Hitting One Hundred on Mount Hood

Running the Hood Hundred I thought my days of distance running and hiking hard were over when I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) four years ago. I could barely turn my neck, my arms and shoulders ached, and it was difficult to bend over or lift my legs. At age 59, depression set in…

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Feeling the Heat!- Smith Rock Classic 50K

Be careful what you wish for! After running Eastern Washington’s Badger Mountain 50 mile in pouring rain with 30 mph winds, Cincinnati’s Flying Pig Marathon in 50 degrees and rain, and then a marathon training run on Northwestern Washington’s Whitehorse Trail in monsoonal downpours—I turned to my running partner with exasperation and exclaimed, “I’d rather…

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State Senator Introduces Bill to make Enchantment Lakes Less Enchanting

Frustrated over the proliferation of social media posts fueling an explosion of users to this beautiful but ecologically fragile area, Washington State Senator Noam Moore Krauding has introduced a bill aimed at reducing trail usage by making the Enchantment Lakes less enchanting. His bill calls for renaming landmarks in the extremely popular area with names…

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A Hot, Humid and Hilly Homecoming! The Mad Marathon

I left Vermont in April of 1989 and headed west to Washington State not knowing where my life would lead me. It was a woman that led me to the Green Mountain state—and it was because of her I left it. Our seven years together had a few highlights. But it was mostly a dysfunctional,…

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Romano’s battle with PMR Featured in Seattle Times

In February of 2021 I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR), an auto-immune disease. I am determined to put it into remission and keep living an active lifestyle including hiking more than 2,000 miles a year and participating in 50K trail running events. Terry Wood of the Seattle Times wrote a feature on how I…

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Hike-a-thon was a huge Success!

325.1 miles hikes and more than $7700 raised for our trails! Wow. I am still catching by breath and catching up with my work after an amazing August. Since 2012 I have participated in the Washington Trails Association’s annual Hike-a-thon as a way to have a little fun and help give back to the trails…

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Covid-placent: Indifference and Selfishness goes viral

Did I miss the memo? The one that said that the Covid-19 Pandemic is over. Because by the way many of our trails and parks looked this past weekend—and how so many people were behaving in public—you’d swear that we just subdued that nasty little virus and there was nothing more to be concerned about.…

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