Asheville, NC | May 19-21, 2017 | What was supposed to be a fun race weekend with the Oiselle ladies actually turned into a fun getaway weekend with no running to be had. HA.
As previously mentioned I was having hip issues and had started PT but wasn’t going to be up to running the Biltmore Classic. I had originally registered for the 15K and then downgraded to the 5K planning to walk the three miles on race day.
Jon and I drove down from Blacksburg that morning- with him planning to drop me off in Asheville to meet up with Brooklyn, MaryEllen, and Amy for the weekend. He was heading on to his parents and would pick me up on Sunday after the race. We met up downtown, wandered a few shops and then ate some yummy lunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe. We decided to venture down to Wicked Weed for a quick beer before heading up to MaryEllen’s cabin outside of Weaverville. And fun story when we got there- her keys didn’t work to open the door!! It looked like a very nice cabin from the outside- haha. Luckily for us the official race hotel had a few slots left so we were able to get a room for two nights that her mom paid for since she didn’t have the right key to get into the house. Doubletree even felt bad for us and gave us a complimentary cheese and fruit plate since we were homeless until they took us in! What a day! We crossed the street from the hotel to grab dinner at Texas roadhouse before calling it a night.
Day 2 dawned much better as we opted for a hike along the mountain to sea trail, before grabbing our race packets back at the hotel. Then we took quick showers and decided to do a little uber and brewery hoping that evening. Our first planned stop was to New Belgium but then it turned out that Tour de Fat was there and we didn’t want to pay the cover to get inside. I got some local suggestions from Jon’s Dad- starting with the Wedge across the street. We walked over the river and down to the brewery (boy was it hot out!!) before settling under some fans, in the shade, with a couple of pitchers of beer. RELAXATION YES.
Then we ubered over to Salvage Station as our second stop, another round of beers and some exciting scenery/music. This place was huge!! After that we decided to grab food just down the road at White Duck Taco. SO FREAKING GOOD. I ate two amazing tacos, took a quick break with some water before it was time to head to our next location: Burial Brewing. Our final stop of the night as we were supposed to be at the race the next day (oops). We had another round before throwing up the white flags and uber-ing back to our hotel. More snacking (thanks to our grocery run prior to realizing we were locked out of the cabin) and I took some flat runner photos before we passed out asleep.
The next morning we woke up for the race and it was monsooning outside. Like thunder, lightning, downpour the whole nine yards. We though for sure the race would be cancelled but they claimed it was going to pass and still be on so we finally got dressed and headed out the door. We got to the start line- where it was still pouring and decided to hard pass on this one. I wasn’t really looking forward to walking the 5K alone and they weren’t interested in running the 15K in rain and mud. We headed back to the hotel, took quick showers, opted for breakfast at Biscuithead (also amazingly delicious) and then Jon picked me up and I said goodbye.
So while not the weekend we expected by any means, we had a blast anyway!! These Oiselle ladies are some of my favorites- glad the NC team brought us together 🙂
chasing every adventure 