On to the Next Adventure!

Greetings, Friends.

Frequent visitors to this blog may have recently noticed a subtle change in its appearance: its location has suddenly and mysteriously changed from Eagle Rock, California to Fort Collins, Colorado! Christi and I are embarking on our next adventure: I’ve accepted a new and challenging position in the College of Engineering at Colorado State University.

Colorado, here we come!

I’m sure I’ll continue to see you California runners out on the trails; many of you travel to races all across the country (and all over the world), and Colorado is a Trail Running Mecca – but I nonetheless wanted to give a special “shout out” to those of you I’ll see less frequently in the future.

You have supported and encouraged me in my training, and I have learned much from all of you. I’ve enjoyed racing together, and will remember the adventures we’ve shared. A special note of thanks to California runners Mike Schneider, the man I’ll always remember as The Runner Who Saved My Life, and Matt Baumgardner, who gave me an experience neither of us expected in sunny California: an early-morning trail run during which our hydration packs both froze! You both helped me grow as a trail runner. (And as a sidebar, Matt, I’m looking into heated hydration packs, ‘cause I’m likely to embark upon plenty more freezing-cold trail runs once I’m running in the Rocky Mountains!)

While I am overjoyed to be returning to my native Colorado and am eager to once again tread the paths I know and love, I have enjoyed every trail-running moment of my life in California. I've explored it during mellow, sandy beach-side jogs, exhausting climbs on steep fire roads, frantic scrambles on rocky, rugged mountain paths, and along achingly beautiful hilltop vistas - and the exquisite land of California will always have a place in my heart.

See you on the trail!