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Post Mountain Climbing

August 20, 2017 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Yesterday I drove 4 hrs up into New Hampshire to climb Mount Washington - the highest point in the northeast. In fact, the closest mountain that is higher than it is all the way down in the North Carolina/Tennessee area. This was something I have been meaning to do all summer. Ya see, on my way travel out here in May from Michigan, I attempted to climb this mountain. But I had to turn around about halfway because it was way too dangerous to climb further without proper ice climbing gear. There was like 10 feet of melting snow on the mountain with a high risk of avalanche. And I likely would have seriously injured myself by falling into a crevice. Since 1849, nearly 150 people have died while climbing this mountain, deemed "Home to the World's Worst Weather". Another fact: the world's fastest gust of wind recorded by man (that was not part of a tropical typhoon), was recorded at the summit. Anyway, back in May after having been very disappointed that I had to call it quits (that is, unless I wanted to risk my life), I vowed that I would come back and reach the summit before I had to travel back to Michigan.

So yesterday, finally having a free day with no important sports on and no triathlon training, I made my journey. Comparing this area to what it was like back in May was unbelievable. The trailhead began at an elevation of about 2000 feet, and it took me 1 hr and 50 min to get to the summit of over 6200 feet. I'm a pretty impatient person - it takes most people about 4 hours. And for as notorious as the weather is here, it was really absolutely gorgeous until getting above the treeline. Then I was in a cloud and couldn't really see anything. That was still cool tho.

After hanging out around the summit, sitting down, eating some food, and getting pictures, I made my way back down. I got back to my car 4 hrs and 10 minutes after I started. And I did the whole climb in just my old and battered Nike structure running shoes. Another thing to note is that climbing this mountain was not on even trails at all. Pretty much the entire trail was walking on rocks. I was very very very fortunate to move as fast as I did without rolling my ankle. And then the final push to the summit is so steep you gotta use all fours to climb the rocks.

SO, as expected, my legs were super sore and trashed today and I was considering taking another day off. But the weather was beautiful and this was my last Sunday out here, so I didn't want to spend my entire day just dicking around inside on my computer. So I got out and did an easy run around Chestnut Hill to get the blood flowing in my legs. So yeah, really slow, but I think it was good that I did it. Hopefully I feel good tomorrow for a medium run, then a good workout on Tuesday, and then one final long run on Wednesday to wrap up my time here in the Boston area.

Then on Thursday, I will make the 12+ hour drive to EL!