This past weekend officially kicked off my Pittsburgh Half Marathon training. I’ve been running and exercising (mostly) regularly but was waiting until after the holidays to really begin ramping up my training for a few reasons.
First, it was the holidays and I wanted to spend my time fully enjoying and being present for downtime with my family and husband. I ran and went to the gym (with my momma!) while I was in Cincinnati but didn’t want to stress about getting certain workouts or miles in.
But more so, I held off on ramping up because I’m looking to take advantage of a free training group the running store in my neighborhood, TrueRunner, offers. The store is offering a weekly track workout on Wednesday and a long run group on Saturdays. I’ve never trained with a group before – I’ve always done week-day training by myself and long runs either solo or with a friend running the same race. I’m excited to have a group that will challenge me and teach me what it takes to actually run faster.
Truth be told, I’ve only ever used the Hal Higdon 12-week training plan so starting to train in January, nearly 4 months from race day, seems aggressive. But also knowing I’m starting with no long distance running, the extra weeks will ease me back into it with 4 and 5 mile long runs the first few weeks.
I’ve mapped out my training to include running but also OrangeTheory Fitness classes. I go to my Pittsburgh OTF 2x a week currently and love the workout; I’m not willing to give it up for the next 4 months! We end up running 2+ miles on the treadmill in class anyway so until it doesn’t feel good or isn’t fun anymore, I’ll keep going to classes through training.
Training also includes yoga (jumping on an unlimited 30-day trial at a nearby studio) and I’ll be incorporating other cross training. There’s a pool at Carnegie Mellon that I have access to (I just need to figure out how to get in!) and I also play volleyball with the MBA students 1 night a week so plenty of opportunity to keep active on non-running days.
Rather than do weekly training recaps (because ain’t nobody got time for that…or, at least this gal ain’t got time for that), I’m planning to share a monthly training recap. Here’s how it maps out now:
And at the end of the month, I hope all those boxes are green!
It’s been a while since I’ve been serious about running. I’ve always incorporated running into my fitness but for the past couple of years, I haven’t stuck to a dedicated plan or trained for a race; I love running but in Colorado, mountain adventures on the weekends won out over long training runs. I took to city park paths and mountain trails to keep my endurance up but, more so, to spend time with my friends. I rarely wore my GPS watch and rarely pushed myself out of my comfort zone.
Soon after unpacking in Pittsburgh, though, I started looking up local races; I knew if I could find the races, I would find runners I could convince to be my friends. And if I couldn’t find friends? At least I would have a big goal on my horizon that would keep me busy.
I quickly found the Pittsburgh Marathon and Half and started reading recaps on the internet – this would be my race! The May 1 race date meant I had plenty of time to train my body to run more than 5 miles at a time again and I was excited to use training as a way to explore my new city.
I applied to be a blogger ambassador for the race and am thrilled to have been accepted! I will be partnering with the Pittsburgh Marathon team to blog my way through training – as this will be my first half since 2012, I’m basically starting from scratch. I’ll be sharing not only my run training but also how I’m fueling, cross training that I’m incorporating, fun gear I’m using and more.
I’m excited to take on this challenge, run 13.1 miles again and bring you along with me. And if you’re a Pittsburgher – or want to visit Pittsburgh to run with me! – use the code PETRE2016 for $10 off your registration (register here) or 15% off official race gear in the P3R Store!
Since 2012, I’ve been picking a word for the year to use as my spirit guide, helping me navigate the days and weeks in the upcoming year. Previous words include: perspective (when wedding planning), create (when I had copious free time), focus (when I was ready to make a shift) and last year, light (when I knew the road ahead wouldn’t always be sunny).
This year, my word jumped out about a month ago. In the midst of me feeling sorry for myself and frustrated about something that wasn’t exactly as I would have picked for myself, I wondered when I’d lost my ability to adapt, to go with the flow. 2015 was a year I spent digging my heels in to avoid the change ahead, like a dog on a leash who refuses to walk past something scary ahead, instead of embracing the new experiences to come.
