AM- 50 mile drive to my next stretch of the FHT. Parked at Laurel Valley and ran 6 miles backwards on the course, towards Table Rock, until I reached the point where I had stopped when coming from the other direction. Lots of climbing and technical trail- climbed from 1650 to 3530 (Sassafras Mtn, the highest mountain in South Carolina) in 4 miles. Then went back to the car, refilled, then ran towards the Laurel Valley part of the trail. During the FHT traverse, this is an isolated 35 mile, very technical portion with tons of stairs (over 1500, I hear) (it's also where they filmed Deliverance, so that's telling in terms of ambiance). Other than the stairs at the start, though, the first 3 miles that I ran were much more runnable than the Sassafras portion. Good run- felt tired and sore at the start, but warmed up by 1 hour, then felt good and had fun. Very green and beautiful, 75 deg at the finish. Tons and tons of spider webs, though- annoying. 17.5 miles total in 3:20 (11:23 avg- like I said, very technical) with 5000 ft climbing. Really enjoy my drive home from runs these days- 70 min with my windows down in perfect temperatures, singing along to the radio. Although I'd prefer 30 min drives like I had in Logan to these 1+ hr drives. 71.5 miles this week- that's real good since I was sick and only ran 4 days.
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