Splish Splash!

Don't talk about yourself; it will be done when you leave.  ~Wilson Mizner

Photo: Glenn Tachiyama




The last three weeks have been very busy, and life has zipped by. Below are a bunch of picture as to what I have been up to since racing Old Goats....way to much fun!! Clearly you can tell I love to play outside all day on trails! 

I just realized this morning I had not even done a Lake Sonoma 50 mile race re-cap. I had a ton of fun @ the race. The weekends leading up to the race and after Old Goats were filled with tons and tons of fun running, and zero recovery. I knew I would be trashed going into the race, but I just could not resist an invite from race director John to come up and play! It was so exciting to meet and see such amazing talent at the race, and I was in such of awe of all these awesome athletes. Total rock stars! I believe two of the top three women ran there first 50 mile @ Sonoma, and just crushed it. Very cool!! Can ya' all please rub some of that off on me?? You won't even miss it I swear! The top photo above is of me splashing in the water at the race. There must have been a zillion creek and water crossings, and some were waist deep, and ice cold! What a total hoot this race was, and I would definitely like to go back next year and race a little more fresh, and maybe make it a focus race. I ran kind of smart, and hung back the first 20 miles, and I got to spend most of my race hanging and chatting with all kinds of awesome women. Even better was the weekend spent with Tyler in the town of Healdsburg. So incredibly fun. It was a little hard to travel without Jesse to the race as we really have not ever been apart longer then four days before. Also he has been to every one of my races to support, crew or pace me in some capacity. I missed him dearly, and it sucked not having him there. Fortunately he has an incredible career and job, and we are lucky for that, but hence why he could not come up with us Friday morning to the race. Some of us have to have a "real" job...LOL! Here is a quick and to the point breakdown of the race:

*Headlsburg is a great town to stay in before the race on Friday night, and if you can afford it fly into Sonoma airport on Alaska airlines. Its super close to the race start
*Parking is tight in the morning so arrive a little early
*Do not go out fast with the front pack. Thank god I sat way back for awhile. I promise you are not at the level of any of the first 40 runners. Deep as shit field with some of the most elite Ultra Runners in the sport. The first two miles are on pavement so run smart, and hold back. If you look over your shoulder and Timothy Olsen, or Darcy Africa is running next to you slow down. You are probably not as fast as them I promise. 
*Once you hit the trail be ready to run in very rugged conditions. Sloppy, muddy, slimy, and wet. Whoo-hoo!
*Your feet will be wet the entire race
*Beautiful course, and mostly single track. Runnable, fun, steep little ups and downs.
*Most of the time I was either running up or down. Just rolling constantly up or down on very runnable single track. Muddy as heck though.
*The aid stations are perfectly placed apart. You will only need one or two handhelds.
*There is a waist deep very cold creek crossing three miles from the finish. It is very difficult and steep to get out of. Seriously just move quick through here. 
*The finish line set up is incredible. Vegetarian and vegan food, beer, and tons of awesome peeps. 
*Technical rating is 2 out of 5. Climbing is 4 out of 5. 
*I give this race a 5 out of 5 for awesome sauce level


So the last three miles were a bit of a mess for me though. I took a very bad spill somewhere around mile 3.5, and thought I cracked a rib. I went down hard, and my feet just flew under me as I slipped down a steep hill on wet mud. Somehow on a course with literally zero rocks I manage to smack my rib very hard on a sharp group of rocks. I completely knocked the wind out of myself, and was a friggin mess after that. I tried to recover, and run...but I just couldn't. I was so happy when it was over, and Tuesday after an xray I was so relieved to find out I did not have a rib fracture. It still hurts so bad, but feels much better than it did on Sunday. I definitely will be taking it easy the next few days. Of course my little brother Wick couldn't wait to call me a Tard for falling. Little does he know-he is the Tard. ;P


After the race I took eight recover-eas, and actually three scoops of my NanoReds. When I woke up Sunday morning I took another eight recover-eas, and three more scoops of my reds. I without a doubt feel this helped me a ton in my recovery process. 


