Winter Hours

  I know. It's been a while, so here an update. (Finally)

I finished 2013 by getting in 53 miles at "One Epic Run" 24 hour race in Spartanburg, SC on December 7th-8th. The course was great, a 3 mile loop of single track that was nice and muddy after several days of rain prior to the event!

One of the dryer spots along the trail!

    The rest of December consisted of mostly short training runs with clients, which worked out well because I was resting up a bit before the start of the 2014 Race season! I did get out to the annual "Boxing Day Madness"  6 hour Fat Ass run on December 26th and got in 18 easy and slow miles there.

Keeping track of my laps!

   January 1 I started training for the Black Mountain Marathon, which is on February 22nd. I ran this race last year, and it is quite challenging! I got out two weeks ago for a 20 mile training run along the course with my friends from Iron Mountain Trail Runners! We had a good time braving the cold and making our way through the snow and ice along the trail.

At the turn around and heading back down the mountain!

 

Elevation  for the Black Mountain Marathon

 Last week's training run was up another mountain, Morrow Mountain in Albemarle, NC for the "Fellowship of the Idiots" run. In keeping with the theme, you start at 5am in January and run from the YMCA in town, up to the top of Morrow Mountain, then back into town.

Cold and Dark at the start!

  

Catching the sunrise at the top of the mountain

Celebrating at the finish in true idiot style!

  2014 is shaping up to be the year of the mountain run. After Black Mountain comes the Umstead Trail Marathon, followed by the Leatherwood Mountain 50K in March.  I go back out to Umstead in April to volunteer at the Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run, then I am hoping to run Promise Land 50K later on that month. Still deciding on what 100 miler to run this year.

  I am very excited to be sponsored  by Elete Electrolytes this year! Please check them out by clicking on their banner on the main page of the blog. I will be doing a complete review of their awesome products on the blog here shortly.

  My music pick of the month is a really great band from Charleston, SC called Southwood. Check out their FB page at Southwood. Here is one of their tunes I have been listening to a lot!