Of course, it’s perfectly normal to be sad and mourn the ‘old life’ but I was disappointed in my ability to see the silver lining in moving. Me! A gal who moved to Atlanta twice by herself for an internship in college! A gal who moved across the country solo after college on her own to a new state! And this time, I moved with my most favorite person, to a city that’s close to my family (and where they put french fries on all foods!), and I spent much of my time feeling pouty about it.
And thus, the word.
Resilient: a person who is able to withstand or quickly recover from a difficult situation.
Not that I expect the next 12 months to be difficult, per se, but I do know there will be challenges ahead and I want to remember to handle them with more grace and flexibility than I did in 2015.
In the next 12 months, Alex will be interviewing for and securing a summer internship (likely not in PGH), I will continue traveling to/from Denver for work and we will begin evaluating our post-MBA-school options and location. (And 6+ months after that, B-school will be over and the next adventure begins. WUT!)
I’m getting too far ahead of myself but remembering to be resilient throughout the upcoming year will be key to my happiness and making the most of the short time we for sure have left in Pittsburgh. There will be bumps, there will be U-turns and there will be inadvertent literal bridge crossings (because it’s not Pittsburgh if you don’t end up on the wrong side of a river from time to time) but this gal will be resilient through it all.
A lot happened over the past 365 days and I’d be remiss if I didn’t catalog it here since much of it was captured on lgsmash.com, when this blog was just a twinkle in my little brain. 2015 was challenging but a lot of great things happened too! Putting this together helped me put it in better perspective. Despite the change, it was a pretty darn good year.
JANUARY
We kicked off the new year with great friends in Ouray, CO, where we ice climbed for the first time. Later in January, we took an ice climbing class with the Colorado Mountain Club and added it to the list of ‘really fun things to do in winter’.
FEBRUARY
Annual ski trip with our friends! Each year, we pick a new mountain and all rendez-vous for a long weekend of skiing, laughter and great food (one friend is a 4-star executive chef!). This year, we skied at Park City, UT and despite low snow conditions, we had a blast.
MARCH
Rang in the last year of my 20s with Korean BBQ and my youngest brother spent his spring break from teaching in Denver, visiting me. During March Madness, Alex went to Vegas for the first time (and made a bet that the Bengals will win the Super Bowl. What seemed far-fetched at the time has at least a glimmer of a possibility this year!).
APRIL
Ventured to Pittsburgh for the second time for CMU’s Welcome Weekend. Made the decision to move with Alex and proposed a ‘working remotely’ situation with my company.
MAY
I spent many of my mornings with a standing climbing dates with my girlfriends. For Memorial Day, Alex and I drove out to Salt Lake City to spend the weekend with a good friend and I ventured out to Red Rocks for pre-work workouts with the Bold Betties gals a few times.
JUNE
Spending as much time in Denver with friends as possible before moving. Happy hours, dinners, afternoons at the park and a concert at Red Rocks (Ryan Adams – a dream come true!). Camped a weekend at the Sand Dunes with Lucas, Nancy an our dogs. Time felt fleeting.
JULY
Alex quit his job at the beginning of the month and we wrapped up all loose ends. After packing our apartment, we went to our last show at Red Rocks – the Avett Brothers. Over the past 5 years, we attended the Avett Brothers show every summer – the first year was our engagement weekend! – so it was a perfectly bittersweet way to say goodbye close our Colorado chapter. We said goodbye to great friends and coworkers and hit the road for 2 weeks of road tripping.
AUGUST
We arrived in Pittsburgh and I began working remotely. Alex started school mid-August and we worked hard to adjust our new schedules and lifestyle. August included a few trips to IKEA, meeting new friends and MANY wrong turns across Pittsburgh’s thousand bridges.
