-marathon I ran, so I’m looking forward to being a bit faster this go-around.

Truth be told…I’m looking to be quite a bit faster. Instead of simply aiming to finish the race (which has been my goal many times before), I’m going to attempt to do it in under two hours. Considering my fastest half-marathon time currently stands at 2 hours, 11 minutes, I have some serious work to do.

Which is why I’ve decided to follow a training plan for this race.

Crazy, I know.

It’s been years since I put together an official plan but so far, it’s been working out really well. I like knowing what I need to do every day and not having to think much about it. This plan was inspired by my friend Roni and someone named Hal Higdon. He looks nice enough.

Here is what my training entails…

I’m in week 3 of my 11 week training program and can honestly say that intervals suck.

You know what doesn’t suck?

My new running partner.

Except that he's always falling asleep...

Wow.

That’s what I’m left with after running 13.3 miles on single track trails from Snowmass to Aspen this past weekend. The Golden Leaf half-marathon course was amazing, weaving its way through three ski areas, underneath lifts, through aspen groves with changing leaves and over many rocky descents. Although I had my doubts, I really surprised myself with how well I pulled this one off. Especially considering my current state…cough, 4 months pregnant, cough.

The start…

The beginning of this race was harder than any I’ve done before. It was all uphill for the first two miles. And not easy uphills, but really steep climbing. I was happy to see that many people hiked these sections because, as you might’ve guessed, I was one of these people. My strategy for the race was to start slow and the gnarly uphills ensured that I was able to do just that. I distinctly remember looking down at my watch at the end of that first mile and thinking, holy shit, if each mile takes me nineteen minutes, I’m going to be out here for a while.

However, once the race course started leveling out and we made it to the first downhills (around mile 3), things really started getting fun. How can you not love the thrill of running downhill? You let gravity do its thing and try to just concentrate on good foot placement.

The entire race course was on single track trails so it definitely made for a stressful passing situation. Some parts of the trail weren’t wide enough for two people, so if you wanted to pass, you  had to go off-trail. Some people refused to make any room for you to pass by them. And then some people got passed and got told they were doing a great job.

Fortunately, I was mostly in the last group.

The middle…

Miles five through nine went by with a blur of steep downhills, muddy water crossings, kicking myself in the ankle and gorgeous surroundings. Mile eight was especially memorable because I tripped and caught myself not once, but three times on the trail. One of those involved hitting my foot against a protruding rock so hard that I needed to walk a bit to make sure I hadn’t done any permanent damage.

The race course was very well-marked and there was never any doubt which way to go. At a few points along the way, you would have the entire trail to yourself, with so much room that it was easy to forget you were running with a thousand other people. But then there were the crowded sections, where you had people right in front of you and right behind. This actually helped me because I was forced to push my pace a bit in order to avoid being run down by those on my tail.

Mile ten was pretty brutal, since we were down and out of the forest, running in the foothills outside of Aspen. It was hot, we were surrounded by brush and there was not a spot of shade to be found. After a little calculation, I think I averaged about a fifteen minute mile through the mid-section of the race.

The end…

The most interesting part of the race happened in the last few miles. In mile eleven, I ran a twelve minute mile. This made me realize that not only was I actually going to finish this thing, but I was cutting time off my miles. This is practically unheard of, for me anyway, in a race of this length. Suddenly, I felt really strong.

Then, as if I wasn’t excited enough about almost being done with the race, can you even guess what happened during the mile 13? No, I didn’t shit my pants. But I did run a ten minute mile. For those fast runners out there, this is still a slow mile. For me, this was phenomenal. My fastest mile of the entire race turned out to be my last mile of the entire race. I’m blaming endorphins.

My husband and I crossed the finish line together, with an official time of 3 hours, 19 minutes. While definitely not my fastest half-marathon time, we did this one as a family. I would recommend this race to anyone looking for a hearty challenge and a very well-organized race. Not to mention a good time…

P. S. Here’s some geeky race nutrition info for those who care about such things…for this race, I carried an emergency GU packet, only to be used in case of dire circumstances. I also cut up a Kashi bar (not necessarily my favorite, but the only ones we had in stock) and put a few pieces in my front pocket. Stopped at all three aid stations and had both water and whatever electrolyte mixture they were serving up…perhaps Cytomax. Also, Adam had a stash of Sport Beans which ended up helping me more than anticipated. I think it’s because I refer to them as magic beans. And they’re in Fruit Punch flavor. They’re like little sport vitamins, a la Super Mario Brothers, and they’re made by Jelly Belly. How can they not be the perfect energy boost during a long run?

P.S.S. Yes, I did give a shout-out to CrossFit Roots during the race. They are my secret training weapon, after all.

I never usually write race reports. But then again, my goal for the usual race is just to finish. This year, I had an actual goal with time involved. And I had posted about it on the internets. Twice.

