Sandman Extreme Half Marathon

Half marathon #29, and the first race of 2017 is in the books!  I had vague memories of how tough this race was from when I ran it in 2014, but time definitely softened the difficulty in my mind.  I had completely forgotten that this race was actually harder than the Blue Ridge!  Check out the elevation profile!  I didn't mind the 4 mile uphill climb so much (although I won't say it was the easiest either) but going back down the other side was brutal!  The first two miles of downhill were on gravel, and that was manageable, but my hip started hurting almost as soon as I hit the pavement, and that part was steeper too.  My hip has barely stopped hurting since, but I think the shake out jog, stretching, and foam rolling I did today helped tremendously.

Like my last race, I ran this one with my watch hidden in my sleeve.  I felt like I was crawling for the first mile, but since it was downhill I knew it would be easy to go too fast and ruin the rest of the race, so I made myself stick to the slow-feeling pace.  Of course it turned out to be sub-7 pace, but that's the downhill for you.  I waited til I hit the uphill, and then I kicked into gear.  I was afraid to push too hard on that uphill and not have anything left for the rest of the race, but in hindsight I wish I had pushed a little bit harder.  I'll have a better idea of strategy for next year though!  

I let go as much as I could on the downhills to make up time from the uphill, but when I did encounter flats or uphills after the long downhill, I found it really hard to get back into a rhythm after relying on momentum for so many miles.  I was pleased to see that my splits didn't get too terribly slow by the end though.  At least, not as slow as they felt!  I crossed the line at 12.85 by my watch, so I kept running around the block until I hit 13.1.  They clocked me at 1:37:18 at the line, and I finished the 13.1 in 1:38:27. My finish time was slower than I had hoped, but it was a tough race in unpleasant weather.  35ish degrees, foggy, and intermittent light rain.  And my sore legs say I ran hard even if it was a bit slow!  

Only 270 miles on the old pair but almost no tread left, and I could feel that they were wearing out so it was time for a new pair before the old pair could injure me!  Nice to race in a brand-new pair!

New race hairstyle for the hair since it's too short to braid now...double pony-tales!

Somebody caught this photo of me running up a hill during the race.

Finisher medal along with 1st place winnings : mug, headband, and bag.

I finished first place female and 5th place overall, about 4.5 minutes behind 4th place, which was my running partner Ben.  

South Holston Dam and Osceola Island 10/22/16

After a late night having fun with friends, I slept in this morning.  And then even once I woke up around 10:30, I still didn't get out of bed, because it was toasty warm under the covers and quite chilly outside them.  It went down into the 40s last night and I have not turned on my heat yet.  There is definitely a bit of heat rising up from the apartment below me, so I'm holding out as long as I can. At least until it's consistently cold outside, and not only cold at night.  So...I stayed in bed watching Netflix until noon before making myself get up for lunch.

After my lazy morning, I decided to make the most of a gorgeous (though chilly) afternoon, and head to South Holston Dam for a photo adventure and hill run.  I was there on Monday to take the 8th grade class portrait for my school, and the leaves were gorgeous then.  I figured I better get back as soon as I could to take photos for myself before the leaves fell!

I started out by taking photos from the top of the dam.  

You can see the wind in the water!

I then went to the other end of the dam where I was able to take a little path about halfway down to the water.  While there I decided to have a little fun with the tripod.  

Next, I drove back down below the dam to park at the Osceola Island parking lot for my run.  I ran from there up to the dam, across the dam, turned around and went back.  It turned out to be exactly 5 miles, which I ran pretty hard.  I loved pushing the winding hill up to the dam. 

After the run, I thought I would just head home for a hot shower, but decided I should spend more time taking photos instead, so I wandered across a little footbridge to Osceola Island and then walked the trail around the island.  I'm glad it was just barely warm enough out that I didn't get too cold after my run so that I was able to add the extra time outside!  I got some cool photos.  

I could hear a bird calling, but it took me awhile to locate it way up in the tree!  It was facing towards me at the time so the red head wasn't visible.  But I finally found it through my zoom lens.  And then I had to hold the camera ready and stare at it until it finally decided to fly. 

Just chilling, right below the weir dam. So cool!

A very fun, productive, and gorgeous afternoon!

Back to the Mountains

Last week : 209.6 bike miles with 11,010 feet of climbing
This week : 101..9 bike miles with  10,164 feet of climbing
Saturday's ride alone had 4780 ft of climbing...
Yep, I'm back in the mountains.

