Saturday, April 26, 2014

Watchung Reservation 20 Miler

My quads are beat up, but that is kind of a good thing with the 50 miler on the horizon.  I need to try to do back to back long runs this weekend.  I decided that I wanted to run somewhere different.  In the winter, I signed up for a cheap 50k an hour away in New Jersey.  I didn't get to run it because it was too icy and snowy.  I thought I'd head there to run the course.

The place is called the Watchung Reservation.  I was worried as I started to drive through it.  It looked incredibly hilly.  I wanted to run 20 miles, but wasn't sure what I had.  The main loop was about 6 miles.  It was weird when I got to the parking lot, because it is close to Newark and I could hear planes flying overhead.  At least I didn't hear them later on.  It did go along Route 78, so I did hear that from time to time.

I studied the map, but it took me some time to find the pink loop.  Finally I did and I headed off.  It went downhill right away and then ran along the lake.  It was big and flat and wide open.  That made it tricky because I ended up running a lot faster than I wanted in the beginning.  I tried taking it slow.

On the other side of the lake, the trail began to climb and I could walk some.  These uphills were kind of gradual though and actually very runnable.  If I was only doing one loop, running would not have been a problem.  Three loops on the other hand, meant that I had to walk some of it.

It didn't take long to get to the top of hill.  Everything flattened out and the trail went through an open field.  While there was some elevation change on this course, it wasn't a lot of up and down.  Most of it was flat and easy going.

I went through a parking area and was sort of unsure of where the trail went.  Some people were hiking, so I followed where they came from.  They asked me about the same trail. 

This next section was fun.  It was a lot more singletrack.  That slowed things a bit, but it was mostly flat or downhill.  There were some small stream crossings.  I tried to walk every now and then to recover.  It was hard to do with such easy running though.

There were a lot of hikers and some trail runners too.  I was glad to see no horses.  I passed a mother and daughter and shortly after that, I lost the trail.  They didn't know where it went.  It ended at a creek.  The problem was I couldn't find the next set of blazes, so I had no clue where to go.  I didn't want to turn around, so I tried walking up the creek to see if that led anywhere.

Eventually it did.  I came to a wide path.  I decided that running this was a better option than heading back.  I saw some trail runners pop out right ahead of me, so I followed them.  I was now on the white blazed trail.  This came out to a road and then I knew where I was.  I didn't exactly know how to get back, but I knew which direction to go.

I turned around and went on the white trail in the other direction.  I had no idea where I'd end up, but at least I would be going the correct direction.  This had some early climbing over roots.  Then, it flattened out and I ran a lot again.

After some time, I came to a picnic area.  I had stopped there to use the bathroom earlier, so I knew where I was.  If I needed to, I'd run on the road from there.  I went to the bathroom again and found the white blazes on the other side of the bathroom.

I got to 5 mile and 6 mile and had no idea quite where I was and how much farther I had to go.  I ran into a family.  I saw them again later near the end of the loop.  Finally, after 7 miles, I came out back near my car.  In the end, it worked out and I ran an extra mile.  I needed that anyway.  I love how you can get lost and find your way on a trail run.  You never know what adventure awaits.

I rested a bit and stopped to get water.  I had drank a decent amount on the run and also took some GU Chomps.  It was kind of hot and my shirt was starting to get wet.  Rather than wear nip guards, I ran the rest of the run shirtless.

I looked at a map to see where I went wrong on the first loop.  I thought I figured it out, but was still slightly confused.  I decided to take the pink loop in the opposite direction this time.  That way I could find my mistake.

The beginning of this loop had some uphill, but was then flat and rocky.  I tried to run a lot of it and walk every now and then.  It wasn't long until I was headed downhill.  I then crossed a bridge over the creek.  After this, I followed the trail next to the creek.  It went into the water for a short period and came out around a bush.  I was at the part that I had messed up earlier.  I turned right that time, instead of left.  The trail was hidden.  At least I know now.

The quads were pretty crappy, but they weren't getting any worse.  After the first loop, I had began to question how much more I could do.  Now, I figured I'd finish this loop and get in 15 miles at least.

I walked up the hills when there were ones.  At one point, I needed more rest, so I walked a quarter of a mile.  I think I ran about a mile and a half straight through after that.  Eventually, I went down the hill and ran along the lake.  The trail goes along the road a short distance, so I walked that.

I ran along the lake and then walked the hill to my car.  It was good to be done with 2 loops.  I actually didn't feel too much worse after this one as I had after the first one.  I was at 13.75 miles.  I knew another loop would put me near 20 miles.

I was determined to give this loop a try.  The rest certainly helped.  I felt surprisingly better than I had early.  Clicking off each mile helped.  By the time I got to mile 15, I was feeling awesome.  It was amazing.  I made sure to run the rocky part first, so that I wouldn't trip later on, when I was more tired.

I walked some here and there, but ended up running a lot of this loop.  I might've even done this loop faster than the previous one.  I was running in the same direction as the last time.  It was kind of funny, I felt awesome at mile 15, but terrible by mile 16.

At mile 18, it began to rain.  I was glad that most of the remainder of the run was downhill or flat.  I was also thrilled when the rain stopped.  I ran slowly downhill.  It was great to see the lake again.  I walked along the road and ran the remaining lake section.

There was an uphill finish.  It was a struggle for me to climb.  I was nearly cramping up.  I had to find a way to run the last half mile, no matter how slow.  It would be a good test.  I managed to do it.  I had to loop around the parking lot to get to mile 20.

I had to stretch a lot after the run.  I was glad I made the drive home without cramping.  The quads are quite sore and I'm not sure how I'll run again tomorrow, but I will.

This was an excellent run.  It was a perfect place to do loops.  It was very runnable.  It wasn't too hilly or rocky.  The trail didn't go in and out too much.  I will certainly do the 50k in the future.  I bet this place will be even nicer when the leaves come in.

Tomorrow, I'm going to watch a bunch of friends run the St. Luke's Half Marathon.  After that, I'm going to try to run at Jacobsburg.  It will be tough with dead quads.  This is a good test for them though.  I'll be happy with at least 15 miles.  Then, I can rest on Monday.

20 miles - 3:31:43 (10:35 pace)

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