SEPTEMBER
I tried my first OrangeTheory class and was immediately hooked. Traveled to Breckenridge to celebrate the upcoming wedding of my oldest friend, Sarah, and traveled to Cincinnati to stand up in another friend’s wedding. Struggled a lot, emotionally, this month.
OCTOBER
Really appreciated my proximity to Cincinnati and remote working situation when my mom had her first of 2 knee replacements and I spent a week at home, helping around the house. Alex and I ventured to Florida for Sarah’s wedding and enjoyed an afternoon on the beach between rehearsal and wedding festivities. Alex thrived in school and I started to get the hang of working remotely.
NOVEMBER
Watched the Bengals beat the Steelers at Heinz Field. I did an unlimited 30-day trial at a nearby yoga studio and notice a positive shift in my mental/emotional wellbeing. Why am I not doing this every day of my life?! Alex and I spent Thanksgiving home in Cincinnati, our first Thanksgiving ‘home’ in 4 years, and I ran a 10k with my youngest brother.
DECEMBER
My mom had her second knee replaced. I spent a week in Denver for work and skiing and then we spent a week with our families for Christmas. I’ve spent much of the past few months cultivating friendships in Pittsburgh and as the year ends, I’m feeling grateful for the ladies in my life – both near and far.
Looking back, there are a lot of great memories and I’m thankful for the experiences 2015 brought – both happy and sad. Without the low, the highs don’t mean much, right?
But, I’m looking forward to more smiles and less tears in 2016, no matter how much the tears and low points mean for personal growth. 🙂
This time last year, Alex found out he was accepted into 2 excellent MBA programs and in the 365 days since, it’s been a ride. Perfectly happy with our life in Denver and really excited about my then new-ish job and it’s potential, I was not jazzed to think about what 2015 would bring for me, personally, or our little family.
After much deliberation and consideration, I decided in April to tell my company that I was moving to Pittsburgh with Alex. In my heart, I always knew it was the right decision but I dragged my feet, knowing that moving away from Denver would likely mean a stunt in my career growth. It’s been hard to reconcile two very different, seemingly mutually exclusive things: if I moved to Pittsburgh, I’d be limiting my career and sacrificing growth; if I stayed in Denver, I would be sacrificing my relationship with my husband. I felt like I was between a giant rock and an un-budging hard place and couldn’t ignore the weight of the decision.
Fortunately, my company allowed me to stay on as a remote employee and I moved to Pittsburgh in August. We spent 2.5 really great weeks on the road as a last hurrah of our dual income/same schedule life before landing in Western PA. We camped at the Grand Canyon, stayed a few nights in Vegas, swung back through Colorado to pick up Philly and ventured east, seeing friends and family along the way. (More here.)
The first weeks and months in Pittsburgh were rough, emotionally. I’d ‘lost’ everything I knew and loved in Denver and was in a new city, working remotely, with a husband who was already in the thick of his MBA program and had very little free time. I felt sad and sorry for myself a lot in those early days.
Adjusting to the ‘remote employee’ life has taken some time but I’ve finally found a cadence that works for me for right now. I’ve found friends and am learning how to get around in Pittsburgh with less reliance on Google Maps. I cry a lot less tears these days than when we first arrived – so that’s a plus! But many days, I miss our ‘old life’ in Denver: the city, the community, our friends, our routine.
This past week, I was back in Denver for work and it was especially wonderful as Tuesday brought a snow storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow before the system moved out (PA has been too warm this winter – it’s 65* today!). I spent a week working in the office, staying in an AirBnB in my old neighborhood, eating at my favorite restaurants and feeling so happy to be back. We had a company-wide meeting to discuss 2015 and where we’re going in 2016 – all exciting things! – and celebrated our incredible growth with a really fun holiday party.
In my year end review, I earned a promotion and I’m not ashamed to admit I found myself wiping tears – happy tears, this time! After a hard year, emotionally, and questioning how working remotely would affect my career, it felt really great to know that I’m not ‘out of sight, out of mind.’