This week 

T : bike 16.5

W : run 5.3

R : bike 33.6

F : run 5.3

Sa : bike 51.8

bike total : 101.9

run total : 10.6

It's been a good week of exercise.  It is ever so tempting to do a short ride or a jog today, but I've been asking a lot of my legs this week and I think they probably deserve a break.  They are a bit sore from getting back into running, and climbing mountains on a bike after 2 weeks away isn't so easy on them either!  My foot seems to be taking the running ok, I've been good about icing it afterwards, and sometimes it hurts later, but it hasn't been too bad, and it fees fine during the runs.  Happily, I have also been able to breathe a little easier during running, which seems to confirm my suspicions that the asthma trouble was primarily allergy related.  

Both long rides this week included some new climbs.  Thursday's new climb was one I've only ever gone down before...it was tough crawling back up it but what doesn't kill me make me stronger!  The views on both rides were absolutely gorgeous, I lucked out with weather both times.  I had to stop and take pictures during Thursday's ride.  Saturday I opted not to stop, although I could have gotten some pretty awesome pictures then too.

Thursday
(clock-wise)

Saturday

(counter clock-wise)

Photos from Thursday

Second 16 miler this month!

...and this time I did it on purpose!

This week's runs

M : 6.2

W : 6.2

R : 6.7

Sa : 16.1

total miles : 35.3

I was rather tired all week, and each time I got out there to run I would think to myself that I would probably cheat on my 6 mile minimum rule and run closer to 4.5.  But once I was out there and moving, I would realize that 4.5 is such a walk in the park at this point, I may as well not run at all if that is all I am going to do.  And the 6 miles never ended up as hard as it seemed like it would.  Actually, I'm starting to think I need to up my minimum to 7 or 8.  Or perhaps make it a time minimum instead of a distance minimum, and go for 1 hour.  We shall see.  For now, I'll keep it at 6. 

I knew I needed a long run on Saturday, and I needed 10-11 to hit my 30 mile/week goal.  I wasn't quite sure how I was going to feel, and I didn't feel like carrying food/water.  So I set out on my 10-ish mile loop, and hoped I would feel good enough to add on towards the end.  I was hoping for at least 12 miles.  Thankfully, I felt good and strong and I was able to keep going til 16.  My knees and feet were starting to complain by 14 miles, but what's 2 more when you've already gone that far? All but 5 miles were under 8 min/mile, and most of the slower ones involved long hill climbs.  Marathon training isn't looking half as scary this year as it has in the past!

I couldn't just run 16 miles.  I had to also run as many hills as possible.

Feeling really strong and positive about the Blue Ridge 1/2 coming up soon!

2 days of work, 5 days of running

...because no school doesn't have to mean no run!

I took Monday off from work since I had a race on Sunday after a very busy week.  I needed some time to relax after 8 days straight of being busy!  Then it rained all night Wednesday, and started snowing early Thursday morning.  Roads were a ridiculous mess, so school was cancelled.  We tried to call a 2 hr delay on Friday, but by 9 the roads were still so icy it was obvious they wouldn't be safe by 10 either, so school was cancelled again.

Of course I went for runs on both Thursday and Friday.  Thursday's run may be the first run I have ever done where there was NO visible pavement.  I finally decided to try the ice cleats I bought about 5 years ago, and never used.  They were awesome for the first 2.5+ miles, but then one came off and refused to stay back on.  The other one came off a quarter mile later.  I think my shoes got too wet for the rubber to grip.  Next time, I will use an extra pair of shoelaces to strap them on.  Friday's run was a mess.  There was black ice, white ice, snow, slush, and wet pavement, depending on how much sun each section of road was getting.  The slush was the worst.  It got my feet wet, and then my toes got really cold.

I was tempted to take Saturday off, but it was in the 40s and I finally convinced myself to get out the door and exercise.  Then I took all the joy out of running by making myself run 400m (ish) repeats.  There is a neighborhood up the hill from me that I run through all the time.  It has 2 parallel streets, each somewhere between .25 and .35 miles long.  (Strava only rounds to tenths, so I'm not sure exactly where the 400m mark is, but I figured running further is better than shorter.  It puts both segments at 0.3 miles)  I run down one road, up a hill to the other, run down it, then slight downhill back to the start.  Obviously I'm a glutton for punishment, who wants to recover on an uphill?  Especially one that climbs 44 feet in 1/10 of a mile...?  The first time I bounced my way right up it.  By the 4th time, I was crawling.

