Thursday, June 21st - Bryson City, NC

We arrived at our place to stay outside of Bryson City, NC last night. We are staying at Lakeview at Fontana, which has a beautiful view of Lake Fontana.

http://www.lakeviewnc.com/

Today is our 'down day' before the family comes in on Friday for the family reunion this weekend. They upgraded us to a 3 bedroom suite, which was lovely. The place is also a spa, but we didn't do any services - just relaxed! Here is Ken doing a little of that. He is getting a little well needed sun.
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While Ken relaxed, I went for a trail run in the Tsali recreation area, which is about 10 minutes from where we were staying. It is a 'mecca' for mountain bikers, but the trails can also be run, hiked or done on horseback. I did about 6 miles on the Tsali trail.

The trail was through the forest, sometimes on a ridge, sometimes along Lake Fontana (which is huge!).

I saw a deer, but he was too fast to get a picture. Lots of not quite ripe raspberries everywhere! I fell in love with the area and vowed to come back some day. A fairly easy trail, but lots of small hills. I have never run in such a beautiful place.

Thank you God for the mountains and the trees and the beautiful blue sky.
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That night, we went on a hike near our lodge. It was about a mile and a half and up and over a ridge. My legs are now officially 'trail tired'!

Wednesday, June 20th - Smoky Mountains

Kenny and me are driving through the Great Smoky Mountains (GSM) today. We stopped at the highest point of the GSM - Clingman's Dome-which is 6,643 feet. We had to hike up the last .5 mile to get to the top. You can see for miles. Very pretty. This is the first official day of vacation. We flew into Nashville yesterday, spent the night and now we are driving to Bryson City, NC today.

Meet me Downtown 5k - June 2, 2007

Some firsts for me:
1) first running 5k
2) first day that I have ever run twice in one day (I ran 8 miles Saturday morning and did the 5k Saturday night)
3) first time I have placed in the top three in my age group. I took 2nd place in my age group (35-39). I won a long sleeved 'Running Shop' technical shirt. Thanks Running Shop! I finished in 25:56.
Here we are before the race in our skirts (Lisa, Renee and Sheryl):

Meet my husband Ken! He came with me to the race to support me. I couldn't ask for a better husband. After the race, there was a showing of 'Chariots of Fire' at the newly renovated Fox Theatre downtown (free tickets with the race entry). What a trooper - he even sat through the movie (although he did get a little siesta in!) Thank you Kenny for being my number one fan.
The race was held in La Placita Village in Downtown Tucson. Very pretty as you can see. What a fun day!