Since I don’t run that many races anymore, I’ve decided that when I do, I’m going to take them a bit more seriously. Not that much more seriously, because let’s remember it is me, after all…

But enough about my serious running goals, let’s talk about the Bolder Boulder as it happened almost a week ago…

–It was the first race that no carb-loading took place the night before…maybe ever? The hubby made me spaghetti squash and fried eggplant, with plantains and a salad fresh out of garden. I wasn’t missing carbs one bit and didn’t have that heavy feeling the night before the race.

–Race morning: Got up early to stretch, drink coffee and eat a banana w/ almond butter. Felt like a champ.

–Ended up in same wave as a friend and had someone to chat with for the first mile. Before I dropped her. Although, in her defense, she was suffering through a sinus infection. (Hi  Robin!)

–After parting ways with Robin, I ran the race by myself. Well, me and my watch. It’s the first time in three years that I haven’t had my husband running the race with me. I think the solo effort helped me to keep an eye on my mile splits and to push myself harder than usual. Not that he slows me down or anything, but without my husband there, I was able to fully focus on my performance. And it showed in my time.

–No water until mile 5. It felt good to keep running through the early water stations and since I rarely train with much water, I was okay not getting any until later in the race.

–After I got home and checked my results online, I realized I pulled off a negative split. Meaning that I ran the second half of the race faster than the first. This has been a goal of mine for a long time and it’s the first time I’ve actually pulled it off.

–Shaved three minutes off last year’s time, which was the very public goal that I made sure to tell everyone about. Also? I was *this close* to coming in under an hour. Like 21 seconds close. Can you guess what my goal is going to be for next year?

–Felt strong the entire time. I was passing people in the last couple of miles and that’s something I really enjoy doing. Because in years past, it wasn’t something I was doing much of.

–I did the whole thing with a busted lip. It’s a long story but suffice it to say, I’ve had prettier years running this race. (You can see a little something on my chin in the first picture and yes, it’s a big gnarly scab.)

–I honestly think that CrossFit had a lot to do with my success in this run. I didn’t do that many training runs before the race but because my core is just generally stronger, I had more power overall, less soreness in my legs and the ability to push myself when necessary. Not to mention the fact that I’ve done way more sprinting with CrossFit than ever before by myself. Sometimes I just need someone yelling at me to insure that I run short distances.

This race just gets better by the year and is the perfect start to my summer racing season. I plan to continue running this one for as long as I live in Boulder.

And because it’s apparent that I stole borrowed the photos above from Brightroom event photography, let me just say thank you to Brightroom event photography for capturing this year’s race.

(Maybe next year I’ll actually buy one? But only if you get pics of me looking good. Deal?)

I remember the first event in my life that made me start to hate my butt. It was Freshman Honors English class and the teacher asked me to diagram a sentence on the blackboard. I walked up there confidently (my diagramming skillz are legendary) and got to work. As I was finishing, I heard a voice come from the back of the room.

“Tara’s got a big ol’ butt…I know I told you I’d be true…but Tara’s got a big ol’ butt…and I’m leaving you.”

Shawn Senter, popular football player, was serenading me with the lyrics to LL Cool J’s song as I stood with my back to the class.

It amazes me that after seventeen years, this event and the feelings it brought up, remain crystal clear in my memory. How is that even possible when I can’t remember where I put my keys?

Despite this high school trauma, I’ve had an amazing revelation since then.

I love my body.

In fact, I said that very phrase out loud to my husband the other morning. I realized that it was, quite literally, the first time in my life that I said it AND meant it.

(After I said it, my husband responded that he, too, loves my body. So cute, that one.)

It’s a little sad that it took me thirty-four years to fully embrace my junk. But is it all that surprising, really?

Negative body talk surrounds us. From snippets of complaining I overhear to images and posts I see online, women are unhappy with their bodies. Whether it’s the off-hand comment about losing five pounds or the demeaning joke about the pear shape of your body, it seems like this body unhappiness seeps into many conversations I have with my friends.

And it’s not just my friends.

“In one American survey, 81% of ten-year-old girls had already dieted at least once. A recent Swedish study found that 25% of 7 year old girls had dieted to lose weight – they were already suffering from ‘body-image distortion’, estimating themselves to be larger than they really were. Similar studies in Japan have found that 41% of elementary school girls (some as young as 6) thought they were too fat. Even normal-weight and underweight girls want to lose weight.”

I’m tired of it.

My strong and powerful glutes (the gluteus maximus, minimus and medius are the major muscles in your butt) made all of the following possible…

• 1000 miles backpacking
• 7 half-marathons
• 1 marathon
• 2 triathlons
• 7 Bolder Boulder 10k races
• 1 24-hr. mountain bike race
• 1 100-mile road bike race
• 5 summits of 14,000+ peaks
• skiing black diamond runs

Call it my booty resume.

