I am attempting to record my running adventures while chasing my goal of running the Western States 100. I want to chronicle the joy of running with friends, the fun of running alone, and the excitement of running trails.

I run primarily in the Houston area, which suffers from a trail deficiency. I also spend some time in the Austin area. I love to race and I enjoy using races as training runs for other races. Occassionally, I will get over excited on my "training race/runs" and run too fast (go figure). Luckily, I have a trail-ultra running husband who understands this craziness and tries to keep me grounded (not to mention hydrated, rested, and paced properly.)

I want to share my ups and downs, my successes and failures and try to keep motivated to my ultimate goal. Plus, if I share all of my bone-headed mistakes with you-- you will not have to make them!



Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Mountain Run 02/20/11

We headed out to the mountains to run this weekend.  Bob was traveling on Saturday, so we ran on Sunday.   We met at the Rec center at 06:00 AM to drive out to the mountains (about 1 1/2 hours away).  Casey, Toni, Denise and I were treated to a chauffeured drive by Bob- so no driving, just relaxing and giving Bob a hard time.  Skyline drive was closed due to fire danger, so we had to go to an area a little north to start.  Once we hit the trails we went over Knob mountain, ran along the Appalachian Trail and came back over Neighbor mountain.  It was so cold at the start- but what a beautiful day!  The highs were in the 50s and it stayed cool and clear all day.  We had a great run with all of the usual jabs, jest, and smart comments. You have to be tough and witty to make it in this crowd!

The first mountain that we climbed had about 2.5 miles uphill at the very beginning, and we all complained like a bunch of pansies.  It was a tough hike, of course we were treated to an awesome downhill on the other side. We saw a group of hikers when we got to the AT, and they told us that a park ranger had advised them not to enter the park, but they explained that they already had a camp at the park and were allowed to enter.  We also asked about bear sightings, as the running group pointed out that they had spotted 2 bears on the trails last time they were out here.  The hikers said that they did not see any, but heard that someone else did.  We figured it is still too early for them to be out and about (hopefully).   We did not see any bears, but we did get to climb another mountain.  The views were incredible.....made the effort worthwhile.  We treated ourselves to some Spelunker's grub and headed back to the city. 

We noticed in the distance, along Skyline drive, there were (2) forest fires burning.  Later on the news, we learned that the fires had destroyed about 2,000 acres and one home.  Luckily, we were not near where the fires were burning. We ended up with about 21.25 mile for the day- not bad.  In all, a fantastic day in the mountains with friends.   
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