We completed the Homestead Challenge 🙂
It was 17.8 miles, with an elevation gain of 4,500 feet. My ankle held up well and I was able to run quite a bit, so the time cutoff turned out to be a non-issue.
But I already want to go back next year and try for faster 🙂 I had a blast. The time on the trails was so fun! And it was a beautiful day.
As much as I enjoyed the woods and sense of community in the moment, hiking for over six hours also left me with lots of space to think.
I thought about the hard personal stuff from the last few years. The turn to more hiking and less running while trying to conceive, the lost pregnancies, my employer’s selection of a completely heterosexist insurance policy, all the money spent on fertility treatments not covered by that policy, the failed IVF cycles, the grief of not giving our child a sibling like we’d wanted, the ankle injury, the months of not running at all and doing physical therapy. While none of these personal losses compare to the social and political horrors of the last few years, what I was thinking about on the Rachel Carson Trail Saturday was all I had survived in finally getting to the starting line that day.
I thought also about what helped me get there. The friends who trained with me, the family and friends cheering me on virtually, the family in Pittsburgh who hosted me (and made a Buckeye pie that awaited my return!). I thought of my job–pretty much a dream job–where I’ve just earned tenure and get to start writing a book that charts queer paths through Rachel Carson’s letters, archives, and memorials. I thought about our amazing little one, truly the dimpled laughing light of my life, and my amazing spouse, who watched him not only this weekend but during of all my long training hikes and runs.
What a wild adventure this life is, and I’m here for it. All of it.
Walking with Rachel Carson's Letters 