It's time

To suffer that is. The bags are packed with the cold weather gear and a jar full of courage. Heading up to the town of Black Mountain for the Mt Mitchell Challenge. The cool temps and ample amounts of snow has shortened the course a touch, only 36 miles for the challenge. The first challenge will be making the 10am cut off to the parkway. It's the pass to continue to the top. If not you will be turned around and givin credit for the marathon. Winch is not a full marathon either. Hope for the best. Thanks for the heads up Clay. This should toughen me up for PMBAR.

All Photo credit goes to CF

Snow in Cola

Next Challenge

It's the Challenge! The Mt. Mitchell Challenge a 40mi. trail run. Starting from the quaint little town of Black Mountain NC. Traversing the hill side to the peak of Mt. Mitchell then returning to town. That's it in a nutshell. So whats the big deal, besides the 40 miles of running & shuffling over Pisgah's terrain. Well it will be the epic weather they have had this winter. Recently a video journal of another runners approach to the summit documented the degree of difficulty one my face. ICE, knee deep snow and more ICE. So WTF was I thinking?

This may be right up there with some other local nuts prepping for the Pisgah 36. My hats off to you fellas, take care and be safe. So what was I thinking? Really, I wanted the trifecta for topping Mt. Mitchell. To date I've competed and completed in the Off-Road and Road assaults on MM. These both by bike of course. So why the hell not try my hand at the trail run version. Why the hell not. Yeah!

To date I've been back running for 2 years now. For the last 6 months the focus has been aimed at Mitchell. The riding as of late has been very minimal. In fear of taking away mileage & time from running. WTF! So the approach has been calculated to some degree. Steadily building to longer and longer trail runs. Weekly mileage has gone from 20ish to 40+ in the last few weeks. Maybe too much too soon? Who says going out on 20ish mile training runs for 3 weeks then bust out the 30 miler is not a great idea. Got me.

So the foundation is built. Now just stay healthy for the next 3 weeks. That brings me to the Taper phase. A lost art for those obsessed with quantity over quality. I balance this thin line. It seems my build phase used too many boards and not enough nails. So this foundation is solid but this structure atop is a bit rickety. Yep I'm nursing a bum ankle. WTF! So it looks like the rollers will be getting the call up. Frustrating as hell but I have time to get it healed. Only if I'm patient, yeah we will see about that.

Oh and bye the way don't forget about V day coming up. The Silver Dog could have the perfect gift waiting for you. See link on side bar.