Friendships Built on Long Distance

When I read this fantastic story in the New York Times today by fellow running writer Sarah Bowen Shea about elite marathoners Paula Radcliffe and Kara Goucher (pictured), I instantly thought about the women I am so lucky to have in my life who inspire me, motivate me and teach me about what it means to be a mom, a runner and a friend.

I began the perfect Mother's Day with a trail run on Carbondale's Red Hill with my good friend and training buddy, Joy Schneiter. As we always do, we spent almost the entire 3-hour run talking about running, our careers, being moms and wives. Along with another good friend, Sari Anderson, we've shared many wild experiences related to our first ultramarathons, training through pregnancy, resuming running after childbirth, and now, training for our first 100-milers.

You would think we'd planned to have our children at the same time (my son Reed and Joy's daughter Selah were born four days apart), but it's funny how fate has a way of working things out. Now, as we ramp up our mileage in anticipation of our upcoming 100-mile debuts —Joy is running the Tahoe Rim Trail and I am running the Leadville Trail—we are learning the ropes together.

And despite having given birth to her second child, Axel, barely a month ago, Sari is already back to running, though we consider her somewhat of a superwoman considering that, three years ago, just five months after giving birth to her first child, Juniper, she competed in the grueling Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, placing second against other world-class teams. During the the six-day event in the United Arab Emirates, her four-person team spent each day desert running, sea kayaking, mountain biking and doing ropes challenges in the blazing heat. Late at night and early each morning, while the other athletes slept, Sari was up pumping breast milk to keep her milk production up while away from her baby for 10 days. Her strength and dedication—to her sports and motherhood—amazes me.

Thanks Joy and Sari!