People amaze me, especially very athletic people and I love the energy of runners. Even though I don’t aspire to be an extreme athlete or an ultra runner, I very much admire them.

When I saw the facebook event called “Pine & Cedar Pain Cave 24-hour repeats challenge” hosted by Aspire Adventure Running I was inspired. I knew just one repeat would be a challenge for me and I wanted to go check out the scene.

Since it was on my schedule to get in a (longer than my normal distance) run today I headed to the trailhead.

I have hiked to Pine & Cedar many times before so I knew what kind of elevation gain (& pain) to expect by trying to run it. I huff and puff just walking the steep sections. On the way up the trail today I wished I could go back to when I was a teenager and warn my younger self that I was going to seriously regret smoking all those cigarettes. Thank goodness I quit when I did but I think it must still hold me back because my lungs can’t seem to keep up with my legs. Regardless, I just do the best I can with what I got and I’m happy for everyone else who is able to do so much more.

Bellingham has a great community of runners and I saw many friendly familiar faces on the trail today. One of my most inspiring athletic friends was on her 9th repeat going up while I was heading down from my one. She was aiming for 11 and I’m sure she’s got it done by now. I finished one up and back with an extra loop around Cedar lake at the top and my legs are happy to be resting on my desk while I write this blog post. I may have been able to do another repeat or two but then I probably wouldn’t have been able to walk tomorrow either.

Today is also the first day of the Fairhaven Runners & Walkers annual 30-day BINGO fitness challenge so I checked one box off today. “Push yourself out of your fitness comfort zone.”- Done. Seriously, if it weren’t for this event I honestly probably would never have even attempted to run this steep ass trail.