Finish Lines

There are a lot of start lines in our lives. 

Birth, jobs, relationships, friendships, races, projects. 

It only stands to reason that there are finish lines, too.

Some are our own, but some we're only witness to. We may not have seen our grandmother's start line, but we've probably seen her finish line.

Some are worth mourning. Some are worth celebrating. Some, you feel nothing but relief.

In terms of racing, I've seen 125 start lines and 120 finish lines. Of those five missed finish lines:
- four I'd make the same choice on missing them again.
- one I regret.
- one which was nothing but relief.
- one where I still wonder "what if."

(Note: the "what if" and the regret are not the same race.)

Some finish lines in life blindside you. The end of friendships, divorces, death. Some leave you feeling relief; others bitterness; others joy. Some leave you feeling all of the possible feels you can feel.

The announcement of Skirt Sports' possible finish line is doling out the latter - feeling all the feels. 

I understand and respect Nicole DeBoom's decision to explore another path in her life. 

I'm deeply saddened at the potential loss of a brand that has been there for me for 13 years; one that I can know automatically if I purchase something that it will fit. 

I (okay, really B) feel a bit of relief that I no longer have to get creative with closet and drawer space to fit in even more Skirt. 

I also feel relief that Skirt is so well made that I will continue to have those pieces for another 13 years if I so choose to since I know they'll last that long. 

I feel anger at the circumstances that forced their hand while simultaneously understanding that this decision would probably have come regardless eventually, but maybe just not. right. now. 

I rejoice in the friends and connections I have made, knowing that those won't just go away because the clothing brand connecting us might.

I don't even know how to describe one of my feelings - of what I might miss out on, whether it be some amazing new fabric or print or product, or even new friend that might now not be made. Not fear, not angry ... impotence? Frustration? Sadness of what will never be? Mourning of lost possibility?

My first Skirt was a shirt, and I wrote a poem back in 2018 about what that one simple item of clothing meant. I converted to Skirt fully in 2010. I became an ambassador back in 2015, a captain in 2016, a model in 2018. I attended retreats each year I was an ambassador (this year not withstanding)(dang COVID-19)(2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019).

I'm thankful a friend talked me into doing Tri for the Cure in 2007, not only for sparking my torrid love affair with triathlon, but for unintentionally teaching me about Skirt Sports (the apparel sponsor).

I'm thankful for the silly SkirtChaser series that Brandon and I decided to run in 2008 which got me my first actual Skirt.

I'm thankful for the wide range of products and awesome patterns that got me sucked in.

I'm thankful I took the plunge and introduced myself to Nicole at the Tri for the Cure expo in ... either 2011 or 2012.

I'm thankful for the reboot of the ambassador program (the current one to this day) and for them accepting me in 2015.

I'm thankful for that first retreat in part for introducing me to Kim and Jake's.

I'm thankful for their faith in me and choosing me to be a captain in 2016.

I'm thankful for the countless connections I have made through Skirt.

I'm thankful for the community they gave me at a time in my life when I deeply needed one.

I'm thankful for them pushing me out of my comfort zone in so many little ways that I didn't even realize it was happening at the time.

I'm thankful for their trust in me to become one of their Real Woman models, and thankful I ignored my fears to even model a sports bra.

I'm thankful I was able to honor the company's 15th anniversary by wearing the newest iteration of the Race Belt Skirt at IRONMAN Wisconsin, the race Nicole won while wearing the very first Skirt prototype.

I'm thankful that while I wasn't there at Skirt's start line, I stumbled upon their race, and will be able to celebrate with them at their finish line. 

Nicole, thank you. Thank you to you and to everyone I've known at Skirt HQ over the years - Sarah, Noelle, Keri, Jen, Chris, Amy, Jenelle, Rebecca, and so many others I'm forgetting (not to mention Tim and Wilder). I feel blessed to have stumbled upon you and become a teeny tiny part of your story.

2018 Skirt Sports Ambassador Retreat

This past weekend was the annual Skirt Sports Ambassador retreat and it was bigger than ever. Mostly because we have way more ambassadors than usual, but seriously. 200 women came out and it was an amazing weekend.

