Winter Adventures Continued: Slowing down in March

 After my fall on Pilot Mountain it hurt to breathe, but according to Dr. Google and my dad (who broke two ribs several years ago and went to an actual doctor like a smart person) deep breathing is important to help broken ribs heal and to keep your lungs from collapsing. I guess when breathing hurts, people tend to take shallow breaths which makes their lungs get lazy.  Or something.  Anyway I knew I needed to keep moving forward because a). if I sit around too long I start feeling depressed, and b). I had a marathon on my calendar at the end of the month.  Running was a challenge because it tended to send shooting pains through my left rib cage.  I had been doing regular strength training, but I quit that. Even yoga was painful.  I did a lot more walking and hiking in March.

Walking makes me slow down, and I tend to notice things I might not see when running.  How many times have I run down the same dirt road and never seen the cute woodpecker decoration someone mounted to their tree?  Or the winter coats on the horses just down the road from me?  For the first time I climbed the big hill that the neighborhood kids use for sledding in the winter.  

And despite what the thermometer says, it's spring!

I went on some great hikes, too.  Deep breaths, sore ribs, great views, friends, nature.  All good except the soreness, but that was tolerable and completely worth it.

(On Tinker Mountain, overlooking Carvin's Cove)

(Tinker Creek)

(Bottom Creek and Bent Mountain Falls, the second highest waterfall in Virginia)

(It was misty and foggy on Kelly's Knob the day I hiked it, so no view.  But check out this gnarly tree!)

(On Read Mountain in Roanoke County.)

Meanwhile I still had a marathon looming, and I managed a 20-mile run just under two weeks before the event.  By that time my ribs were hurting less, and it was looking like I would be able to run.

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The Virginia Creeper Trail starts in Whitetop, Virginia, goes through Damascus, and ends in Abingdon.  It's a popular place to ride bikes because if you start in Whitetop you can pretty much coast all the way to Abingdon.  (Most people start in Damascus and ride to Abingdon, or start in Whitetop and ride to Damascus).  Back in August of 2020 I explored part of the trail on foot.  This year while searching online for a spring race, I came across the Virginia Creeper Marathon.  I had to register by mail and pay fifteen bucks, plus the price of a stamp. No T-shirt, no medal. The race bling was a paperweight.  Perfect!

I love the small, mom and pop races.  This one didn't have a time limit, which for me is a plus.  They even allowed me to start early. I would just have to self-time and tell them the result.  The course ran along a paved road for about a mile out and back, and then it was back and forth along the Creeper trail, with aid stations every few miles and a bigger one near the start/finish line.  It was a beautiful course (as I knew it would be) and the race director and volunteers were very helpful and friendly.  The weather started out cold and warmed up to the 40s by the time I finished 6 hours and 7 minutes after starting the race. I was hoping to finish in under 6 hours, but I was able to negative split and finish strong. My ribs were still a little sore but a month out from the injury I was definitely on the mend!

The weather has finally warmed up, and I can sit out on my patio! I'm having my tiny backyard fenced in, which means I have to decide what to do with it.  I've been going back and forth between making my patio bigger, planting a garden which I don't know the first thing about, or keeping the grass and mow it every so often.  They came and put the posts in today, and I'm hoping the fence will be up by the middle of next week. I don't think my neighbors will want to see me outside drinking coffee in my pajamas.

March Stats:

Total Miles: 123

Elevation: 9,583

Geocaches found: 14

Winter Adventures: A Summary. Part One.

I've always been somewhat outdoorsy (up to a point; I like camping but I kind of don't), and since I moved I feel like I'm becoming even more so.  I thought I'd share with you some of the adventures I've had this past winter while running and hiking. 

JANUARY

Actually, let's back up a few days, to late December.  Chris was home for the holidays, and I took him and Nick to Dragon's Tooth.  Matt opted to stay home, and he missed out on a great view.  (Not surprisingly, this location is an Earthcache. That's Chris on the far left in the top photo; Nick is the one admiring the scenery in the bottom one.)

On my to-do list for 2022 is to hike to the other two sites in Virginia's Triple Crown, McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs.

After that we spent a few wonderful days in North Carolina with Ray's family.  On New Year's Eve, we dropped Chris off at the Charlotte airport and took a detour to find North Carolina's oldest geocache, Octopus Garden.

