Operation Appalachian Trail!

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I am so excited because as soon as I hit “publish” for this blog, I will be hopping in my car and heading to Caledonia State Park to embark on a trail running adventure!

A few months ago, I posted my Fitness Bucket List. Well, one of my crazy ultra-running friends particularly liked #5- Run the entire Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. And unlike me, he is actually DRIVEN to make this dream a reality for himself. He organized several weekends of trail running sections of the AT- all culminating with him (and whoever else joins him) completing it within about 3 months. A lot of his trail running friends are doing some or all of the weekends with him.

I am not running the entire thing, but I am going to do some of the runs. I am lucky to live within 45 minutes (or closer) to several AT trail heads. These also happen to be very run-able sections. There are certain parts of the trail I have run more times than I can count, but there are lots of other sections in Pennsylvania that I have never stepped foot on. After today’s run, I have calculated that I will have run 111 miles of the AT starting from the PA/MD line and going north. I have about 118 miles to go until I can say I ran the entire length of the portion of the trail in PA.

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Today I will be running from the PA/MD line to Caledonia State Park. I thought it was going to be 16 miles but after doing some more research yesterday, I realized it’s actually going to be 18 miles. It sort of shocked me- I don’t know why 18 sounds like so much more the 16, but it does! I’m the only one cutting it short. The group I am running with will be doing just about 30 miles. I’m stopping short for several reasons.

I have no business running 30 miles right now. 

I’m not even sure I have business running 18, but oh well.

I have to be back for my piano recital at 3pm.

I have already run the last 12 miles they are going to be covering, 

so I will not be missing trail that I haven’t yet run.

 I'm taking my camera and hope to have some fun pics and a run re-cap for you all tomorrow. Although I may be too exhausted and will have to put it off until Monday or Tuesday. But for now, I am ready to hit the trail!

Do you live close to the AT?

Have you ever run/hiked on the AT?

Do you enjoy trail running?