Capon Valley 50K
Capon Valley 50K is a fabulous spring race in West Virginia. A hilly, technical course with countless stream crossings, luscious mud to play in, friendly and welcoming volunteers at the aid stations, lots of friends who come back year after year and a most delicious barbecue chicken dinner at the end – what’s not to love!? This is one race that will always be on my spring calendar.
“mud luscious and puddle wonderful” trails
Bob’s rock
one of many stream crossings
24 Hour Adventure Trail Run – Prince William Forest
Here are a few sights from the 24 Hour ATR run in Prince William Forest. Each 10K loop was technical, hilly, beautiful and green with spring. In a 24 hour race, runners are challenged to see how far they can go in a set time period. Eva Pastalkova won the women’s event with 106 miles – a course record! She was incredible out there! I was happy to do 62.5 miles, 10 loops, for a 3rd place finish. An abundant aid station was set up at the start/finish of each loop, so runners didn’t really have to carry anything other than a water bottle with them. Â Athletic Equation runs a well-organized and wonderfully supported race, with 100% of proceeds going to charity – the Semper Fi Fund and Navy SEAL Foundation. It was a fabulous day and night to play in the woods!
The bridge at the start and end of each 10K loop.
The first half of the course followed this sleepy creek.
“Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul.”
Fabulous trails in Prince William Forest.
Cherry Blossoms in DC
The blossoms were out in all of their magnificent glory tonight. Perhaps they were even more beautiful this year because we had to wait so long to see this harbinger of spring.
Jefferson Memorial
Beautiful Blossoms
Cherry Blossoms along the Tidal Basin
Peeking out through the blossoms
Fountainhead
A beautiful blue sky trail run on my favorite local trail with the promise of spring just around the corner.
Riverbend – Potomac Heritage Trail
Potomac Heritage Trail - heading north from Riverbend
- Potomac Heritage Trail
Pisgah National Forest – Art Loeb trail
From the top of a mountain on the Art Loeb trail
- Art Loeb trail – climbing, climbing…
Bull Run Eagles
Spring on the Bull Run trail.
One of three bald eagles we saw near the Bull Run marina.
Happy trail
A lovely little trail just a mile from home. It’s a nice place to run during the week when you just need to get away from the craziness of the city and life.
