It will always be my favorite.

I've mentioned before how we occasionally schedule a date night and plan for the kids to be away for the night. Turns out the last few times we have done this was so that we could go run the next morning. I love how that has become our life. Many years ago, before marriage and kids, our date nights included a Friday evening out to dinner eating some not so healthy big meal then lounging around afterwards watching movies and probably snacking on more junk. Saturday mornings usually involved a big breakfast out and there was little to no activity for the rest of the day unless you count shopping as a calorie burner. Our lives are very different and to say we have made a lifestyle change would be a huge understatement.

Friday night we took an overnight bag to my inlaw's house for the kids. They were spending the night because we had a long run the next morning. Saturday morning was a scheduled social run with our local Fleet Feet group. The run started at 7am in the beautiful Smoky Mountains. We were up by 5am and Terri was due to meet us at the house at 6. We had to stop by Kroger to get some kind of food to share with the group. The best part of these social runs is the food after. If you're local and haven't ran with the Fleet Feet crew at Cades Cove you should definitely put that on your list of runs to do. The best pancakes you ever tasted will be waiting on you at the finish.

There were 3 distance options for the day. 4 miles, 8 miles or 11 miles and there were pace goals for anyone from the slowest walker to the speediest runner. We all had planned to do the full 11 mile loop and figured we'd stick around a 10:15 pace though we weren't really focused on pace as much as we were focused on enjoying the run. For me a run in Cades Cove is all about taking in the beauty surrounding me. Every single run up there is better than the last or at least as far as the scenery goes!

Terri and I set out with one goal. Enjoy it. It's a long run. We weren't going for speed. She's still taking it easy on a sore hip and tight calves and I was dealing with a bit of a grumpy groin muscle. Early in the run we both felt really well. It was a cool morning with temps in the lower 50s. It was cloudy and there was a bit of a breeze. About a mile or so in we were both ready to shed our jackets so we stopped for a quick break. At that point in the run my husband passed us. We were back and running quickly and as we were coming up one of the first hills and rounding the curve in the road I said to Terri, "It's funny how those tree stumps resemble bears." We kept running and as we got closer I we both realized they WERE bears. A mama and her baby, in fact...


And just like a couple out of state tourists, we totally stopped to take pictures (this one courtesy of Terri!). We always see plenty of turkeys and deer any time we run Cades Cove but seeing these two black bears yesterday was a real treat!

The few miles after that were mostly uneventful. We would speed up and decide to slow down. Still my husband was ahead of us. Terri told me a few times that if I wanted to catch up to him and run with him she would be fine but I wanted to hang out with her. She and I at least talk to each other when we run and I like that. My husband always uses music so we do very little talking when we run together. Eventually my husband wasn't too far ahead of us (maybe around mile 5 or so) and she was like, go on and catch up to him. I was like I probably could and at least smack him on the butt. haha So, I decided to try to catch up to him. I had to really haul butt for that short period of time just to catch him and at one point looked at my Garmin to see I was at 7:50 pace. And I felt it but I caught up to him and took him by surprise when I smacked his butt real hard. Fun stuff.

We were just about to the half way point or the bathroom stop. My husband let us know he was feeling really good and would not be making the stop. Terri and I always take advantage of the stop because other than ducking in the woods it's the only chance to potty. I'd rather take the opportunity to stop than take chances otherwise. lol

Splits for the first half are..
Mile 1 - 9:35
Mile 2 - 10:32
Mile 3 - 10:14
Mile 4 - 10:38
Mile 5 - 9:52

The second half started out great for me but like I said before I was having a bit of an issue with the grumpy groin. Terri was dealing with an angry calf. We might have been an almost mess if we hadn't decided to just be smart this second half and slow down or walk when we felt the need. For the most part I felt great. I could speed through the flats and down hills but the up hills were giving me fits. It was the cardiovascular aspect of it but rather my groin. Every pull of my leg up my groin would scream. So, as much as I wanted to run every hill up like I did the last time we ran there it just didn't feel great on my grumpy groin so I chose to walk. I got very frustrated a few times and cursed the fact that I had any trouble at all but it's a training run and we were only out there to log some miles.

We stopped to stretch at around mile 8.5 and took a photo op too!
[caption id="attachment_1298" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Thanks Terri for the picture!"][/caption]

We plugged our way through the next few miles. When we hit mile 10 I knew my husband was probably done or close to being done. I was looking forward to getting back to the campsite to hang out and eat! Since it was only (haha, yes only) 11 miles I hadn't really eaten anything during the run because I wasn't hungry and at the pace I was holding didn't need to fuel. However, by mile 10 or so I was ready for breakfast for sure!
I got back to the parking lot but hadn't quite hit the 11 miles I planned for the day. I couldn't just end my run at 10.80 miles so I kept going further into the picnic area to make up the mileage.

splits for the back half.
Mile 6 - 10:32
Mile 7 - 10:34
Mile 8 - 11:04
Mile 9 - 11:03
Mile 10 - 10:05
Mile 11 - 10:03

Once we got back to the car my husband was there waiting on us. I shed my fuel belt and jacket. We also posed for pictures.



After a few pictures it was time for food and a brief ice bath.
I tried my best to sit in that water as long as I could but barely made it five minutes and that was after going in twice. And believe it or not even though I wasn't in there long my grumpy groin did feel a little better.


I had my yoga mat in the car and told Terri we'd at least plank for picture purposes. The ladies from the Mon/Weds night running group can appreciate the next two pictures. However, I will be honest and say that we were both pretty spent so our planks were not that stellar.
[caption id="attachment_1302" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Plank it up!"][/caption]


Overall this was a great day and a wonderful run. The company was awesome, as usual. The food was delicious. Cades Cove will always always be my favorite place to run.