But besides the impressive list of achievements above, what else has changed my mind and caused me to embrace my body now?

Two things: my husband is an ass-man and CrossFit. The fact that I hear on a daily basis how much my husband loves my ass (and that he can’t keep his hands off of it) has had an amazing effect on the negative feelings I used to harbor towards my backside. When someone loves a part of me that much, who am I to hate it?

And because of CrossFit, I’m much stronger now than I’ve ever been. The ability to deadlift like a champ, perform 150 squats and box jump with the best of them have made me love my body in a whole new way. My glutes are the basis of an amazing amount of functional strength and I honestly feel like I can do anything, physically, that I put my mind (and my ass) to.

Plus now that women are buying butt enhancers and having surgery to plump up their behinds, who’s singing the praises of my ass now, Shawn?

The average TOTAL cost of butt augmentation with fat injections, (the brazilian butt lift) averages $16,000-$18,000.

Echoing the famous words of Six Mix-a-lot, I too like big butts and I cannot lie. But enough about my booty…how’s yours?

[Photo credits: Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr CC, my friend BJ Gumkowski and PlasticSurgery.com]

Oh hai list of goals that I wanted to accomplish for this year. Long time, no see.

Enter snowy day and the perfect time to sit down and revisit said list. After blowing dust off the blog post, I spent some time thinking about what I’ve accomplished. ¹

With the hopes of keeping myself accountable, here’s how I’ve been progressing:

#2. run another marathon.

This was one of those goals that got slightly amended. I did not have time to train for a marathon, but I did have time to run a different half-marathon in a new state. So that’s what I did instead. (Perhaps before I’m 40 I’ll get another notch in my marathon belt.)

#3. elope.

Done. And done well.

#4. work on improving my green thumb by growing beans and helping with the community garden.

With the help of my ever-loving  and most patient husband, our garden was bountiful and prosperous.

#5. pay down credit card debt.

Two cards down, a few more to go.

#6. write more letters.

Do thank-you notes count? ²

#10. play another season of Ultimate Frisbee.

It wasn’t a championship season like last year, but we had a lot of spirit. ³

#11. do more push-ups.

The ladies of the Lijit office do (almost) daily push-ups together. Nothing beats a little muscle pump in the afternoon.

#14. roller derby!

Saw my first bout last month and although I’m still undecided on whether or not I should try out, I’m a big fan.

#16. get scuba certified.

Thanks to Weaver’s Dive Center, I’m all set. Belize, here I come!

#24. throw a kickass wedding party.

How about not one, but two kickass wedding parties?

#29. put money in my savings account every month.

So far, so good. ⁴

The results are a little rough, dear readers.  I’m almost two-thirds of the way through the year and I an only done with one-third of my list.

However, to make myself feel better, I will rationalize that a full third of the list are all goals that are in progress, which means that they will be crossed off at some point:

#1. more yoga.

#8. incorporate strength training into my workout routine.

#9. reach out to my old friends.

#13. give more bodywork

#17. blog more. ⁵

#20. get rid of unnecessary stuff.

#21. say yes more.

#22. reach outside of my comfort zone.

#23. swim.

#27. be sure my loved ones know how I feel about them.

#28. dance more.

#30. acknowledge gratitude daily.

So, what about that pesky last third of the list? For one reason or another, these goals are the ones that will probably need some adjusting ⁶ in order to accomplish.

These represent the worst kind of to-do’s–easy to type but much too broad and vague to actually do:

#31.  practice compassion.

#32. forgive and forget.

And then some goals are difficult to achieve because of the money involved:

#19. buy more vintage clothing.

#26. get the tattoo on my ankle redone.

Not to mention, there are the things left that I keep meaning to do…

#7. perform stand-up at least once a month.

#12. explore new parts of Colorado.

#15. experiment with video

#18. learn basics of Photoshop.

#25. volunteer my time with a cause close to my heart.

#33. learn how to juggle.

but that take up more time or energy than I had realized when first creating this list. But I’m figuring it out as I go…and my progress reflects that fact.

It’s just a shame that rocking the footnote plugin wasn’t on the list. ⁷

This was inspired by our recent 4-day excursion to Portland…and Brooke’s request to have her picture featured in a blog post. Not to mention my desire to drop some rhymes.

Green moss, lush trees and bike lanes, oh my!
‘Tis a beautiful town, you cannot deny.

Tattoos are a plenty and the hoppy beer keeps a’flowin,
Roses are sweeter-all the rain helps them a’growin.

Bridgetown, oh Bridgetown, with the parks and the art,
The streets full of character, hipsters and heart.

Strip clubs on every corner, promising a good night…
Your food carts delight and the coffee’s done right.

