Not bad for an old guy

I had an awesome day today. This morning, I went for my longest-ever run: 14 miles and 2½ hours from Sugar Hollow up 7 miles, at an average 6% grade, to the Blackrock summit in Shenandoah National Park, and then 7 miles back down. (You can see the map and stats for the run in my Strava feed.) Most of the run is along the north fork of the Moormans River. In fact, the trail crossed the river five times on the way up, and five more times on the way down. We had a lot of rain this week, so the river was running pretty high and fast. And it was 32 degrees when we (I went with a big group of the Charlottesville Area Trail Runners, or CATs) started the run, so each time we waded through the river, sometimes up to my calves, my feet went numb for a few minutes. Here's one of the crossings:

Moormans River crossing

Check out the blur in the lower left-hand corner. That guy must be really fast! 😉 And you can even see video of some of my river crossings here (especially starting at 1:45 in).

A few miles in, we passed by Big Branch Falls:

Big Branch Falls

You can take a spur trail up a quarter mile to get closer to the falls, but I wasn't adding anything on today.

Four miles in we ran by a derelict bus. I have no idea how it got there, but it reminded of the bus in Into the Wild, if any of you have read the book by Jon Krakauer or seen the movie. 

The bus

Check out the curtains in the windows and the grill out front. Someone's been living it up in that thing.

After five-and-a-half miles of relatively gentle climbing, we hit the Appalachian Trail, crossed Skyline Drive, and the climbing really started. There is a 726-foot elevation gain in the last mile up to the Blackrock summit, which works out to a 14% grade. Time for some "power hiking," as the ultrarunners like to say.

The Blackrock summit was well worth the effort, with awesome views all around:

Blackrock summit 1

Blackrock summit 2

Blackrock summit 3

Then we turned around and ran back down, which was a little harrowing in places.

I was so impressed with my effort, I texted a link to my Strava feed to Mom, Uncle Bob, and Dylan. Dylan reminded me that my run was almost as long as his UVA to Carter Mountain 15 miler, but then admitted that it was "not bad for an old guy." Thanks, son.

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Since Cassie and Mom are off in Tallahassee checking out Florida State (where Cassie is killing it), Brad and I celebrated my accomplishment with some fries and a pizza at Dr. Ho's. Then we topped off the day with some of this banana bread, which is as good as any other I've made. I've still yet to try a banana bread that is head and shoulders above any other (let me know if you find one you think is truly exceptional). But I will echo Orangette in saying that this one does have an especially "velvety" crumb, if that appeals to you.

Banana Bread with Chocolate

Adapted from The Kitchen Diaries II by Nigel Slater via Orangette

The original recipe was named Chocolate Muscovado Banana Cake, which tells you something about what Slater thought were the important ingredients in this cake/bread. But I didn't feel like paying $10/pound for muscovado sugar, so I went with Trader Joe's Organic Brown Sugar. Dark brown sugar will work fine, too.

Dry ingredients
250 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
a good pinch of fine sea salt or kosher salt

Wet ingredients
400 grams (peeled weight) ripe banana (3 to 4 medium bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces and softened
200 grams (1 cup) muscovado or dark brown sugar (see note)

100 grams dark chocolate, chopped into smallish chunks (I used 8 squares of Trader Joe's Pound Plus 72% Cacao Dark Chocolate)

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. The recipe says to line the pan with parchment paper, but if you have a pan that releases well, that's unnecessary; I had no trouble getting the bread out of the pan I use.
    2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
    3. In a small bowl, mash the bananas. Slater says to use a fork so the bananas will be "lumpy rather than crushed to a puree," but I found that easier to do using a potato masher with a light hand. Stir in the vanilla.
    4. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork.
    5. In a large bowl, or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light, fluffy, and mocha colored. Scrape the bowl down. Add the eggs, and beat until incorporated. If the mixture looks curdled at any point, add a tablespoon of the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate pieces and mashed banana. Stir in the flour mixture, by hand or using the lowest setting on your mixer.
    6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a metal or wooden skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out moist but clean (it will probably have chocolate on it so it may not be easy to tell). Test at 50 minutes or so; if there is any sign of wet batter, tent the loaf loosely with foil, and bake for a few more minutes until it tests done.
    7. Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then tip the loaf out and cool completely on a wire rack. The loaf is sliced most easily with a serrated knife.