JANUARY (for real)

For the second year in a row, Denny Krahe challenged his Facebook group to run as many 5Ks as we could on January 1.  He called it the "Diz Runs New Years' Fat A$$ Challenge." The most important  rule was that you could only run one 5K per hour. (So running a 10K at 1:00 am only counts as one 5K).  I got up before dawn and ran two 5Ks in my neighborhood in two hours, and then headed to a 4-mile group hike to Chestnut Creek Falls on the New River Trail.  Later I stopped to check out Foster Falls on the New River, and ran my final 5K of the day along another part of the New River Trail.  

We got a quite a bit of snow and cold temperatures in January.  YakTraks and hand warmers are my best friends when I'm out in those conditions!

Wytheville puts on a great half marathon every January, the Sandman Extreme Half, and I ran it. Basically up a mountain and back down.  And it was cold.  There was a snowstorm in the forecast for the following day.  It was a tiny race and I finished second-to-last. In fact, it was my slowest half marathon. But, I was second in my age group. Go figure.  All that said, it was a very well run and beautiful race, and I would definitely do it again!

And to wrap up the month, the boys and I managed to get to Winterplace for a fun day of skiing.

January Stats

Total miles (running, walking, and hiking):  142

Elevation:  11,494 feet

Geocaches found:  14

FEBRUARY

I was signed up to run the Pilot Mountain 20K in North Carolina at the end of the month, and I wanted to familiarize myself with the trails before the event.  I met up with a friend I had met on my January hike on the New River Trail, and together we explored some of the trails and took in the views.

I'd driven past this iconic mountain many times during my childhood and into my twenties, on my way to Winston-Salem to visit relatives.  My parents used to tell me (or maybe I just imagined) that it was so named because of its resemblance to a pilot's head sticking out of a cockpit.  I've since learned that the Saura people that once lived in the area named it Jomeokee, which means Great Guide or Pilot.  I've also learned that it's a state park, and a popular place for hiking, trail running, and rock climbing.

(View of Pilot Mountain and "Big Pinnacle" from the Visitors' Center parking lot.)

You can take a trail around the Big Pinnacle.  There is no rock climbing allowed here, but there is a smaller pinnacle nearby which is a popular rock climbing spot. Big Pinnacle is also the location of both a virtual geocache and an Earthcache.

Meanwhile, my training for the Virginia Creeper Marathon in March was ramping up, I did some more hiking, and took a daylong excursion to find geocaches in some new counties.  

One great thing about living in this area is that I'm never very far from the Appalachian Trail.

(This is the view from Rice Fields Shelter on the AT, on a very blustery day.)

I had great weather for the Pilot Mountain 20K.  There is a trail marathon going on at the same time, and those runners started first.  The 20K was basically a run to the top of the mountain, a run around the Big Pinnacle, and back down to the start/finish.  The views were as spectacular as ever.  I got to say hello to quite a number of rock climbers.  There were lots of friendly volunteers, and PB&J at the aid stations (I can never say no to PB&J).  

(So beautiful and so fun!)

As I was nearing the finish and congratulating myself for staying upright, I suddenly found myself sprawled next to the trail. What just happened?  Lost my focus for a split second, that's what.  A sympathetic runner stopped and helped me up, and I remember telling him, "I think I broke a rib."  I got myself to the finish line, stretched, ate something and drank some water.  Yep, I'm pretty sure I broke a rib. Maybe two.  That didn't stop me from taking a selfie when I stopped for gas before heading home.

No, I didn't go to the doctor. I slept on the couch for two weeks because climbing in and out of bed was excruciating.  I put Orange Theory and strength training on hold and took copious amounts of Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Would I be able to continue my training and run my marathon in March?

Stay tuned... 

February stats

Total Miles Run, Walked, and Hiked:  142. (Same as January. Huh.)

Elevation: 14,779

Geocaches found: 16

Four months ago, I took a road trip...

 I swear, if I want to keep calling myself a blogger I'd better start posting more often.

It's spring, and I've had so many adventures since I moved to Christiansburg in the fall!  Before I get you up to date on what I've been up to lately, I'll tell you a little bit more about my road trip to Florida back at the beginning of December.

