A Soaker on Skyline and a Swim

Return to Skyline Drive! Last month when we were there, we encoutered sleet. This time was fog and rain. All of us were prepped with red taillights mounted on our bikes and ready to go. Entering the fog was like some sort of eerie Stephen King movie. I mentioned this to Dave Lett as he passed me on the uphill climb and he replied, "Yeah, bet you did not even notice the bear that's been following you for the last 20 minutes!" Ha ha.

The fog was so dense at points, the visibility was perhaps 10 to 20 feet. It made for an interesting day, as we were not sure what to expect up ahead. I laughed with Katie Sleep as it was her first visit to Skyline Drive (ever.... in 18 years of living in the DC area!) and she was not able to check out the scenery!

Decending was rather frightening. Many of us held a death grip on our brakes. It was one thing (ok, lots of things) to be chilly, soaking wet, have very low visibility, wet roads, and rain pelting the face, but then to hit an unseen deer or something else on top it all! Uh, no. At one point, many of us passed a deer, standing on the side of the road, looking at us like we were absolutely nuts.

The conditions were honestly rather dangerous. Ed commented post ride that he was almost surprised (ok, thankfully happy) that no one crashed.

Despite the unfavorable conditions, I refused to let my spirits dampen. I had a decent ride. My shoulders were a little sore as I held the death grip on my brakes. (At least my massage the night before helped alleviate that.) And my feet were so chilled, they literally hurt to walk on post ride. They took about 30 minutes of warming in the car.

So, rather than drive all the way back to the Metro area, only to return on Sunday for a swim and run in Luray, Carol, Pam, Carrie, and I decided to spend the night in Luray.

We had originally planned to visit the Luray Caverns, as none of us had ever been. However, by the time we got cleaned up and fed, the day was rapidly escaping us. We decided to walk around the cheesy Spring Festival going on in town. We also stopped at the outdoors store in town and talked with one of the owners for quite some time, who is also a triathlete. (He easily guessed we were by overhearing our chatter.) We also spent an extended time at this coffee shop, where the couches were so comfortable, we debating staying there for the night rather than the Best Western.

After dinner (crab cakes, yum!), it wasn't long before all of us called it a night.

Sunday morning started out with a good Southern breakfast (Virginia ham, grits, the works...) before heading to Lake Arrowhead for our swim. The morning was chilly. (It is May, right?) The water was a brisk 68 degrees, but still warmer than the air temperture at 56 degrees. I swam about 1-1/2 miles, before it was time to get out.

The training schedule then called for a 16 mile run. I had been ill for most of the week. The weather was threatening to rain. I felt like I pushed my limits quite enough for the weekend without a long run in the cold wet rain. As a result, I wound up taking a pass on the run. I'll make it up during the week or during this coming weekend. I am adjusting my long run schedule anyway due to conflicts.

Overall, successful weekend, but it sure is nice to be at home, in my pajamas, and out of the rain!