Friday, as usual, was the cocktail reception at the store. With so many people, however, we actually had to use bracelets and get liquor licenses and take over a parking lot. Crazy, I know.


So much wine.


Eating all the food.


See? So many Skirts.


Looking the other way.

Friday night was mostly social, but we did have Nicole talk as well as Noelle. Noelle shared a beautiful thing from Lisa Young-Morrissey, a fellow ambassador who recently passed away from cancer.



Skirt did some awards - people who most represent the brand's core values as well as some other random things. We were also treated to a fashion show from the future (with Fall 2018 product as well as a super sneak peek into Spring 2019) to get us all excited for what's coming next (and it is good!). Mostly, it was a great time to drink and eat and reconnect with old friends and make a lot of new ones.


Shenanigans with one of the empty magnums.

Saturday, we took over an event center in Westminster. We had three amazing speakers - Kara Berryman Burns, a fellow ambassador with an amazing story (featured on Nicole's podcast as well!), Mirna Valerio, a.k.a. the Mirnavator (here on Run This World with Nicole DeBoom), and Colleen Cannon, former pro triathlete and founder of Women's Quest (and oh hey, also on the podcast). Since we like to move, there was also some yoga sprinkled in.

There was a hike afterward too, but I skipped it due to having so much crap going on at home. I regret it a lot, though.


Taking over.


You can take the girls out of Brooklyn, but you can't take the Brooklyn out of the girls. Mirna on the left and Latoya on the right.

We finished everything up with the Skirt Sports 13er (and 10K and 5K) on Sunday as well as a post-race brunch, but I'll get to that in my race recap post.

******

I do want to give a shout out to all of the AMAZING companies that sponsored our retreat because it definitely would NOT have been possible without them!

- Kendall-Jackson and La Crema for the wine (and La Crema has one of my favorite Pinot noirs anyway ...).
- Ska Brewing for beer (which everyone else enjoyed immensely ...).
- The Tea Spot for tea Saturday morning as well as goody-bag stuff on Friday.
- Justin's Nut Butters for nut buttery goodness Saturday morning (and a goody bag insert).
- Noosa Yoghurt for helping to feed us Saturday morning.
- Kim and Jake's Cakes for ALL OF THE CAKE all weekend. I love Kim and Jake's. So much.
- Alpine Start Foods for providing us with coffee Saturday morning.
- MAD Greens for our delicious lunch on Saturday.
- Illegal Pete's for our taco bar dinner on Friday.
- Mychelle Dermaceuticals for the sunscreen in our goody bags.
- Boulder Clean for our mini detergent samples.
and, of course ...
- Skirt Sports for being so utterly fabulous of a company that I am so proud to represent.

Race #4 of the Season: BolderBOULDER 10K

I totally forgot to do a race goals post last Friday ... but come on, for the BolderBOULDER, I don't race it. My goals were as such:

- all the fun
- plus 1:30
- cupcake

I hit every single one. Score. 

Thank jeebus it was a casual race, too, as race morning was a shitshow. We always like to get up to Boulder before the roads close down and ideally wanted to leave the house no later than 5:15am. Yeeeah, we woke up at 5:30am. Out the door five minutes later.

(I think 35 minutes is a new personal record from getting to our house from Boulder and I didn't even really speed. Much. Promise.)

We did manage to get parked at the 29th Street shopping center just fine and got some breakfast at Starbucks. We headed down prior to the first wave to ideally see our friend Nic before she went off, but unfortunately missed her.

I got a text from Katie as we were considering starting in my wave (had to go off in mine since B's wave was earlier and I didn't want to get DQed for starting ahead of my wave) and ended up waiting for them. All in all, it ended up being a crew of 11 (10) of us that started the race.


Our usual pre-race selfie ... with Russ photobombing us.

From then on ... it was all the shenanigans. Seriously. Beer and slip 'n' slides and dancing and watermelon and Doritos and Otter Pops and cupcakes and bacon and swings and all the laughs.



Beers after the first slip 'n' slide.


I was totally jealous of Katie and the swing last year so I had to get on it this year.


