This was a new race for us this year, and we loved exploring a new place. I wanted to sign up for it because it was a month before Paris Mountain 25k, so I thought that would be great training! And that it was! Ha.
Jones Gap is absolutely one of the best kept secrets of South Carolina...woooowww, the beauty hidden in that place! We went and did some hiking for our anniversary there and yet this 9 mile course showed even more of what was there! Absolutely gorgeous. The trail is technical, there’s climbing involved but wooow is it worth it!
The race itself has beautiful weather, maybe a tad warm for September, but I don’t think South Carolina is going to acknowledge Fall this year, so it is what it is. Once you get on the trail from the race start, you begin climbing. And you climb and climb. So don’t let the "9 miles" fool you, all miles are not created equal 😂 I’m pretty sure the first 4-5 miles were climbing. And, before Jones Gap, I couldn’t say I had climbed straight up for 4 miles. Now I can! Ha. It was most definitely great training for Paris Mountain, but I would even say harder technically and climbing wise. It was much less of a run and more of a hike. Which is also such a beautiful thing about trail running! You have people of allllll shapes, sizes, ages, and races out there running, walking, hiking, crawling. There’s no pressure as far as speed, age, size goes, you just show up and do what YOU can do. And in doing that, you build confidence to challenge yourself.
This run for sure challenged me. And I loved it. It also taught me valuable lessons. And even though I was quite sore the following week, I have no doubt it helped prepare me to reach my goal at Paris Mountain.
Can’t recommend hiking at Jones Gap highly enough! Worth every second of your time...raw natural beauty just busting at the seams of that little state park!
No comments:
Post a Comment