At the end of last year the idea of starting a blog had been rattling around in my brain for a while so I decided to take hold of it and see what would happen. Nothing happened…at least for a few months. At the time and without much forethought I snagged the blog title “Rising Fawn” mostly because I identified with the sentiment and, well, it’s my name.

Then, a strange coincidence occurred. A couple of friends, my husband, and I decided to sign up for an ultra marathon taking place in December in Rising Fawn, Georgia. I’ll be testing my abilities at my first 100 mile trail event in a town that bears my name and is the exact same name as my yet- to- be- developed blog site. For this simple reason I’ve decided to document my journey to Rising Fawn, GA on my Rising Fawn blog. I don’t even care how cheesy that sounds. Content will not be restricted to only ultra training but I plan to post weekly on the topic in order to hold myself accountable and share my experiences (and my training partners’ experiences) with others trying their hand at an ultra.

This week marks 24 weeks out from the race and ushers in my official training program. After my 5 miler today I’ll be rolling into my program with a 40 mile base and lots of adventures on deck with friends. Since you will regularly read about the goofballs friends below I thought you should meet them properly. Edie is training for her one millionth 100 miler (only a slight exaggeration) which will take place at the Pinhoti 100 in November. Kelly and I are lucky enough to be her pacers which is what lead us to signing up for our own race at the Chattanooga 50 Mile/ 100 Mile/ 100 Mile Relay (which will actually take place in Cloudland Canyon State Park, pictured above, in Rising Fawn, GA). Below the girls photo is a picture of my gem of a husband, Justin, and I at our favorite music festival. He and Kelly are training for the 50 mile race. There will be many other people involved but these will definitely pop up time and time again.

Cheers to testing our limits and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable! Let the 24 week countdown begin!