Trail Running in Gatlinburg

I’m finally getting a bit more acclimated to the humidity and decided it was time to start running again. 

The last three months I haven’t been running. I think I was burned out from running and life. I wasn’t excited about running. It’s amazing how a change of scenery can get you fired up again!

Now that I’m living in a mountain town and there are trails all around me – I’m excited to run Gatlinburg. 

This week started with some runs from the cabin which means all downhill then all uphill to get back. It was challenging; these roads are steep. I feel like I’m building up my legs again and that feels good.

Saturday and Sunday I drove to the Gatlinburg Trailhead parking and ran to Sugarlands Visitor Center. 

On Saturday, the goal of the run was to not die. The Gatlinburg Trail follows the river the entire way and is completely in the trees so no sun, which was nice. I took a bunch of side paths and meandered around the visitor center and then headed back to my car: uneventful. I ran 4 miles.

On Sunday I wore my running pack with a bladder so I could run a little farther. About a mile in, a couple warned me a big bear just crossed the trail ahead. A second person said it moved off the trail and I should be good.

I continued on and ran to the Cove Mountain trailhead. I remembered it from yesterday and wanted to try run/hiking it. The summit is 8 miles away but my plan was to explore the trail a little at a time. I would turn around at mile 3.  

Then at mile 2.5 I stumped upon a bear on the trail. It wasn’t moving, it just looked at me. I instantly turned around and looked back at him a few times. Each time he was looking at me and wasn’t moving off the trail, so I headed back down. I passed a family going up and as I passed them going down I whispered to the dad that there was a bear on the trail ahead, and he yelled to his family ‘bear ahead’, LOL. They turned around too. Now that I look at the map from my run, I bet it was the same bear.

I ran back to my car without any more bear incidents and was happy to have a 15 mile week. I just need to keep the momentum and stay motivated to run. I have 23 weeks until the Houston Marathon but hope to do a few races leading up to it. 

It’s taken a few weeks to get situated and get back to training after moving here. I’m getting more used to seeing bears and driving these windy, steep mountain roads.

This bear was at the cabin this week. He was smelling the trash I put out yesterday.
The dogs are loving the deck and watching for wildlife. All is good here.

Training Update November Edition

Everything is Good. Hard. Fun. Difficult. Complicated. 

I could probably write that sentence about how I’m feeling every day and it would still be true.

Also true: I’ve done every training session assigned to me for the last two weeks.

I’m tired.

Today is a 22 mile trail run and I have a fun run planned. I’m going to go find new trails (to me) over in Oak Hill on the east side of Concord. Concord (NH) has so many great, well-maintained trails.

Oak Hill Trail System Concord NH

Today is going to be Good. Hard. Fun. Difficult. Complicated.

The goal today is just to finish the miles and get my body ready for the 55K in three weeks.

I will be in the desert in 3 weeks. I get a chance at redemption at Colossal Vail 55K.

Here’s me in 2014 before the 55K. This was the first year of the race and I didn’t finish. Dec 11 my plan is to finish.

I get to see Kassandra in 3 weeks.

Tumamoc Hill 2014. We will hike this next month.

I am an Ultrarunner with a Biking Problem

I really needed this run today. 20 miles in the book: mainly trail, some vert and ending on flat for a few miles. I needed it to get my legs used to running when I don’t want to. It really was more mental – and I got it done. 

I opted to run today instead of bike because it was so windy and cold.

I started the run around the quarry with some beautiful views. I headed toward the West End Trails knowing that I would get some serious miles and vert.

I have been falling at least once on every trail run this season due to the little stumps that miss my eye. As I laid on the ground I looked back at this little bugger and snarled. “I hate you,” I said to it. And then took a picture of it.

My fall was not too hard this time but come. on.

Tomorrow is going to be less windy so I’ll get my 50+ mile bike ride in. My plan is to ride to Sunapee State Park and back. I’m sure my legs will be dead tomorrow morning but I need to see 50 on my watch. Ironman is on the horizon.

