Hiking the White Oak Canyon/Cedar Run Loop in Shenandoah National Park

Oh man. We hiked the White Oak Canyon/Cedar Run loop yesterday, and it was an 8 mile, nearly six hour doozy. Don’t get me wrong, it was gorgeous and I felt so good after, but I don’t think I’ll want to do this one again. If you do this hike, definitely don’t make the mistake we did of not starting this hike until almost 1 p.m.

It took us about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to the parking area from where we live near D.C., and the drive was gorgeous. I mean look at that scenery below! You just can’t get views like that close to the city. I always feel recharged after being out in no man’s land.

Hiking Little Devils Stairs in Shenandoah National Park

We did a beautiful doozy of a hike yesterday: Little Devils Stairs in Shenandoah National Park, a 5.5 mile loop. If you do this hike, and I suggest that you do, follow the super clear and spot on directions at that link. Even though I just trained for and ran a freaking marathon, I am feeling it today! I always love that feeling.

It’s about a two hour nice drive from D.C. to get to Little Devils Stairs. I plugged the coordinates given at the link above (38.73060, -78.25827) into my GPS, and it does take you straight to the parking area, even though it seems like you’re going to a random field. Don’t worry — just keep driving!

What better to start this blog than with my first marathon story!

I never knew I could sustain so much joy through 26.2 miles, to say nothing that comes with the over-the-top elation of now being able to call myself a marathoner. I seriously had a BLAST, ankle injury and all. In fact, my little ankle injury barely even spoke up on race day (it’s yelling at me now, but that’s another matter). Rather than trying to fight the injury or any pain I may have felt, on race day I decided to take my friend’s suggestion and invite every doubt and pain I’ve had over the past months to come run along with me. And you know what? I overcame every doubt or fear I had leading up to this race!

My running cohorts and I arrived about an hour early and had time to gear check, use the porta potties TWICE (a miracle), drink some water and…the best part of all…enjoy some hand warmers! The small luxury of hand warmers before the start was heavenly at the time.