runnning on empty

I'm sort of starting to wish I had never bought the new bike. If I hadn't I wouldn't be riding at all so I guess it is a good thing I bought it. Bikes are fun but there is something about running that is really sucking me in.

Saturday morning I headed to Pisgah with the dog instead of the bike for a trail run. I drove all the way up Turkey Pen Rd. and we started from there. Our route ended up being:

South Mills River > No Name Bradley Connector > Bradley Creek > Laurel Creek > Squirrel Gap > Pounding Mill > South Mills River > Wagon Rd. Gap > Turkey Pen Gap




The first half of the run, before I made the decision to tack on Turkey Pen Gap, was as good as it gets. Bradley and Laurel Creek were typical mind blowing Pisgah except instead of on a bike I was doing it on my feet. Squirrel came very easy and I was tempted to stay on it until Cantrell but decided to take the hiking only Pounding Mill and then the hiking only Wagon Rd. Gap as well. I stopped for water at the bottom of Wagon Rd. knowing I was going to need it for the climb up Sharpy Mountain. Wagon Rd. went very fast but then I ground to a halt as we worked our way up Turkey Pen. By this time it was hot and the sun was beating right down on us. As soon as the iodine had been in the water for 15 minutes I ate a gel and downed the bottle. Coming down off of Sharpy Mtn. the trail is very steep and I was thinking it was too steep to run when I came off a water bar only to have the ground slide out from underneath when I landed. My ankle rolled all the way in and pain shot up my leg. I hopped around for a minute and was relieved when I realized I'd barely missed spraining my ankle. Tragedy narrowly adverted.

The run came in right at 10 miles and my time, 2:20, was pathetically slow. I was actually moving at a decent pace until Wagon Rd. when things slowed considerably. This was my longest run yet and has me itching to go further.

Saturday night I had a party and the last thing I remember about that was challenging Broussard ar 2:30am to stay up and finish the beer with me as we pontificated on the finer points of life.



We tried to finish it but failed miserably. Next thing I know it is 9am and David Cook is texting me to make sure that we are still on for the Laurel > Pilot ride that evidently I'd arranged over the course of the party. So I did my best to get my gear and bike in the truck and made my way to Fisherman's. I was very hung over, my ankle hurt and my legs were so sore walking was challenging. And it was very hot. So, yeah, that made for a fun ride. Sorry, David, next time I'll try and actually be able to ride.