This morning, I headed to Nockamixon State Park for an easy four mile trail run. I've never run there before, but figured it would be nice and flat and an easy recovery for my legs after a hard run last night.
Things didn't start off too well. I walked around for quite awhile near the trailhead trying to get a GPS signal. Right as I was about to give up and head back to the car, I finally got one. I started off on the trail. The first mile was an adventure to say the least. It was a little rocky, but not too bad. Not too far into the run, I came to a creek crossing. Usually these occur at a good place to cross, but this wasn't. It was at least ankle deep with very few rocks. I continued on another part of the trail, but that quickly ended and would've only made a short loop.
Even though I wasn't crazy about crossing so much water that early in the run. I decided to do it. It took me several minutes to find the best way across. My feet still got completely soaked though. All of that lead to a very slow first mile.
After that start, things got better. The trail was a fun path through the woods with some tall grass from time to time. Most of the time it was easy to follow the trail, but with so many leaves on the ground, it was tricky every now and then.
With all the rain we've had, the ground is saturated everywhere. I guess I should've realized that and expected all the mud that I encountered. Some sections were very bad. One time, I thought it was a stream, but it was actually the trail. I love the mud though so I had fun dancing through it. It was just tough to even see at times.
The trail was only supposed to be a 2.5 mile loop, but I had not even turned around yet and it was already over 2.5 miles on my watch. After encountering some people with dogs, I found a dirt road. I figured if vehicles went there, it must lead to a main road eventually. It ended up going to the park maintenance building. I then ended up coming out on the main road that runs along the northside of the park. I ran on that road for about a mile. I was worried that I'd have far to walk back to my starting point. It turns out that I ended the run just before there then.
It was a good run and perfect for an easy recovery day. Trails are almost always a blast, especially new ones. Since it isn't too challenging, I won't head there too often, but I'll go from time to time. It was pretty rough, just not tough.
Provided that I sleep well tonight, I'll be heading out for my 11 miler tomorrow night with the BCR. We're meeting at the Route 33 boat launch. That is very convenient for me. I just wonder what direction we'll go. Either way, I'll do an out and back with the group and then more on my own to complete the 11 miles.
4 miles - 44:38 (11:10 pace)
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