The Training Begins

Hey Everyone,

On Thursday I began my first day of specific training for the Mountain Running World Trophy. I drove up to the Wisp Ski Resort in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland to run up their main slope, The Face. The closer we drove to the slopes the more intimidating the mountain looked....and it's only half the size of the mountain that we are going to "face" in Switzerland! I began my climb and from the bottom all the way to the top it took about 7 minutes...for a half mile with 500 ft elevation gain! So needless to say after doing that 3 times, I'm quite sore. This was expected which is exactly why I want to be training on it.

See that little dot wearing the red shorts and the new Tevas? That's me.

I'm so excited to be a part of the U.S. Mountain running team. It has been a dream of mine to be able to represent my country doing something I love and, on top of it, to be able to do it in Switzerland...wow, I can't wait. It has already been such a great experience, so thanks to USATF, Nancy, Dave, and my coach, Sean Cleary for letting me be a part of it.

Cheers,
Maria