Race Report/Camping Fail: 2013 Panther Creek Challenge

It was the weekend before Memorial Day, and KTC's Treadin' Trodden Trails series was making a stop atPanther Creek State Park for it's annual 10 mile Panther Creek Challenge. This was one of the original 3 trail races I had planned on running this year (To date I've run in 6 and I've still yet to run the last of the original 3 I planned on running and who knows how many more before the year is out). With the Challenge approaching I had the hair brained idea that we could turn it into a weekend of camping, fun right?

Since it was at Panther Creek State Park which was a 2 hour drive from home, it would be awesome to already be at the park on race morning and then have the rest of the weekend to camp with the family. On paper, most of our crazy ideas sound great. However, we've quickly learned that with toddler, those ideas don't always work out the way we plan. Race weekend had finally arrived and I had taken a 1/2 day on that Friday. When I got home, Robin had some stuff ready (another change since our Little Bug came along, Robin would have already had the car loaded and ready to go), so I got straight to helping with the final packing and then loading of the car. After all was said and done, we were packed, out the door, and pulling into our campsite by around 5pm or so.

Trip Report: Eleventh Anniversary Hike - Interpretive Trail Loop FHSP

Robin and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary back in April. We didn't get each other anything fancy or what-not, but what we did do, was all the better. Considering I had been out of work for over a month while Robin was recovering from back surgery, our finances were looking a bit thin and well we really couldn't afford to do much of anything. So with the lemons we had we made lemonade by spending the day with our girls, outside.

We decided that since it had been almost a month since Robin's surgery, and she hadn't set foot on a trail since late January, we would head to one of our favorite State Parks and give the mostly pain free feelings a test drive for Robin. We got everything ready including all of Bug's stuff (diapers, bottles, etc.) and loaded up in the vehicle and headed out for Frozen Head State Park to hike the Interpretive Loop Trail or as Kiddo has dubbed it, the Interpretive Dance Loop Trail. Teenagers can be so funny sometimes.

Gear Review: Terramar Body-Sensor Helix Shirts

Some of you may know that I am a proud member of the Terramar Tribe. For those of you who don't, well now you do. What's the Terramar Tribe you ask? That's the brand ambassador program for Terramar Sports. Terramar Sports is the maker of wonderful base-layers that help to fuel our adventures by keeping us warm in the winter and cool in the hot summer. Regardless of the fact that I'm a member of the Tribe, I have to say that I'm in total love with all of my Terramar gear. It's yet to have let me down.

Anyway, so shortly after becoming a member of the "Tribe", I was sent two of the Men's Helix Mountain Tee Body-Sensors t-shirt, a long sleeve and a short sleeve. Having recently converted to being a trail runner, as opposed to a road runner (insert looney tune pic here), I can honestly say that both of these shirts have become my go-to shirts for training and racing alike. Not only are they functional, they are also rather stylish as I've had absolutely no problem wearing them out to town. They also serve their original function of being a base layer quite well.

Race Report: War at Windrock Stage 2: 10K

As many of you know, especially if you read the last post, that I recently completed two trail races in one day thanks to the War at Windrock Trail Running Festival hosted by Dirty Bird Events. After successfully completing Stage 1 of War at Windrock Move Fast 4 miler, it was time to rest up and get myself ready to run Stage 2: Get High 10K.  Honestly, I had no clue what lied ahead of me in the afternoon, all I knew was that it was a 10K and there was over 2000 feet of elevation gain.

So after stage one, I walked back to the events area of Windrock OHV Park where the race weekend was staged from and proceeded to the vehicle in order to start recovering and getting ready for stage 2. I had packed my self a couple of PB&J sandwiches, a banana, and a couple of granola bars. After getting my wet shoes and socks of me from the few run off spots of the previous race and changing shirts, I sat in the tailgate of our SUV and started to chow down on some food. It was around 11 am and I still had 4 hours before the next race.

Review: 2Toms Stink Free Sports Detergent - Part 2

So, if you didn't catch Part 1, 2Toms Stink Free Sports Detergent got the stink out of Tim's running socks. It was a HUGE accomplishment really. I was ready to throw them in the trash after them having sat lonesome in one of Tim's pair of running shoes for a week.

That got me thinking... I wondered if 2Toms was up to the challenge of getting the STINK out of our shoes - namely Tim's Vasque Mindbenders, Tim's Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves, and my Merrell Barefoot Pace Gloves. --- Those barefoot shoes - I don't care who you are or what kind of anti-microbial it's treated with - STINK to high heaven after about 6 wears. 

I threw them in the wash - hot cycle, cold rinse - with half the 2 oz package of 2Toms. And what'd ya know??

They came out clean. Both Merrell's smelled great - fresh even - almost like new shoes. But Tim's Vasques... there's no hope for those. Unless maybe I soak them in a bucket of 2Toms. 

There's just some things better left stinky.

Read about the 2Toms Stink Free Sports Detergent Specs on Part 1 of this review.

And if you have some stink you need to get out...

Buy some detergent here!

Happy Trails!

Robin & Tim