Saw a Bear!

Decided the day before to go run some of the AT. Saw a bear yesterday while running from Watauga Lake to Dennis Cove & back. It was about 60 yards away & ran away as soon as it saw me. I was way more calm than I thought I'd be. I've been preparing for this day for a long time. :) Lot of rocks. Going north up Pond Mountain is tough (1700' climb). Laurel Falls is supposed to be one of the best on the entire Appalachian Trail.

Beach Trip

Went to Harbor Island, a tiny island near Beaufort, SC (which is between Charleston & Savannah). Sea kayaking, tandem biking, trail running, gator spotting, 108 heat index, horsefly bites galore...

Running Camp

I brought 25 runners from my team to Brevard Distance Runners Camp. All went well. I got a little homesick and missed Wren a lot, but had a great time with the kids & running. This is my second trip as a coach, but I came as a camper in the mid-1980s. I got in 100 miles, but just barely. My legs were toast on Saturday morning & instead of getting a nice long run in, I had to stop at 9 miles to reach 100. All of the afternoon runs were at Pisgah National Forest or DuPont State Forest. Many trails were double track or dirt forest service roads, but there was some singletrack. I was disappointed that there were no views except John Rock and Hooker Falls. Last year, there were a few more.

The toughest run I did was 16 miles along Sycamore Flats, part of Art Loeb and Black Mountain trails, all three of which are steep. My favorite was the run up Cat Gap Trail to John Rock. The camp calls it their Graduation Run. It’s an 1100’ climb over about 3.5 miles onto a rock face with an excellent view.

One day, I stopped into a local outfitter to ask where I could fit in a relatively easy 6-10 mile loop when I had some time. She suggested Coontree Loop. After climbing 1000’ in the first 35 minutes, I was a little confused about her definition of “easy.” Cruel joke!

Camp reinforced a few things I already knew:
1) The easiest way to get 100 miles for the week is not 11 runs. UGH! I would have much rather have done fewer, longer runs to get the mileage in chunks, but the schedule didn’t allow for it.
2) We’ve got some fast girls! …and our guys are coming along & will do very well for themselves. I couldn’t be more excited for Cross Country season to start!
3) I’m an awful climber. I felt really strong and remarkably fresh on the flats, downhills, & gradual uphills, but when the trail really turned upwards, I struggled.

I’ve been really happy with my training lately, having run an average of over 10 miles per day this summer, including several days off (just not this past week!). It felt weird to go into the woods this week just for 45-90 minutes at a time. 10-12 mile training runs feel as standard as 4-5 milers used to. Not a lot of speed these days, but that’s OK.

Takin' it Easy on the AT

I had pole vault camp in Boone this week and got to run a couple times with Hannah- once at Julian Price Park for around 12 miles and 27 miles on the Appalachian Trail. Good time. I like going on adventure runs with her and just posted the report of the Sauratown Trail run we did last summer... a very different experience. Last year was a little shorter, 30 degrees hotter, and we wondered if we would die. This year, was much more relaxed.

I guess it's time to "publicly" announce I'm planning to run/hike/fastpack all 2100+ miles of the Appalachian Trail in bits & pieces before I die. I've got a long way to go. Whether it'll take 10 years or 30, I'm not sure. I'm planning on running the first 100 miles of the trail from Springer Mountain, GA in 5 days next summer self-supported.

We parked at Bike Station in Damascus, VA and took their shuttle up to Elk Garden near Whitetop Mountain, the 2nd highest peak in VA. It had been raining all morning and ended up raining on us most of the day. Cleared up a little in the middle, but we were in a hard thunderstorm for the last hour or so. 65 degrees made it nice! 92 degrees when I got home to Charlotte. Ick. I'm really getting tired of the heat & drought.

The first climb was rough. 800' of climbing in the first 20 minutes. Hannah made me run more than I wanted to on this first climb. I wanted to ease into the day, but after 6 minutes, my calves already felt blown! Not what you want in a 27 mile run!