With Leona Divide next week I have been swimming faster than Nemo to stay above water. I am super excited though to give a sneak preview of the Leona Divide race day shirt. INKnBURN has actually sublimated one of Glenn Tachiyama's photograph's directly on the shirt, and yes each runner will get one! So excited, and the shirts look absolutely amazing. Glenn is so talented, and I am honored to have his work be a part of Leona Divide. Thank you Glenn!! They also are extremely soft and comfortable as with all INKnBURN running apparel. Race day shirt pics below....

I am also thrilled and excited to announce my amazing and new partnership with Clif Bar & Company. Love Clif products, and could not imagine ever running an ultra without my Clif shot blocks!! Totally stoked about this!! Thrilled to have them be a part of my awesome trail races in Griffith Park~

Tonight I get to have yet another date night with my Jesse. Cannot wait...love him with all my heart!! I love,love,love to cook, but sometimes it's nice to have a night off from the kitchen. 

On,on,on with life my friends......see tons of you @ Leona next weekend! Yippie!! 

#LifeRocks!!

The artist doesn’t have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don’t have the time to read reviews.
-William Faulkner

Ok so I have to say I am totally obsessed with something. Madly head over heels in love. No this is not another post about my amazing and beautiful love of my life Jesse Haynes. This is love of a different nature, and when I find something I am passionate about I love to share it all with you!! The days following Old Goats I started taking this amazing supplement called NanoReds. It's made by a company called "the SuperFood solution". The amazing, and incredibly sweet Nicole Risdall reached out to me last week, and asked if I would try there products. Since receiving my awesome package in the mail last Thursday I have been hooked!! I am totally obsessed with my new found love that is now included in my everyday routine. Since taking this product daily I feel a ton more energized, and in a strange way almost feel like my old *Keira* self again. The last year and a half of my life has been quite enduring to say the least, and now with everything just rocking this is only adding to me feeling great everyday. What's nice is it tastes super yummy, and I just throw three scoops in the shaker they sent me with water, and drink it down. They also make two other incredibly effective products I just started taking called NanoGreens and NanOmega-which is derived from Micro Algae not fish oil. Totally addicted to these products, and excited to now include these in my daily routine of supplements. Here is a great bit of info I pulled directly off the website about the NanoReds Fruit and Vegetable Super Food~ 

NanoReds10, Fruit and Vegetable SuperFood is an all-natural, high fiber, antioxidant rich juice powder drink mix featuring "super fruits": pomegranate, resveratrol, lemon, cranberry, chokeberry, pumpkin, blueberry, elderberry, cherry, black currents, hibiscus and apples; plus “super veggies”: carrot, tomato, spinach, and broccoli. NanoReds10 features Wellberry™, a combination of Amla fruit (Indian gooseberry) and a patented fatty acid form of vitamin C which increases the antioxidant power of polyphenols. NanoReds10 delicious natural berry taste delivers only 45 calories, yet contains no added sugar, artificial colors, preservatives, soy, gluten or genetically modified ingredients.

So tons of other super fun stuff has been going on, and I cannot wait for the next few weeks!!! This last Saturday I spent the day with Pammy and some friends running in the Saddleback mountains all day. We had so much fun, and ended up running about 28 miles. I got home and showered, and we shuttled my rad son Tyler off to the movies, and then over to his buddies house. On Sunday Jesse and I woke up, made breakfast, and went and played on the trails in Laguna Coast Wilderness. We had so much fun! We even ended up finding all kinds of miles of new single track trails near the Nix Center that mountain bikers had built. We were like two kids in a candy store exploring and running on new trails. I felt so amazing, and we got in about 23 miles. Tyler was impatiently waiting for us when we got home. I quickly showered, and we headed out to the animal shelter to look at doggies(yes we are getting a family dog). We also stopped by the Seal sanctuary in Laguna Beach to visit the Sea Lions, and then grabbed Ty some lunch in Laguna at Faye's shop Active Culture. We finished the weekend cooking Sunday night dinner with Tyler. Funny though because I learned my son DOES not like Cilantro...I am 100% convinced that teenagers have a new thing they do not like every week!! To funny. 


