In planning this adventure, I got my water vest packed up and ready to go the night before, along with the necessary gels/food for during after the run. I spent a solid five minutes counting back from when I would need to be back home and weighing how long it would take to get to Mt. Major and back until I practically passed out when I realized I'd need to leave the house by 5:00am. I nearly bagged the whole idea, but only for a moment. I had myself convinced from the beginning of the week that I'd drive to Major for this run, and once something like that latches on to my brain, there's very little I can do to reverse it.
***Here's a side note example of this: I once waited an hour for AAA to come jump start my battery-dead car at a similar early morning hour last January. I did this when my car was parked right by my house and there was no need to use it that day other than to drive to a destination to do a run. On this occasion, I was wanting to do hill repeats of Mt. Aggie, and was really pushing my luck in 1) getting to work on time 2) getting pulled over for speeding or 3) blasting my car off the road in my frenzy to get there. I was so laser focused on doing that specific workout on that specific day that anything else would have been a grand disappointment; however childish and stubborn that mentality is, it's a real thing for me sometimes. I'm really much more Type B in my daily life, so it's weird to think about how and why that shift happens to me sometimes in my running life.
So yes, I felt like a crazy person waking up at 4:40 in the morning. It was easy to reassure myself though-- I knew it was be the best possible way I could start my day and I was stoked about the adventure. In standard "super early, semi-stressful morning wake up fashion," I instinctually woke up minutes before my alarm went off. And, in a wild shift from our typical routine, I woke up the cat and started my day when she was still pleasantly sleeping beside me. She bounced back quickly though and was owl eye awake well before I had shaken off the cobwebs and even made it to the closet to get changed.
I was off and headed to Mt. Major before 5:00am, and arrived in the parking lot around 5:50. I was surprised to see about 7 other cars already there. It was still pretty dark out-- just barely light enough to run on the trails without even the thought of needing a headlamp, but if I had arrived there 15 minutes earlier it might have been a different story. Everything was gray and muted looking because of the low light, but getting incrementally brighter by the minute. The air had a touch of night time still on it. I figured the cars contained early morning sunrise seekers, which I had ambitions of myself, so I quickly got my things in order and headed off on the trail to the left of the parking lot.
Things ramped up quickly as the trail I chose was the steeper of the two ways to get up to the Major summit. I kept my heart rate below 168 deliberately, not to get too far outside my zone three. For a few moments I found myself fast hiking, and once or twice using my hands to clamor up a larger rock face, but for the most part I was in a running gait going up the mountain. I got to the top in about 22 minutes, which was amazingly fun and rewarding. I know Major isn't anything too impressive elevation-wise, but it was so cool to get up to the summit in such a short amount of time. Plus, I got to see this:
Pretty cool, right? I didn't stick around for long here at the summit, but I had my phone with me (in case I were to get lost or stranded or something-- seemed like a good idea.) Plus, my posts will be soooo much more legit if I carry my phone with me on long trail runs and snap pictures along the way.
I continued along around the summit for a minute and found the other trail down to the parking lot along with another trail that headed off the back end of Major. I checked my watch at the juncture and told myself I'd go 30 minutes in that direction away from the parking lot then turn around and head back. Should add up to two hours. Once I got further away from the summit, things got even more awesome. I started to settle into a nice groove and felt a huge wave of calm as I put some more distance on my legs. Here I was on the top of a mountain, traversing around on trails I've never run on, early in the morning, nobody else around, and I couldn't even believe how happy it made me. The air was cool but I had a satisfying sweat going and sense of purpose about me--I was making real gains here, both mentally and physically, and I knew it as it was happening. It's not often that that happens in this sport. Maybe it's because I've been away from the running game for so many months, or maybe it's the primal-ness of trail running and the sense of freedom it evokes-- whatever it is-- I felt so happy when I was out there today. It's hard to put into words.
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| Me, in a quasi-euphoric-enough-to-take-a-selfie, state |
The trail took lots of turns and ups and downs but I managed to stay on course and head back to the car with plenty of time to spare. So much time, in fact, that I had to putz around for about 20 minutes in the lower elevations to get myself up to 2 full hours.
I've been riding the high from this run all day. I really want to map out some 15+ mile loops for when my runs build beyond the 3 hour mark. If anyone knows of some relatively simple loops for me, being inexperienced in the finer details of the trail network of the Whites, I'd love to hear about them. I'd be looking for anything between 10-20 miles. Loops or out and backs.
Physically (injury-wise) I'm holding strong. Runs like this are an inspiration for me to work through any groin/hip pains I might have in the future with the strength work and stretching I've been doing. It's gotten me this far, hopefully it's good enough to get me to the Trials in one piece.
AH
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