Get Out!!

Sitting under our favorite
oak tree on the BRP 

One of the things we hoped to accomplish by relocating our family to Mount Airy in 2009 was to change our lifestyle...slow things down. We also wanted to spend more time as a family doing things together. Mount Airy is located about 10 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway which is one of our favorite places to go. Sometimes we'll jump in the car after dinner and ride up there just to watch the sun set.



We also have several state parks right in our backyard: Pilot Mountain, Hanging Rock and Stone Mountain in North Carolina and New River Trail in Virginia, for example. Hiking around the knob at Pilot, swimming in the lake at Hanging Rock, climbing the summit at Stone Mountain and kayaking the New River are just a few of our new favorite pastimes.

Anna Kate on top of  Stone Mountain

Grey is such a comedian :-)

I have never really considered myself an "outdoorsy" person. I grew up camping with my family, but hadn't gone willingly in decades. Now that we were enjoying all these other outdoor activities, Todd and I started talking about going camping. My parents bought Todd a tent for Christmas two years ago. He and Grey put it up in the backyard last summer and we attempted to sleep out there as a trial run. We decided not to put on the rain cover so that we could look out of the screen at the top of the tent and watch the stars. They do that in the movies, right? Well, a sudden rainshower about 10 p.m. put a quick end to that and we all ran for the house as fast as we could go. The tent had to dry out for two days before we could even put it away.


Poor Todd really wanted to try camping again. He kept asking me to look at the calendar and find some dates when we might be able to go. The kids and I decided to surprise him with a Father's Day camping trip to New River Trail. Anna Kate had a swim meet on Saturday morning so Grey was going to get everything ready while Todd and I were at the meet with her. As soon as the meet was over, we would surprise him with the news and head out. 


From there, things went a little awry. Grey did a GREAT job of getting everything ready, but a black snake decided to make an appearance in the garage just as we were getting home so the "surprise" was a little more exciting than I had planned.

Once we loaded the car, made a trip to the grocery store and Wal-mart for last minute items, we were on the road! I had made the reservation online which was simple and easy to do, but the campsite I had selected looked closer to the river on the map. Thankfully, the park staff were very accommodating and allowed us to change campsites without too much difficulty. Being able to hear the river when we sat by the campfire or as we fell asleep was definitely a plus.

The view of the river from our campsite.

Todd and Grey began unpacking the tent and we quickly realized that in all the commotion over the snake in the garage, Todd had forgotten the tent poles. This is the point at which I fell even more in love with my husband. Instead of getting angry or packing the car and saying that we should just go home, he just laughed. Shook his head, laughed and drove 45 minutes home to get the poles. It was a slight detour...not the end of the world. Most obstacles are; I need to remember that.

Getting the tent up was a cause for celebration!

A few hours later, the tent was up, everything was organized and we were grilling our hamburgers over the fire. Dinner was great and then we, of course, made s'mores before going to bed. Sleeping on an air mattress leaves a little to be desired, but overall it wasn't a horrible night. Todd got up early and cooked a great breakfast over the fire, I ran on the trail, Grey rented a bike and Anna Kate went on a horseback ride. 

Cooking over the campfire may have been
the best part of the whole trip!

Running on the New River Trail was
such a peaceful experience. 

I should mention that Foster Falls does not have a bath house. There is a store which sells ice, firewood, a few camping supplies, etc. and there is a glorified outhouse at the campground, but no running water and no electricity at the campsites. It is a beautiful location with lots to do, but I can't really see us camping there for more than a day or two. I was content to let Todd warm some water for me over the fire so that I could rinse off after my run, but doing that for several days in a row might push my camping tolerances. 

After cleaning up the campsite and packing the car, we were back home later that afternoon.  We weren't eaten by bears, no one developed any sort of illness from not bathing and both kids have asked when we can go camping again; that sounds like a successful first experience to me. Take a deep breath, plan an adventure and get out there. Even if you forget the tent poles, you'll be glad you went. 