I knew this section was mostly downhill, but hadn't looked at the profile. There were significant climbs too. 4060' of ascent and 6265' of descent. Yeah, it was downhill, but 4000' of climbing isn't easy. I'm glad we didn't run northbound! I was capping off an 86 mile week (a lot for me) and really wanted to keep today easy. I've run over 300 miles for the month and am a little pooped. Not difficult to keep getting the miles in, but I don't have a long hard effort in me. I wanted it to be one of those runs where you have no more fatigue at 6 hours than you did at 1 hour. Mission accomplished there. The downhills and flats were effortless, though the quads & knees took a beating. I know Hannah wanted to run more than we did on the uphills, but I think she warmed to the idea later in the run. When I walked, I usually walked just about as fast as I could. My HR got as high as 192 walking uphill.

Because it was foggy and raining, we didn't see much. There weren't many overlooks though. The two balds we went on- Whitetop and Buzzard Rock were fogged in. For 1/2 mile in the middle and the last 1/2 mile followed the Virginia Creeper Trail, a rails-to-trail- a wide smooth crushed stone path. Lotta rocks elsewhere, but hey, that's what you get on the AT.

The bladder for my hydration pack sprung a leak after about 4 miles. I drank Hannah's water twice, a hiker offered me water once, and I waited for the springs other times (had to go over a mile out of our way to get it). For most of the run, I had to wait about an hour between drinks. I didn't want to eat without water, so I went light on calories and liquid. No ideal, but I managed. Had it been hotter, I would've been hatin' it.

Everything felt great. Just another day of running. Very relaxed and could've kept going all day, but I was fine with stopping. :) I had a fantastic time today, but I'd rate the trail section just "pretty good." Nothing memorable except the long Creeper Trail Bridge.

15 Hours on Appalachian Trail

What a great (but difficult) three days! 15 hours of running on the Appalachian Trail. I was planning on going up to the mountains Friday & just run the section from Carvers Gap to 19, but at the last minute, decided to go up two days early to get more running in. On Wednesday & Thursday, I ran on the AT from TN Hwy 19E to Dennis Cove & back. Wasn’t crazy about having to go out & back, but that was my only option. Wednesday, I started at Hwy 19 & ran about 11 miles out and 11 back. It was tough and 80 degrees. Long climb for the first couple of miles. I didn’t know much about this section, as I just decided to run it the day before. I thought it was flatter and less wooded than it was. I thought I read you go along roads and through farmland for much of it. There were a couple of old pastures, but those provided nice views. I didn’t eat enough, I was out there longer than anticipated because of the terrain and heat, and ran out of water for 30 minutes. I had been drinking sparingly as it was and when my hair & neck got dry, I knew I would soon be in trouble. Had it not been for a church spigot I passed at Buck Mountain Rd. with 5K to go, I would’ve been hurtin’.

The next day, I started at Dennis Cove and ran about 13 out & 13 back. Harder & warmer (82) than Wednesday, with a long four mile 2000’ climb coming out of Dennis Cove. The first ¾ mile had four distinct ecosystems as you went up in elevation, including a band of hemlocks and a larger section that looked like a temperate rainforest. Lots of ferns, moss, rocks & mud. All other parts of the trail were dry. A couple of nice rocky overlooks. Talked to some hikers for a few minutes at Moreland Gap Shelter. Below the shelter was about the only water source of the day, and it was a tiny trickle. Drought conditions throughout the region must make it tough on thru-hikers. The waterfalls Wednesday were nearly dry- not anything like pictures I’ve seen. Passed a place called Hardcore Cascades, but very little water there too. Not that hardcore. I drank and ate a lot more Thursday and felt better. It’s funny, though. 7 hours to finish a marathon! …and my PR is 3:22. Lotta difference between running on a flat road, a rolling trail, and rocky mountain singletrack. 16:00 pace can easily max out your heartrate & feel like 7:00 effort!