I also have race calendar changes:

I added Blood Root in Vermont 50K and a Pemi Loop. I did the Blood Root in 2019 so I know what I’m getting myself into: mud, black flies and running up mountains. It’s going to hurt. But knowing I’m doing this race in 15 days motivated me to complete the 20 miles today. I needed to see 20 miles on my Garmin. I’m going to do a Pemi Loop midweek; most likely solo. It’s going to be interesting but this race calendar is keeping me motivated.

Last week: 10.5 training hours

This week: 10 training hours (so far, but the goal is 15)

Presidential Traverse in June

The Presidential Traverse – Saturday June 27, 2020

  • Mount Madison – 5,367′
  • Mount Adams – 5,794′
  • Mount Jefferson – 5,712
  • Mount Washington – 6,289′
  • Mount Monroe – 5,371′
  • Mount Eisenhower – 4,780′
  • Mount Pierce – 4,311′
  • Mount Jackson – 4,052’

Since I’m the type of hiker and runner who likes to get things done as quick as possible, I think the traverse is a perfect event for me. To complete an event like this – in one day – you can’t stop a lot and you have to keep moving despite the pain to get to the end. But what is great for people like me is to be around people I really like, who stop to smell the roses, take in the views and hang out at waterfalls. I don’t normally do this so it’s good to be with people who do, and do it without annoying me too much, LOL. 

That said – it was a freaking perfect day to be above treeline. 

The crew met at 4:30 at the AMC Highland Center in Crawford Notch to drop a car and then drove up to Appalachia trailhead. We didn’t quite know what trail we were going to take and ultimately decided on the direction of Valley Way or Airline. The only plan up to that point was to get to the hut and backtrack to Madison so when we came to a trail junction that offered a choice to Madison first – we took it – Watson Path. Looking back Valley Way would’ve been the better choice but we opted for a loop instead of out and back. 

Madison was amazing. About 10 people on the summit. Since we would be at this all day, we stopped for a short time and kept moving. The weather was perfect, hovering around 50 and very little wind. All day there was cloud cover and we could see Mount Washington the entire time. 

Next up, Adams. This is always a tough climb. As I hiked, I thought of all the search and rescue stories of so many people being trapped or killed on this mountain. The weather on this summit can be unpredictable but today, it was perfection. 

Hiking with this crew: Bob and Mark, is so fun. They are silly and fun to be around. They were in much better shape that I on this hike. They have been hiking much more and training better so it was an effort to keep up most of the day.

We really wanted to run some of this but there weren’t many runable spots. There was a group of trail runners who knew exactly how to get to Jefferson after we took a wrong turn with another group of traversers. We hiked close to them most of the day. This group had the same group dynamics we had. They were telling funny jokes to each other as they hiked and giving each other shit like I did to Mark about leading us the wrong way. A few times when Mark led, he wasn’t following cairns and I would exclaim “Damn It, Mark” in fun. You just go forward the way that looks obvious and you go off route a bit when you follow Mark. LOL

After the steep climb to the top of the crowded Jefferson summit I was falling a little behind the crew. My legs were dead. There was so much scrambling and the rocks are rough and abrasive. I cut my hands in a few spots. I turned my ankle a few times and my metatarsals were twisted and turned in odd ways due to rock placement. That’s life in the Presidentials for sure.

Bob Joke: Could someone come and remove some of these rocks? 

We missed the signs for Clay and continued to bypass it even after realizing our mistake when talking to some hikers. Since it’s not a true 4,000 by the AMC definition we were all okay and didn’t go back. Onward to Mount Washington – the rock pile

Mount Washington was the only place I added a layer and a beanie. We didn’t stay too long because the wind made it cold! The only summit with wind today. We headed to Lake of the Clouds for a bathroom break (no restrooms at Washington) but all the huts had water, snacks for sale and bathrooms. 

From this point on I had Zombie brain and dead legs. We had heard that the northern Presidentials were much harder so we briefly enjoyed the thought that the hardest climbing was behind us. HA! 

