Sunday, April 24, 2011

RUNNING WITH THE BEARS

As I mentioned in the previous post, I ran one loop at Bear Creek this weekend in lovely Macungie, PA. I've said just about everything I need to say about those trails, which I love, so I'll just put up a few pics that I snapped while I was out there.








Even though my right knee has felt like crap for the last 2 or 3 weeks, I've been thinking of signing up for the North Face Endurance Challenge at Bear Mountain, NY. Probably a bad idea but when compared to other bad ideas I've followed through on, this one probably ranks in the bottom one percentile. As I was driving back from Pennsylvania to New York I got the idea that it might be nice to go for a hike at Bear Mountain to scout around and see just how gnarly the terrain was. I found a scenic overlook with some white blazes on the tress and headed out. A couple of backpackers told me that if I kept going I'd hit the Appalachian Trail. I forgot how beautiful the area is even though I grew up not even 40 minutes away. I know that the trails that they hold the race on are super tech, but the area that I ran (4 mile out and back), while it had some elevation change (in the form of awesome stone staircases) there weren't a ton of rocks and roots for me to fall over. Having seen video clips of the 2009 and 2010 races, I know that I was nowhere near the race trails. It was still an amazing detour and an area that I'll be coming back to when I'm better prepared and rested. Here are some pictures that I snapped:

















Below is the elevation profile for the Bear Mountain Half:

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