bongkarjp23-idn

[enter-the-phantom]

Out of all my favorite people whose honor I’ve had to defend from thirsty people on Tumblr, I have to say that Teemu Keisteri is the most unexpected.

….I say while reading my own very thirsty posts.

[canyousevmyheavydirtysoul]

Moonlight. (B. Urie x Reader)

For: @Xyilous on Wattpad

Request: this is pretty weird, and you don’t have to do it, but would it be possible to write a werewolf kinda thing? i don’t have an exact story line but maybe the reader and your choice of a band member are friends and go to a party or something but end up staying too late and (band member) has to leave suddenly because of a “family issue” but the reader follows them. you can go from there, that’s all i got. i love your works btw!

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Sipping from the red solo cup in your hand, you loitered in the unfamiliar living room, standing as far away as you could from the hoard of sweaty, drunk teenagers grinding against one another in the middle of the room.

The music was loud enough that you could practically feel your internal organs pound each time the bass would boost, prompting you to slink even further into the shadows.

Parties weren’t generally your scene; the only reason you were even attending this one was because your best friend had begged you to. Something about needing back-up in case things went wrong with this guy that had invited her.

You knew that was a lie (the guy was one of the rare good ones), and she only said it to get you to get out of your room for once instead of being your usual antisocial self, but she was incredibly convincing when she needed to be, so you caved in and agreed to go.

But naturally, she was now nowhere to be found, and you were stuck awkwardly hovering around people you didn’t know, with your only saviour being the drink in your hand.

And it wasn’t even alcohol – it was ginger ale. Perks of being the only one in your friend group with a driver’s licence: you were automatically the designated driver. Always.

So essentially, you were receiving zero enjoyment from being there.

Then, you turned to get another drink, and that all changed.

There, standing by the front door, clad in his customary leather jacket and ripped black skinny jeans – Brendon Urie.

You watched him as he greeted a couple of guys that stumbled passed him, his puffy lips barely twitching into a smile as his free hand tangled into the hair that was falling into his face.

Biting on your bottom lip, you kept your eyes glued on him as you absentmindedly worked on pouring yourself another drink. Brendon had finished greeting, and now stood still as he scanned the room, seemingly in search of someone.

You swallowed harshly as his gaze locked with yours. Maintaining eye contact, you refused to look away as he stared at you, cemented in place on the rug. It was only once you lifted your newly filled cup to your lips that he started moving towards you.

“Hey,” he said once you were close enough to hear him, stopping only two feet away from you.

“Hey.”

Turning to the side, he reached for a beer from the ice bath on the drinks table and twisted the cap off. His movements were slow and subtle, but it still sent a waft of his cologne through the air; you inhaled deeply, loving the smell.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he said, bringing the bottle to his lips and taking a slug.

“Yeah, same here,” you said, frowning lightly as you watched him take another long drink, “Should you be drinking? Didn’t you drive here?”

Shrugging, he pushed his hair back. “I need it.”

“Rough week?”

He nodded as he downed the rest of the bottle, hissing after he swallowed the bitter liquid. “Yeah, and it’s not over yet. Fuck, I hate beer.”

Despite his declaration, Brendon reached out to grab another bottle of the fermented beverage. You raised one brow, lips twitching upwards in amusement.

“Clearly.”

“They never have the good shit at these parties. So suffer I must.”

Tapping your finger against the rim of your cup, you titled your head to the side and looked on as he slugged half of the bottle.

“Your taste is way too refined for the regular folk. I doubt that bourbon and whiskey have ever even passed their lips,” you commented, earning a smirk from the guy in front of you.

“I know what I like,” he said, taking one step closer to you. You could feel his body heat radiating off of his sculpted frame; he was always so warm. “Sue me.”

“Mm.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted a group of girls standing across the room, shamelessly ogling Brendon. One of them ended up meeting your gaze, and she conjured up a filthy look to toss at you, with the rest of her group following suit not too long after.

You couldn't blame them, honestly; you were standing wonderfully close to him, occupying a VIP seat to the viewing of his gorgeous features in all of their glory. Hell, even you were jealous of you.

“Those girls are eye-fucking you,” you informed.

He cocked one brow and scoffed softly. “Do I look like I care?”

You had to fight to stifle your laugh. “That’s not very nice,” you teased.

“Like I said,” he finished off the beer and placed the empty bottle in the nearby trash bag, “I know what I like. And that… is not it.”