Over Monroe and Franklin (a 5,000 footer but not on the official list) 

I remembered Eisenhower from a hike last fall with Winnie-Dog. It was a nice easier climb with the huge cairn at the top. 

Pierce wasn’t as exciting after the day we had above the trees but the cairn was pretty big. We kept moving. 

We saw a mountain in the distance and I hoped it was Webster (one we weren’t doing) because it looked so far away and it was going to be a good climb. It was Jackson. This was the start of entering the dark place at hour 10 or 11. 

We finally got to the top and I was swearing and hating this mountain. I’m sure it’s a fine mountain but the last big climb made me mean. But come to find out, the descent back to the car would be the worst part of the day. Talk about a dark place. This is the part that marked distances seemed so wrong and much longer than 1.6 miles or even .9. The remaining miles back to the car were pure hell but we got er’ done.

Bob Joke: This is not a place to get hurt. We wouldn’t want to leave you behind.

How people run this – I can’t conceive – however, I want to. I will. I will try to next time. Except someone mentioned a Presidential Traverse Double. Now that would be great and something to really train for AND I wouldn’t have to death march down the Webster / Jackson trail. Along the trail I told Mark how lucky we were today. We were fortunate to not get hurt and that the weather report was wrong all day. One wrong foot placement, looking the wrong way or not paying attention – our day would be done in a second. I’m a worst-case-scenario-person a lot of the time and know how quickly things can go sideways. I’m cautious but not risk averse. We were fortunate today. We were blessed. 

I decided at mile 18 that I would 1) never do something for more than 12 hours ever again and 2) my body will never finish a 100 mile race because I felt much worse at this moment than DNF’ing at Leadville at mile 36. However, now, two days later, I’m ready to get stronger and fitter to do more crazy things like this

Lessons Learned: 

  • Do more trail running with rocks prior to event
  • More glute strength workouts
  • Decide on routes first, there were too many options at the start
  • Always do this with people you like – the two people I was with are the best, anything else would suck
  • When you run/hike with Bob you always have perfect weather above treelike – that’s a fact (so far)

Post Blog Writing Advice from DangerGirl about running the traverse. I will take it: 

Week 8, a big training week done

Happy July 1st. 

The highlight of Week 8: running 70 miles.

In past weeks I hit 68 mile which included hiking but this is a solid 70 mile with just running. 

This is Week 7 and total mileage is 75 and plan to follow the plan exactly meaning two days off and hitting the daily mileage. Last week I improvised some days; specifically running on Monday since I was sick the week before and didn’t need ANOTHER day off. I ran extra miles during the week because I just felt good, and on Saturday I ran 25 instead of 30 because I had a bit of total-mile-wiggle-room.

This week the temperatures were consistently in the 80s and humidity was high. I mainly ran in the morning to avoid it and on weekends tried to start early but gradually just got used to being drenched in sweat. The plus side of the heat is trips to the Merrimack River for Winnie to swim. The trail leading to the beach wasn’t buggy and not a lot of people yet. I didn’t swim yet but I’m sure this week I’ll jump in. 

Merrimack River in Concord

Saturday’s long run was an ass kicker with 2,500 feet in elevation gain. I ran out to Carter Hill and the apple orchard and along the way hit as my hills as I could. 

Coming down the hill from Carter Hill on the West End Trail in Concord. So green, so buggy, so beautiful.

Then came home, got more water and nutrition and headed out on the road to Bow and the big hill on the logging road. I was toast after. On Sunday I woke up sore, took Advil and headed out for a 16 mile run mainly on roads. The first three miles were slow but I was amazed when I got on the trail how good I felt; even felt fast. I knocked out the miles and then recovered the rest of the day which included another trip to the river and dinner on the patio at Cheers. 

And now for a day off! 

Just 7 weeks to Leadville. July is going to fun-filled. Yeah Summer. This coming week a possible Mount Washington ascent. A trip to Colorado to climb Pikes Peak. A trip to Lake Placid for the Sky Race. And finally, the last weekend the Pemi Loop with Bob and his Leadville buddies.