After experiencing the World Mountain Running Championships I started to grasp that there were series both in the USA and the World that offered prize money. So to fulfill an original goal of making money while traveling I decided that this just might be the way I could afford to travel.

Holding down an overnight reception job at a nice hotel, I spent the quite hours around 2am searching the internet and I found the World circuit of Skyrunning and the La Sportiva Mountain Cup in the USA.  With no funds to go abroad yet I focused on the LaSportiva Mtn Cup.

The first race of the series was a plane ride away to North Carolina.  I place I had never been.

And wow what an incredible course in such a beautiful place it was. The landscape was so green coming from a lifetime in Colorado.

The course was good uphill on rocky fire road then a tight, overgrown single-track descent so fast you have to hold onto and swing around small trees and branches.  An exhilarating 10k race on a Friday Night.

And the real prize, the the wild rhododendron  were in full bloom.

What a great way to start my first LaSportiva Mountain Cup !!!!