“No?”

“No,” he confirmed, shoving one hand into the pocket of his jacket and cocking his head in the direction of the patio door, “Come on. I need a smoke.”

~

With a disgusted look on your face, you leaned against the pillar of the porch with your arms folded, watching in disdain as Brendon retrieved his lighter and lit the cigarette dangling from his lips.

“I can't believe you’re still a smoker.”

Arching his brows, he blew a puff of smoke through his lovely lips. Taking one step backwards, he rested himself against the opposite pillar.

“I’ve been told it makes me hotter. Doesn’t it?”

“Sure. But no one’s gonna care when you die from lung cancer.”

“At least I’ll be a hot corpse.”

Knowing that you were fighting a lost cause, you rolled your eyes and moved to sit on the steps. Inhaling deeply, you held your hands under your knees and looked up at the stars.

“Stay with me, babe,” Brendon remarked, finishing off the cigarette and putting it out against the bottom of his shoe, “Don’t get all ‘existential crisis’ on me. Not tonight.”

You fought hard to supress the smile threatening to spill onto your face. It never ceased to amaze you how well this guy actually knew you.

“That’s not the case every time I look at the stars, you know.”

“Now, now,” he seated himself next to you, close enough so that your shoulders were rubbing against each other, “We both know that’s a lie.”

“Whatever,” you scoffed.

Reaching into the inside pocket of your jacket, you pulled out a metallic flask and unscrewed the cap. After stealing a brief glance at the brown liquid inside, you took a swig, then held it out to Brendon.

He accepted it with a smirk, which turned into a huge grin after he tasted the contents.

“I kinda hoped you’d show up,” you admitted, explaining your reasoning for bringing a flask filled with bourbon to a teenage house party.

“Love of my life,” he sighed dreamily, drinking some more.

You looked at him with an intrigued expression. “Me or the bourbon?”

Brendon just winked at you.

Laughing, you refocused on the night sky, admiring the moon.

“Wow. I can’t remember last time I actually sat outside and looked at the moon,” you said. “I forgot how beautiful it is.”

Your comment resulted in Brendon’s attention shifting to the sky almost instantaneously and as he did so, his face paled.

“Shit. Tonight’s a full moon.”

The hint of urgency in his voice confused you, and you creased your brow as you nodded slowly. “Yeah… just like it is every month….”

“Wait, what day is it?” Brendon asked, looking at you with panicked eyes. “It’s Friday, right?”

You shook your head. “Saturday.”

As if it were possible, Brendon’s face grew even paler.

“Shit!” he hissed loudly, scrambling to his feet. He fished his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. “Fuck, it’s almost midnight,” he muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for you to make out.

“What’s wrong?” you asked in concern.

“I- I have to go,” he said, hurrying down the steps of the porch, heading for the back fence.

“Brendon, wait!” You rushed after him, pulling his arm to try and get him to stop, but he yanked himself away harshly. “What’s going on? Why are you-“

“I just have to go, (Y/N), okay? I’m fine. Don’t worry, just… go home.”

Everything about the way Brendon was acting was unlike his usual self. His confident, cool and controlled, slightly cocky demeanour had ostensibly dissipated, and what was left was someone who could only be compared to a scared, vulnerable child.

It scared and worried you beyond belief, to see Brendon like that, but when you tried to press him for an answer, he just ignored you and ran off.

You watched in complete puzzlement as he scaled the backyard fence with cat-like agility, before dropping to his feet on the other side and disappearing into the forest.

Everything about the last two minutes sent you into a frenzy of worry, and so you did the only reasonable thing you could do in such a situation…

You followed him.

~

Tiny wisps of air from your breath floated into your field of vision as you shone your phone’s flashlight in front of you, directing you through the dark abyss that was the local forest behind the last street of houses in the neighbourhood.

It was dark all around you, and the random noises emanating from further into the woodland expanse did nothing to calm your nerves. The further you dwelled into the forbidding forest, the more you regretted coming in the first place.

Brendon had left no trail after him, making it next to impossible for you to know which way to wander. You'd been walking for close to fifteen minutes now, and for all you knew, you could’ve been going around in circles the entire time.

The only thing keeping you going was the thought that Brendon could be in there somewhere, possibly injured or in need of help, and that was enough to ease any qualms you had.

