Birthday bar drama could have been worse. No holiday would be complete without hot totties, a neighborhood marshmallow roast and bad birthday bar drama. Actually I had never had a hot tottie before, but it was fantastic! And the kids had a blast at our court-wide marshmallow roast with outdoor movie theater and in case you're wondering...no... it was not my birthday, but a night out celebrating my girlfriend's birthday led to *surprise* drama and my cell phone's unfortunate fate of being left in a cab in downtown Sacramento. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate drama? And girls who get sloppy drunk? And the cabbie permit office?  Even with this event-filled holiday break, I've managed to get in some workovers. In fact, yesterday I was able to squeeze in a mid-day workover and barefoot run to the gym. Woohoo! Its been nice to shirk a few chores during the holiday break, but its been hard to find time to get in a ride/run with the kids home. Oh well. So due to...

Box Jumps I'm not a leftovers kind of girl (although that has changed a bit with paleo). I rarely see the same movie twice. I hate routine. Nothing drives me more crazy than to see and do the same shit over and over every day. Monotony is my nemesis. Have I ever truly expressed how much I LOVE my training??  I do.  Throughout my life I've always been very active (running, hiking, backpacking, skiing, kayaking, etc...) I was fit, but I've never been particularly strong. However, I'm in better shape now than I've EVER been in my entire life. And lets be honest here, I'm no spring chicken. I'm dancing smack dab at the mid-life crisis party right now.  I guess I never really cared much about being strong. I figured that as a woman my strength was limited. I ran. I hiked. I skiied. But I felt I was only as strong as my body allowed me to be. And because I was "fit" I figured that real strength didn't matter all that much. I was wrong.  ...

Fitness Bondage?  Here's my latest observation: There's a fine line between fitness equipment and sex toys. Yup. This is going to be another one of "those" posts so either bail now or um... settle in and get really comfortable. But please do me a favor and wash your hands before touching the keyboard. No one wants to clean bliss juice up. I got sidetracked recently (its easy for me to do) while reading about those stupid shoes that claim they can make you tone and fit just by wearing them. As a minimal and barefoot runner I find this kind of marketing blather pretty amusing.  As it turns out, I somehow ended up on YouTube watching ridiculous fitness equipment infomercials where women squeezed and gyrated on poles, swiveled in seats and suspended themselves from thin straps attached to elaborate adult swing sets. Yeah. I've seen equipment like this before and it wasn't used to tone your obliques. Unless you consider porn-worthy pelvic thrusting and ...

Hey girls! Wouldn't it be cool if we could all get together for coffee or happy hour? Even virtually? Actually, Merrell is hosting a series of open discussions online about women in barefoot/minimalist running. So here's an opportunity to chat with your favorite barefoot/minimalist bloggers. (I won't presume to be anyone's favorite, but if I made the cut... COOL!) Check out the schedule below, mix up a cocktail, send the kids to bed (or do what I do and lock yourself up in the bedroom) then grab yourself a comfortable chair and log on to Merrell's Facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/merrell ) for a little chill time and chat. Hey! Maybe we could share a drink recipe or two! I've got a great endurance happy hour iskiate recipe if you want it. *grin* I'm really looking forward to connecting with other women who do what I do. I think it will be some fun discussions... that is so long as Kate Kift and I can stay sober enough to not to let things get o...

Barefoot Reset I had a chance to slip out naked yesterday. While I was training for my marathon I was almost exclusively wearing my shoes while running. This was mostly so I could run some brutal trails and wear them in a bit before I was to put some serious miles on them for my marathon. So I wore shoes for most of my races except the Susan G. Komen 5k back in May. And since my running strategy consists of very low mileage I took every available opportunity to make sure my form wasn't all messed up while wearing shoes. So my naked run yesterday was all about the barefoot fiyah! Funny how when I first transitioned to barefoot, shoes were my nemesis. That was completely unintentional. I had no idea that I would hate wearing shoes after I started barefoot running. But I did. I loved running barefoot. I still do. In the beginning, my knee issues seemed to vaporize, my neuroma was gone, my plantar fascitis seemed to be in remission and it felt as though I could run farther than ...

I'm too tired. Make ME a sandwich!!! I have this intense urge to sit down and write but my ass has been too busy with random domestic duties to blog ... not to mention I have next to nothing to talk about.  The holidays are quickly seeping into my quality blog and facebook time. I'm not sure what to think about that. This year the holidays are stressing me out a little more than usual and hiding behind my computer helps. On the bright side, I'm slowly transitioning back into my career (I've been out of touch with the business in order to focus on the kids) and I've been squeezing in some quality design time which includes getting back into web development. My youngest will be in kindergarten next year and I am getting a little free time back to dedicate to the business. So what the hell have I been up to lately?   Well, for one, designing the latest children's album for a super cool guy, The Piano Man . His music isn't the cheesy, cutesy kid stuff. I...

Irreverent heels and skull socks There's something ironic and slightly irreverent about being a minimal/barefoot runner and wearing heels. The first time I wore heels was at my high school graduation where I nearly fell flat on my face accepting my diploma because my foot rolled inwards walking up the stairs to the stage. I'm pretty sure I barely escaped a catastrophically embarrassing moment. And I didn't even wear heels at my wedding choosing to be comfortable and safe rather than feeling like I was teetering on the edge of a cliff all day.  So I don't know what possessed me to buy a pair of calf-length boots that had a decent sized block heel about six years ago. My ankles have never been very strong, my feet pronated leaving me horribly unstable and just the thought of my neuroma flaring up with that extra pressure on the ball of my foot has been enough to turn me away from even the cutest of shoes that didn't meet my minimal requirements. In fact, my dail...

Merrell Down & Dirty out at Folsom Lake I don't know why I love dirt. And I have a very sensual relationship with mud. Maybe that's the reason I prefer to run trails and not the road. Yeah. The road feels like torture these days. I would suspect that smearing tar and gravel all over my body just wouldn't give me the same euphoric feeling as the mud pit does. But, then again, I've never smeared myself with tar so I'm not one to judge. It could be that the mud just makes me happy. And there's scientific evidence to back up my theory. But whatever it is, the lure of mud and dirt grabbed hold of me this past weekend at the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run. Me and my friend Caryn I ran a whopping 5k as part of the barefoot division mostly in my huaraches and then the last mile or so completely barefoot. I tried to run the levy a week ago barefoot just to see if I could do it, but it was WAY too gnarly for my feet. I ran about half-way on the smoothe...

Badass Barbie? If I passed you on the trail at my last race you may have heard me singing this song out loud. I feel strong when I'm running the trails these days. And I totally feel empowered at the gym even while I'm in the darkest depths of my pain cave. Well, especially , when I'm in the darkest depths of my pain cave. As a woman I think its important to feel strong, empowered, and maybe a little badass. I look back on my life and wonder why I waited this long to embrace power and strength. Sad thing is, it was there the whole time and I just never really tapped into it like I have recently. Sometimes I wish I could have the last ten years of my life back to do it all over again. I've been perusing the blogosphere lately and noticing discussions pertaining to women in barefoot/minimalist running. I have to throw my two cents in. But be warned, my two cents has been in a sweaty gym shorts pocket for the duration of my last workover. Yeah. That's right. ...