Saw Skirt buddy Deb so had to get a picture with her! And we're apparently both in the same Free Flow Tank ...


Full-size freeze pops whaaaaaaat?


Hitting up the second slip 'n' slide.


8 out of 10 of the crew. Most with cupcakes. Mmm cupcakes.

All in all ... I have run a few half-marathons faster than I "ran" this BolderBOULDER, but in terms of fun? Totally a new PR.

Final Stats:
Time: 2:15:47.75*
482/496 division (F34)
21918/22953 gender
42995/44757 overall (as best I can tell)

* I rounded up. Also, somehow, despite starting and finishing the same time as the husband, my finishing time is like a minute slower. What sense that makes, I don't know.

Race #1 of the Season: Donut Dash 5K

 ... because I run for doughnuts. 

This was a race that I got a lot of emails for and basically threw on the schedule because it looked fun, and fun is what I am about this year. I was okay with it even being the same weekend as the Rockies race because I figure I'd do what I did - race this one easy, and the Rockies race for serious.

On the plus side, I nailed every one of my race goals. 

- have fun. Oh yes, I had fun. 


Pre-race. Yes, I'm wearing my ancient Skirt "I run for donuts" shirt. And non-technical donut socks (over tech socks).


Mid-race selfie.

Goal? Hit.

- take it easy. My toes were the only things that hurt after this race (okay, so the two pairs of socks might not have been the smartest idea). However, trying to stay at a slower pace is surprisingly hard, but we were successful.

- plus 30 min. I even got plus-33 minutes. Awww yeah.

It's weird lining up in the second wave of a 5K for "over 10 minute milers," since I try not for that to be me on a typical basis ... but today wasn't a typical day.

We ran the whole first mile, purposefully checking the Garmins and making sure we weren't going too fast. 10:15 pace? Whoa there, back it off, no need to sprint. We'd surge occasionally to get around walkers/large groups, but other than that, took it easy.

It is frustrating, though, that even going at a slower pace, I can't maintain it, breath-wise, for a full 5K. Someday I will be able to do that again. Needless to say, we took some walk breaks. Which weren't all that frustrating, if I'm being honest with myself, as it was just in keeping with the easy peasy theme of the day.

Place-wise, even though I wasn't really trying, I still ended up in a decent position ... proving to me that I really need to probably stick to a single sport.

Final Stats:
Time: 34:06
53/131 AG (F30-34)
229/711 gender
434/1082 overall

Just about an 11:00/mile. Perfect.

Donuts were Safeway (and Krispy Kreme) ... both of which I don't particularly like, so I only even ate one donut post race. But, I did get a medal, so there's that.

WRtW March Event

Women Run the World events at Skirt Sports are now every other month so last week was this month's event.

It was a touch different in terms of format - we didn't have a speaker (well, kinda) - we had food!

No, seriously. We had Amy Kimoto Kahn, who runs the Easy Peasy Japanesey blog and wrote the cookbook, "Simply Ramen." She spoke a bit on her background and then demonstrated "sushi tacos," an even simpler way of doing hand rolls.


Amy talking. Slightly smaller crowd as we had a $5 sushi fee.


Cheat note: for the tuna, you don't need sushi grade. Yellowfin from Whole Foods works just fine. Freeze and chop!

The best part of all of this, of course, was the food.




Appetizers. Some edamame/hummus mixture on a honey rice cracker. SO GOOD.


Close-up of one of my sushi hand roll/tacos. This one was with crab. I may have eaten many ...


Dessert. Some adzuki bean/coffee custard thing. Taste was good, but texturally it was hard for me to eat.

While I've liked past events with the speakers and the nuggets of information, this was a super nice change up, especially with the food.

Back with Skirt

Given other stuff I've posted this year, you probably already guessed this, buuut ...

... I'm baaaaack!



Yep, back as a Skirt Sports Ambassador Captain! If you look over to the sidebar, I have a new code - 306Geis - which is good for 15% off any full price item over at Skirt Sports. They're tracking referrals this year (use my code! it's good all year!), but if I'm going to get something out of it ... I have no idea what that will be. If anything. But if you use it, YOU benefit from wearing awesome comfy Skirt. And if you don't like Skirts, their capris are super comfy and awesome. AND THEY HAVE POCKETS, which is seriously the greatest thing ever.

