North Carolina vacation

Last week Anne and I went on vacation in the Asheville, NC area. Lots of folks are confused by my concept of a vacation because all I want to do is train in order to explore new areas. I didn't get in as much training as I really wanted but I was certainly able to get out more than with a typical week. We kayaked a couple times, which was fantastic because I rarely go. On several days I was able to trail run, which is my favorite endurance activity. It was a miracle that I stayed uninjured! I was sad that I hadn't brought my mountain bike though. I did not encounter much technical trail terrain and rarely any true single track but it was great to be in the woods so much. One day I found a 50 meter outdoor pool to do a few swim laps and it was only $3.00 to get in. At that point I considered moving there! After a swim I did a pretty hard ride down the Blue Ridge Parkway though sadly my Strava results don't do my effort justice. There have been so many cyclists on the parkway in the past couple years. Another day I found a couple of the local dirt roads to take the Cannondale SuperX down. The climbs are are longer down there but far more gradual than we have around the Morgantown area. At the end of the week we traveled to Lake Lure where I had initially intended to do a triathlon. It was a beautiful venue. After much deliberation I opted to run the Lake Lure 10K Dam Run on Friday night instead of participating in the triathlon. A long time has passed since the last time I ran an open 10K but I'm glad I did it because I was able to win the race in 35:10 after fighting off some of the local running talent. After each day's training we'd check out one of Asheville's many excellent restaurants and try out some of the local microbrews. Asheville is definitely a very nice area to check out if you are an outdoorsy person.

Kayaking the French Broad River

Kayaking Lake Lure

Interesting fountain I want at Biltmore Estate

10K podium