June 22 – Skirtchaser 5k – 28:52 – I paced one of my soccer friends who was hoping to break 30 minutes. It’s definitely an interesting concept for a race – the women start, then 3 minutes later the men start. More often than not, there’s a woman as the overall winner!
July 4 – Spectacular 4-miler – 39:40 – My goal for this race was to break 40 minutes. I might do this one again next year – it’s fun to kick off a holiday with a run before diving into tons of food & laziness the rest of the day.
July 11 – The Bear 5 mile run – 1:05:05 – This was the second year I’ve done the Bear and I actually ran it faster last year when I could only see about 100 feet in front of me. This year, I could see how much more of the mountain I had to climb! For those of you who don’t know about the Bear, it is the kick-off to the Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain in Linville, NC. You start at the town of Linville and run to the top of Grandfather Mountain – an elevation gain of 1541′ in 5 miles. If you’ve ever watched Forrest Gump and remember the switchbacks he runs up a mountain – it’s the same mountain. I will do this again in 2014 and my goal is still to break 1 hour. Below is a comparison in the conditions between 2012 and 2013 – definitely a world of difference!
Check back next Friday for another race recap.