Who Is?: Super Kate

I actually tried to write a post like this a few years ago and failed miserably. Back then pretty much everything about me was defined in terms of others…my roles in life and the things I did. Jeff’s wife, Daniel/Nathan/Jacob’s mother, my students’ teacher. If you asked me what I did outside of those roles, I’d tell you, “Um….I read a lot.” I didn’t have my own “thing”. We watched a lot of sports and movies. We camped. While I liked to do all of those things, I was just fitting myself into what my husband enjoyed. I can’t blame him; when he’d ask me what I wanted to do I didn’t know. I wasn’t so much an individual as a mirror.


We subscribed to National Geographic Adventure and Outside magazines. I read them cover to cover, dreaming of a life of adventure that seemed as out of reach as a date with Brad Pitt. Back then, I saw life mostly in terms of what I couldn’t do. I was afraid to try new things. Without someone to lead the way I hung back, bored but comfortable with the familiar. And then, at 35, I fell in love. Yes, I was already married, but it’s ok because I fell in love with bicycling.

Thanks to a lousy sense of direction I accidentally rode my new bike 15 miles, a distance that seemed astonishing to me at the time. That ride – to another town! – was the first time I ever understood the sense of accomplishment that comes with the journey. 15 miles turned into 30, then 60 and later 100. Later came the decision to train for a 5K with my sister-in-law. I didn’t even like running; it took almost a year before I’d call myself a runner, but I did love the challenge. Running friendships led me to adventure racing and a whole host of new things: orienteering, mountain biking, paddling, bushwhacking, racing through the night.

Somewhere in all of this, I made a shift that has truly changed me life. Instead of saying “I can’t”, I started wondering, “Can I?” And for me, the process of answering that question matters infinitely more than the actual answer.

Can I run a marathon? Yes.
Can I race for 24 hours straight? Yes.
Can I rappel for the first time ever at night? Yes.
Can I ascend a 100-foot rock wall? Eventually.
Can I ride my bike 200 miles in a day? Not yet.

I don’t like to fail, but I’m no longer so afraid of failure that I refuse to try things that call to me. My circumstances haven’t changed, but my world is much bigger. I’m still a wife and a mother and a teacher and a reader…and a runner and mountain biker and adventure racer. I like a good challenge, can often be found jumping in over my head, and can probably be talked into joining your hairbrained scheme. I’m living the same basic life, but now it’s filled with adventure and adventurous people, and when I say “I can’t”, it’s most often to tell you “I can’t wait!”

I’m Kate. Who are you?
You can read more about Super Kate on her blog by clicking here.

Trail Maintenance: The Honeysuckle Horror!

For a long time my Metro Tri Club friends and I have been using the GORC trails out at SIUE for running, mountain biking, and a couple of us have even been geocaching out there.  Last year the club decided make donation to GORC to show our appreciation for all the hard work they put into maintaining the trails for people like us to use.  This year however we were told that while the money was greatly appreciated what they really needed was boots on the ground to actually do the work.  We organized a crew and had a plan.  The only hitch in that plan was that yesterday our scheduled work day was rainy and very wet.  I say it was a hitch but it actually worked out pretty well as we were the only people out on the trails we got to work uninterrupted.  Even with the foul weather we had about 10 club members show up, which was great.

I spent 4 hours out there cutting and removing honeysuckle which is very pernicious in that it will grow quickly and over take the trail.  I am so sick of honeysuckle, I can't express it right now.  we got a lot of work done but there are still miles to go.  The best part is we get to do it all over again once we are finished.  Trail maintenance is a never ending task like Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill.

Thanks to GORC for all of the hard (often times thankless) work you do on all of the trails in the area.  If you are a trail user check to find out who maintains the trails in your area and ask how you can help.

I was so busy working that I didn't get any pictures but Super Kate (who was also super late) did click on the picture below to read her post and see some pictures of what we were up to.

Giving Back

The trails out at SIUE have been my training ground for the last few years.  I've run and mountain biked them until I know every twist, turn, root, and stump like the back of my hand.  Although sometimes it seems like just yesterday when I couldn't turn around without getting lost out there.  To say that I am thankful for this trail system is an understatement.  So when I heard that the Gateway Off-Road Cyclists were having a workday in my backyard I jumped at the chance to lend a hand.

Actually I had been harboring a fair amount of guilt for not helping out in the past.  GORC holds a couple of workdays out there during the year and I have always had a scheduling conflict, until now.  I was informed about the workday at the January Metro Tri Club meeting and made sure my schedule was clear.  One of our members always makes the argument that since we use the trails so much  for training we should help maintain them as well.  Agreeing was a no brainer.  GORC is a volunteer organization that maintains many trail systems in the area.  I'm not sure how many exactly lets just call it more than 10 less than 20.  They are faced with a tremendous amount of work and the only compensation is being able to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

We worked hard for about 3hours with almost 40volunteers 12of which were Metro Tri Club members including fellow bloggers Mike and Kate (visit Kate's blog to see pictures of the trail in progress).  We used tools I had never heard of before.  Pete our crew leader told us to grab a couple hazel hoes, a fire rake, and some pulasky's.  "Excuse me but I have no idea what you just said".  He explained it and we were on our way to the section our group was to work on.  We did some raking, grubbing, benching, and clearing., Yeah, I didn't know what benching and grubbing were either.  At the end of the day we had completed a brand new half mile section of trail, and I will admit that when I ran that section the next day I was proud of what we had built.

Seriously, do not use this as a guide.

If you use the trails in your area find out who maintains them and see if you can lend a hand because as Pete said "it helps your trail Karma to give something back".