The Week In Review: 1/30/12-2/5/2012

      This past Thursday, the 2nd, marked my 2-year anniversary of running, celebrated with a great run!  This week also wrapped up the month of January in which I covered about 238 miles on trails in Western North Carolina.  Yeehaw!

      I had the pleasure of seeing many many miles of new trails this week and running with a bunch of great folks.  I was absolutely delighted to meet Mike over at Umstead and can't thank him enough for the tour and insight about the park.  Best wishes at the Umstead Marathon, Mike!   I consider myself very blessed to be feeling healthy and strong, and really looking forward to Runs For Relief: Rhode Island in a couple of weeks.

      I think Luna ran a record number of miles this week logging about 62, including a 7 mile jaunt around Salem Lake with "Grandpa" on Saturday.  What a pup!  Here is what we ran this week:

1/30- Monday
      AM- 5.5 miles in 45 minutes with Mel and Luna, 800 ft.  Loop around Bear Branch in Mills River area and Bad Creek trail up to Bent Creek Gap
      Also AM- 3.1 miles on Lower Sidehill Trail with Luna, 25 minutes

1/31- Tuesday
     AM- 8 miles in 1:15 with Luna, Trace Ridge to Beaverdam, Spencer Branch to Reservoir to trailhead, ~1800 ft
     Also AM- 7 miles with Mel and Luna in 1:45, to the Reservoir and Spencer Branch and Neverending Rd to trailhead ~500 ft?

2/1- Wednesday
     PM- 7 miles with Adam and Luna on the MST near Sweeten Creek in 57 minutes, 840 ft

2/2- Thursday
     AM- 19 miles with Luna (first 13 with Mike and Adam).  Sweet loop through Mills River area from Bent Creek Gap, then Bent Creek Gap to Lake Powhatan to meet Melissa in 2:40. 2,850 ft

2/3- Friday
    A little biking

2/4- Saturday
    AM- About 15 miles in Umstead State Park (1 loop of Umstead 100 miler course + some Sycamore Loop) in 2 hours, 1000 ft.  Always a pleasure to meet local trailrunners.

2/5- Sunday
    AM- 4 miles in Winston-Salem with Luna in 29:38.

Totals:  68.5 miles,10 hours 15 minutes, 7,000 ft gain