7 sisters - great, great run!

My sister is engaged. Planning her wedding has risen to the top of my family's priorities. details; details. With this background, my weekend was focused on doing an awesome run and hurrying back to Greenville, SC to assist with the planning (footnote here - originally was going to do Terri's 24 hr birthday run...). With my weekend beginning in Charlotte for another family obligation I opted to run the 7 sisters with some great folks. And, i am glad that I did. This ended up being one of my favorite runs ever. It was challenging & beautiful; the people were friendly, and the weather was amazing. The cumulative effect of all these factors had me smiling post-run through today.

With that background - on saturday, I woke early and met another runner in charlotte. we traveled to Montreat in Black Mountain, NC to meet the group and begin. We began, after announcements, and headed up the rainbow trail to the first summit - amazing. amazing. We climbed stairs and huffed and puffed to the top. My lungs were burning (I always struggle with the first climb until my body wakes up). This first view was the best. It was a difficult summit & we stopped took pictures , did some yoga & enjoyed a brief rest. From there we proceeded on the East Ridge trail towards Greybeard & Walker's knob. The rest of the run resembled the first climb. Up & down & up & down. When there was any flat - I tried running quickly & enjoyed the brief respite & leg turnover. We continued, and I recognized areas from running Greybeard & the Mt. Mitchell marathon previously. We summited Greybeard & Walker's knob. These peaks were covered in clouds, and there was no view. Then, we grabbed the West Ridge trail and ran towards Big Piney. After descending some, we stopped for a brief rest and enjoyed another amazing view before a quick descent into Montreat. We all averaged around +/- 3 hrs & 19 minutes for the run @ 16 miles- I was happy with the time considering the terrain.

Another great run in Western, NC. I am grateful for the good spring running.