"she insisted running was romantic"

you can find me somewhere in the mountains 

[musingsoflulu]

Snagged some permits for a Broken Top loop today 🥰

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Solo parenting weekend while Logan visits family in Michigan.

Parked down on the river trail and ran to the Bend Pet Parade for the 4th. Then went over to Cody’s for a BBQ and baby ate his weight in pigs in a blanket.

Today we hiked by the river and spent about 20 minutes just throwing rocks. And popped over to Penn’s daughter’s birthday party in the afternoon, complete with ladybug temporary tattoos, a kiddy pool, and a zebra/praying mantis rainbow cake.

[musingsoflulu]

✨ Girls Summer Run Camp 2026 ✨

Spent the past week down in Bishop exploring the Sierras. Every run included glitter, every night included ice cream and/or cake, and every shower included Claire’s hairballs. We “ran” lots of “cruiser California carpet,” skinny dipped in an alpine lake, spent all of Saturday after our run glued to the TV watching Western States, and had six straight days of completely unfiltered conversation. Cup is filled to the brim!

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Weekend on the coast!

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Long run dream kind of stuff, people!

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How long was your maternal leave and did your husband get any paternal leave?

This is starting to feel like an interrogation and set up for a gotcha moment, so I’m done answering questions on this!

[musingsoflulu]

Hello, what do you do for a living?

I’m a clinical pharmacist and manage patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as other chronic disease states.

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Outfit dump over the past week! I went on a little shopping spree for more work tops because all I had was t-shirts. It’s been fun to put more effort into my clothing instead of just wearing scrubs everyday (although I will surely continue to wear those too)

[musingsoflulu]

Would you mind sharing what made you decide to sleep train? :)

Sure! My husband and I both work full time jobs and regular good sleep is important for both of us to be the best parents to baby and the best partners to each other. I also work in healthcare and patients’ lives are in my hands.

It’s also hard to say if this is just my son’s temperament or in part to sleep training, but he is an amazing self soother and I think that’s a valuable skill!

[musingsoflulu]

Hi, did you sleep train?

Yep! We used the Ferber Method at about 5 months. He sleeps 12 hours through the night and looks forward to bedtime and nap time.

[musingsoflulu]

hey Laura, how did you race go? I hope you had fun!

Hi! I kept meaning to post about it but was waiting for race photos to come back and then they did and I just didn’t get around to it oops!

A quick recap!

First of all- I have the best friends? My pals here knew I was very nervous getting back into racing. I received several good luck texts and Cody and Logan were texting/tracking me during the race. I got the sweetest video of Logan and baby wishing me luck. Claire sent me a care package with our favorite frozen mac and cheese (dirty mac for the Mac) and nerds clusters and Dani got me flowers and loaned her javelina bracelet for good luck (it said pony up bitch).

The race was so well run and I loved the local feel. This is the only race the directors put on each year so it’s a total labor of love and has a long history! This was its 30th year running. The weather was gorgeous, the trails were buttery, and I got to share several miles with Penn and Alli! Penn and I kept leap frogging the entire race. Overall, I felt really strong and ran a fair amount during climbs. Penn did pull ahead when I started experiencing some right leg cramps around mile 27. Luckily, salt tabs seemed to be a quick fix and I ended up catching her with about a half mile to go and we crossed the finish line together!

This was actually only my second official 50k race. When I ran in my first in 2018, I managed a second place female finish. Funny enough, I squeaked out a PR by about 5 minutes on this course (which was very similar in elevation gain to my first), so that felt like a huge win. But I did feel a little disappointed with how I stacked up competitively in this race (which is to say not at all haha!). My coach and I did talk through some of those feelings and I’m feeling fine about it now. This was a really strong performance for my first race postpartum and I put in a very solid and consistent training block and landed a PR. In the end, I do think my strengths lie in longer distances (👀). It’s funny that the 50k distance, which is still so long, attracts such speedy people but it does! And this race was far more competitive than my first one I did.

Here are a few race day photos! Highly recommend this race (Mac Forest 50k)

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Another gorgeous Memorial Day weekend camp trip in the books 😍

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Recent happiness that doesn’t include K’s face (which consume most of my photos)

Bedtime stories, 10 year anniversary ring upgrade (!!!), race smiles, evening walkies, spring trail runs, and these cutie stud earrings that Tay Tay got me for Mother’s Day 🥹

[musingsoflulu]

so exciting!! I’d love to hear about how training is going and what it’s looking like right now, especially with a young child, if you feel like sharing.

Sure! This training block has just been all about consistency. Very minimal epic or exciting long runs, with the exception of a few beautiful Smith Rock days. It’s been a lot of 45 min lunch runs during my work day and squeezing in the long runs relatively close to town on Saturday and Sunday mornings. One day I did like… four repeats on a local butte to get in vert and miles 😂

Logan and I will plan our weekends ahead of time. For instance, if he wants to ski or mountain bike with his friends and a Saturday works best, then I will move my long run to Sunday. Or if I have planned my long run with friends, he will modify his plans accordingly. I will say- I had hopes that maybe I could do a 50 miler this year but a 50k feels like the max distance I want to train for at this point. I’ve been consistently putting in about 40-45 miles a week for the past 4-6 weeks and that does feel like the absolute max amount of time I want to be spending running right now without sacrificing more family time and more sleep. Because I get out midday during my work day, I’m not having to sacrifice sleep or family time in the evenings. So that’s made training feel more manageable.

I’ve been really proud of the consistency with which I’ve showed up this training block and I’m feeling excited and ready to race and try hard again!

Oh! I’ve also been dedicating one day a week to strength training (this was weightlifting and weighted vest exercises back in the winter and has now shifted to mobility work). I’ve also been doing 50-75 modified push-ups and a 90 sec plank every day (with a handful days I forgot) since 1/1! It take 5 min out of my day but I feel it’s actually made a difference in how strong my running feels. Idk!

[musingsoflulu]

What are you training for Laura!

I’ll be running a 50k first weekend of May! First big race back since 2022 🥲

[musingsoflulu]

Peak week lined up with Tess visiting!

✨ We signed up for a 5k and I worked it into my medium long run on Saturday

✨ We squeaked out a third and fourth overall female finish and then I had to finish out my run 😂

✨ Took our families to High Desert Museum. Baby boy loves seeing the turtles and otters there

✨ I slogged out 20 miles on tired legs today. I finished Broken Country on audiobook and sobbed mid-run

✨Nothing like finishing out peak week, desperately wanting a nap but still needing to parent a toddler 😂

[musingsoflulu]

Happiness on my camera roll lately