I’m set up for tomorrow’s training run: an 5.5 mile out-and-back along a trail I’m told is amazingly beautiful, ending out the “Lighthouse” rock. I expect to bring back pictures. The Givens, Spicer, and Lowery Trail is 1/2 of the Palo Duro Trail Run ultra-marathon that takes place here in October. I’m planning on coming […]
Editor’s Note: I wrote this piece before my 9-mile run this morning, a quick out-and-back over most of the trail I was supposed to run yesterday. *** After Monday’s brutality, there’s little chance my body will allow anything like that to happen today. Instead, I’ve made the executive decision to push as close to Canyon, […]
Don’t improvise. I’ve read this advice repeatedly as I prepared for this trip. I’m not a trail runner, at least not yet. I’m not a camper, at least not yet. I’ve tried to take each learning experience in small steps, reading and learning as much as I could before proceeding. Recently I have been […]
I’ll have more about this 19-mile after I recover a bit more. It was not a good day on the trail mostly because I decided to add 9 miles to the run after I’d started. I was ill-prepared – a first on this trip. Fortunately, I had some mountain bikers watching over me. A great […]
My body is beat up. Despite running just 44 miles this week, my legs feel like iron anchors. I’ve climbed several miles on trails, which I haven’t done much before this trip. Still, I wake up every morning and drag myself out. It’s helpful that I’ve brought nothing else to do. Once I pull myself […]
After the brutal 13.1 mile ascent on Shut-In Mountain yesterday, I decided to let my body rest a bit before heading off to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park for today’s run. Functionally, I still awoke at 6:20 a.m., but I leisurely got started around 8 a.m. After a brief stop at McDonald’s to send […]
When I first read the Runner’s World issue with the best trail runs in the United States, I latched on to the Shut-In Trail for two reasons: it was near Asheville, North Carolina – a city I’d longed to visit, and it ran from the base of a forest 18.9 miles into the mountains. These […]
There are 27 trails within the Bent Creek system in the Pisgah National Forest Southern Research Station. I know this because when I checked into the park, I was handed a map. The reason for the organization: Bent Creek is a research forest, which means scientists are here conducting all manners of research around conservation. […]
Wednesdays are my off days, which in Muncie means I spend most of my time lounging around my town home doing a whole lot of nothing. I’d like to say I’m motivated to get out and do activities in my town of residence but there’s not a culture of activity there. Here in Asheville – […]
I’m sitting in my tent, nestled in the Hard Times loop of the Lake Powahatan Recreational Area. The campground itself is just a small part of the Bent Creek Experimental Forest project on the edges of Asheville, North Carolina. The drive east along Interstate 40 and then south along Interstate 26 was breathtaking. I kept […]
I had the opportunity to do two runs while I was in Nashville, both at Percy Warner. I realized when I’d completed the first day that I’d neglected two important particulars: take a picture of the awesome Stone Gate entryway into the park and run the last .3 of a mile to the top of […]
Night falls early at base camp. The sun goes down, the human noise begins to subside, and the night sounds begin to creep. After a long day of running, rain assembly, and general insanity I climbed into my tent at 9:10 p.m. in order to prepare for the Percy Warner Ascent on Monday. (If you’re […]