I was pleasantly surprised by the other sections, but the highlight of the trip was the third run- Carvers Gap to Hwy 19. I ran part of this section around Roan Mountain this past winter in 60 mph wind with sleet and rain trying to peel my skin off and poke my eyes out. J Couldn’t see more than 50’ ahead of me, so I missed the spectacular views. Many people say this is the most beautiful part of the entire 2,100 miles of the AT. The history of the balds is a little cloudy, but most experts agree that they were once forested, but cleared and burned on a consistent basis by Native Americans, and were farmed to keep them treeless. Today, trees would grow back if they the grass and brush weren’t grazed or hand cut on occasion. There are dozens of rare & endangered species on the balds and tons of birds.

I wanted to take the family out to see the rhododendrons in bloom & apparently everyone else had the same idea. It really was beautiful (Wren’s new word- apparently, everything is beeeeuuuuuutiful now.)! Catawba Rhododendrons and Flame Azaleas in bloom in huge clumps all over the balds. Views from the balds were incredible. …but it was crowded. Over a hundred people out there. Cleared out a little after Round Bald, more by Jane Bald, and by Grassy Ridge, the day hikers were gone.

When I started, it was 65 degrees, sunny and breezy. 45 minutes later, I was caught in a huge thunderstorm. The rain doesn’t bother me, but being on exposed balds in lightning was a little scary. When the bottom dropped out, I ran ¼ mile back to Stan Murray Shelter and waited it out for 30 minutes. Read the shelter journal. Left when it let up a little, but was still raining and thundering. Trail was like a river. Didn’t see anymore lightning for awhile. When I came out of the woods around Overmountain Shelter, the rain stopped and the clouds swirled through the valleys. Great view of Hump Mountain from Little Hump Mountain. Can’t get over how little these mountains look like NC/TN.

At Bradley Gap, between the Humps, I turned around & it was like a cloud completely gobbled me up! More rain, thunder & lightning. It was like the lightning was right on top of me. No bolts or anything- just flashes of light. Frightening lightning! To get off of the open bald, I ran more than I would have up the steep upper part of Hump Mountain, and fast down the other side. The trail over some of the balds is barely wider than the width of my foot, and sort of a 6” ditch filled with water. If you click onto the picture to the left, you can see the trail going all the way up to the top of Hump Mt. The north side of Hump Mt. barely had a trail- more like ruts and rocks through grass. In the fenced section you go through, there were longhorn cattle and horses. Four mile descent down to Hwy 19. Many sections of slippery rock- nothing but rocks with the occasional root, but no dirt. I took more chances than usual, slipping all over the place, but I never fell. Halfway down, there were several sections of quick slight downhill and sidehill trails. This is my favorite terrain- relatively smooth singletrack with a log or rock to hurdle every 15 steps and long views downhill.

I was ready for the run to be over, but it did seem short after the longer ones this week. I have two other Appalachian Trail runs planned for this summer, and I can’t wait! Pooped now though! Long days, lotsa rocks, 12,000' of climbing, but the most fun I’ve had in months.

Crowder's & Kings Mountain

Hot weekend! 92 both days when I ran. Saturday, the fam hiked to the top of Crowder's Mountain. It was Wren's first big excursion and I was so proud of her. Steep, but smooth 1 mile trail before getting to the 300+ stairs. She didn't complain or ask to stop. At one point, she did say, "Dad, these legs are going to fall off my body." I ran an hour after that. Dragging in the heat towards the end.

2.5 hours the next day at Kings Mountain State Park in SC. This was my first time there. Trail is fairly rocky and hilly. Horseflies swarmed my head for 30 minutes. I HATE that. I still haven't seen a snake this year. Last year at this time, I'd seen a dozen. Saw a snake skin in the trail today.

Today (Monday) I'm way more sore than I should be. I attribute it to the heat mainly, but the hills had something to do with it, I'm sure. My calves cramped a little in the last hour yesterday.