You continued on, albeit reluctantly, and just when you thought that you had gotten yourself unforgivingly lost, you heard a sound that scared the shit out of you, while simultaneously drawing your attention towards a secluded structure not too far away from you.

A gasp slipped past your lips as you heard the sound again – a howl. You knew that the best thing you could’ve done at that point was to run away; you knew that.

But you didn’t.

You ran, yes, but not away from the building. Towards it.

Adrenaline pumping through your veins and heart pounding so loud that it drowned out all other sounds, you followed the groans and howls coming from inside of the structure.

The front door was rotting away, so getting inside was no problem. Once you were in, you slowed your steps, your common sense finally settling in as you realised how extremely dangerous the current situation was.

You had no idea what was waiting for you around the corner, and the sounds coming from there made you feel as if you didn’t want to find out, either.

Yet, you found yourself walking forward; it was as if your legs were moving out of their own free will, and you couldn't stop them even if you wanted to. Slowly, carefully, you rounded the corner… and your blood ran cold.

There, curled up on the floor, was Brendon.

Well, partly Brendon, partly wolf.

You were frozen in shock, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to even breathe. All you could do was watch, watch as the guy you’d drank bourbon with half an hour ago transform into a creature you’d previously only believed to be mythical.

He was writhing around in pain, torn between his human form and his wolf form, sounds coming from his mouth alternating between animalistic and humanoid.

It took him a moment before he noticed you, but even through the dilated pupils of his yellow wolf eyes, you could see that he recognised you.

Immediately, he scooted back, trying to put as much distance between the two of you as possible, as he attempted to repress the awfulness of his transformation.

“It’s-it’s okay,” you croaked, throat dry, as you carefully edged forward, “It’s okay.”

Brendon howled in pain as his body strained against the chains holding him back; it was obvious that the metal digging into his skin was hurting him, and you found yourself reaching out to help.

Before you could comprehend what you were doing, you had found the keys dangling from one of the wrought iron bars from the opposite cell and unlocked the chains.

Groaning out in protest, Brendon bore his teeth at you. It was a clear attempt to frighten you into running away, but you knew that he was still himself, so you made no such decision.

Unsatisfied over your conscious choice to stay, Brendon lunged at you, deliberately knocking you off of your feet and into the other cell. You landed with a thud, moaning in discomfort as a twinge of pain shot through your arm, while Brendon took advantage of the fact that he was still partly in his human form, and hurriedly locked you in.

Springing up to your feet, you rushed over to the bars, breathing heavily as you looked on. Brendon was fighting back against the transformation, stumbling around and groaning and hissing in pain as he summoned all of the willpower he had inside of him to prevent the wolf from coming out.

It was already incredibly hard to control during his regular monthly routine, when he was alone during the full moon. But now that you were here, and now that there was a possibility that he could hurt you, it was more crucial than ever for him to stop it.

Miraculously, he managed to supress the overwhelming urge to transform, resting his open palms against the cold stone wall as he tried to regulate his breathing and get his spiked heart rate down.

A couple minutes later, he dragged his tired body over to your cell, resting against it as his bruised fingers worked on undoing the lock.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” you whispered, closing your hands over his as he opened the cell for you to step out.

He didn’t answer, only clenched his jaw and avoided your gaze, and you sighed. Your stare raked over his body, and a shudder coursed through you.

“You’ve been locking yourself up?” You traced the welts on his body in horror, red and raw from a full moon of chafing.

Brendon shoved himself away, allowing his temper to take over. “What the hell did you follow me for? Untie me for?” he demanded, glowering at you, “Are you crazy?! I could have killed you!”

“You’d never hurt me.”

Apparently your words were amusing, because Brendon chuckled bitterly. “All well and good but the wolf isn’t me,” he snarled.

“No wonder it’s pissed off if you never let it stretch its legs,” you scoffed, referring to his action of fighting off and resisting the transformation.

“Oh, don’t act like you know anything about it! You found out like five minutes ago!”

“So you’re telling me that you don’t resist the transformation every month?” you cast an accusatory glare his way.

“That’s not-“ he cut himself off, shutting his eyes and inhaling deeply. He counted to three in his head and then opened his eyes again, speaking in a much calmer tone. “You have no idea what it’s like, (Y/N). So don’t come at me with this condescending bullshit.”

“Okay, so tell me what it’s like,” you pressed, inching closer towards him, “Talk to me. I can help you, I can-“

“You can’t!” he exclaimed impatiently, combing his hair back out of frustration, “No one can. This is something that I have to deal with. Me. It’s not your problem.”

