Ending Summer on Top

Thursday- last running stage of the summer tour with my fitness test. Tyler joined up with me and Brian to run the two mile out and back hill section of the Washington Duke trail to mimic my upcoming fitness tests for soccer next week. I held pace with Tyler until 1/2 mile to go and needed to back off- fully tapped after having the past few weeks off healing up the leg. Posted a respectable 12:40 (much faster than I posted at this time last year before pre-season) so I don't have much room to complain.

Today I said my goodbyes to Meredith and Jacob at the gym. Mer- your intensity, wisdom, wit, and hugs will be greatly missed in the coming weeks. Thank you again for all you have done for me this summer...our tours roll until they converge again.

So Brian and I jumped in the car this afternoon and headed west to the Sauratown Mountains to conquer our last summer 2011 ride. We parked about 6 miles away from the base of Sauratown Mountain itself (a rating Category 2 climb at the Tour de France), unloaded the bikes, and had at it. We hit the base of the climb with 4 miles to the summit, in the heat of the day at a 19% grade. What were we thinking!? I had to get off the bike twice just to lower my heart rate for 30 seconds but I am proud to say that I made it to the top. We had a great time and I couldn't think of a better way to cap off my summer- standing at the top of a mountain after a lot of hard challenges. I am so thankful to have Brian as a mentor and friend and it was fitting that he was waiting for me at the top with a smile on his face. I can't even begin to thank him enough for all he has done for me this summer (let alone in the past 3 years) both in and out of the gym. I will miss him a lot as I head off to school.

Ended the day with a nice dinner with the family and Nana and Pops. I will miss them so much and I look forward to hopefully coming back in September to help them celebrate their 50th anniversary. In the meantime- tomorrow I pack...Sunday I head back up to school.