5/23/20: Back to the mountains

I'm a mere 3 weeks out from Laurel Highlands now and had a monster weekend of training. Jen was out of town for the weekend at her sister's bridal shower, so that meant it was time for some serious running!

I ended up hitting 60 miles for the weekend, which is a tie for the most I've run in a training weekend. All in all I felt great, and I think I'm in good shape for Laurel Highlands.

On Saturday I drove out almost 2 hours to the Massanuttens to run in the southern part of the range. I realized I hadn't been to the mountains since January, and it definitely kicked my butt.

I took a few pictures below:

The run started with a 5 mile climb up to Bird Knob that was 2K+ elevation gain. The terrain gets pretty gnarly in spots, and this is a picture of the "trail" up to Bird Knob.

Near the top I saw this guy in the middle of the trail. It was about 5-6 feet long, and I almost stepped on it!

Awesome view from the top of Bird Knob


View north towards where I started



The mountains in the distance are on the other side of the gap where I started. I've run over there before too, and it's also a great run.


Field about 8 miles in


Nice section of trail. This is as smooth as the Massanuttens get. No rocks!


Another nice view after the second big climb



Next weekend I'm hoping to do one more really long run that is around 40 miles. After that, it's basically taper for Laurel Highlands and hope for the best!

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