The Road to Chicago Begins

I'll begin my first "official" post with a confession: I am terrified that I have bitten off more than I can chew with this whole Chicago Marathon thing. Winter was not good for me. If I am being completely honest, I've just been lazy. I let the cold and the rain wear me down and instead of hoofing it to the gym for some cross-training, I just pulled up the covers and hibernated...for four straight months...and gained 10 lbs. in the process. Ugh.

Then, in March, I realized that I had a race coming up. Two of my very best friends and I ran the Tarheel 10-Miler together for the first time last year and I knew that it was no easy course. We had decided to make it an annual event, so I pulled myself together, did some training runs and managed to finish it with a better time than last year.

Still representing the Wolfpack at the finish
of the Tarheel 10-Miler in Kenan Stadium

My friends Andrea and Leah enjoying some after-race
painting at Wine & Design in Chapel Hill

However, I also ended up with a foot injury (most likely from poor training combined with over-exertion on race day...apparently, you can't outrun karma). After a couple of weeks off dealing with that while watching the training date for the marathon creeping ever-closer on my calendar, I was really scared. It was time to ask for help.

Me and Kelly enjoying a
beautiful evening at
Round Peak Vineyards

My desperate plea was enthusiastically answered by my friend, Kelly. She talked through my training plan with me, suggested cross-training options and, most importantly, offered to train with me when she could and provide accountability for me on the days that she couldn't. It is amazing what that did for my outlook. I was honest about how scared and unprepared I felt and she met every worry with an encouraging word about how we would overcome it. I feel a later blog post shaping up about running friends...stay tuned.

So began my first official week of marathon training. Here's how the week shaped up:

Sunday - 6 miles
Monday - Stretched at home (I'd like to replace this with a yoga class)
Tuesday - 5 miles
Wednesday - XT/Spin (Kelly's hubby/spy, Andy, was there to make sure I showed!)
Thursday - XT/Boot Camp (Ouch!)
Friday - 3 miles (my short/fast run turned out to be the slowest/hardest of the week)
Saturday - rest (finally!)

Overall, it was a good week. My runs weren't as fast as I would have liked, Boot Camp truly kicked my booty and the long run was much harder than it should have been at this point. However, October 13th is 121 days away and there is nothing I can do about any of that except keep working hard and looking forward. Besides...I really, really want one of those 26.2 stickers for my car. 

Changing Directions

Photo courtesy of
Mandi Murfin Photography

I've been threatening to start a blog for quite a while now, but the time has finally come. There are many, many subjects floating around in my mind and most of them involve our family's relocation from Raleigh to Mount Airy, North Carolina just over three years ago. It was a purposeful, strategic move and probably one of the best decisions we've ever made. That is not to say that we haven't experienced some significant bumps along the way, but I am thankful every day that we were able to make this change.

In addition to our move, I also changed careers. After 15 years in economic development in Raleigh, I quit my job for the move. When we first moved to Mount Airy, I had the opportunity to take a break for about 7 months, focus on getting us all settled in a new place and figure out what I wanted to do next. The opportunity to get back into teaching presented itself and Mount Airy has one of the best high schools in the country, so I decided to go back into the classroom after a short 15-year break. As you can imagine, that has been another huge life-changing experience which I'm sure I'll wax philosophical about at some point as well. 

Finally, I decided that changing my hometown and my career wasn't enough. I also wanted to lose weight and become more physically active. (How I went about getting started will be another blog post for another day.) I made a list of all the things I had tried in the past or knew I wouldn't stick with for more than a week and ended up with a very short list of options. (Honest self-assessment is one of my strengths.) I ultimately decided to try running and began the Couch to 5K program in July 2011. I lost 50 pounds and ran the Mayberry Half Marathon last November. I still don't really consider myself a "runner" most days, but running has definitely changed me. 

And so we begin...