Traditionally this would have been my peak training week for the Glass City Marathon. But instead, it was Spring Break! I don’t believe in trying to make up workouts, and I don’t think a week off will make your training plan suffer. I did run a few miles, but not much. This was our first year of having only one kid at home. My daughter is in college, so it was my son’s choice on where to go for spring break. He wanted to go mountain biking! Originally we had reservations to camp in the Smoky Mountains, but after looking at the location of the trails he wanted to ride, we needed to change our base camp. So it was off to the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina instead! We had a fun week. Stats this week: biking 22 miles, running 31 miles, and hiking 15 miles.
Fun camping stuff… you can’t take your trailer through the drive thru so sometimes you have to be creative when the lobby is closed 😂
Our campsite at Davidson River was really nice! It did not have electricity or water, but we have a generator to provide enough power for all of the luxuries like a hair dryer, microwave, etc. One unknown problem though… our camper battery was failing.
Mon – 4 miles running. I woke up before the guys, so I went out for a little exploration run. I love to see my surroundings on a morning run to get the lay of the land! I found a really nice flat trail along the river. I also realized I had dropped my sunglasses. Luckily they were waiting for me!
Biking – Our riding adventures started at a park named “Ride Kanuga”. It was a pretty cool place which had trails designed like a ski resort. Green (easy) trails, blue (medium) trails and black (expert trails). The trails even all started at the same place and ended near the same area just like a ski resort. Only thing was… there was no chairlift to get you to the top. Therefore, it was a 1.5 mile bike ride uphill to get to the trails! If you’ve never biked even a mile uphill I can tell you, as a fit adult, it was exhausting!!! Our first ride down was a green trail which was fast and flowed downhill. A bit speedy for me, but I controlled my speed and really enjoyed it!
The next trail was rated “blue”. OMG, it was hard! There is no shame in admitting I walked a lot of turns and rocky spots of this trail! After that, it was time to call it a day. I didn’t have the energy to bike back up that hill again!
Later in the day we hiked to a waterfall. Look at the rainbow!
Tues – Run, 5 miles. Another run around the park. This time it was to warm up! The battery in our camper died to the furnace didn’t work last night. NO joke, it was 46 degrees inside our camper. Even though it was 36 degrees outside, running for sure warmed me up. And, I saw the coolest thing… a white squirrel! Nope, not an albino. They are white and their existence is a big thing in this area.
It was a do-your-own-thing day. Our son went to a bike park for the afternoon, and we went to tour the Biltmore Estate! I have wanted to tour the Biltmore for a long time now. I almost didn’t do it because it was crazy expensive ($80 at ticket, really??) but I’m glad we went. It was amazing.
The bike park was really good and Zach was exhausted from riding.
Weds – Run, 1 mile. I was going to run longer, but we had things to do! Had to buy a new camper battery because it was 51 degrees this morning. It was also late. I don’t think I have ever slept so much in my life! Going to bed at 10:30 and waking up at 9am. And, we had a full morning of hiking planned. We hiked to the top of Looking Glass Rock. The 6.2 mile hike took almost 3 hours round trip (snack break at the top included). The top was just a big slab of rock which tilted. It freaked me out a bit but for the most part it wasn’t slippery (but still, what if?…). Incredible views of the mountains.
At one point the trail was just a bunch of rocks!
Afternoon ride – First Zach took us on a “black” rated trail in DuPont forest. Not sure what he was thinking because I ended up walking my bike up a bit of the terrain here (and down too!). We got to ride on slick rock, which is actually quite grippy. I felt quite accomplished to have survived this trail with no falls!
Our second trail was one much more in our comfort zone. A bit of an uphill climb, but some fast speedy parts on the way down.
Thurs – Lots of rain last night, so we drove around first thing. Got to see Looking Glass Rock from afar and marvel at the clear area that we stood on top of! It is the section facing us in this picture.
Then we hiked a trail (Graveyard Fields) which led us to the top of a waterfall. The actually trail was a bit of an adventure trying to figure out which way it went, and how to keep our shoes mostly dry.
Afternoon ride – back over to the “easier” trail and made it a bit longer. There are miles and miles of MTB trails so you can come up with an unlimited amount of combinations. We were biking as the sun was starting to set and it was really peaceful in the woods. A perfect ride to end on.
For dinner we hit the town and celebrated our fun (and safe!) trip. Listened to a band, enjoyed a beer, and had dinner. Good times!
Fri – 12 hours in the truck driving home… rest day? Road travels are tiring, especially for the driver! [kudos to Alan for keeping mostly sane hauling a trailer through the traffic!]
Sat – 21 miles, long run! I debated running this today, but if I didn’t it would throw off my schedule next week. And, I’d have to do it on Sunday! As I dreaded running this a bit I talked myself into just two 10 milers! Easy peasy. I ran a route close to home and was very familiar with. I wouldn’t say this was my fastest or strongest run, but it was “time on my feet” and I didn’t need to walk, so it’s a winner! Funny story – I passed a lady walking on the trail and she told me I looked cute! 😊 That’s always a nice compliment. There were also a TON of fisherman at the river despite the 30 degree weather. I have no idea what the river temperature is but I’m sure it’s too cold for me!
Sun – Rest day!! It’s taper time. Time to make sure I don’t get hurt before race day!!
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Have you ever seen a white squirrel?? How about a black one?
Grey squirrels are common here, but there are some areas with black ones.
