Looking for an adventure with the kids? Look to Brunswick Nature Park near Wilmington. Looking for some mountain biking adventure? Look to the annual Triangle Fat Tire Festival. Looking for some spectacular hiking? Look up, about as high as you can, to the Roan Highlands.
Tag Archives: TORC
This weekend: Paddle, pedal, earn a view
This is considered the first weekend of summer in the tourism industry. The kids are mostly out of school, let the family escapes begin. To the coast, for a standup paddleboard or kayak tour, to the Piedmont for some fat tire fun, to the mountains for a mellow hike.
Got a plan for 2012?
Got a plan for this year? If you don’t, you need one.
If you vowed to be better this year, you need to start planning. You need goals to move you along. You need a carrot to get you out of bed and ride on a morning when it’s 25 degrees out. You need incentive to lace up your Asics and do your weekly track workout when your body is saying it would rather stay on the couch and watch the second half.
Run and shoot
I’m big on goals, big on cross-training as well. Occasionally, these dual objectives create conflict.
For instance, come autumn, the goal-oriented runner in me gets excited about the Second Empire Fall Grand Prix Series. The series consists of eight races, starting with this Sunday’s Magnificent Mile in downtown Raleigh and including five 5Ks, an 8K, and a 10-miler. I like the series in part because of the race variety, in part because the speed-challenged such as myself have a chance to shine in the series. I won’t place in my age group — stunning how many fast 55- to 59-year-olds there are on the circuit — in any one race, but if I run in every race I could place in the top 10, perhaps even top 5 in the series standings. Great incentive to train for the non-elite.
Do I suck? (Or am I just bad?)
“I … I just didn’t have anything more to give,” I confided to my cycling psychologist on our ride this morning. “I was empty.”
Allen and I ride one morning a week at Umstead. It’s typically a mildly competitive ride where we save just enough air to chat about bikes (lot’s of debate about whether to go the 29er route), rides (mountain centuries that Allen does and I talk about), juicing (Allen is obsessed with making fresh OJ). And, occasionally, why we suck.