Annual Night Run - 2008

In addition to other random night-runs, for years we've held our annual night run before the VA 10-miler.  The last several years we've run the Peaks of Otter: Flat Top Mtn, Harkening Hill, & Sharp Top Mtn, in that order for a total of 17 Horton miles.  It's always a good time.

This year we started around 8:30 PM.  A light rain kept things relatively cool throughout an otherwise humid evening.  We didn't have any views on Sharp Top though; we were socked in by the rain and clouds.

Jared Hesse, Jeremy Ramsey, & ME!

Grindstone around the corner

Two weeks from right now (as I write), Grindstone will be underway. Currently, there are 94 entrants and the race is going to be amazing!!!

One thing I'm going to try to do, in addition to our live webcast, is to audio blog about the race like David & I did when David was on the CDT this summer.

Should provide an interesting perspective for those tuning in....

Grindstone Training Run

Last weekend about 20 brave souls showed up to take a sneak-peak at the inaugural Grindstone 100 course.  The training run was over two days, starting at the official turn-around point - Briery Branch Gap. The first day finished at Dowells Draft, leaving approx. 23 miles for the second day back to the start/finish area at Camp Shenandoah.

Both Friday & Saturday evenings we ate in Staunton together and had a great time entertaining each other.  I think this training run helped us all (including myself) get a sense of the reality that we will soon experience in just 4 weeks!  Jeremy Ramsey & Steve (shock the world) Baker saw 7 bears in just 14 miles! I think there will be some interesting stories to tell after the race...

I'm really excited about this event and eager to see a year of planning come to fruition.  See you all very soon! CZ