It's been two weeks since the Sailin' Shoes 10K race and with a raging wildfire, evacuation drama and my 41st birthday party in between, I just now got around to checking the official results. I was already aware that my 9-year-old son placed third in his age group due to his obsession and diligence in poring over the fresh, white sheets posted on the wall near the finish line. However, what I didn't expect was that my 11-year-old daughter, Ali, with whom I had run and encouraged along the…

The first weekend after the devastating Black Forest Fire, my husband and I decided to drive into the heart of the trees to visit a local favorite, the R&R Coffee Café.  We already knew they have great coffee and food, but some of the recent proceeds would go to benefit some of the residents who had lost their homes, so it was the first neighborhood visit on our list.

As we drove into the trees, we tried to brace ourselves for the destruction, but seeing the damage firsthand was a…

One of my favorite quotes is the one by Fred Rogers, who said “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.’”

This was widely circulated during the Boston bombings, but I’ve found also entirely appropriate for the Black Forest Fire. I’ve always known I have some pretty amazing friends and a great support system, but experiencing the massive tidal wave of affection and concern…

I’m going to guess that we’ve set a new precedent in teamwork for this year’s Triple Crown Runners.  As I sit typing my Black Forest Fire (BFF) Refugee blog in my RV, parked in the backyard of my teammate, Jon “JT” Teisher, I can’t help but be grateful for all the crazy twists that brought me to this place.

It might be an oversimplification to say that running got me here, but not entirely untrue.  Without running, I likely would never have met my husband, Andy, our team sponsor, Tim…

My relationship with running is a tumultuous one. Similar to couples you see that don’t seem quite right together, who argue all the time, and when you’re sure their bond is going to implode at any moment, they seem to still hang on year after year.  The reason is simple.  It’s because what you don’t see are those quiet, private moments they share that somehow generates the power and desire to keep it all together.  It is deep, it is personal and it comes from places of the heart where only…

I’ve always loved words. Even before I discovered the addicting game of Words with Friends on my iPhone, I’ve appreciated the power, pattern and freedom of language.  Probably from the day I first learned to speak them and certainly to the day I learned to write, words have always been of particular interest to me.  It is no accident that I chose Public Relations as my college major. The art of constructing words to appropriately convey thoughts and evoke emotions is a love that I have known…