When Bill and I are in southwestern Virginia, we love to go to Hungry Mother State Park for a trail run. There’s a beautiful trail around the lake that we enjoy running, but we really love the challenging run up to Molly’s Knob. I remember hiking to the top of Molly’s Knob once when I was in high school, and thought I was going to die. Now I run to the top, and think I’m going to die!
Last Friday Bill and I were in SWVA for the Virginia Tech Thursday night game, and after the abysmal performance by our Hokies the night before, a trail run on Friday morning was exactly what we needed.
I hadn’t run the beautiful trails there since June when I met Meagan for a long run. Obviously, the leaves had changed a lot and were beautiful, but we missed peak season by about two weeks (two weeks too late). Bill and I chose a 7.3-mile round-trip loop that included a trip up to Molly’s Knob.
Bill carried his camera backpack with his camera, two lenses, and a tripod; and he still outran me!
Parts of the trail are heavily covered on both sides with rhododendron…
And most of the trails were covered with leaves.
Along the way, I stopped often to snap a quick picture of the scenery and to rest my lungs.
And speaking of lungs, my lungs were about to explode as I summited Molly’s Knob! Sorry about the heavy breathing in my video!
Once at the top, Bill got out his camera and tripod and took lots of pictures of the beautiful views.
Bill recently got a remote control, so he can take the ultimate selfies! He edited this photo with a painted effect that I’m not crazy about, but I still think it’s pretty cool!
I rested on one of the benches while Bill took a few more pictures…
And after about 15 minutes on top of the mountain, we turned and headed back down.
About half way down, we stopped to take pictures of Molly’s Knob, where we had just been standing.
As we got back down near the lake, we paused for a selfie, and I realized that I had less than 20% battery left on my iPhone. Since I was using RunKeeper, I was concerned that I would run out of battery and lose my whole run. I was particularly interested in seeing the elevation chart of our run, so I decided to take off and complete my run before I lost it!
I played around with my iPhone camera a little bit as I ran the last half-mile toward our car. At one point I cringed at the thought of falling while watching my phone go flying through the air and landing in the lake. With that thought, I quickly put my phone back in my pack, and continued on my way.
About a minute after putting my phone away, and a quarter mile from the parking lot, I stepped on a rock that I couldn’t see because it was covered in leaves. I twisted my foot, and landed on the ground. The pain was intense for a couple of seconds, but went away very quickly, so I stood up, shook it off, and ran the rest of the way to the car. When Bill caught up to me in the parking lot, he didn’t realize I had fallen. I was walking around normally, so he had no idea I’d fallen until I told him about it on the car ride home.
It was a gorgeous fall day for a run, and we had a beautiful, challenging trail to run on. Falling just added to the excitement of trail running, and considering my foot is almost back to normal, I’d consider this run a huge success!
- Questions:
- Where is your favorite trail to run or hike?
- What’s the status of the leaves where you live?
- Random: Do you plan to dress up for Halloween? ~ I’m not a huge fan of Halloween, and my lack of creativity shows if I try to come up with a costume.
Awesome run! I loved the video (but I had to watch it without sound). I love the sound of leaves crunching underneath me as I run. Yay for fall! Once I was running with my phone tracking the run, but it was so cold out, my phone died 4 miles into my run (maybe 6-7 miles altogether). Anyway, once I got home and discovered the loss, I did realize that my run up to the point of the phone dying had, in fact, saved. So I still had the majority of my run info. I am not a creative Halloween person either! I throw together a last minute outfit if I must, but it is never really great.
Amy recently posted…Weekend Highlights
That’s good to know about the phone app keeping your run even if you run out of battery power. Hopefully, though, the birthday elves will bring me a Garmin in just over two weeks! 🙂
how gorgeous!! What a great view. Sorry you tripped — no pain later following the fall? That ultimate selfie is so cute.
Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC recently posted…Avoiding Blogging Burnout
Thanks,Courtney! Yes, I ended up at urgent care later that afternoon because I couldn’t put any weight on my foot by 4 PM. I was convinced I had broken it, but it was just a sprain. Other than bruising, it feels pretty much normal now, and I’m going to try to run on it tomorrow. I didn’t want to go into a lot detail in this recap since I talked about it on Monday’s post, and had linked back to it.
Gorgeous pics!! What was the elevation change for your run?
Jennifer recently posted…NYC Marathon Countdown – Race Day Outfit
RunKeeper tracked all of my splits, but for some reason only tracked my elevation changes for the first 2.75 miles. During that time, we had an elevation change of 1,861 feet.
Wow what gorgeous views! I’m not a trail runner but I might just have to become one
Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner recently posted…Trick or Treat Halloween Workout For The Whole Family
The views and gorgeous scenery are worth the risks of falling! At least in my opinion…
Stunning views!! And that photo of you and Bill is picture perfect 🙂 Crazy he ran with all that equipment!
Trail running in fall really is the best with all the leaves underfoot, although it’s sad they’re mostly off the trees!
My favourite trail is in Kootenay National Park (in British Columbia). It’s 15 minutes of uphill to get to the ridge that I love to run on!
Abby recently posted…Three goals
Bill bought that backpack just for running, and it was his first time using it. It’s pretty cool that he can run with that much equipment. He said that it got kind of heavy toward the end of his run, though.
Running out a ridge sounds really nice. We’re hoping to run a new trail on Friday if my foot is up to it.
Now that I’ve run at Hungry Mother three times, I knew exactly where some of these pictures were taken. I can’t wait to explore the rest of the trails there! How did you like the CCC Trail? Looked like you were moving at a good pace while summiting Molly’s Knob! I love that picture of you and Bill that he used the painted effect on. It totally looks like something you could get a large print of, frame it, and then trick people into believing an artist painted it!
I’m going to take you up Brush Mountain at Pandapas sometime!
Meagan recently posted…Marine Corps Marathon – The Finish
The CCC Trail to Molly’s Knob is more technical than the Vista Trail. I think I’ll go back to running the Vista Trail next time I run there. Bill and I would love for you to take us on a run at Pandapas Pond sometime. Our friend that we stay with in Blacksburg sometimes, runs there really often.
I wouldn’t dare to run on those leaves! But I don’t run anyway. I came over from VirginiaBloggers because I vaguely remember Molly’s Knob. Hiked there when I was a child. Must say I did not like the name Hungry Mother though.
We have some beautiful trails here in Warren County.
Linda recently posted…Not a Shaggy Dog … for Now
Thanks for stopping by; and yes, the story behind how Hungry Mother State Park got it’s name is very sad.
Really adventure! Bill carried his camera backpack with his camera, two lenses, and a tripod; and he still outran me!
John recently posted…What is Public Health?
And he out ran me, too!
[…] October – Molly’s Knob […]
[…] easier and faster than the ascent. Rocks, hidden roots, and a new respect for the possibility of twisting my foot after my fall in October, kept me cautious and from running as fast as I would have […]
[…] Half, on April 7th I’m running the Hungry Mother 25K, a trail race where I’ll climb 1,000 feet in just under two miles to an altitude of 3,250 feet. Both races will push me out of my current running comfort zone, but […]
[…] It had been two years since my last trail race, but once I learned about the Hungry Mother 25K, I knew I wanted in on the action. Hungry Mother State Park is near where I grew up, and my husband Bill and I have enjoyed running the well-manicured trails around the lake for several years. The highlight of our run has always been the mile-long climb up to the peak of Molly’s Knob. […]
[…] too far from peak, and still had a lot of color. Just the weekend before we ran to the top of Molly’s Knob, and the leaves on the trees farther southwest appeared to be a couple weeks […]