Bald Moses View Week XIII

Mon - 0hr

Tues - 45min/ 5.5m/ 500' - Fisher Farm - good run winding down for 40 miles of Bartram on Friday

Wed - 45min/ 5m/ 500' - Laurel Trail - felt a little sluggish in the heat, but getting pumped for Bartram!

Thurs - 0hr - driving to the Bartram Trail to crew/pace for Adam.  Arrive and wait for him at the Wallace Branch TH to see him come in feeling pretty bad and cramping seriously bad.  Needless to say, there would be no 40 miles of the Bartram the next day and we drove back to Asheville.

Fri - 4hr5min/ 20.5m/ 3600' - Pisgah - beautiful out and back on the MST from Pigeon Gap to Mt. Pisgah and back.  The grade was very reasonable the entire way, but the trail was a bit more technical than I envisioned.  Regardless, it was a phenomenal stroll through the woods up to a peak I should have summited years ago.  Glad to finally have Pisgah on my summit list.  If you can tell by the time, I enjoyed my run and never ran hard and took a lot of breaks soaking in the beauty.  After I was done, I barely felt as if I'd run at all.  Which is awesome!

Sat - 3hr40min/ 14m/ 4000' - Bald Knob - Matt and I climbed and descended 37 SWITCHBACKS up Bald!!!! What a climb and what a beautiful section of the MST.  It was nice to finally reach this lofty summit over Marion after a failed attempt earlier in the month.  I got a little sunburned and dehydrated while on the run though and even after a dip in the N. fork of the Catawba River I was slowed tremendously.

Sun - 28min/ 3m/ 200' - Fisher Farm - recovery jog

A week that began with great excitement and anticipation, after Thursday night was looking to end in disappointment.  Unfortunately, Mad A had to drop out of his Bartram Trail FKT attempt due to some major cramping issues.  Before the cramping issues though he was having a stellar run and had made it from Cheoh from Wayah in 6:30.  That was just under 24 hour pace for the whole 110 miles.  Although my planned 40 miles of pacing duties was botched, I was able to come up with some last minute plans and scheduled two phenomenal runs that did not disappoint.  I have to say that the views from both Pisgah and Bald were extremely gorgeous and totally different.  Good luck next week to Matt Kirk as he attempts to set the FKT on the Bartram himself.  Unfortunately, I will not be available to help him out next week and feel kinda bad about it.  I think Matt knows that, so it is all good.