To cap off a great week, I spent Saturday flying down the mountain with my girlfriends at Keystone. It was such a blast to be with the friends I’ve missed, catching up and laughing the whole day.
I boarded my flight home on Sunday with a full heart. The week in Denver was one of the best I had in 2015 and was a great way to close out this year of change. I’m excited to spend the next 2 weeks with my husband, family and friends and celebrate the holidays; I’m even more inspired to welcome 2016 and hit the ground running.
I have big goals for making life in Pittsburgh feel more like my own; it’s hard to not feel like 2 years in grad school mean living in limbo while we bide our time before the next adventure. I’ve let myself feel that way for these first 4 months and it’s not helpful or accurate. There is a lot I can do to thrive in PA while we’re here. Gotta bloom where you’re planted, right?
So in 2016, I have no doubts there will be a lot less tears in store and I can’t wait to get started.
When I moved to Pittsburgh, I began doing something that I think many of us dream about doing, at least on occasion: working from home. As I travel back to Denver this week for work, I thought I’d share a bit about what working from home while still employed by a company looks like for me (vs. working from home as a freelancer or managing your own business).
I am extremely fortunate to work for a company that is willing to be flexible and allow me to work remotely when I moved across the country. When we knew Alex would be attending business school in Pittsburgh, Alex and I spent many hours talking about the pros and cons of me moving to Pittsburgh with him or staying in Denver. Ultimately decided the right decision was for me to move with him and I approached my manager with a proposal for how I could continue to stay on the team while working from Pittsburgh.
I’ve been working remotely since August and finally feel like I’ve found a rhythm. Because my company is based in Denver and my territory is west coast based, I generally still work on MST hours. And while I sometimes go to a co-working or shared office space, I spend many of my days working out of my apartment.
(As a caveat: I work for a high-growth tech company that is growing like crazy so these hours are on the long side as we hire into the growth.)
Here’s what a typically work-from-home day looks like for me:
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8-8:30a: Wake up, walk Philly, take Alex to school on days he has to wear a suit (all other days, he rides his bike).
8:30-9:30a: Drink coffee and eat breakfast, check work email from last night’s late arrivals. I’ll usually spend a few minutes straightening up (laundry, dishes, hanging up coats, etc) or taking inventory of the fridge to plan dinner before I really hunker down for the day.
9:30a-1:30p: Work. Much of my day is spent responding to client emails, joining internal or client calls and giving direction to my team. I have 1 direct report so we spend a few minutes each afternoon (morning, her time) talking through priorities.
1:30-1:45p: Lunch! Before I know it, it’s 1:30p and I’m starving. Usually I scrounge around in the fridge for something quick and healthy and will build a kale salad and sandwich or reheat leftovers.
1:45-6p: Work. Because I work with west coast clients, a bulk of my client calls and an influx of emails are later in my afternoon. I try to take a 10-15 minute break to walk around the block with Philly and get some fresh air but some days, we just take a quick break to the back lawn of our apartment.
6-7:30p: Meet up with a friend for a workout – most days this is either hot yoga or an Orangetheory Class, both within a 5 minute commute of my apartment. On Wednesdays, I try to meet up with a local run club up the street with a handful of friends and business school spouses. As often as possible, I try to work out with a friend as much for the social aspect as the accountability aspect.
7:30-7:45p: Shower and start dinner. Alex is usually still at school until about this time so we tend to eat dinner much later these days. Most nights, we make an effort to eat dinner together and connect but some nights, he is stuck at school until late so we’ll eat separately.
7:45-10:30p: Back to work! Trying to get a few more items crossed off the to-do list to wrap up and prepare for the next day. I try to make a conscious effort to turn off work mode by 10:30p.
10:30-11p: On some lucky nights, Alex also takes a break from school at 10:30p and we watch an episode of something on Netflix (currently: Longmire). If not Netflix, I will spend a few minutes reading articles/blogs, writing my own blog or generally just winding down from the day.
