Queen of the Mountain event is participating in 3 events within 3 consecutive days. Making this more exciting, they combine the events during the Highland Games taking place at McCrae Meadows at the base of Grandfather Mountain.Event #1 - Thursday, July 9th The Bear - 5 mile uphill run starting at 7:00pm at Hwy, 105 in Linville finishing at the top of Grandfather Mountain State Park. It was disappointing to have so much fog this evening therefore the views were distorted. I focused on pacing myself knowing there are two more days of events, so found the fine line of pacing myself and racing The Bear. I was happy with my 52 minute finish. It was great to see my husband and running partners at the top.
Event #2 - Friday, July 10th - The Grizzly 65 mile bike ride at 8am from Linville through a 6 mile climb on Beech Mountain, through Banner Elk and the beautiful blue ridge parkway finishing around the dirt track at McCrae Meadows. This was by far the hardest bike ride ever! After the bike ride I experienced my 1st ice bath...BRRR after the GRRRR.
Event #3 - Saturday, July 11th - Grandfather Mountain Marathon
The 26.2 mile run started at 7:30am from Appalanchian State College. Ashley, Ed and I began the journey through backroads of Boone/Blowing Rock, along the blue ridge parkway, we were greeted by Doug, Amanda, and friends on their bike encouraging us to keep moving forward. In order to pace myself for this very rolling course, I walked the hills early on. Approaching mile 20 along Hwy 221, I'm having a sinking moment as Amanda encourages me to finish the last Gu that I've carried for about a mile. 15 minutes later my sugar levels are back up for a surprisingly strong finish of 4:23 around the McCrae Meadows track.
A total time of 10:15, I'm 3rd place Queen of the Mountain out of 5 female participants. Looking forward to a little time off training and some rest.
Thanks for the support of my husband, Coach Melinda, training partners and the friends riding along the marathon course.