I was on the fence about running again today.  I have been wary of overdoing it since my extra-high-mileage last week.  But I only had 20 miles so far this week. That was fine with me all week when I was telling myself I was taking a light week.  But then this morning I had to go and decide that I needed a weekly minimum of 30.  I told myself that was still a light week, since it's 17 less than last week... But that meant I needed a 10 miler today.  I guess it is past time to start doing long runs every weekend... Besides, it was in the high 40s by noon, and was going to reach the 50s while I was out there.  How could I not go enjoy that?!  Besides needing a long run, I also was overdue for a run up Muddy Creek Mountain.  I hadn't run it since February 7, because of snowstorms getting in the way every time I wanted to go do it.  So that's where I went today.  I was under-nourished and under-hydrated for that run, but I had a strong run to the top of the mountain: 20:06 for the 2.2 mile climb, compared to 22:06 last time.  The return trip wasn't so smooth.  I was in bad shape by the time I got home, from calorie depletion.  Sleeping in and sitting around the house all day for 4 days has messed up my meal routines.  

Gotta love this elevation profile...if that's not great training for the Blue Ridge 1/2, I don't know what is!  I included my heart rate in this photo...I think it's fun to see how it spikes towards the top of the mountain and then drops fast as I go down the hill...

runs this week

T : 6.1

R : 5.2

F : 4.4

Sa :  4.5

Su : 10.7

total : 30.9 miles

A long overdue long run

Happily, I got back to a normal running routine this week, and ran 5 times.  I didn't impose a 6 mile minimum on myself though, I went back to my 4.5 mile minimum for now.

Runs this week : 

M : 5 

T : 5 

W :  4.5 

(sprint, avg 6:42 pace)

R : 4.6

Sa : 12.2

(jog, avg 8:29 pace)

total : 31.4

I was really happy with Wednesday's sprint!  Wednesday is faculty meeting day, so it often turns into a day off because of how late I get home.  However, I really wanted to save my days off for later in the week, and I got home with enough time for a quick run before sunset, so I decided to go for an overdue sprint run.  I'm glad I made that decision, I have a race next Saturday and I'm sure it will be helpful for my body to have run something close to race pace beforehand.  

I was even more overdue for the long run than I was for the sprint.  I am running a 10 mile race next Saturday, and haven't really done a long run since my last half marathon in November.  I decided to run an out and back to the top of Muddy Creek Mountain.  It is the perfect place to train for the Blue Ridge Half Marathon.  Check out that elevation profile... a totaled 1,344 ft of elevation gain.  

I crashed pretty hard after this run, but I had anticipated that.  I really need to start doing more long runs so that my body can get used to them.  

In other news, I finally found something to keep my hands warm during winter runs!  I bought ski mittens.  Waterproof and windproof, well insulated, fleecy inside.  I tried them out for the first time on my long run.  It was hard to decided what to wear, because it was in the high 30s when I started, and was supposed to get into the 50s.  (it was probably in the mid 40s when I finished).   I have had such bad luck lately, with my fingers getting painfully frozen no matter what the temperature.  My fingers get cold and numb even in 50 degree weather.  I knew my new mittens would probably be too warm for this run, but I was afraid none of my other gloves would be warm enough.  Lately my fingers have started hurting in the first 2-3 miles of my run, and I knew there was no way I would survive 12 miles if that happened, so I decided to err on the side of being too warm.  Hot, sweaty hands were a very new feeling.  I ended up alternating wearing the mittens and carrying them.  They came in handy when 2 dogs rushed at me on the top of the mountain, it was nice to have something to swat them with when they were snapping at my legs.  

The weather this weekend was awesome. High 50s yesterday, and up to 70 today!  I happily went to visit Pony both days this weekend.  Today I enjoyed lying on a blanket and basking in the warm sunshine while she was grazing.  Yesterday, she was so excited to see me, she started running in from the far end of the field before I even got out of my car.  Today, she was already at the gate when I pulled in.  

Beckley 1/2 in T-8 days!

I can't resist...I'm going for it. My decision is partially due to a friend who said she would carpool with me and do the 5k. Having a travel buddy is always nice! 