11p: This is generally the earliest I go to bed but it’s often later. As you can gather, there isn’t much free time for Alex and I to spend together so I often sacrifice sleep to hang out for a few minutes.
And then, it starts all over again.
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Overall, I am grateful to have the opportunity to work remotely. There are obvious challenges – lack of interaction, sad ability to sit inside all day without realizing it – but there are also advantages like a quiet work space and built in puppy snuggles.
This week, though, I am beyond excited to spend to take time off from Remote Employee status and spend a full week in Denver with coworkers and fun company events on the agenda. You better believe I will be soaking up every minute of it!
It seems as though kale’s 15 minutes of internet fame might be winding down but, fortunately for the kale industry, my consumption has not waned. I never got into the fancy kale recipes but did find a massaged kale recipe that I will never stop eating.
It’s simple, delicious and takes 30 seconds to make. The hardest part of this recipe is cutting up the head of kale… and I’ve started buying pre-cut kale to make the whole process even more brainless and efficient.
To make a massaged kale salad:
Chop kale into bite sized pieces (or, if you buy the pre-cut kind like me, grab a handful of kale!)
Add to a large bowl and drizzle olive oil, a squeeze of lemon (usually 1/2 of a full lemon or a healthy squirt from a lemon juice bottle) and a few cranks of sea salt.
Be sure your hands are clean and then get to work massaging those leaves. Massage kale for ~1-2 minutes; kale volume will reduce in size, usually by about half. Add additional lemon and/or salt to taste.
Portion out into serving bowls (or eat right from the bowl!) and enjoy! Option to add toppings – get crazy! In this instance, I added crushed peanuts from the pad thai we made for dinner that night as well as leftover cilantro we had in the fridge.
Now that I buy the pre-cut kale, I make single portions at a time more often but when I bought kale that needed to be cut, I would massage the entire batch of kale and stored in a Tupperware in the fridge; the salad keeps well for a few days.
When I knew I would be in Cincinnati for Thanksgiving, I immediately started texting my siblings to find out who else would be in town so I could start peer pressuring at least one of them to run the Thanksgiving Day 10k with me. The last Thanksgiving I spent in Cincinnati, I was able to talk my entire family into doing the 10k with me so I was hopeful I would find a taker. Fortunately for me, my youngest brother, Mike, would be in town and was easily convinced into running with me.
We woke up early-ish on Thanksgiving morning (and looked really tired); fortunately, the race doesn’t start until 9 a.m. and with the holiday, we expected zero traffic getting into downtown for the race at Paul Brown Stadium. We stayed at my mom’s house which is about 15 miles north of the city and it took us 20ish minutes from leaving the house to parking. Thanks to the holiday, there was ample street, surface lot and parking garage parking available.
I love this Thanksgiving Day Race for the same reasons most people love a Turkey Trot/Thanksgiving Day race – working out before a day of eating and sitting, it’s a fun way to get active with people you love, tradition. I also love the Thanksgiving Day Race for it’s sheer size. This year was record-breaking attendance with 16,000 runners coming out to run!
16,000! Good job, Greater Cincinnati!
Sure, it makes it hard to actually race with 16,000 people but knowing 15,998 other people also wanted to run 6 miles on Thanksgiving was awesome. And the sight of turning the corner to run up the hill at Vine street and Liberty street and seeing the street sidewalk-to-sidewalk with people is a spectacular image my brother and I soon won’t forget.
The race started right at 9 a.m. and we started in the 9min/mile pace group. Mike had previously told me, ‘Lynne, I’m not going to run as fast as you. I’d be surprised if I run under a 9 min/mile pace!’ So we opted to line up in the 9 minute pace group. We’d planned to start together and my goal was for us to stick together – if that meant we ran slower than I would if I was running solo, so be it. It was more important to me to spend time with my brother than it was to push myself and race.
Well….it turns out, my self-proclaimed non-running brother is much faster than he expected! After we weaved in and out of walkers and slower runners in the first 1.5 miles, the course opened up a bit and we could hit our stride.
