Springtime in the Blue Ridge Mountains means purple redbud and dogwood blooming amidst green, green, green everywhere, and it also means it's time for some gorgeous mountain trail ultras---MMT100, Capon Valley 50K, and Promise Land 50K!! These are just a few of the more popular events held in April and May in our mountains and I am getting very excited for my absolute fave 50K, Promise Land.
I am healed up from my tight calf (see previous post), and am looking forward to being very fresh for PL. My buddy Anne sent me an email after BRR reminding me of all the positive things to remember from DNFing at BRR, chief among them was that I had a great 21-mile tempo run while at BRR and now I can focus on being really rested for PL. After BRR I rested, iced, and Aleve'd, and last weekend I was able to run nine miles with three miles at tempo pace with no problems on Saturday and then 10 miles with Mikey Mason on the infamous Trayfoot loop trail on Sunday. This week I ran 9 miles easy on Tuesday with VHTRCer Q-Bob Hubbard (in C'Ville this week for work) and tomorrow we will run an easy, short 3 miles. Then Friday night I join the rest of the gang at Promise Land for what looks to be a classic April day of thundershowers and temps in the 60s up on the mountain. Apple Orchard Falls, here we come!
Some news from my Boston people...the weather threw them for a loop again this year. This time it was sunny and 70 and almost everyone ran about 15 minutes off their target pace. That's the tough thing about focusing on an April race...you never know what the weather will do. But they had a total blast up there, taking in the women's Olympic Trials, Red Sox and Celtics games. It was great fun training with them and I hope it pays off this weekend...my PR on the Promise Land course is 6:14, and if I can better my time from last year (6:22), I will be psyched!
1 comment:
Glad you're healed up. Good luck at PL, I am sure you will do great.
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