Runs With Mascara: Moving On

Friday, June 15, 2012

Moving On

Hi Mascara fans!

And running fans, outdoor fans, adventure fans, fans of fans and friends and family! Hi Mom.

Apologies for the sudden departure, the long dry spell since our last post in January, the lack of good-byes or explanations or a simple redirect to let you know that we're still alive.

Runs with Mascara had a great run in 2011 - literally and figuratively. We ran mountains and trails, across streams and meadows, seeing sunsets and sun rises, with new friends and old. We ran in new places, ran in new skirts, ran in new mascaras, ran our first 50 miler and signed up for our first 100 miler (SPOILER ALERT: which we SO conquered).

Dana in the early morning hours at Zion 100

All along the way having our little venture, Runs with Mascara, made it more than just running and racing. It got us fired up with ideas, it got us laughing, it got us attention (Hello, Tracey Garneau!). It brought tears of laughter to our eyes as we conspired and planned and got friends jumping on the bandwagon to take Runs with Mascara to multi-sport, multi-state, as-seen-on-Ellen DeGeneres levels. It spoke to the essence of who we are and what we wanted to promote. Healthy, happy living and fun.

With 2012, Runs with Mascara went through changes both personally and professionally and it became apparent, that while the spirit of RWM would live on, we couldn't continue the focus as we had in 2011.

Dana found a true calling in long, long distance trail running and as she embarked on her first 100 mile race this past May she switched other gears, leaving office life to launch a personal training business, Ultra-U, and moving to Portland, Oregon.

I went in for surgery to remove a couple of meniscus tears in March after months of trying everything else to get better. It was my first surgery, my first knee issue. It jacked my ski season, my running, my chance to pace Dana at her 100M. To be honest, it maimed a bit of my heart and drive and passion. But I'm slowly on the mend.

And so, as Dana switched focus to creating her own incredible blog and brilliant website and I plundered into my personal dark space, it was time to put Runs with Mascara to bed. For now.

We'll still be out there on the blogs, just not here at RWM. Thank you for the support, the comments and the love! And the mascara, Blink!

For Dana, follow Ultra-U to keep tabs on her training adventures or to talk to her about your own personal training program.

For me? I'll still be throwing words around at spinneygirl.blogspot.com, hopefully with more consistency. I think a chunk of my creativity was in my meniscus?

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About Runs with Mascara

Who is Team Runs with Mascara?

Runs with Mascara is Dana Katz and Samantha Pinney - training partners and friends for the past 3 years; adventurers with a flair for musicals and running skirts, and a generous respect for looking good when sweating hard. While they’ve had many adventures across the West, one of their more epic spans was a week they spent racing from the Bizz Johnson trail marathon in northern California to rappeling in Arches National Park, to biking the White Rim Trail in southern Utah to running the Moab Half Marathon. This is their first race endeavor as a team under the name RWM.

Samantha Pinney overcame the malls of her New Jersey youth for an obsession with the outdoors that carries her from skiing to ultra running to outrigger canoeing and whatever adventures she can find. She can’t imagine life without running skirts, flip flops or beanies and wields a kettle ball as deftly as she does a mascara wand. She competed in the 2010 Crossfit Team Games, has multiple top 10 finishes to her name but can’t throw a softball to save her life. She’d like to be a better surfer.

Dana Katz is a recovering triathlete and cyclocross racer turned ultrarunner. She eats hills for breakfast that she doctors with homemade concoctions of flaxseed and ginger granola in her ongoing quest to create ridiculously healthy and delicious meals. Dana is a globetrotter who in a recent span ran a ½ marathon in Brazil, a trail run in Sweden, a marathon in northern California and a harried loop amongst the monuments of Washington D.C. before boarding a plane. She doesn’t leave home without her running skirt and snacks. Don’t let Dana’s easy-going, amicable personality fool you: she trains like a warrior and competes with a vengeance.