Feeling pretty good, I looked down at my Garmin to check our pace. 8:21! WUT?! I mentioned it to Mike to was a few paces ahead of me – I struggled to keep up with his long-legged stride and chased him much of the race – and he grunted in acknowledgement. We continued on.
The course was really interesting this year; we started at Paul Brown Stadium and began by running through a booming new district in Cincinnati, OTR. The course then ran back towards the river, crossed a bridge into Kentucky, ventured through Newport and Covington (bar/business districts) before crossing a final bridge back into Ohio and ending with a downhill, straight shot finish back at Paul Brown.
Downtown Cincinnati has undergone a transformation in recent years and the race course navigated through the gentrified OTR district. I was most excited for this part of the race as I’ve heard about the interesting bars, restaurants and shops that have gone in but haven’t been in Cincinnati recently to check them out for myself. Running down Vine Street, the main drag in OTR, was neat to be able to at least see the new development. And the Newport/Covington section is always a fun trip down memory lane as we University of Cincinnati kids spent a lot of time at bars in these neighborhoods.
Mike and I continued running under 9 minute miles for the next couple of miles and at mile 4, Mike’s IT Band started seizing up and he was in the pain cave. But did he slow down? Nope. Onward!
At Mile 5.5, the course took us up and over the final bridge to cross back into Cincinnati and shoot us into the finish…I always remember how much I hate this bridge every year as we climb up what feels like a never-ending hill. But in looking at our splits, I’m really impressed that we didn’t slow too-too much! It felt like we were crawling but we maintained our pace.
My brother, Mike, is in red, I’m in the pink tights behind him. Coincidentally, the face in between Mike and I, behind me, is a good friend from college! Just after this photo, we realized we were running next to each other and chatted before sprinting into the finish.
Finished!
Our official time was 57:13, a 9:14 pace. Not too shabby for a not super dedicated training cycle!
We didn’t stick around for finish line food/party because we both were too pooped to walk around the block and wait in a line. We parked ~6 blocks from the start (up a hill! Poor planning on our part) so opted to head back to the car and clean up/relax before Thanksgiving dinner festivities began.
Per usual, this race was extremely well organized, had good crowd support, fun finish line party and interesting course. As many times as I spend Thanksgiving in Cincinnati, I will continue to run this race.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a Philly story this week as this little pup joined our family just a few days before Thanksgiving in 2011.
4 years ago, Alex proposed in July and moved to Colorado in September. In October, I had the first of two knee surgeries – the second slated for December – and when I was back on my feet between surgeries, we did the most logical thing and started to think about growing our family…with a fur-child.
When a young bulldog named Petrie was added to the Denver Dumb Friend’s League website, we knew we’d found our dog. I mean, what are the odds?! I called to set up an appointment for us to meet Petrie that night but, when we showed up, we learned that Petrie would not be our dog – he was bigger than our apartment at the time would allow.
Instead, we looked at a few other dogs, the last of which was Philly. She was the right size, not a puppy, already house + crate trained and very, very timid but the staff assured us that she would warm up to us after a few weeks in her new home. We signed the paperwork and brought our pup home the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take a few weeks for her to warm up; it took nearly 3 years. The early days were frustrating because we wanted so much to connect with this dog, for her to love us as much as we wanted to love her. But whatever happened in her prior life had traumatized her so much that she rarely left her crate, refused to make eye contact with us and lived in an extremely nervous state of mind.
But through the years, we’ve learned what is especially scary to her (large items on the floor, wind blowing through the house, being clipped to her leash without a human on the other end) and have done our best to eliminate these aspects of life for her. We’ve also learned what she does love (being outside, running, car rides and chewing a rawhide) and have done our best to incorporate these as often as possible.
As she’s grown and slowly come out of her nervous shell, we’ve celebrated her progress and cheered her on. After 2.5 years of never making a peep – no barking, no whining – she recently began barking excitedly when we return home. It felt like such a ‘real dog’ milestone – she *does* care and *is* excited her humans are back!