But I won't be upset if you don't ... because you gotta wear what you like to wear. Just know that I like Skirt. And have been wearing it for a decade now ... and exclusively for running for eight years. EIGHT YEARS, man, it's crazy how time flies ...

An Ode to Skirt

As a fun thing this year for being a Skirt Sports Ambassador*, we get to do challenges to earn fun things. So, you might see a teensy bit more Skirt-related things on here. Don't worry, I won't spam you, because selling isn't my style. Besides, if you've been following for any length of time, you know I've been wearing Skirt for ages and ages - way longer than I've been an ambassador.

Free Verse Skirt

When your first Skirt
Is not actually a skirt
But a shirt
It seems like it might be
Impossible
For a collection to grow.
But.
Alas, no. It is entirely
Possible,
For I am
Proof positive that it
Can.
Silly, really, how a
Simple race shirt
(thanks 2007 Tri for the Cure)
(my first tri, by the way)
Can start an
Obsession, just due to knowledge of a 
Thing that
Exists.
Silly, really, how a need to feel
Pretty can grow into a
Spiritual Movement, or
At the very least,
Sisterhood.



The race tee in question.







* As an ambassador, I get a discount. As an ambassador captain, I get a tiny allowance. As the new ambassador year rolls out, I'll get a new discount code to share, which, if you use it, will end up being good for me. Somehow. Not sure of details yet. And good for you, because you'll be in super comfy Skirt. And if you're a male of the species? They make stuff you can wear too. Like the super soft neck gaiters they make in collaboration with BoCo. The husband loves his and wears it proudly.

2017 Skirt Sports Ambassador Weekend

As a reminder, I am a Skirt Sports Ambassador. As such, I get to represent this AMAZING company. As a captain, I get a teeny bit of compensation in the form of a discount (for me and a code to share) and a gift certificate each year. I was not obligated to go to this retreat and totally not required to write about it, either. Buuuut, it was awesome, and I live an hour southeast of it, so clearly, I did/am doing both.

Part of the perk of being a Skirt Sports Ambassador every year is getting to attend the retreat/weekend that Nicole and company put on in Boulder at HQ every year. I've gone every year they've had it and the ladies keep outdoing themselves every year. The weekend culminates with a race on Sunday - which will get its own separate post.

The weekend kicked off with a cocktail reception at the store on Friday night. We got to meet new ambassadors, say hi to old friends, shop for more Skirt (if that's even possible!), drink, eat some great food, and hear about Skirt. We also got a sneak preview of the upcoming Fall/Winter 2017-18 line, but no pictures of that.


Friday night festivities.

We then met back up Saturday morning for hiking, speakers, breakout sessions, a workout, and more food.

We had a choice of hikes to go on. Since I'm training for Pikes Peak Ascent, I went on the longer one. I also learned that I need to get a lot more vert in my life ...


As our hike was the "Snot Rocket" hike, Nicole decided to put on a clinic on how to blow a snot rocket up at the top.


On the way down.

After the hikes, we met back up for a quick breakfast, and then we started the speakers.

First up was Maria Uspenski from the Tea Spot.
- She started a cold brew tea; the idea of which came because of her experiences with Ride the Rockies.
- Think about hydrating with tea - it can save your teeth, you know what you're putting into your body, you can cater to your own needs, it has antioxidants and antibacterial properties, and obviously, the caffeine is helpful.
- Self-care is non-negotiable. You have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of anyone else.

Next we had fellow ambassador Mirna Valerio read us a chapter from her upcoming book (available for pre-order), talking about fat, body image, and self-acceptance. Following Mirna was another ambassador, Mary Sutter, our resident social media expert answering some questions about that.

Somewhere in there we had a workout - either yoga or a HIIT-style bootcamp (I did the latter), but after all of that, we took a break for lunch.

While we were eating lunch, we were split into groups by regions to come up with a new idea for Skirt, Shark Tank-style. A wide range of ideas were thrown around, but I don't want to mention them here just in case they end up in the works for the company. Don't want to leak any proprietary information, after all!

