sWEaTfest Week XXV

Mon - 0hr

Tues - 0hr - thought an extra day of rest would be good

Wed - 47min/ 5.5m/ 500' - Fisher Farm - Started the run at a pretty quick pace considering the quickly fading daylight.  After about 2 miles though, I hit a heat wall.  I have never felt heat like that in my life.  The air was completely stagnant, humid, and temps were right at 90.  Obviously my pace slowed considerably.  I really can't wait for this heat to be done with.

Thurs - 80min/ 7.9m/ 1600' - SoMo - It was really hot and I walked a bit, shuffled a bit, and did something close to running for a bit, before I sat my butt in the river for a bit.  Route was: HQ, Upper Falls, Shiney, HQ, River out-n-back.

Fri - 70min/ 4.5m/ 1700' - Thorps Creek Loop - Jose and I decided to get in a run from the Mortimer campground before the sWEaTfest tomorrow.  This run was steep and overgrown! Extremely overgrown!! It resembled more of a bushwack than a run, but it was neat to finally run up on Schoolhouse Ridge and to see Thorps Creek Falls at the end.

Sat - 4hr/ 15.8/ 4500' - Wilson Creek sWEaTfest - This route was a new fun run I am putting on with the WNC Trail Runner group and it was exactly as advertised!  More info on this blast of a run below...

Sun - Hiked up to the Green Knob fire tower with the Kirk's to camp out for the night before Matt and I's run up Mitchell in the morning.

Totals =

Time - 7hr17min
Distance - 34 miles
Vert - 8500'

Oh well, with a ridiculously hot week and the summertime running blues, the week got off to a slow start, and even once I started running again it was slow.  In the end it all worked out though and I am satisfied with the week.  I managed a lot of vertical and almost racked up 8 hours for the week.  This year's inaugural running of the Wilson Creek sWEaTfest was a great success and everyone seemed to love the route.  My run was marked by flat legs the entire day, but the nature of this run makes it easy for most people to relax and run with a group.  The group I was with most of the day was Jose, Matt, Scott, and Josh.  We all summited Little Lost Cove Cliffs around the same time and hung with each other most of the way down to Bard Falls.  We missed N Harper Falls, oh well.  We all jumped into the refreshing waters of N. Harper Creek, had a blast cooling off from the heat and then kept on running after the cold water made my legs stiff as boards.  It was pretty slow going for me after that point and after frolicking around in Harper Creek falls, the last mile to the car was excruciating.  My legs were cramping and it was hot.  Even though the body didn't want to go after the dips in the creek, this run went off perfectly and I believe that this one is going to become a regular on the Wikispace for the first weekend of summer.