To say I am surprised that the year is half over is an understatement.  Many who know me know my Dad has had some health issues and I have been blessed to be able to help him recover and move down to North Carolina.  I could spend paragraphs of the joy and hardwork, but this is a wellness blog so I will stop digressing.

Running.  I have been running and have actually done a few races.  I did the Greensboro City Senior Games (I still choke on that word, senior) and managed to pull out 3 first places and 1 second place.  I am honored to represent Greensboro at the State Games in September.  I will have only 4 days to recover from my 24 hour ultra before my first event in the North Carolina Senior Games.  This should be interesting.  I am hoping to hit 100 miles in September.  Let's hope my legs feel the same way. I also had a girls get away weekend in May for the Running of the Vines 10k in Dobson, NC.  I was lucky enough to win first overall female and reconnect with one of my Winston-Salem running friends, Allison.  This photo was taken at some point after the race and it embodies what running does for me:  friendships and connections.  This photo makes me smile every time I see it.

If you follow this blog you know my quest is to run the year with at least 2016 miles in 2016.  I signed up with a virtual challenge called Run the Edge 2016 Challenge.  For more information, here is the link:  www.runtheyear2016.com

I slipped a little behind during my father's illness, but I am catching up!  In fact, I achieved this on July 4th:

I have 2 ultra races (Hinson Lake 24 hour & Crooked Road 24 Hour) so I feel confident I will achieve my goal of finishing the 2016 miles in 2016.

I also began one of my bucket list items this past weekend.  It will probably take me 10-12 years, but I want to hike the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.....all 2189.1 miles of it. As of Sunday, I have 2180.5 to go.  Dan indulged me and hiked 12.7 miles with me.  The section of the AT trail I hiked was only 8.6 miles, but you have to start somewhere!  We did not encounter half of the number of hikers I anticipated for a holiday weekend and was blown away by the vistas.  We started at the Grayson Highlands Park in SW Virginia.  Of course I wore my Lululemon gear to stay cool.

My camera has a timer which has been great on hikes where we encounter no one for hours!

This is the Wise Shelter.  I still cannot imagine me camping in one of these, but maybe.  Just maybe.  I would need a good friend to drag along for THIS adventure.

Speaking of adventures....look what we ran into on the AT Trail!  Yup.  This is a Longhorn.  In the middle of the AT trail.  I was petrified it was going to charge us!  When it finally meandered off the path, I started running and told Dan that I just had to be faster than him (LOL).  I am still not sure he saw the humor in it.

One of the delightful run-ins on the trail was with the horses!  We saw at least 2 dozen horses in a number of areas on our hike.  Some of them were tame enough to let me pet them.  This was fun!

I leave you with my thought for the day by Karim Seddiks:

DOUBT KILLS MORE DREAMS THAN FAILURE

Go dream......and run!!!