I haven't had any doubts about my legs being ready, but I've been worried about my lungs. It's that crappy time of year where it's in the 40s at night and 70s or 80s during the day. Unfortunately, my lungs do not handle those wide temperature variations very well, and I have been coughing up a lung for the last 2 weeks. 

Today, I was still coughing, but only a little bit, and it wasn't painful anymore. I actually felt good enough to break out of a jog and actually work my lungs with a run. I was finally able to run hard enough to be slightly out of breath the whole time (sometimes more than slightly). This is a change from my last few runs which I kept slow enough that I never had to breathe hard. 

I wanted a longer run today, and hadn't actually planned on running particularly hard. But it was a beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon, and I was feeling strong. It was perfect running weather and I wanted to RUN. So run I did.  I ran a loop that has two tough climbs, both 0.6 miles, one with 225 ft of elevation gain and the other with 249 ft of gain. I ran each of them about 40 seconds faster than last time. Last time was a 10.1 mile run at an average 8:51 pace. Today was 11.3 miles at an average 7:55. I finally feel like I'm coming back, and I love it!

I won't be getting a course or dIstance PR at Beckley this year, but that's ok. I'm really just glad that I will be able to participate. I love races, and it has been 5 months since my last one!  Beckley will be a good place for me to see how my legs/lungs hold up for the distance, before I run the tougher Lewisburg 1/2 on October 25. 

*update : just looked at my splits from today's run...my first five miles were all under 7:30, and my first mile was 6:17. Granted, those miles had a lot of downhills but still...I didn't know I was going that fast! My other miles were all above 8, and some above 9, but they involved mountains so...it's pretty understandable. Glad to see I could pull out a 6:17 first mile and still have a great run!

2 ten-milers in 1 week!

I think the best thing biking did for me (other than saving me from a summer of no exercise, of course) is that it got me accustomed to exercising for longer periods of time each day.  Right now I am running fewer times per week than I used to, but my average distance per run is longer.

I feel distance-ready for a half marathon now, but I still feel far from race-ready.  I don't know how long it is going to take to get my lungs in shape for racing, but I sense that it is going to be a long while.  I'm still on the fence about the Beckley 1/2.  Since the early-registration deadline has passed, I guess I don't have to decide until the day before.

Today I added mountain climbs to my run for the first time since I started running again.  I didn't try to push the pace at all during the run, just kept a jog.  I was crawling up the climbs, but I felt pretty good.  I was never tempted to walk, so I'll call it a win.

This Week's Runs

M : 10

R : 5.3

Su : 10.1

total : 25.4

I am finding that the fewer times I ride per week, the better I feel during those rides.  Now that I am running again, I can ride 3 times a week instead of 6, and ride more miles on each ride.  My back is feeling a lot better now that I'm not torturing it every day.  On Friday, I switched out my pedals for "big-girl" pedals...I'm clipping in now.  I've had people trying to talk me into it for awhile, but the idea of having my feet glued to the pedals kind of freaks me out.  It still makes me really nervous, but I guess if I'm going to be serious about the biking thing it's a step I had to make eventually.  Friday's ride was short, just trying to get used to the feeling of having pedals stuck to my feet.  I didn't crash, so that was a plus.  

This Week's Rides

W : 22.6

F : 9.1

Sa : 29.5

total : 61.1

A 50 mile bike ride and a spectacular hike

The cycling adventures continue.  My foot continues to hurt (or not) each day, with no rhyme or reason that I can figure out.  This week it felt fine for 3 days and then randomly started hurting again.  We had tried ultrasound at PT, and it didn't seem to help, so the PT made me some orthotics and told me to come back if they pinch/rub/don't work.  Gotta give them a few weeks to know if they are helping or not though.  If they don't work, it seems that injection is my only remaining option.  Yay fun.

Meanwhile, my back has been adjusting to life on a road bike.  Of my 4 rides last week, 2 were longer rides. One was 31 miles and the other was 50.  The 50 mile ride on Saturday took me south into Monroe County and then back to Greenbrier.  Lots of gorgeous scenery on that ride, it was a really nice day.  I'm still enjoying exploring new roads on my bike.  Eventually I will have exhausted all the possibilities and I'll have to start repeating long rides, but for now I'm going to enjoy new scenery as often as possible.

Sunday I went hiking with 2 friends.  We went to Devil's Marbleyard, near Natural Bridge, VA.  I went hiking there at the end of December, but it was cold and gray and the pictures didn't turn out too spectacular.  This time though, was spectacularly gorgeous.  The weather was perfect, the trees were green, and the sky was blue.  Perfection.