After that, we had our final speaker of the day, Dr. James Rouse, whom you might remember from my post on February's Women Run the World event.
- He wanted to remind us all how good we are.
- Don't lose a sense of your true self.
- We all (want to) improve ourselves, but sometimes, we are just sick of one more book that tells us we suck.
- There's a space in between self-improvement and self-acceptance, and in that space is self-compassion, which is the secret sauce of awesome.
- It gives us an unfair advantage over the inner critic.
- There is an opportunity for an uprising in our inner dialogue.
- We just need to live life loving and well.
- Each and every morning, ask yourself, what would love do now?, and then live your day off of that answer.
- Put into place five practices - optimism, play, functional nutrition, mindfulness, and gratitude.

All in all, it was a day full of fun, amazing energy, and a little bit of sweat. And a few pictures, which I'll share now.


Taking a picture of Emily pretending to take a picture of herself with the Skirtmingos.


Catching Lisa resting.


Me hamming it up for the ever amazing Jen Allen, our official weekend Skirt photographer. This was during the workout break.

I would be remiss if I didn't also acknowledge all of the amazing sponsors who came together to help Skirt Sports put on this weekend for us!

- Noosa Yoghurt
- Ska Brewing
- Justin's Nut Butter
- Skoop! (Healthy Skoop)
- Golden Root
- Bhakti Chai
- Alpine Start (instant coffee)
- Noodles & Company
- The Tea Spot
- Kim and Jake's Cakes
- Mad Greens
- Skirt Sports
- 3W Races

The energy would continue on to the Skirt Sports 13er/10K/5K the next day ... which you will read about in my next post. Probably Wednesday.

Race #4 of the Season: BolderBOULDER 10K

After we "ran" this race last year, we knew we'd never want to "race" it ever again. It was just too much fun. So, we were hoping to do the same this year.

But then we learned that Brandon wouldn't be home. And my running had been shit, so I knew I didn't want to sign up to run it by myself because then I know I would have actually tried to run it.

Thankfully, I saw on ... Twitter, probably, that or Instagram ... that Katie was for sure running it and not seriously (if you recall from last year's recap - or clicked on the first link above - we encountered her and her peeps last year). I messaged her and asked if I could run with her and she said yes. I had to track down a SMASH Horizon tri tank which was a bit tricky, but thankfully Hillary and Lauren are awesome and I got one overnighted to me.

I met up with Katie, her husband Thom, her friend Jen, and a friend of a friend Jamie at RallySport that morning and then we all walked over to the start line ... with a small detour at the trampoline in mile one. I dropped my stuff off at the mobile locker (wasn't sure if I'd be heading back to Katie's car or not and I had already paid for it), ditched Thom so he could find the friend he was running with, and lined up.


From L to R - Jamie, me, Jen, Katie.

We actually ran the first mile relatively well - it was a 10:something. That's also because there's really nothing fun to do in mile one except for the aforementioned trampoline, and we'd already hit that (well. not me.).

From then on ... steadily slower, but steadily a LOT MORE FUN. Slip 'n slides (both!), beer, Doritos, doughnuts, lots of bacon, watermelon, grapes, cupcakes, Otter Pops, pee stops, lemonade and a lot of laughs.


Slip 'n Slide #2. That weird sideways slide meant that side of me was drenched.


Katie and I snarfing ALL THE CUPCAKES. Katie, if I haven't already mentioned it, is also TeamSFQ with me.

All in all, it ended up being my slowest - but way most fun - 10K ever. Which is probably going to be par for the course in BolderBOULDERs. Because dude.

Overall Stats:
Time: 1:44:30.8
411/501 division (F33)
17198/23214 gender
34348/43752 (I think) overall

We hung out in the stadium for a bit to meet up with Thom again and then caught a bus back to Rally. Jen split off and I went to get my car to then drive to Longmont where we all grabbed some lunch. I then took Jamie back down to Denver (so she didn't have to bus it back) ... where I got rear-ended. Joy.