I was participating in a Ragnar trail relay at Alafia River State Park in Florida, and I decided to break the trip down and have some fun along the way.  On my first leg, I drove to Savannah, and on the way I stopped to check out a roadside attraction known as the "UFO Welcome Center."  It's a sculpture/structure that is a virtual geocache and Adventure Lab.  The artist happened to be there, and he was happy to take my photo.

In Savannah I stayed in a charming Airbnb, and spent a day walking around the city, you guessed it, geocaching.  The last time I was here was November 2019 and I was running the Rock & Roll Savannah Marathon, where I got my PR of 5:42:something.  I have yet to break that record (more details to come in a future post).

(On my previous visit to the fountain in Forsyth Park. I was trying to spell "PR" in sign language after the 2019 Rock n Roll Marathon.  Mostly I just looked like a goofball.)

Next I drove to Orlando, with a stop to take a geocaching walking tour of St. Augustine.  The highlight of that day was visiting the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.  

(This is one of five special Geocaching benchmarks in the US.  The idea was to place one in every state but they never got around to it.  This one is near the St. Augustine Visitors Center.)

The next morning I met up with my young friend Megan, and we spent the day at Universal Islands of Adventure.

I first met Megan right after we had moved to Fredericksburg.  I had taken one-year-old Matt to the local library for their todder story time. His brothers didn't exist yet. We're sitting on the floor, with a handful of other moms and toddlers, and this cute little girl wanders over and sits right on my lap.  It was 18-month-old Megan, who had come with her mom Barbara, who was pregnant with Megan's brother Christian. Megan was later gifted with two more little brothers after Christian.  Barbara and I became friends, and subsequently Ray and Barbara's husband Andy became friends, and my kids became friends with their kids.  Now of course the kids are all grown up. Megan has moved to Orlando, and she's an artist and entrepreneur!

(I picked this park to visit because Hogwarts.  The line for the Hagrid's motorcycle rollercoaster snaked through the inside.  It was the longest we waited in line that day, which was an hour.  The park wasn't very crowded, except for the Wizarding World section.)

(There was a "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" musical show which was quite fun.)

After Universal I did a little more geocaching and spent the night in a cute little vintage 1957 trailer.  I wish I had taken some photos inside.  I may be looking for excuses to visit the Plant City area again just to stay in that place.  Here's a link to the page on Airbnb, if you want to see it in more detail. It even has the original stove and refrigerator, although the stove is now basically a decoration. There is a toaster oven, hot plate, and microwave tucked into a closet.  The refrigerator still works though!

(The trailer was right up next to a barn-like structure which was a venue for weddings and such.  There were no events going on so I had a very quiet night. They even had a turntable and vinyl records from the 1970s and '80s.  I played Phil Collins' "No Jacket Required" and Credence Clearwater Revival's greatest hits.  I could have stayed up all night listeneing to records.)

(Misty morning at the Airbnb.)

And then the main event, the Ragnar race.  Another example of my new mantra, Just Say Yes.  Long story short, I saw a post in one of my running groups on Facebook, specifically for listeners of a certain podcast drumming up interest in a team for the Florida race (thanks, Thessaly!) which happened to take place near where Denny Krahe the podcast host and admin of the group is based.  Drive 12 hours to meet up with a bunch of people you've only seen (and/or heard) online?  And spend 24 hours with them in the great outdoors?  Sure, why not?  Eight team members, three loops, for a total of about 15 miles of trail running per person.  Food, music, movies, a bonfire, beer (let it be known I had only two, and one of them was nonalcoholic), lots of coffee and very little sleep.  We had a great time. And I managed to stay upright on the trails, even in the dark, and I didn't trip over any armadillos. And I hired Denny as my running coach, so there's that.  And yes, there WILL be at least one more Ragnar race in my future. Quite soon, actually...

(Team Diz Runs Tribe.  Seven gals and one guy on the team.  Denny was a great sport.  I was the oldest person on the team. We had a blast.)

After my trip to Wisconsin last summer and then this one, I've pretty much decided that I love me a long road trip.  There may be geocaches to find along the way, or not (What am I saying? OF COURSE THERE WILL), and there will most definitely be some long audiobooks to play and podcasts to catch up on.  I have a couple of road trips planned for the summer, and if I can get my act together I'll share those adventures here. And hopefully not wait four months before doing so.

Stay tuned for an update on some of my adventures on the roads and trails.  There have been many already.  I might not know where to start!