Sunlight through the trees.

My hiking buddies.

Check out that view!

Queen of the Mountain!

Cycling Explorations

Since I need to take time off from running, and I can't stand to not exercise regularly, I have had to embrace this whole cycling thing.  It was frustrating at first, because I didn't have the right muscle to ride with the same intensity that I was used to putting into my runs.  But after a few weeks, I have gotten much stronger, and am able to get a satisfying workout out of a bike ride.  It can still be hard to find the time for bike rides of a decent length, but I seem to be finding it.  I thought I was busy when I was running 30-45 miles a day, and now I find myself biking an hour or two, often longer on weekends.  Somehow it seems to fit in.  And on the days when it doesn't, I ride hard for 30 minutes or so.

My favorite part about cycling is that it takes me places my runs don't.  I am seeing parts of the area that I have never seen before, and since spring time has finally arrived in the Greenbrier Valley, the scenery is gorgeous, and often breathtaking.  The one-lane roads through farmland have very little traffic, but lots of cows and beautiful green fields.

I don't like stopping in the middle of a workout, so I don't have pictures of any of the scenery, except for today.  Today, the road I took turned unexpectedly into a dirt/gravel road.  Having already been chased by two different pairs of dogs, I really didn't want to turn around and backtrack.  So I took my chances that the map was correct and that the road would in fact continue to the next road I planned to take, and I stuck with it.  Parts of the road were decent, parts of it were very rutted and rocky and muddy.  But thankfully, my tires handled it beautifully.  I was rather angry about the state of the road, and desperately hoping I wouldn't end up lost, but as I looked around, it was so peaceful.  And every now and then I would get a glimpse of a breathtaking view as I wound my way up and down a mountain.  I had to break my no-stopping rule to snap a few pictures.

This was a part where the gravel road was relatively smooth.  

I love green trees and blue sky, such perfect weather!

Almost Heaven, West Virginia. 

What a view.

Eventually, the dirt road came to a T with a paved road.  With no street signs.  So I had to guess...up hill or down hill.  It wasn't how I remembered it looking on the map, but it turns out I hadn't looked closely enough at the map.  I knew that the place I was headed was most likely downhill, since it's near the river, so I chose downhill.   It turned out that where I had thought the road I started on continued straight and I needed to turn off to the left, it actually didn't go straight. The road I was on continued to the right, the one I had planned to turn off onto, was to the right.  I have no idea why that intersection wasn't labeled, but good thing I have a decent sense of direction! In the end, the road I took spit me out on a two lane road that was also unlabeled, but which I knew had to be the next road I wanted, Highway 63.  So, I made it home without actually getting lost, even though I felt lost for about half of the ride.  Adventuring is fun on weekends when I have the time for it!  Especially when the weather cooperates.

Yesterday, I went for my longest ride so far.  40 miles.  It didn't have any significant mountain climbs, so it wasn't particularly difficult, just long.  I actually felt like I could have kept going.  The only reason I didn't, was because the skies opened up and it started pouring when I was about 7 miles from home.  So, I got drenched.  It stopped raining right around the time I got back into town, which made it tempting to continue riding, but in the end the desire to get warm and dry won and I headed straight home.

Last week, I rode 90 miles, which I felt was pretty impressive for a busy person who has just picked up this new cycling hobby.  This week, I made a goal of hitting 90 again.  And then I hit a grand total of 118.9 miles for the week.  I would continue this quest to see how many miles I can ride in one week, but this coming week is looking pretty busy, so I suspect it will be a lower mileage week.  Time will tell.

Blue Ridge Half Marathon Race Recap

2 days after the race.  My legs are just as sore now as they were when I woke up Sunday morning.  In other words, really, really, really, really sore.  Must have something to do with the fact that I raced a bunch of mountains after being unable to train seriously since December...  However, even though I'm hobbling around like I'm crippled, it hurts to sit down, and stairs make me want to cry, I have no regrets.  None.  It was a beautiful day.  The scenery throughout the course was gorgeous.  The spectators were wonderful.  The course was every bit as tough as it bragged to be.  There is nowhere else I would have rather been on that Saturday morning.  And I surely can't wait until next year, when hopefully I will actually be in shape, and will be able to power up those hills, race back down the hills, and leave them in my dust.