We’ve taken her camping and hiking (her favorite), trail running, canoeing (not her favorite), on long road trips and into hotels. It may have taken her 3+ years to warm up to us but the journey has been so worth it when we compare who she was on the first days and weeks we adopted her to the pup she has grown into now. She is the sweetest, most loyal and obedient dog I’ve ever met and I’m thankful we brought her home and gave her the chance at a new life.
I share this story to not only introduce Philly to this blog but also to offer perspective on adopting a pet. It’s hard work, for sure, no matter what your pet’s prior life story is. Many times in the early days and first year we questioned if she’d ever be the dog we’d dreamed about. There’s only so much treat bribing one can do to encourage bonding with a dog and we’ve realized that, while the treats helped, this dog really just needed time. Time to learn that humans aren’t scary and that it’s okay to let her guard down. (But she still gets lots of treats.)
If you, too, are struggling to connect with an adopted pup, don’t give up hope! Keep showing her love and kindness, keep sneaking her treats and letting her jump up on the bed with you – even if she stays for just a second before hopping back off. It’s working and she’s learning. She’ll get there – she might just a bit more time.
For the first time in a few years, Alex and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving in Cincinnati with our families this year as it’s a short 4.5 hour drive from Pittsburgh. While living in Denver, we usually decided to spend Thanksgiving in Denver and travel home only for Christmas due to limited PTO and crazy expensive flights into CVG.
So what did we do for Thanksgiving in Colorado? We spent one Thanksgiving celebrating ourselves (our first Thanksgiving dinner as a married couple!) and spent the next two with our fellow displaced, mountain-loving friends who organized a backcountry hut trip! As much as we missed being at home with our families, Alex and I loved spending our holiday weekend in the mountains with friends.
But let’s back up. What IS a hut trip, right?! Good question!
Hut trips are the best. Throughout the Colorado mountains, there are a series of hut systems that were borne out of backcountry skiers and mountaineers looking for a way to extend their playtime in the in the winter wilderness in the 1940s and 50s. The largest system, 10th Mountain Division Huts, includes 34 huts and more than 350 miles of suggest trails – several of the huts are close enough to travel between (Green Wilson/Tagert + Lindley, for example) to offer great ski touring options.
Huts usually sleep 10-16 people and require a hike in. Hut trippers will reserve their dates online (many dates now are on a lottery system because of the popularity of hut trips), note the number of people in their group and cross their fingers to get the dates/hut they prefer. Our groups always had 16 people but smaller groups can still make a reservation and will share the hut with another group to book out the hut.
Many hut trippers with AT skis or split boards (snowboard that splits into 2 skis) choose to ‘skin’ up the trail vs. snowshoeing. Skinning feels like Nordic Trekking up a mountain but allows for playtime once the hut tripper arrives at the hut – pull off the skins from your skis, reattach your board and you’ve got touring and downhill fun!
But we snowshoed into the hut, carrying our gear, Thanksgiving dinner and ‘mountain margarita’ ingredients on our backs and in sleds pulled behind us. For some people, this was their first back country experience so not everyone had the gear required to skin into the hut.
This trek into Ben Eiseman Hut from Spraddle Creek Trailhead is not for the faint of heart. It’s a 7 mile hike which feels like eternity with a 50 lb pack on your back. The majority of this hike journeys through rolling meadows and and tricks you into thinking it will be an easy finish. But it’s not. The last 2 miles of are intense switchbacks with significant elevation gain. After already snowshoeing for 6 hours, these last 2 miles feel like literal death. And as the sun is setting and the air is getting colder? Even more discouraging.
(One note: because this group had a few inexperienced folks, we chose Ben Eiseman Hut for it’s lack of avalanche danger; always check CAIC before you venture out in the backcountry but getting to/from Eiseman is an avy free zone.)
But we made it! We found the hut!
