Highland Sky Training Run

Memorial Weekend
A group of us escaped the greater Washington DC area over the long weekend to run the first 20 or so miles of the Highland Sky course. Megan & Michelle got there early and had a hot pasta dinner waiting for us at the campground. Cruz came along with Anne, Angelo, and Brandon for his first camping trip. As usual, the kids didn't make a peep, while the folks in the site next to us were so noisy they almost got smothered by the Hans-Dieter pillow.

Saturday morning we geared up and drove a new shortcut to Laneville Cabins and met up with WVMTR Steve Hite. After a little confusion on how to cross the "right-of-way" we were up the trail. Temperatures were a bit warmer than our training run last year, but the trail was in excellent condition, thanks to the WVMTR group that met to clear the trail. The nettles were just at gaiter-level, so we were mostly pain-free for that first ascent.

Every time I go out to Dolly Sods, I am amazed all over again what a beautiful, unique place it is. Almost a shame to run through, so it's great to do the training runs where you can dawdle, not worry about the cut-offs, and look at trillium, pink lady slippers, and snakes! We saw 1 brown garter and about 3 of the green snakes and 1 ring-neck snake. The day was really clear, so we had some great views on top of the sods.

Once again we ended up running the 3 miles back down to the cabins to complete the loop. Unlike last year, no-one was interested in the push-up contest as we knew Amanda could do more than the rest of us combined. We spent the rest of the evening at Seneca Shadows drinking beer, eating burgers, and endlessly hashing over Angelo's MMT run.

On Sunday morning most of us parted ways, either to return to the city or to join Dan & Jodi's 4-day wedding/graduation party. Mical, Paul, Lorrin and Joe ventured into the wilds for a little backcountry camping. We drove up the long, long, unbelievably (why did I sign up again? I forgot how long that road is) long, long, dry, dusty, long road. We hiked in a ways, and found a perfect spot. There was a guy sitting there, but he was just resting. By a bend in the river, under a shady group of pines, the campfire was already set up and there was an unopened Busch in the creek. While Joe read, the rest of us tried to hike down the Beaverdam trail to look for ... what else, beaverdams. It was really marshy. Then it started to thunder. Mical and I ran away, while Paul continued the search for rodent architecture.

Since the thunder didn't turn into a storm, Mical & I hiked up past the campsite and came across the fellow we'd met in the campsite earlier. He asked if we'd been to Dolly Sods before. Rather than a simple yes or no, we launch into a detailed course description and play-by-play of the Highland Sky run. We might have scared him a little, but he did tell us the beaver dams were long gone, so we felt like we didn't miss out.

The next morning we went into Davis, where we had a great breakfast at the Bright Morning Inn, checked out a camping gear shop, and later peered disappointedly into the darkened windows of Willie's brewery.

Hopefully by next weekend the sheer length of the dry dusty long road will have diminished in my mind, replaced by expectant memories of the beautiful views of the Monongahela. You can see the views in Michelle's pictures and Mical's pictures and get excited about the race too!