First, Asheville and the surrounding areas are absolutely beautiful! So we decided to go up early and turn this trip into a vacation as well. We stayed in a very cute B&B in Black Mountain that was right on the downtown strip and about 10 minutes away from the race site.

Friday and Saturday in Black Mountain:

Strongly encourage y’all to enjoy the race and explore some of the other trails in the area!

We parked at the local college campus and walked the ‘lookout summit’ trail and beyond. There’s over a half marathon’s length of gorgeous trails back there and this is only one of the many clusters of trails in the Asheville area. Actually Madison and I are going back next weekend for just that reason!

As far as the actual race, again our first big comment about it was the scenery! You were running essentially on the top of a ridge-line of mountains! It’s hard to feel like you’re suffering that much when everywhere you look is a gorgeous panoramic view.

Going into this race i was very nervous. The past two years i’ve been finishing up my Masters Degree and finishing my dietetic internship leaving me without the free time nor the money to keep up with my usual race schedule; i could barely get my training in, so i chose to just focus on training and worry about competing later. Well later finally came.

Two years of perpetual training without a single race to test how the training was working left me feeling uncertain and a little anxious. I used to be good at Spartan races, what if i somehow lost it all and didn’t even notice as it was slowly slipping away? As athletes, so much of our identity can end up getting tied up in our races and athletic performances.

Deciding that mindset of letting my mind ruminate and play the ‘what if’ game wasn’t productive, i steered my mind back to focusing on the things that i could control.

Sunday Funday – Race Morning

Madison and I woke up around 5:00 that morning at out B&B that was kind enough to have a Keurig! We proceeded to just relax and sip our coffee on the porch and to start talking strategy… Madison Decided that he was just going to have a good time and enjoy the whole experience. Through our conversation i broke mine into 3:

Race Strategy:

* Enjoy the race first and foremost! If i’m not enjoying this beautiful course, then i’m doing something VERY VERY wrong* Push It Between Obstacles then ‘coast’ through the obstacles* Start out HARD out of the gate and then just try to ‘hold on’ – there’s a ton of ‘single track’ trails in this race and if you get stuck at the back it’s unlikely you have a shot at making your way to the front of the pack.

After finishing our coffee, we backed a small bag and started heading to the race site. On our way over, we saw our first black bear ever! An adorable little cub. It’s a good omen, i decided