Hello from San Antonio!  I’m sitting at my desk working my way through piles of paperwork and bills and e-mails that have been ignored since I left for Leadville.  So when we last spoke, I was in Lead-vegas teaching a Wilderness First Responder Course.  My friend Brian came to town and we ran up and down Mts. Elbert and Massive.  We ordered pizza on the way down from Elbert when we realized how pressed for time we were.  Karnazes moment.  No delivery on Mount Elbert, but we managed to make it down the mountain and into town just as the pizza was coming out of the oven.  And we got back to the HMI campus with a minute to spare — and then I made Brian look like he had an open fracture on his lower leg and sent him off into the woods with two pieces of pizza.

The course ended well  (except I forgot the course paperwork on the bench outside the school) and I headed to Boulder to meet with the New Balance folks for a photo shoot with the other members of the trail running team.  Have you ever seen one of those behind the scenes interviews with models when they complain about how hard it is to frolic all day on the beach in their bikinis while photographers move around them?  “The water’s cold!” and all that nonsense?  Well, I have to say I left Boulder with a bit of compassion for those scantily clad, hypothermic women.  Spending the day in Rocky Mountain National Park, running back and forth for 15 hours (actual time running = 32 minutes), in crazy 30 mph wind gusts with amazing and inspiring people was so much fun — but I can definitely see how one might have a hard time frolicking in circles day after day.  Hey, compassion should know no bounds, right?  Mine now extends to beach models.  Never thought I’d see the day.

Anyway, two particularly funny bits:

1. “Liza, we only have medium and small-sized clothing for the shoot, is that going to work okay?”

Cut to: “Liza, why don’t you run behind the other girls in all the pictures.”  Ouch.  Now my running form is pretty bad, so it might have been that as much as my droopy drawers that sent me to the back of the line.  Certainly it couldn’t have been my FACE… Right?!?

2.  I did, however, fit best into the sample size shoes and got to do a lot of the shoe shots.  My view.

The photographer was an awesome fellow and humored me by calling out “Work it!  Work it!” while I balanced the shoes on the rocks.  (Check out his work: Keith Ladzinski.)

They wanted me to raise my heels a quarter inch off the rocks for each shot to make it more dynamic.  Do you want to know how sore I was the next day from doing 90 million quarter inch heel raises?  Embarrassing, but true.  Anyway, I can’t wait to see if my ankles make it into a magazine.  I’ll add ankle model to the resume immediately if it happens.

Asa’s about to get up from his nap, so here are my thoughts heading into Western States this weekend.

1.  I’m not packed.

2.  From my friend Rachel Ballard:  Hi Liza, I will be imagining you out there so happily. Just think, a year ago you were stuck in the Alter G with horrible shorts strangling your you know’s. Now you will run like the wind in a beautiful place.

3.  I’m really looking forward to going out for a long run.

4.  I’m running for Team Red, White & Blue, so I’ll be working hard.

5. I’m thankful to be part of this running community.

6.  I love belt buckles.

Check out my totem animal on Endurance Buzz.  David has outdone himself.