His outburst silenced you, and you stood in one place, watching with a frown as Brendon slunk down against the metal bars, letting his head hang down.

“What if I want it to be my problem?”

Brendon looked at you like you had just spoken an alien language. You crossed over to where he was sitting and joined him on the dirt floor.

“In case it wasn’t made clear enough by me risking my life and coming here,” you started, stretching out your legs and hooking one ankle over the other, “I care about you, B. A lot. And this is a seriously heavy situation; I don’t want you to have to deal with it alone, you know? Because you don’t have to.”

Your words hung in the air for a moment before Brendon showed any sign of acknowledgement. The tiniest of smiles spread across his lips, as his hand lifted up to your face. Gently, he tucked your hair behind your ear and traced his thumb over your cheek.

He leaned in nearer to you, close enough to kiss you but not giving you that satisfaction. Instead, he let his lips hover just above your mouth, barely ghosting over your yearning lips and causing your head to spin with anticipation. Just when you thought you couldn’t handle it anymore, he closed the remaining distance between you and captured your lips in an amazing kiss.

“Fuck, I should’ve done that a long time ago, huh?” he breathed after breaking the kiss, laughing softly before leaning in for another short one.

“Mhm,” you agreed, nodding as you deepened the kiss for a couple seconds before pulling back and looking at him with a serious face, “So is that a yes? You’ll let me help you?”

Brendon sighed, running his hands through your hair. “You’re not gonna give up, are you?” You shook your head. “Fine. But you have to promise me that you won’t untie me ever again, alright? It’s not safe.”

“I promise.”

“Even when we’re married.”

You nearly choked on the air in your throat. You’d just shared your first kiss a few seconds ago and he was already talking about marriage?

“Who says I’m gonna marry you?” you gave him a strange look.

“Please,” he snorted, taking your arm and rolling up your sleeve to reveal the tiny birthmark shaped as a half-moon on your forearm, “I imprinted on you.”

“You what?” you gawked.

“Imprinted. It’s when-“

“Yeah, I know what it is. I’ve read Twilight,” you held up a hand to stop him, shaking your head as you stammered in disbelief, “But wait… you imprinted on me, but waited two years to tell me about it? Or to even ask me out?”

Brendon rolled his eyes at your overdramatizing. “We don’t have control over when we imprint and on who – if it were up to me, I would’ve waited. This shit is dangerous, and I didn’t want to drag you into it so early. But because you’re a nosy little-”

“Watch it,” you warned.

“-you kinda threw my entire plan off.”

“Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yeah,” you gave a prideful smile, before realizing something and creasing your brow, “So this means that I’m, like, your soulmate?”

“Yeah,” he smirked lazily, “Remember when I said that I know what I like? Wasn’t kidding.”

You laughed incredulously. “And that means when you said ‘love of my life’ earlier, you were talking about me.”

“Oh, no, I was talking about the bourbon.”

_______________________________

Thank you for reading x

 Taglist:

@darknessdancing  @raversam @username-number-01834 @untilyouburnallofthewitches @underscoredarcy  @justawriterinprogress @anotherwriterinprogress @sheridans-dynamos

[2spry]

Minnesota Voyageur 50 Race Recap!

Running your first Ultra is such a journey, so I am going to start from the beginning. Forgive me if this is a little long. I’ll try and keep it as short as I can. :)

I had been eyeing the Minnesota Voyageur for a bit, but wasn’t sure if it was going to work out with summer schedules. I decided since I didn’t know, it was better to back off of training rather than to run myself into a rut. Ha! If I had only known that it would work out… hindsight is 20/20. So when I clicked the register button one hour before the online registration deadline, I knew that I was completely under trained, which helped me be resigned to the fact that I may not finish. I had less than 48 hours before I would be picking up my race packet and heading out for the pre-race ritual of a good pasta meal. 

The Day Before Race Day

What a crazy day… I spent the morning running around town trying to pick up last minute things like salt tabs, gels, snacks, etc for the race so I had multiple options if my stomach went south. My friend Hannah was making awesome homemade bars as well so I would be set! Then it was just waiting time for my husband to be able to leave from work. We took off mid afternoon with a 4.5 hour drive ahead of us which wasn’t bad. We hit Bemidji and the truck started to make a loud clicking. Classic… It never fails that something goes wrong with our cars during road trips. After pulling over to check, it sounded like the AC was going out. Not a good thing when its supposed to be blazing hot during your race. But at least everything else was ok so on we went, hoping it would last until after the race.