55 Miles of Owww!

I ran 25 miles in this race on a larger relay team last year. This year, I started the Blue Planet Run 24- Black Mountain on a relay team at 9 PM and was planning on running until 10 AM. I made it to 8 AM, but I was in bad shape at 6 miles!! Yeah, that's 49 miles of being in bad shape! Owww. I had to stop because I ran the whole race with problems that could end up being serious injuries- the same old sciatic nerve problem, and achilles problem I've had when I run in the mountains for the past 5 months, and a knee problem which just appeared in this race. The knee was most severe and I would say for 9 hours, I was between a level 7-9 on a pain scale from 1-10. This picture (courtesy of Josh) is an hour after I finished, eating a tofu burrito with my team and "sister team."

The course was fairly tough- 1 mile straight up a mountain, 1 mile straight down a mountain, 1 mile pretty flat, 1 mile mostly uphill, 1 mile mostly downhill & flat. The downhills were, by far, the worst parts. Because 9.5 of my 11 loops were in the dark, I had to be a little more cautious than usual on the washed out gravel road downhill sections and had to put the brakes on. That's what caused my sciatic nerve & knee problems. 6000' of elevation gain & loss.

So I ran 55 miles in 10:49. OK given the pain, dark & terrain, I guess.

60 miles last fall felt very good- and like 100 wouldn't have been a problem that day. My last lap was my fastest then. Today was completely different. The worst experience I've ever had running, but I did learn a lot of things. One of the biggest was, "Hey, if you can run 55 miles in under 11 hours in the mountains being dead tired in the middle of the night & having your legs completely thrashed, you can do a lot more than that on a good day starting in the morning."

Oh- and all day before I ran I stood around officiated a regional track meet. That didn't help things.

OK, Yeah, I Choked

Gator Trail 50K today. Lake Waccamaw, NC- near Wilmington. Just decided to run a week ago. Not expecting anything. Three 2-3 hour runs in the week leading up to the race.

Race starts & I look around & wonder why I'm in FIRST place! I didn't want to be in first place. ...now admittedly, there were only 28 people running. I was in the lead for the first 18 miles before the wheels fell off. Let me make this clear- I was leading the race! I still don't understand how that's possible. As a wise coach once said, "They don't give awards for winning the first half of a race." :) I do NOT think I went out too fast. I held back the first lap & ran comfortably the 2nd.

2nd place was 40 meters behind me at the 2 mile mark & I felt a lot of pressure, so I decided to surge a tiny bit for the next 800m. That gave me a more cushion so I could relax. At the end of each of six 5+ mile loops, you have a 4:00 section of out & back where you can see where people are. At the end of the first loop, he was about 2:00 back. I went to the outhouse (yes, outhouse) in the 2nd loop, but he was still 2:00 back, which means without the stop, I was still gaining ground. I decided, "If I'm going to win this thing, I need to get some separation and by the next loop, I don't want to be able to see him." My thought was "Out of sight, out of mind." If he knew I was making up ground, he'd forget about me. At least that's what I thought. ...I mean, I'm never close to this situation, so... So I picked it up from miles 10-13. My already queasy stomach had enough & at 14 miles, I puked. At the end of the 3rd loop, I was still 2:30 or so ahead. I took a little long between laps to get more drink & special needs stuff. Puked twice on the 4th loop and he caught me at 18. Another guy caught me at 19. Two others caught me at 19.5. Two others caught me in the 5th loop. I was forced to walk a few times the 4th & 5th loops, but ran the whole 6th loop- just slowly. I passed one of the guys less than a mile from the end, so I ended up in 6th. 4:49:40.

