I guess whenever I get overconfident about my hill strength, I can always just head over to Trexler Nature Preserve to be humbled. There is just nothing around that I've found even close to as challenging as the hills there. Some are short, but super steep others are long and gradual climbs. Few are easy though.
The toughest part is just always starting out. If I could get a flat half mile or so, I'd be good. However, the run starts with a killer descent quickly following by an even tougher ascent. Without the legs warmed up, I was forced to walk a short portion of that uphill. Early on, I came across three deer running on or through the trail. That was cool. I only seem to see them in the rain though.
I did manage to survive the tough start and I opened it up for a short period of time around the rare flat section at around the end of the first mile. This is a nice run through the forest than an open field. Shortly after running on the road for a few minutes, it enters the rocky stretch along a stream. That was fairly wet and a little tough to navigate. My practice on the rocky AT has been a big help though.
Following that is mostly a gradual uphill climb for almost a mile. I love the open fields of this area. Even on a rainy and overcast day, the views were awesome. Speaking of the rain, I managed to get my run in during a window where the rain wasn't too bad. It was only a slight drizzle and I didn't need a jacket.
I was surprised at how good of a condition the trail was in after all the recent rain. A lot of it consists of small rocks and they held up well. There were few muddy spots. The one I did see had some deer tracks in it. That was neat.
I wanted to keeping running to the very high point of the park, but I would've had to walk back a lot further after I finished if I kept going. Therefore, I turned around a little after the two mile point. Coming back was even harder. It started downhill, but the paved stretch was uphill this time. That was brutal and when it ended there was yet more uphill. I walked briefly at the top of this part of the trail before getting back on pace. Of course there were a few more hills before I was done, but I finished up before the last killer uphill. That was hard enough to walk up.
Although the hills are tough, one thing that is nice is how open the path is. It does wind around so you can run pretty fast times for a trail course. This was supposed to be a fartlek, but it is hard to find places to run fast around there. I got a good workout anyway. The hills definitely were a killer. I really wish I lived closer so I could run this more often. It is so challenging and so much fun. If I could get there once a week, I'd be happy.
Tomorrow is a long run. With the marathon relay on Sunday, I'll probably run my section of the course. Whatever part isn't flooded anyway. I'll likely start at Freemansburg. They are already rerouting sections of the course that are flooded and I'm not sure how more won't be flooded in the coming days. The ran doesn't seem to have an end. Oh well, we'll just have to wait and see.
4 miles - 37:33 (9:24 pace)
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