We made it to packet pickup with a few minutes to spare, got my shirt and race bag, walked around a bit, and headed to Duluth for pasta dinner. Everything in town was packed!!! We had to wait an hour to eat and my head was pounding. Great, I thought, nothing like getting a mild migraine the night before your race. I hoped it would go away after dinner but I wasn’t so lucky. Dinner was excellent though and the view was beautiful. We finally got to the hotel and I started to put all my stuff together, getting to sleep around midnight. An hour later my head was just insane! I got up to take an advil and tried to lay down again. All in all I probably got 2hours of sleep.

Race Day

3:30 alarm! Head still pounding. Nothing I could do except get up and get moving. Shower, get ready, make my staple bulletproof coffee, and off to the race! I really didn’t have time to think. I was super nervous and excited, but a little concerned about my headache. I just hoped it would go away. We arrived, parked, and stopped to pray for the day. There were a ton of people and a lot of repeat racers. Some have done it over 10 times and I believe up to 30!!! After the announcements it was just a few minutes before we were off and running.

It was 6am and into the woods we went! I stuck myself smack dab in the middle of the pack and was just listening to everyone talk. Then I heard someone yell “I just made it to 10,000 steps!!! Woohoo!” and everyone started to laugh.

Hurry up and wait. We were all in a single file line on a narrow rocky trail with nowhere to go. This actually lasted awhile and would happen again. I thought to myself, this is probably good so I don’t go out too fast. I looked down at my watch and noticed that it was not keeping track of miles or pace correctly at all. When I got to the first aid station my watch said 1.18 miles where it was supposed to be 3.44. Uh oh. I knew then that I would not have any pace or mileage for the rest of the day. So I just kept track of the time to get to the zoo to make cut off.

At this point I had not used my sunglasses at all and put them on top of my head. Big mistake. As we were crossing the river, they fell off, then I fell into the river after them. LOL! It was a refreshing cool off and I had a good laugh. First fall down, more to go I was sure. I had to pass off my phone though since it had gotten wet which meant no music. Bummer.

I’m not going to go through every section, but I do want to talk about the infamous power lines. I tried to read all about the race before I went, and everyone talked about them. Super steep, super hot, really muddy, etc. All of it was correct. You could literally stand, reach out touch the hill. After making it through this, I knew going back in the heat of the day would be quite interesting and brutal.

I’d finally made it to a runnable section so I took off. Just a few seconds later I was sprawled out on the trail! Fall number two! I had clipped a taller rock and went down. Took a second to make sure I wasn’t injured, got up with a few scrapes and bruises, dusted myself off and kept on truckin’! Falling is just par for the course in trail running, and honestly it is a fear of mine when going downhill. So having two falls and being ok really helped me to relax a bit. Sounds strange but it did.

I made it to the ZOO turnaround in 5hrs 39 min. YES! This was well before the cut off, but I had to pee so incredibly bad. I knew there were bathrooms somewhere, but had no idea I’d have to run a quarter mile to get to them! Should’ve gone in the woods. Oh well, I handed off my water bottles to get filled by my amazing crew, and trotted off. Came back, downed a bunch of salted watermelon, oranges, and a couple small bars. This aid station stop was by far the longest of the day at 30min, so next time the woods it is! Oh, and my headache was still there, just slightly better.

Nausea was setting in. My flavored water just became completely unsatisfying and was making me feel sick. Part of this was because it was so warm. I tried adding ice to it but it was too late. The flavor just wasn’t cutting it. Thankfully my crew brought me an aloe drink! My salvation! I drank half of it and then went to try some coke and took an electrolyte pill. It all went down great! So I grabbed my 2 ice cups, put one down the sports bra and one in my hat and off I went! (this was my ritual for staying cool at almost every aid station btw). I started feeling better within minutes. Thank goodness! At the next aid station my color was back, and nausea was gone. I finished the rest of the aloe drink, had some more coke, salted watermelon, and pickles. Weird combo I know, but it worked! Also, my headache finally dissipated, only took over 7 hrs!

I was pumped to be going into the power line section feeling good because I already knew what I was in for, and it was going to be even hotter! Chaffing was becoming an issue though. It was really bad and I felt it with every step. I just hoped I could deal with it the rest of the race. I was so soaked that the body glide wasn’t working anymore. (I cannot imagine how bad it would have been had I not used it though.) Guess I’ll just have to grin an bare it. Power lines here I come!