I was more excited for this race than I have been in awhile.  I always love racing, but lately I haven't always completely looked forward to each one until after the starting gun.  I think because there was so much uncertainty about whether or not I would be running this race, it made me all the more excited when I decided that I could run it.  
 

Sunrise on race day.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, and warm enough to leave my sweat pants in the car rather than lug them around.  That in itself was enough to put a smile on my face, I'm so sick of the cold weather!  I did not do a warm-up jog for this race.  I wasn't sure how my foot would hold up for the mountainous 13 miles and I certainly wasn't going to waste any of its strength on a warm-up.  I wasn't expecting to win the race anyway, I figured it really wasn't necessary for me to be warm enough to sprint the first mile.  I started off the race at whatever pace felt comfortable to me.  I'm sure it was faster than ideal for a warm-up, but it was mostly a slight downhill anyway.

Matching shoes and fingernails...

Straight off the start line.  

I just want to say...take a look at my leg muscles!  

I have trouble understanding how my legs are that ripped after all my time off...

Last year, I remember powering up Mill Mountain like it was nothing more than a bump in the road.  This year, it wasn't super difficult, but it definitely required more effort than I remember.  I'm sure that had something to do with the fact that I hadn't done any hill training in weeks...or months...  About half way up the hill, last year's half marathon winner passed me.  She didn't pass me until the last 2 miles last year, so I wondered if I was going that much slower, or if she was starting out faster.  Then, we reached the place where the half and full marathons split, and she took the marathon split.  Before I got tendonitis in my foot, my goal was to beat her this year.  Turns out that wouldn't have been an option!  (And since the course changed this year, I couldn't have beat her course record either.)

At the top of Mill Mountain, I was in 2nd place, although I had absolutely no idea what place I was in, as there was no sight of any women ahead of me.  The backside of Mill Mountain, going back down, is extremely steep.  I knew if I flew down the hill like I did last year, I would destroy my foot.  So I ran more conservatively than I normally would.  I got passed by a woman or two, and lots of guys, but I didn't let it get to me.  I knew taking it easy on my foot with more than half the race left was more important than keeping up with the competition.  There was one woman who had almost caught me by the bottom of the hill, but I sped up once I reached the bottom, and didn't see her again for a long time.  After some time on the mostly flat greenway, the course eventually picked up its new course, sending us into a very steep neighborhood, called "Peakwood."  Peakwood has always been a part of the marathon course, but it has never been part of the half marathon before.  Peakwood was every bit as challenging as it was advertised.  It is one of the steepest hills I have ever run, and much steeper than the ones I run on a normal basis.  Many people alternated walking and running on this hill.  I maintained at least a jog, but I certainly wasn't going very fast on some of the steepest parts!  I passed a woman on this hill who I never saw again, but I got passed by someone else at some point, who went on to win 2nd place.  The downhill off of Peakwood was not as steep as Mill Mountain's downhill, but it was steep enough to strain my foot.  However, there were only 2 miles left in the race at that point, so I pushed a little bit harder than earlier, knowing that the race was almost over anyway.  In the last mile, I knew that I was in 3rd place, but I had absolutely no idea how much of a lead I had on 4th place.  I picked up the pace as much as I could, and when I passed the 13th mile marker, I sped up to a sprint to the finish, hoping no one was going to pass me on the line.  A guy caught up to me, but that was it.

While I would have loved to have defended my 2nd place title for the 3rd year, I am completely satisfied with 3rd place.  I know that I lost 2nd on the downhills, but it wasn't worth the strain that I would have put on my foot.  I'm so glad I was able to run this race and finish strong.  And even better, it didn't seem to make my foot any worse.  I went back to PT this morning, and was instructed not to run again for at least a week.  And after that, who knows.  I was also told that I shouldn't plan on running a 5k on the 17th.  I am putting my race schedule on hold for the time being.  I really didn't want to give up the Blue Ridge, but I will give up my upcoming races in order to get rid of the tendonitis.

Finisher medal. 

With elevation profile of the mountains I ran.

1:43:32, 3rd female, 21st overall

My family of Blue Ridge trophies.

2011 : 2nd in age group 20-24

2012 : 2nd female

2013 : 2nd female

2014 : 3rd female

This year's addition to the family.

I'd also like to mention how grateful I am to the wonderful people at the Hyatt Place in Roanoke, who let me stay 2 whole hours past check-out, for free, (even though they were booked solid), so that I could get a nap before my drive home.  Life-saving.