Q: Have you ever been on mountain bike trails?
This was a great area with a ton of bike trails. I’d go again!
Congrats on getting that long run done!
Love your pix esp the drive-in one and of course the waterfalls. Such an amazing trip.
Just normal squirrels here and annoying since they try to eat our bird food.
Enjoy your taper….
Can’t wait to hear our the race goes.
When we found out the lobby was close there was no way I wanted to find another restaurant! We did learn that the drive thru window is triggered by car weight! We had to walk over to the window to order!
It looks like an amazing vacation, but again, WHERE do you get all your energy???
I don’t bike, sorry.
Our Albie is an Albino. We didn’t see him over the Winter, I still haven’t had a sighting but my husband said he saw him a little while back.
Bet you’re glad to have that 21 miler in the rearview mirror! So sorry about the camper battery. Brrrrr.
I guess all of that deep sleep in the cold camper kept me super energized! 🙂 It was pretty wonderful sleep, but getting out of bed sucked!
When we lived in the East Lansing area, we had squirrels of every color (white included), but black ones were dominant. We have mainly grey and brown ones in Iowa, so it was nice seeing so many varieties in Michigan. Wow, those biking trails sound challenging! My mountain bike has pretty much seen only concrete or asphalt, LOL. And, yes, those hills feel totally different on wheels! Fighting gravity is much harder on a bike!
Some of those hilly trails were downright terrifying! Glad the option to just walk your bike is there because I would not have survived riding parts of the trail. The black squirrels are about 15 miles from here but we have never seen them in our area. So odd!
I agree with you about not trying to make up missed runs. That is a recipe for injury. spending time with your family is way more important. We also loved touring Biltmore a few weeks ago. I was surprised at the hill out there. looks like you all had fun
The Biltmore was so cool. It would be so fun to just go back in time and stay there! So much money spent on that place.
What a fun trip. I’m sure all that activity counts towards your marathon training! And you still knocked out your long run. I’m not sure that your pace counts as ‘slow’, lol. Nice job.
I don’t have a big difference in long run pace vs my race pace, and that could be my downfall. I find it hard to run a slower pace if I don’t have anyone with me, I just roll with it!
My quads were burning during the mountain biking so yeah, I think it counts towards my training too! 🙂
Well first of all, I’m now feeling tremendously guilty about my daughter’s spring break this year. But let’s not talk about that- your adventure sounds AMAZING! I don’t think I would have been brave enough to do those hard bike trails. And, I’m impressed and amazed that you did your 21 mile run on Saturday. I hope you’re having a RELAXING rest day today!
I really just wanted to get that 21 miler done!! Aww, don’t feel bad about your daughter’s spring break! Maybe you’ll do something next year if she wants to? It is an odd feeling though, with one kid missing. You don’t want to have your kids to miss out because one is gone, but it’s impossible to make it the same for both. Sigh!
I’m impressed we all stayed upright on the trails and didn’t fall. Are riding skills have come a long way in just a few years when I fell every time I rode!!
Sounds like a great spring break!
We have a lot of white squirrels in Minneapolis, but I still consider them good luck and am happy every time I see one. I guess they are actually albinos with their pink eyes, but doesn’t that mean they are reproducing only with each other, otherwise that recessive gene wouldn’t continue? Anyway, I digress. 🙂 Great job on the 21 miler and excited to hear how Glass City goes! My good running friend Christie is going for a big PR there- if you see her (or recognize her from my blog) say hi! She’s there all alone and I’m sure would love a friendly cheer.
I figured the white squirrel was good luck too! Rumor has it the white squirrels came from a traveling carnival and they escaped. I thought it was interesting they have black eyes and aren’t albino. The close by town of Brevard NC had many shops with white squirrel in their name. It’s a big deal!
That’s exciting Christie is hoping for a big win at GCM! I’ll stalk your page for pics and maybe I will run into her! I’m not working at packet pickup this year but I’ll be around campus on Saturday for the kids race, so who knows!
Your spring break sounds epic! Congrats on making it to the taper.
We have both grey and black squirrels and in the last year I’ve seen some squirrel oddities. Either I’m seeing baby skunks out in the daytime or we have a few black squirrels with white patches on their tails. I’ve never seen an entirely white one.
I had to Google that, and yes, there are black squirrels with white tails or faces! How interesting! Lots of variations of squirrels.
Our trip was fun! I liked going someplace different.
Happy taper! Your spring break looks like all kinds of fun adventures! We had lots of black squirrels around here maybe 10 years ago but not any more. The Biltmore Estate is beautiful but yikes on $80!
I know, crazy ticket prices! My family knows I rarely spend money like that, but I considered it my early Mother’s Day gift 🙂
What a fantastic action-filled break away from home! You all made the most of it and what an adventure! Well done on getting those 21 miles done especially after the 12 hour trip the day before. You’ve worked so hard this training cycle. Time to taper!!
It sounds like you had a fantastic spring break! I am definitely too old to pick up mountain biking, but I ran Ragnar Richmond Trail which was held at Pocahontas Park on popular mountain biking trails. I’m always amazed at how flat it is where you ride so I can imagine climbing those ski runs must have been a rude awakening.
Someone posted a picture of a white squirrel in the park behind our house and I’ve been on the lookout for him, but haven’t spotted him yet. All of our squirrels are a grayish brown so I suspect he’s albino.
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