Laps 2-6 included about 2:00 at my car/aid station, but I was going pretty well until the 4th loop.
Lap 1- 42:11, Lap 2- 42:40, Lap 3- 41:59, Lap 4- 49:41, Lap 5 - 57:16, Lap 6- 55:45

I decided a while back my puking trouble has always been about nerves. I used to have stomach problems in every road marathon I ran b/c I put so much pressure on myself to PR. With trail running, I relax more & enjoy it, so no stomach problems. I think because I felt the pressure of not getting passed, I had the stomach problems. Dumb, I know. I've never led a race since 10th grade! Uncharted territory. I freaked out a little, I guess. Some of the problem, I'm sure was picking up the pace, but I wasn't exactly flying- 7:30 pace for those 3 miles maybe.

The course was OK. Very flat, longleaf pine forest, sand. The sand was loose & soft. Not ideal, but it was good enough. Not very technical, but there were sections with roots & little stumps. The sand made it tougher than it should've been though. Weather was perfect! 60, no sun & breezy. Course well marked & race director & volunteers nice & helpful. Sweatshirt. Finisher's award is a framed picture of you, which I like better than a medal. Something different. Saw no gators, but there was a baby alligator skeleton on the course. A 12 foot gator recently died there.

Eating didn't happen. With that & the pukes, I'm surprised there was no bonking, but I was OK. Got very hungry the 5th lap and ate some trail mix, which hit the spot. I also remembered why I don't like Perpeteum. My sciatic nerve problem was pretty bad. I'm sure I would've slowed due to it in the last 2 laps. My toe problem is getting worse & worse. Since I was little, one of them has curled under, but it's getting worse. When I run, the end of the toenail faces all the way down- perpendicular to the ground, causing some nasty problems. I'm thankful when it falls off 1-2 times a year, because it's so mangled you can't really cut it well. I think I need to have something done to it. Surgery to straighten it has always been in the back of my mind & I always say, "After the next race." I'm thinking it may be better to just get the nail permanently removed. I dunno. Yeah, it's gross.

Spring Break '08

I've enjoyed the time off. Went to the mountains with the family. Everyone had fun. It snowed an inch and the high was 28 one day. Got in some very difficult runs. Saw a couple of bear tracks yesterday during a 2 hour run far from people. Made me think I should be more prepared for encounters like that. I'm running the Gator Trail 50K Saturday at Lake Waccamaw, near Wilmington, NC. Very flat, but sandy & possibly muddy. Should be fairly fast, but I'm not feeling that fast lately. Only 17 people ran last year. I just decided to run this race at the last minute because a track meet fell through.

Ian & I are officially a 2 person team for what was the 24 hour Relay For Africa, but is now called the Blue Planet Run 24- Black Mountain. It still benefits clean drinking water in developing countries. I'd wanted to run the whole 24 hours, but they changed the date and now it's on the day of our regional track meet. Instead, Ian will run from 10 AM-10 PM and I'll come after the meet & run 10 PM-10 AM. Hoping to get in 65 miles. The 5 mile loop has one incredibly hard mile and a few other decent hills, but also has some nice downhills & flats. We haven't come up with a team name yet, but there's talk of costumes! We'll see.

Crowder's Mountain

I'd planned to do a 4-5 hour run tomorrow, but wanted to get in an hour today. Decided to get the family in on it and suggested we go to Crowder's Mountain. It's about 35-40 minutes from our house, but I've never run there before. Pretty tough! 900 ft. of elevation gain in the first 30 minutes, along with crawling on my behind over rocks & lots of unrunnable rocky patches. Total elevation gain of 1140' in the 1:03 trip. I went from the Visitor's Center, up along the ridge, down what must've been 200 stairs(!), and back on the nice rolling main trail. Nice clear day & good views, but I didn't stop to take them in. Jennifer & Wren walked around the lake and we ate a picnic lunch. Fun little outing, but it ranks up there for the most difficult hour long run I've ever done. Now on to the ASC Greenway trails for my long run tomorrow.

3/2/08 Update- Ran the whole marathon course I came up with for the ASC Greenway Trail Marathon (Sept. 27) today. Pulled a muscle in my back earlier in the day. Sore from the Crowder's Mt. run. Maybe I'm not that smart. Felt decent though. 4:35.