I thought for sure I was going to lose about three toenails the downhills were so steep! I was being overly cautious because if you fall your going all the way down. There is nothing to grab on to. Thankfully I made it through quicker than I thought, but I got really really hot. From my ice ritual to water being poured down my back, I was able to cool down a bit before heading off again. 10 miles to go.

Oh no… the nausea was coming back and we were hitting the road section. Ugh… the road felt like a thousand needles going through my feet!!! I was so thankful when I hit the trail again, amazing what a difference pavement felt like. I really slowed down here which I wasn’t happy about, but I just kept thinking “your only goal was to finish and you are going to do it!”

I hit the second to last aid station and I told my husband I wasn’t feeling good again and he could tell. I tried everything from gummy worms, to coke, ginger ale, salted watermelon, pickles and pickle juice, but it was my B-Line energy gel that ended up helping the most. It was another longer stop, but at this point I knew I was going to make it and I didn’t want to be stupid and do something that would compromise that. So I fueled the best I could and headed out.

It took awhile to feel better and I really didn’t begin to until I hit the last aid station. Again, I was really thankful for this as the last 3.4 miles are super rocky, rooty, and difficult. I had heard of people having to drop due to rolled ankles so I took my time. I did not want to DNF with only a few miles to go. I began to get a second wind and was able to start moving faster. I came to the final stretch of road and asked how far I had left, only a half mile! I couldn’t believe it! I picked up the pace and rolled out! I rounded the final corner to see the finish line. I heard someone say “remember this moment!” Remember this moment I would. I had a huge smile on my face and was fighting back tears. When I crossed the finish line I heard a volunteer say “that smile says it all”. Yes it does. I had finished. My husband, my friend, and the pups were all waiting for me. I didn’t know what to say. I was without words. Speechless isn’t something I thought I would be. I have seen many ultra finishes and many different emotions. You will never know how you will feel until you do it. I thank the Lord for the ability to be able to run and to have been lucky enough to experience an ultramarathon. Right away I knew I would do another in a heartbeat and was sad it was over. 12hrs 22min and change.

Post Race

I was absolutely filthy and drenched! So I hit the showers. I was already having difficulty walking to to horrible chaffing, but I had no idea just how bad it was. IT WAS VERY BAD! I was racking my brain on what in the world I was going to do. I can’t even hardly take a step and oh the burning!!! I hobbled very slowly back to our spot on the grass to watch the rest of the finishers come in. I asked for help getting the pasta dinner from Hannah because it would have taken me forever to go there and back, plus I was starting to not feel very good. I needed food. So I sat and ate slowly while hanging out with my peeps and fur babies. I tried to shift positions and I thought how am I going to do this!!! Then an idea… Desitin cream! I gotta get to a drug store.

We didn’t book a hotel that night because we thought we would drive back. Unfortunately none of us really got any sleep the night before and the fatigue was setting in. So we called all around the area and everything was booked. Ugh… we got up, and slowly walked to the pickup. Well I slowly walked to the pickup. LOL! We drove to the grocery store, got Desitin and hit up a gas station. I walked as best I could to the bathroom with some pretty hilarious stares. Destin cream to the rescue! And rescue me it did. I don’t know what I would have done without it. Side note… don’t get it on your clothes. It is difficult to near impossible to get out!

We drove out of Duluth and guess what… the AC broke! So glad it lasted during the race or it would have been a miserable time for my crew and the pups! We kept calling hotels to see if we could get a cancellation along the way home. We actually finally found one about an hour from Bemidji. SLEEP was calling all our names. I still couldn’t believe it was over, but I was excited to find another ultra to do and apply what I had learned to training and racing. Until next time…

***Huge thanks to all the volunteers and fans at the race. You guys rocked! My crew was so amazing I really don’t have words. They were so on top of it and I cannot thank them enough. A shout out to my peeps at Jaybird Sport and Road Runner Sports for their support and supplying of amazing gear for both training and racing, to Altra running and Injinji for keeping my feet happy, to Salomon for making a race vest that doesn’t bounce or chafe, and to Os1st for their arm sleeve protection! I feel so blessed to have been able to run this race and cannot wait to try another… maybe even further!

Your Running Friend,

Trish