Even that unpleasantness (even combined with my wicked sunburn. knew I forgot something ...) couldn't overshadow what an amazing morning I had. Many thanks to Katie for letting me tag along and for the pictures. Which I stole to use for this blog.

On Curling

So this post should have been written, done, and dusted ... two weeks ago? ... but, well, lots of life changes going on over here so I'm getting to it now.

Back in high school, I was a bit of a Canuckophile. Blame my crazy love of hockey that blossomed, but I became obsessed with pretty much all things Canadian. This also included the, at the time, relatively obscure sport of curling. Curling, which you may or may not know, because a bit more of a household sport in 2002 thanks to it being added to the Winter Olympics.

I married a Minnesotan who also loved hockey and also curling. He's a way bigger curling nerd than I, really, and actually tried it once up in college.

A few years back, the Denver Curling Club opened up here as a dedicated facility to curling (next closest? Somewhere in Arizona and in South Dakota. I think.). We've been tossing around the idea of doing lessons pretty much since then, but I finally signed up for information and, what do you know? They opened up a few spring classes and one of them was open AND fit in our schedule. Whaaaaa?

I signed us both up.

So, back on May 3, we took a Learn to Curl class at the DCC.




The sheet.


Brandon on the ice.


Me curling, as posted on Instagram. 

It. Was. So. Much. Fun. Seriously. People may not think curling is much of a sport, but you're doing a lot of lunges when you're the one handling the rock and sweeping? Can be exhausting. Especially if you're playing a game and you're one person down so you only have one sweeper (as opposed to two). 

We loved it so much that, in the fall, when the ice goes back in, we might sign up to become members. We probably won't join a league (yet), but as members, we can book practice ice and we can sign up to sub on teams just to start getting the practice.

It might not have been multisport related, but trying new things and cross-training is always a good idea. So whatever sport/activity you might have been tossing around trying? Sign up for a beginner's class! You might just fall in love with something new.

On the Skirt Box

If you read this blog - or even if you know me - you know I love me some Skirt Sports. Comfy, cute, real, inspiring ... what's not to love?

And maybe after hearing me yammer about them for ages, you're possibly thinking of trying Skirt yourself? But maybe you have no idea where to start. Well, that's where the Skirt Box comes in! 

The general gist is:

- You give them your size and whether you like patterns or solids;
- You talk with a Skirt concierge (personal shopper, if you prefer) to give your credit card info ($10 concierge fee);
- You get your Skirt Box!

If you love a Skirt, that $10 goes toward the cost of purchase, which is pretty awesome. And if you love more than one style, you get a discount if you decide to keep them. Really, click the link to get all the details.

The real question is, which Skirts do you get? Well, you get five to try:


The Lioness;


The Gym Girl Ultra;


The Happy Girl;


The Lotta Breeze Capri; and


The Tough Girl.

Want to see them all together? I know you do ...


From shortest to longest. Also my varying and weird facial expressions.

For your reference: I'm 5'9" and am wearing a large in all styles. My personal favorites are the Lioness and the Gym Girl. I don't run in the Happy Girl, but I do love it for travel. The mesh on the Lotta Breeze doesn't work for me for running - I prefer the Jette Capri - but it's cute to just wear around! The Tough Girl is great in winter, but I run so hot that I rarely actually wear it!

So, give the Skirt Box a try. It's basically risk free, and while I can't guarantee you'll love at least SOMETHING, I'm pretty sure that you will.




* Disclaimer: I WAS NOT PAID FOR THIS. I am a Skirt Ambassador so I do get a little something something from them for that and a little extra for being a captain, but I did not have to write this. I just chose to because I think this concept is freaking AWESOME. I will also NOT get any kickback if you choose to order a Skirt Box or anything else off their site. I pimp this out willingly because I heart it so much.

Guess Who's Back ...

... back again ... as a Skirt Sports Ambassador captain???



That's right, this girl! This marks my third year as an ambassador and second year as a captain. As you may know (or not ... I've been seeing a tad bit more traffic 'round these here parts ... hi everyone!), I've been a fan of Skirt for several years. I first tried their product back in 2008 (technically 2007, but really, 2008) and converted totally to Skirt in 2010. I have a large(r) booty for a white girl (thanks, genetics!) and don't really like showcasing my ass in spandex when I run (getting a little better about it in day-to-day life). I ran in lacrosse-type shorts for a while, but ended up having to layer them over spandex anyway.

