The sistahood (sister-in-law’s Jane and Jill) are bonded by more than family, same age (within months), and hours and hours of training and partaking in exercise events that sometimes requires kicking and fussing (think open water swimming) to get to the start line.  The sistas are bonded by a twinge of madness that includes never saying never  — from ultra distance inline skating, bicycling touring the northeast, triathlons, duathlons, marathon running, or just running for donuts.

When Jill suggested on a cold winter day in January that the sista’s ring in 2019 — a.k.a. a new age division (60, if you must know) — with The Grand Trailfest — 3 back-to-back, technical, high altitude, trail, half-marathon runs in Utah in October, there was no need to read the fine print.  Of course we will do this — surely our history of running on paved flat roads at sea level won’t be an issue on mountainous terrain with breathtaking descents and lack of oxygen.  As the snow fell that winter day, we pounced onto our computers, filled out the forms, paid our fees, and sat back into cushy chairs drinking hot chocolate with not one i-o-da of concern.

Months later, we read the fine print.  We read about altitude, how you can’t breathe, how you get headaches and sickness and some need to carry oxygen.  We read that the terrain is considered ‘expert’.  We read how to train at sea level for altitude — wearing heavy backpacks and running up hills — and that’s just getting started.  We read about the slick-rock and how that sounded slick, and the sand and running along ridge lines with cliffs that drop thousands of feet and perhaps this time we had gone too far with our madness?

So game on, and this blog begins July 1 — with 3 months of training until the road-trip to Utah for the Grande Trailfest, and we can’t think of a better way to make our 60’s debut.

The Grand Trailfest folks sent us a pamphlet in June that recommends keeping a confidence journal.  A journal that records our training in a way that builds confidence – so here we are, and let the confidence begin.

Peace Love Out,
Jane & Jill