Those of us who arrived at the hut first began warming the hut and a few even ventured back to grab packs and relieve those still on the trail.
As you can see, the hut was very spacious and include a number of ‘glamping’ amenities like solar powered lights, a wood burning stove, a sink, outhouses, beds and pillows, books and games. Most (all?) of the huts in the 10th Mountain Division include the same amenities. It’s a perfect trip for anyone who loves to have a fun weekend. Sure, there is sweat equity in the hike but once you’re at the hut? It’s pure mountain house enjoyment.
Because it was Thanksgiving night, we immediately set to making/reheating our Thanksgiving fixings: turkey, sweet potatoes, salad, mashed potatoes and more. Oh, and bacon. We brought at least 12 pounds of bacon on this hut trip, between the 16 attendees. 1 year later and my clothes still have a bacon stench baked in.
Let’s chat food for a hot second. How do you carry in food for a hut trip?!
Our group leaders decided 2-3 people would be responsible for breakfasts and dinners – planning/bringing ingredients, prepping and serving; lunches were on your own (Alex and I brought salami, cheese and tortillas – standard Petre family trail lunch). For Thanksgiving dinner, we split up the different components and each person brought one piece of the meal to share. It worked out perfectly; everyone was invested in the meal and contributed and it was so delicious after 8+ hours of snowshoeing up a mountain.
Thanksgiving night, we ate and retired early to bed but the next morning, we all arose, ready to enjoy our long, mountain weekend.
We played games (so much Farkle!), we built dangerous sledding ramps, we trudged through snow around the hut, and we built even crazier sledding ramps. It was perfect adult recess time. With little cell service, we relied on ‘old school’ ways to entertain ourselves – books, board games, camaraderie and downloaded dance tunes. Lots of singing and dancing.
One of my favorite parts of each day at Eiseman Hut was sunset. The only sounds were pine tree branches woooshing as the wind rushed through.
How lucky was I that I got to spend a long weekend, in the mountains, with crazy mountain-loving friends, witnessing a stunning sunset. Unreal! In that moment, I gave thanks for all things in my life – my husband, my family, my friends, the ability to do these ridiculous mountain adventures, living in Colorado, and so much more.
On Saturday, more of the same – sledding and relaxing, not thinking about our 7 mile hike back out the next day. And the weather was perfect the entire weekend – sunny bluebird days where it was warm in the sun and chilly in the shade.
While others brought in gallons of tequila (not exaggerating) and bagged wine, I brought my Pat’s Backcountry Kit to wash down my dinner with a legit mountain beer. We’ve brought Pats on a few of our mountain adventures and it never fails to delight; drinking an IPA at treeline will never get old.
After dinner on the last night, we busted out more games and Cards Against Humanity. Drinks + Cards Against Humanity = hilarious evening.
When the sun rose Sunday morning, all 16 of us meandered out of bed to help make the remaining 3 packs of bacon and clean up the hut to prepare to leave. We were the first guests of the season so we arrived to a pristine cabin; there are no cleaning crews that come in in between reservations so it’s up to the group to clean the cabin and leave it exactly as they found it. With so many people, it wasn’t that hard to divide and conquer chores to straighten up the hut before heading out.
BFF Nancy and I trying to take a jump photo
The hike our was uneventful and (thankfully) quicker than our climb in – I think knowing exactly where you came from helps, mentally, make the miles tick by faster, too. Before we knew it, we were back at the cars and planning our refueling at a burger bar, halfway between Vail and Denver. No matter that we ate our weight in bacon and snacks over the weekend…we were hungry for food someone else would prepare and clean up!
Sadly, our hut trip group is not making their annual trek this year – too many people traveling or have moved away. Selfishly, I’m a bit relieved because #FOMO is real. As excited as I am to spend the weekend at home with my family next week, I’d be lying if a part of my heart wasn’t missing our annual HutTripsGiving and spending the weekend in the place we love the most – the Rocky Mountains.
