This past weekend I headed up to the mountains of North Carolina to attempt my second (much hillier!) half marathon. I made the way north earlier than most, to stay a night at my sister’s place in Boone, NC, and to get in prime Oscar bonding time. For those who have not yet had the pleasure to meet him, Oscar is my sister’s incredibly charismatic dog who loves to adventure and give humans puppy dog stares.
Because we had an extra day, we got the chance to explore a bit more of the Boone area. We took a drive to a place known as Trash Can Falls, a beautiful little waterfall on the Wautauga River. I expected this trip to be one of relaxation, but we ended up having a near tragedy when another doggie friend almost went over the waterfall! It was a close call, for dogs and humans alike, but it ended up fine in the end.
More friends began to arrive for the weekend after our mishap at Trash Can Falls, and we met up with them at the AirBnB cabin we rented for the weekend. That evening, we made our way to the start of the race to pick up our packets. This was our first sight of the race, and it became immediately apparent how homey and small-town this race would be. My previous experience was with the Miami Half, which literally had a mile long fitness expo for packet pickup. The New River Marathon had a small white tent that was also serving a spaghetti dinner for race participants. It was a beautiful area, and our first sighting of the New River.
We made our own spaghetti dinner in the cabin, and tried to head to bed early. As expected, I had an uneasy night with lots of anxious thoughts on the race that lay ahead. I was relieved when my alarm sounded, so I could finally leave my own head and make the way to the start of the race. After the marathon runners started their race, we made our way to the staging point. By 7:45 (ish) am, we too were off on our way! The first four miles of the course were beautiful and oh so flat! We ran along with the New River to our left, and picturesque country homes to our right. I was so grateful for those first four miles, but the flatness could only last so long.. Around Mile 4 the course hit its first hill, and I realized pretty quickly that mountain hills were a bit more intense than anything I had trained for! We hit two more hills after the first, before the largest and longest incline at Mile 10. Luckily, the last two miles of the race were either on a downward slope or flat, and it was a good chance to try to make up for lost time climbing hills. I finished with the same time as my Miami Half, 2:20, which initially disappointed me but in retrospect, was not too bad considering the hilly parts. It was such a beautiful day to run, and the course really did even “smell great”, as advertised on its website.
With the race over, we had nothing left to do with our day beside celebrate the Kentucky Derby. It was a fun day filled with grilling out, making hats, placing bets on horses, and drinking lots of mint juleps! We even took a side trip to check out a Boone overlook.
As the weekend came to a close on Sunday, we took a meandering ride back to Athens with a side trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was nice to get to spend a little extra time exploring the beauty of this part of North Carolina. We did a 2.3 mile hike around Price Lake, and then decided it was time to stop meandering and head back home. It was an overall great weekend, with lots of friend bonding, running hard, sheep herding, and loads of appreciation for beautiful mountain landscapes.
Liz Guinessey: A Gringa Living the Pura Vida 