Nike tempo run shorts? Ha. Chafe city.

But Skirt Sports? Cute flirty skirts with shorts underneath (if you need them! There are a few styles with just spankies underneath) with POCKETS??? You mean I can run a 5K with my car keys? Whaaaaat? Or take my phone/camera/money/keys/food with me on a run and not have to hold anything if I so choose? That's just crazy talk.

Plus I love their #REALwomenmove movement, using actual real people as models (seriously. I'm friends with at least one of the ladies used frequently on the site) and embracing all women at all levels of fitness and activity level.

You see me in Skirt a lot on here. I do get a little compensation for being an ambassador, but even if I didn't and I weren't an ambassador, I would wear Skirt anyway because I love it that much.*











*In full disclosure, I haven't loved everything Skirt I've ever owned. I have a Skirt Sports tri kit (and it's in that collage up top), but I prefer SMASH to race in (which is why I chose to be part of that team!). There are certain Skirt items that just don't work for me, but work wonderfully for other women. That's why they have so many products! There will certainly be something for you, even if you DON'T like wearing skirts. :)

2016 Skirt Sports Ambassador Weekend

As you all probably know by now, I'm a Skirt Sports Ambassador. I love their product, what they stand for, their #REALwomenmove movement, everything. You don't even have to love running skirts (or ... running ...) to get their products - they have tops and fantastic capris and so much more.

One of the best things Skirt Sports has done recently is actually found this ambassador program and have yearly weekends (I'd say retreat, but I don't know if that's the right word ...) and bring an amazing group of women together. Yeah, we all converge on Boulder because we love the clothes, but it's the family, friendships, and sisterhood that keep us coming back for more.

This year's weekend took place waaay back in June from the 10th-12th. It started off Friday evening with a reception at the brand new Skirt flagship store in Boulder (come visit!). We got fed that night and throughout the weekend by Skirt friends/sponsors Mad Greens, Noosa Yoghurt, Bhakti Chai, Two Moms in the Raw, Luna Bar, Justin's Peanut Butter, Ska Brewing Company, and of course, Kim and Jake's Cakes.

At the reception, we got to reunite with old friends we made the year prior and meet new friends as we gained more to our numbers and different Skirts made it out this year.

We heard from our fearless leader, Nicole DeBoom,



whom we gifted (along with ambassador coordinator Noelle) gift baskets to.




All the Skirt ladies!

We were treated to a fashion show sneak peek of the Fall/Winter line (all my pictures were too blurry for me to want to share) - some cute things coming - and the prints that will be coming out next Spring. I like the Fall/Winter prints, but ADORE what's coming up next year!

And of course, cake.



Saturday, we met at Noelle's house up in Lyons for a hike, breakfast, and Skirt roundtables.


Starting the hike.


Trying to find the trailhead ...


Yay, we found it! The gate does exist!


Skirts in the wild.

As I mentioned above, post-hike we split into two groups (after eating) - one for ambassadors, and one for captains. Another thing I really love about Skirt Sports is that they take their customers' feedback seriously. They know that we already love the company as ambassadors and truly value our input on how we can share the love to others. 

Yes, we get to feed our Skirt addictions at a discounted price, but besides that, we aren't compensated by the company to share our love of Skirt. I'm not paid to write this and tell you how much I love them. As a result, I feel that we're more passionate about the product and are more genuine in sharing our joy. I'm wearing this because I love it. 

And if you aren't convinced on how the masses have a voice with this company, just Google "gotta go skirt". Trust me. (I also have one, and need to write on it ... eventually.) There's also a new thing launching on the Skirt site that will also take feedback into account. More on that as it comes ...

Anyway, after the breakout sessions, we all joined up together to learn the art of the running selfie, thanks to Kate and Amy, our Instagram running picture queens.

We had to break up after that, but we would all gather again Sunday for the 13er and 5K races, which is where I'll pick this back up.