No sales tax, I was warned…shopping’s a breeze.
(And yes, the money did flow out of my wallet with ease.)

Our hosts, Brooke and Nic, showed us the best of the town,
We ate well,  we slept well and generally, got down.

Oregon showed us, like in Jersey, you can’t pump your own gas.
And just like in Colorado, a half-marathon can kick your ass.

Thank you to Portland for the West Coast adventure and fun,
Our late summer vacay was lovely–I’m glad there was sun!

The Fort Collins Triathlon was the second of the summer. I had so much fun doing the Longmont Tri that it seemed a no-brainer to do another.

However, I did something a little different with this race registration. While filling out the online entry form, I looked to see if they offered an Athena and Clydesdale division.

For those that don’t know, Athena and Clydesdale are the nice terms for the larger men and women competing in the race. Men have to be over 200 lbs, while women need to be over 150 lbs. In big races, you have to weigh in prior to the triathlon to make sure that you actually qualify for these divisions.

[I think the men got the short end of the stick on the naming of these categories but for the record, Peter Shankman is proud to be a Clydesdale, so I'm going to rock the Athena designation. It could be worse.]

Race day came and there were never any official weigh-ins.  I had too many other things to think about and was just excited for the event. The swim went well, I kicked ass on the bike and felt strong going into the run, as evidenced below…

Crooked is the new black when it comes to tri skirts.

I finished in good time and was happy with my performance. After the race, I was sitting around with my crazy triathlete friends (who had talked me into racing in the first place), drinking well-deserved beer and eating hot dogs.In the background, I heard age group winners being awarded.

I’m halfway through with my hot dog when the announcer mentioned something about Athenas. Since I held no hopes of winning, I thought it would be fun to check out the chicks who did.

The next thing I know, my name is being called out as the first place winner of the Athena division. It’s hard to say who was more surprised…me or my serious triathlete friends. I was in shock and somehow made my way up front to accept my award. After I shook hands with the announcer, I stepped over to the prize table to collect my winner’s plaque. The nine-year-old handing these out looked up at me and told me the truth.

“Uhhh…you were the only one in the category…”

Whatever. Little shithead.

I still won first place.

Upon returning back to Boulder, I was able to honestly answer when my friends  and family asked me, as they always do, if I had won the race.

Actually, yes…yes, I did.

I couldn't make this shit up if I tried.

Two days after the race, I happened to be in a friend’s bathroom with a scale. For laughs, I hopped on and was shocked to realize that I only weighed 140, which meant that I hadn’t actually qualified for the Athena category. Whoops.

To summarize, if you want to win a triathlon, here are the two things you have to do:

1. Make sure you lie about your weight so that you can get a special distinction when it comes to race participants.
2. Make sure that there is no one else competing against you in your category.

See?

It’s easy to win a triathlon.

This is Day 8 of a 21-Day Salute ™, an attempt to deprive myself of sleep and to express my gratitude for living where I do. I saw these series of posts on The Communicatrix (my very first blog crush) and when I asked, she encouraged me to copy her. Here are 21 days of my favorite products made in Boulder…or at least started here*…

Skirt Sports has been a godsend for women’s running. Before Skirt Sports, there were running shorts but to be honest, they were never that appealing. It seemed most of the gear I had was designed by a man for a woman and how it looked was of minimal concern. Times have changed…I can now wear a cute running skirt for a long training workout or wear my one-piece marathon dress on raceday.

Rocking the running dress on an attempt to summit Mt. Huron

Nicole DeBoom is the woman behind Skirt Sports and she has a good story. She grew tired of not finding any running gear that looked good on her. (Sound familiar?) So instead of getting frustrated, she got creative and created her own line of female fitness gear.

I love that despite the fact that she used to be a professional triathlete, she’s also a woman. And she wants her butt to look good while racing. Nothing wrong with that.

My first skirt was a triathlon transition skirt that I pulled on after the swim, for the bike and running portions of the race. It provided exactly what I needed and I was indeed hooked after that first test of the skirt.

My only complaint was that the skirt kept turning to the side...but that might have been user error.

Soon, I had skirts for the gym, skirts for running and skirts for races. Besides being comfortable, they’re cute and they make me feel better while running. Just because I’m out there working hard doesn’t mean I have to look like it. (I also think the skirts make me faster, but that claim is still under investigation.)

Boulder Backroads Half-Marathon 2006

I’m simply a big fan of the Skirt Sports brand and products. They’re all the rage around town, but I still notice that when I’m running in different parts of the country, there aren’t many other skirts out there. I get lots of questions and am always an evangelist for the brand because I think every woman deserves to look good while she’s running.

Running shorts and I broke up a long time ago. And I’m never going back.

*The skirts are not made in Boulder, but I feel like including them in this series because the company and the idea for the running skirts were.