Yesterday was probably the most fun of all because I got to spend three hours running with my dear friend Scotty Mills. Scotty is the Race Director of San Diego 100, and an icon in the sport of Ultra Running. I love this man dearly, and he always seems to get my head in the right place, and give me life advice that I need to hear. Been struggling a bit with a few "life" things lately.  I am so dang busy, and my life is so filled that I don't really give it to much energy, but it was awesome to get his great perspective. He reminded me that I have the life that most would dream of, and people will always have there opinions of my life. I am self employed, LOVE my job as it directly relates to my life style, get to go out and run and play on trails whenever I want, have the raddest man on earth who loves me to death, and life is just so flipping great. He also assured me that it is something I will just need to get used to. Very few women at my age have what I have. I struggle with that a bit because I have such a huge and kind heart, and would do almost anything to help anyone in my life. I just love life and people so much, and am the last person on earth to ever be jealous of anyone else or judge anyone. Maybe because I have nothing to be jealous of: I actually do have it all. ;o) I guess thats why it's hard for me to make sense of it all, but like Scotty reminded me not everyone has to agree with how I live my life...which is just the raddest life ever!!!! 


My close circle of dear and loyal friends has only become tighter, and even more close. They are some of the most loyal people I have ever met, and I love my Ultra Running family. I am busting sideways with excitement to get up to Lake Sonoma 50 mile next weekend!! So many amazing and awesome running friends will be up there, and I am so excited to see so many talented women I so admire in this sport. I cannot wait to see John and Lisa, and spend time with them. They own Ultra Running Magazine, and they mean the world to me. They have always been so loving, kind, and supportive of everything I have done in the Ultra Running Community, and I cannot wait to see them!! Scotty will be going to, and hopefully we can run some of the race together. He probably will end up finishing a ways ahead of me, but hopefully I am strong enough to hang with him. 


On Sunday I am thrilled to get to spend the day running with him, and a few other of the Bad Rat boys from San Diego. Saturday I get to run with Wick, Jesse, Slater, and a few others on the Los Pinos course. I am so excited Slater's wife Monique is coming. She is amazing, beautiful, sweet, and it will be tons of fun hanging with her all day. The boys are way to fast for me to try and hang with so I am happy I won't be pulling up the rear alone! Maybe I can see if the sweet and very talented Wendy Barth can come to. We will be a pack of girls, and make fun of all the boys ahead of us running each other into the ground! LOL..


This weekend my friend, and the amazing Maggie Beach is running Labor of Love 100 mile. Maggie is one of the most kind women I know, and I wanna wish her so much luck. She was the 2nd place woman at Brazil 135 a few months back, and yes folks thats 135 miles. She is racing Badwater 135 in July, and mind you she is doing all of this while raising three awesome kids. I sware I am just in awe of this woman. So in between it all she is going to race Labor of Love 100 this Saturday. She won it last year, and crushed it. I will be thinking of her all day, and sending her so much love as she attempts to crush it again. Go Maggie go!!! I know she will reach her goal!! 


So the last thing I will leave your with is something awesome and amazing we have going on at INKnBURN. Yes Rob & Tiny Bubbles work very hard all the time. That cool image you hear about that artists just hang around and create art is hogwash. These boys actually have managed to sublimate amazing images of art directly onto INKnBURN's apparel. Their latest creation? Well of course it would have to be a shirt celebrating one of the most popular runs or hikes people trek in the United States....so awesome!!

On, on, on with life my friends! Remember life is short. Give energy only to the improvement of yourself as it will only make you a better human being.