Blue Marsh Lake Recon

I wanted to get a long run in yesterday, but after getting home from a party, I was just too tired.  I ended up doing nothing.  That meant that I had to get out there today.  I didn't want to go to Jacobsburg again.  Since I signed up for the Blues Cruise 50K at Blue Marsh Lake near Reading, I opted to run there.

It is over an hour drive to get there, but I figured it would be worth checking out the race course.  The weather was fairly nice for August, but of course there was still some humidity.  It is also almost impossible to have nice weather when you are out there for 3 hours or more during the summer.

The plan was to do 20 miles, but really anything over 15 miles is satisfying for a long run on trails, especially during the heat of a summer afternoon.  When I looked at the map, I found a parking area and it looked like I could run a nice loop around the north side of the lake.  The south side of the lake was just too long of a loop to run.  I would've had to plan out where to refuel there.

The beginning of the loop could not have been any more perfect.  It was a beautiful, soft and mostly flat singletrack.  I couldn't have planned a better course for my legs.  There were some views of the lake, but a lot of the early route was under the shade of trees.

In order to survive this long route, the plan was to walk the open, sunny sections as well as the uphills.  The first three miles were so perfect though that these sections were few and far between.  I was beginning to think this is the most amazing place to run a long race at.  My big concern would be running too hard.

Just over a mile into the run, I came to a boat launch.  It took me some time to find the trail, but I was able to pick up a map.  I was then back on the trail.  There were two bridges in this first section that were quite interesting.  The first one had space between the boards, so it could be a trip hazard.  The second one rocked when I ran over it.

At about 3 miles, I was to the north side of the lake.  I had to run along the road briefly to pick up the trail on the west side of the lake.  It was hot, running in the sun.

Before crossing over the bridge, I had noticed that there was a hill with a communication tower on it.  I knew this side could be challenging, but I definitely wasn't prepared for it.  It was a pretty steep and long climb.  I walked a lot of it.  I probably could've run it, but that would've really burned me out.

The climb certainly slowed my pace.  This section was nice anyway.  It was a wide path through the woods.  Every now and then, there were brief glimpses of the lake through the trees.  I was so happy when I finally got to the top.

Near the top, I saw one of the best signs ever.  It read, "Caution: Long Downhill."  That is a caution sign I can live with.  It wasn't too bad.  They used some switchbacks.  I don't fly downhill like I used to.  I'd imagine this will be a difficult place to pass during the race.

When I got to the bottom, I was very disappointed.  I thought that I was done climbing for the most part.  Instead, there was yet another fairly significant hill to go up.  This wasn't as steep as the first, but not a lot of fun either.

After the hills and the woods, things didn't get much better.  I was definitely spoiled by the amazing early section of this run.  Now, I was out onto a singletrack into open field.  That was different, but definitely not fun on a summer day.  Toward the end of this section, the trail turned into a combination of stone and dirt road.  It was wide and I assume used by farm equipment too.

Eventually, I came to a road.  I got kind of lost in this section.  I ran both directions on the road, but couldn't find the trailhead.  There were some nice farms at least.  Then, I ran up a paved path with a gate near where I came out.  I didn't think this would be the trail, but I did see an arrow pointing the other way.  I assume those arrows were from last year's race that went in the opposite direction.

I ran up the road, but still wasn't 100% sure if it was the right way.  I didn't have many better options.  Eventually, it led back to the normal trail section.  This was a dirt path through the woods.  I enjoyed it.  I then saw the bridge by my car as I went through a powerline.  I was a little over 8 miles at this point.  The trail has mile markers on it.  That is kind of nice, but it can also be annoying too.

I thought I would cross the road and run to mile 9.  That was short lived though as that part of the trail went up and down.  I wasn't willing to climb at this point.  That also ruled out running this section later.  I ran across the bridge to my car.  I refueled with a Clif Bar and some water.  I tried to stay in the shade.  I was sweating a lot though.

At this point, I wasn't feeling too bad, but I figured with the heat that 20 miles wasn't in the cards.  Still, I would keep going and just see what I had.  I definitely felt that I could at least get to 15 miles.  I was now just under 8.5.

I ran on the east side of the lake again.  This time, I headed south instead of north.  I wanted to explore another section of the trail.  The beginning was flat and a solid singletrack.  It was muddy early on, but that didn't last.  I passed a family that was carrying fishing poles.  They were the only people that I saw on the trail all day.

Some parts of this were kind of annoying.  The grass was a little overgrown, but also some plants were on the trail.  I just had to try to dodge them as best as I could.  Running on a narrow singletrack when tired can be a little challenging too.  There were quite a few spider webs as well.  It was nowhere near as bad as Lake Nockamixon's trails the other week though.

After going through some open field type sections, it was back into the woods.  This part wasn't too difficult, but it sure wasn't flat either.  There were a lot of rolling hills.  They were short enough that I ran most of them.  They did sap some of my strength.

At 2.5 miles out on this part, I got to another hill and just decided that I would head back.  I figured that I would be right around 13.5 miles when I got back to the car.  Going back was pretty uneventful.  I tired a bit during the end, but made it to the car.

Again, I rest and rehydrated briefly.  My goal now was to run 16 miles.  That meant 1.25 miles in each direction.  I opted to go north again and run the nice and easy, flat section.  That was a good choice.  By now, my quads were sore.  I wasn't slowing too much though because this was such an easy section.

I turned around at 14.75 miles and headed back.  I ran the rest of the way.  I almost encountered some fishermen near the end, but they were still grabbing gear from the car.  I stopped at 16 miles and called it a day.

I probably could've willed another mile or two out, but I figured that it was pointless on a hot day.  It was time to just pack it in.  I had almost three hours of running under my belt anyway.  I saw over 10 miles of the course.

Sometime, I'll have to get back there and run the other part of the course.  Maybe when it is cooler out.  It is a nice trail and should be a fun place to race at.  It sure isn't going to be easy, but really I wouldn't expect a 50K to be.  I can't wait for the race.  October will have nicer weather.

I rode my bike for 10 miles after eating.  That ended a solid day.  It was my first time riding with a new tire and my tire seemed faster.  I've got another 90 or so miles to ride this week, so it will really get tested out.

Tomorrow, I'd like to run another double digit run.  Maybe I'll just head back to Jacobsburg.  Perhaps I'll change it up and go to South Mountain.  I would like to go to Salisbury sometime, but I think those trails are kind of short.  It might not be ideal for a long run.  I guess I'll decide in the afternoon.

16 miles - 2:53:53 (10:52 pace)