Today I was debating whether or not to run. I decided to head for a new trail. I went to Allamuchy Mountain Park near Hackettstown, NJ. It was about an hour drive each way. I ran on the south portion of the park because I didn't want to run too hard. The north section is much more difficult.
Getting to the trailhead was sure interesting. It started with a normal run, but then came to a road that said it wasn't maintained. It didn't look too bad, so I decided to drive down it. It was very rough in spots and tough for my car. Certain sections were pretty washed away from the recent rains. It was still driveable though. There was a gate after parking lot number one, but it was closed, probably due to all the water around it.
I was very happy earlier in the day when I got my Garmin working again. The battery had completely died and I was just able to get it recharging then. Apparently, it had just froze yesterday and on the Garmin website there is a way to unfreeze it. That's good to know in case it happens again.
I started my run shortly past the closed gate. This was blazed as the blue trail. I was planning on running it until I met up with the white trail. The blue trail actually began as a dirt road. It was wide and flat with some rocks. It was certainly a section you could go fast on. There was some elevation change too, but it wasn't too challenging.
After the first mile, I came upon the pond that the trail runs alongside. It wasn't bad and provided for a nice view. When I got into the open space next to the pond, I came across a lot of grasshoppers. Most of them hopped away ahead of me, but some of the slow reacting ones ended up jumping at my legs. That was annoying and I couldn't wait to get through there. I have noticed other times that they tend to like the sun.
Around the pond, the blue trail met up with the white one. This confused me because I thought that the blue one ended at the white one. I decided to head onto the white trail because I was planning to loop back on that. This part was fun because it was a dirt singletrack through the woods. There were some rocks, but for the most part it wasn't bad. There was some small climbing to be done from the low elevation of the pond though. I also encountered some water running on the trail and mud. I navigated over that well.
I was grateful that the bridges they build over the streams were high enough. I didn't feel like a water crossing today. During part of this section, I ended up eating a bug. That was no fun at all. I started to cough and was nearly choking. It was tough to run and breath. Things got better for a few moments, but then my throat itched again and this episode was even worse. I almost had to stop running. Luckily, it eventually got better.
I was fairly confident I was going the right way, but the intersection of the blue and white trails threw me off earlier. I didn't want to take a chance of running too far, so I turned around at mile 2.6. I was actually probably pretty close to the end at that point.
The run back was good, although it seemed a lot more uphill than going out did. One downhill section was tough because of all the rocks. I went a little faster than I should've through there. I didn't run harder, but my pace picked up in the final two miles.
I was thinking about stopping at mile 4. I knew if I did though, I'd have a pretty long walk back. I felt good, so I opted for another half mile. There was some tougher uphills in this part. Still, nothing too bad though. After I hit that half mile, I was still feeling good, so I ran to mile 5. I finished that up in no time too.
There were a couple unmarked spur trails that looked like fun, but I didn't want to get lost. It was a little humid, but overall not too bad. Of course the woods provided shade as usual too. The run was fun and I'll definitely head back. Next time, it'll likely be when I'm looking for a harder workout. I'll head to the more challenging northern section then.
Tomorrow, I'm definitely going to run again. I'd like to head to Emmaus again for the Finish Line group run. I haven't been there in awhile. We shall see.
5 miles - 48:32 (9:43 pace)
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