Thursday, August 5, 2010

Shenandoah National Park

White Blaze Fever!
I had a great few days of running in Shenandoah for my Birthday Run.  I was lucky enough to have the company of friends Jeremy Ramsey and Clark Zealand to join in the fun.  We covered 107.1 miles from Sunday afternoon to midday Wednesday.  We saw lots of fog, a little rain, beautiful trail, but NO BEARS. . . I was bummed about that.

Day 1: 17.6 Miles - Met Jeremy in Front Royal and started running from Rt 522 around 3:00 pm.  Ran easy and finished up at Matthews Arm Campground 3 hrs 49 minutes later.  Jeremy was told by a young girl on the trail, who happened to by lying down supine in the middle of the trail, "You look CONCAVE, you need to eat 3 hamburgers!"  Go figure?

Day 2: 36.4 Miles - Broke down camp and got a relatively early start.  Long day and missed Kadra at Big Meadows so we ended up doing the last 17 miles with no aid.  Definitely not ideal and we both suffered a little.  Clark met us at Lewis Mtn Campground that evening.  8:34 total time today.

Day 3: 33.8 Miles- Quicker pace from the start today with Clark's fresh legs.  Day went by fast and finished in 7:07 (probably a little too quick).  Frances Mongold (Bradley's Mom) brought us KFC with all the fixings for dinner at our camp at Loft Mountain.

Day 4: 19.3 Miles- None of us slept much after a long night of driving rain.  We were all a little stiff at the beginning, but loosened-up quick.  Started getting hotter and the humidity had us drenched from the start.  Really enjoyed the day though and hated to be done running.  Finished in 4:18.

What a special place and special Trail - can't wait to be back to each!  Here are a few pics that Kadra took from the trip:
Our daily foggy views
Typical AT through the Park
The start of the last day: Jeremy looking concave
McCormick Gap
Finally - a little bit of a view
Ready for more at Rockfish Gap, but time to go home

4 comments:

  1. Certainly a great adventure for turning 30. Remember you have to keep upping the adventure every decade. You might as well get working on it. You had a great couple of guys to drag you along. Jeremy is looking concave. Hard to believe someone was laying down right in the middle of the trail. Sounds like the three of you had a wonderful time and I am glad you all survived safe and sound.

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  2. Rick- I guess I will have to work on the next B-day adventure. Things are gearing up for Cheat Mtn - hope you're getting excited!

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  3. Looks like you had a great run. I wish I didn't have to start cross country that week. Would have loved to run it with you. Nice job!

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  4. Brian- I wish you could have joined us too. There will hopefully be many more adventures in the future for you to join in on.

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