I was so excited to write up a piece about CrossFit Homeward yesterday, but there were a ton more photos than what made it into the write-up! Check out the full album now!
There's nothing quite like a high intensity workout to get your blood and endorphins flowing first thing in the morning, and now there's a new CrossFit gym in Chapel Hill for exactly that. CrossFit Homeward celebrated its grand opening on Saturday with good food, good friends, and good workouts. The new space is located in University Mall off South Estes Drive next to Southern Season in Chapel Hill. Leading up to the grand opening I spent a week getting to know the gym, its community, and trying out some workouts, and found a place full of hard work and play.
Let's say you've got a badass in your life. Maybe they run. Maybe they hike. Maybe they climb. Maybe they play soccer, bike, swim, do triathlons, backpack, do Crossfit, skydive, or maybe they do all these things and even more. So what do you get a badass for a holiday gift? You get them whatever makes them badass-er!
Umstead State Park is not an escape. Let's just go ahead and get that cleared up. You're not going to Umstead State Park to get away, to find yourself in some remote place or discover some backcountry route. But that being said, Umstead State Park is a good place to get away.
So who else is still recovering from Thanksgiving? 🙌 I feel like it was just yesterday I was flipping my office calendar to the November view, and now it's already December?! Who authorized that?! Of course that means it's time for a monthly goals recap and new goals!
The latest issue of “Runner’s World” says on the cover “BE BADASS!” and I genuinely thought for a moment it was going to have some deep insight on how to be badass: run ultramarathons maybe, or win a mountain race along a razor thin ridgeline, or help soldiers overcome PTSD through running, or skydive from a plane and then run a marathon (yes, that’s a thing!). There are so many ways to be a running badass, but there’s no advice on how to be one.
Thanksgiving...Black Friday...Small Business Saturday...Cyber Monday...and now Giving Tuesday! Some of these names and days may be cringe-worthy (I'm looking at you, Black Friday), but #GivingTuesday is something I can get behind. Now in its fifth year #GivingTuesday is the Tuesday following Thanksgiving and is a movement to connect communities and promote charitable giving. As part of #GivingTuesday I'm really excited to participate in a book drive and fundraiser for First Pages, but there are plenty of great organizations to donate to if you've got some change leftover after Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.
I realized recently that as much as I talk about the American Tobacco Trail and as often as I go running on the trail that I've never actually written a blog post on it. Clearly I had to fix this. The American Tobacco Trail is the product of a rails-to-trails project converting 22+ miles of railroad track into a mixed use trail. The ATT now runs from Durham to Apex and includes miles of paved, mixed, and compact gravel surfaces. Since the trail is so long and has diverse surfaces and amenities at intermittent trailheads I am breaking this up into a series of posts focusing on a few miles at a time and highlighting special features, parking, and amenities, starting with the New Hill-Olive Chapel trailhead.