Assault on Pisgah 27 Mile Loop

The morning started with a 4:40am alarm. I woke up, took a shower, and packed my backpack with hydration and some calories. I was at Adams by 8:00am and we were on the trail by 9:00am. I started with just a hand held bottle because Carol, Andrews wife, volunteered to drive up to the Mt. Pisgah parking lot. I would be able to move a little faster with the lighter load. The first few miles went by quick with several stream crossings. I was wearing a new pair of the Brooks Cascadias, and this was a great way to break them in.

A mile after we started running, a bee stung me. It was very painful at first, but the pain subsided during the day, but never wore off completely. At first I was avoiding some of the small puddles and muddy sections on the trail, I had new shoes on! Adam told me not to worry, that they would be surly wet as we had half a dozen streams to cross, some waist deep. Then I got into the splish splash action, and crossed foot numbing streams. We then began to ascend little Pisgah and took a left on the parkway. By this time I could really feel the heat, and I popped in an electrolyte tablet. I was drenched in sweat as it was humid as all get out. Despite this, the humidity in this area is usually higher. We made it to the summit of Mt. Pisgah in just over 2 hours and snapped a few photos. We then descended and looped our way back to the start.

On our descent we saw a black snake, which appered ready to snap by the time I ran by it. I stopped and pulled out my camera and took a photo of it. This must be the year of the snakes!

After the last stream crossing we all decided to jump into a water hole for a few minutes. This water was extremely cold, and much colder than I thought. I kept my legs submerged in the water, and my hands in the air. When I put my hands in the water I cant feel them anymore! It felt great. I pushed to the finish.

From there we all returned to Adams. I caught and hour or so of rest which was needed, and then headed off to the Camp Rockmont Relay and 24/12 hour solo. I was tempted to run this earlier, but was glad I chose to run up Pisgah and back. Later we enjoyed dinner at Caminos in Black mountain and I had some drip at the dripolator before heading back to Charlotte for the night.