I Hit 500,000' Today!

I hit the Half Million mark today at the top of Mt. Pisgah. With 8,300' of vert-2-go after week 42 I decided to make the 500k a memorable one. And the best memories usually involve a lot of fun with some pain mixed in there - well at least for this sport that's what makes the best memories! A few days ago I hit the Back Roads for a quick 2,300' so I could deal with an even 6,000' for something a little more epic. The Shut-In Trail is about 5,300' of climbing, and ends at the Mt. Pisgah parking lot. From there it's another 700' to the summit of Pisgah so I thought this could be the a good plan to hit 500k at the summit. If I was a little short, I could head back down as needed then summit again to hit the number. Fortunately, my altimeter was very nice to me today and read 6,004' of ascent when I reached the summit. All fun stuff, but there's still 9.5 weeks to go and I expect to hit 6ook by the end of the year.

A few numbers that I came up with - I hit 500k in 298 days, averaging about 1,678'/day and 11,765'/week. At this rate I will be around 612,400' for 52 weeks. It would be nice to hit 624,000' for the year which would equal 12,000'/week. I won't hold myself to it, but it will be in the back of my head as I hit the trails during my favorite time of the year.